The Christ in whom we should walk (Col. 2:6) is “the Christ, Jesus the Lord”; this is the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, the incorporated God, in whom we are baptized and in whom we need to walk daily.
Our Christ is wonderful and all-inclusive, and as believers in Christ, we have been rooted in Christ and now we need to be built up in Him and walk in Him.
The Christ in whom we should walk daily is the Christ in His full ministry of three stages: incarnation, inclusion, and intensification.
The Bible reveals a Christ that came as God incarnated to be man; He came not only to redeem us but also to court us, to woo us, and to gain us as His bride.
If you read the Gospels you see a selfless man, a God-man, who always was one with God and wanted to do the will of God.
Also, this One was so attractive and charming, and the crowds were drawn to Him and went after Him.
There was something about Him; He was the “bachelor” God who was incarnated to be the incarnated God.
Then, when He went to the cross, He became the redeeming God, for He redeemed us by taking upon Himself the sin of the world.
Furthermore, when He was resurrected He became a life-giving Spirit, a compound Spirit, to impart His life and all that He is into us; now He is the compounded God.
The God we have today is not a simple God who is far above in the heavens and we’re down here on earth; He came to be with us, even to be like us, and He was compounded and mingled together with humanity, human nature, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
Now in resurrection, we have a rich God who is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and we can receive Him.
When we receive Christ as the Spirit in our spirit, He becomes the indwelling God. God is no longer only in the heavens but even more, He is in us as the indwelling One. Hallelujah!
Furthermore, in order for Him to counteract the degradation of the church, He is the intensified God, the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit who is with our spirit.
As we go through things today, we feel that the whole situation is so intense, and the world situation and the church’s decline is trending downward; however, we have the sevenfold intensified Spirit in our spirit.
The intensified God operates in us and around us to produce us as His overcomers, to build the Body of Christ, and to consummate the New Jerusalem.
Finally, God will be the incorporated God, the married God, for He will marry the created, redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified man as His bride for eternity. Praise the Lord!
The Christ in whom we should daily walk should be not only the individual Christ seen in the Gospels but even more, the corporate God, the Body-Christ, what the Bible calls “the Christ”.
We need to Walk in the Body-Christ, the Corporate Christ, the Incorporated God, in the Church Life
Col. 2:6 does not say, As therefore you have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him; it says, As therefore you have received THE CHRIST, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.
There’s a difference between Christ and “the Christ.”
The Christ refers to the corporate Christ, the incorporated God; it is not just the individual Christ but the Body of Christ, the Body-Christ.
This is similar to 1 Cor. 12:12 where we are told that, even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
It doesn’t say, so also is the church; rather, it says, so also is the Christ.
The Christ is the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ; it is composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as the Body of Christ with all the believers as members of the Body of Christ.
We believers in Christ are organically united with the Lord and constituted with His life and element, and we have become His Body, the organism of the Triune God, to express Him corporately.
The Christ in whom we should walk is the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ.
The Lord’s present recovery is the recovery of the Body-Christ, “the Christ”, in the church life.
The Body-Christ is the incorporated God, and for us to walk in Him as the Christ is for us to walk in the Body-Christ, who is the incorporated God (1 Cor. 12:12-13; Acts 9:4-5, 15; Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:1-6, 15-16; John 14:23; 17:21).
First Corinthians 12:12 says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ”.
“The Christ” in this verse is not the individual Christ but the corporate Christ, Christ incorporated with all His members.
This is the Christ into whom we have been baptized, put into, and immersed in, and this is the Christ in whom we should walk.
This is the Christ that Paul saw on the way to Damascus when a light shone on him and he heard a voice from heaven saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? (Acts 9:3-5).
Paul was persecuting the Christians, those who were followers of Jesus, but Jesus, the Head in the heavens, was one with His members on the earth, and He said that Saul was persecuting Him.
This is the great wonderful Me, the corporate Me, the Body-Christ composed of the Head and the Body.
We all are members of the corporate Me, the wonderful “Me” who is Christ as the Head together with the members of His Body – the Body-Christ. Wow!
![And he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He [said,] I am Jesus, whom you persecute. Acts 9:4-5](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/And-he-fell-on-the-ground-and-heard-a-voice-saying-to-him-Saul-Saul-why-are-you-persecuting-Me-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He [said,] I am Jesus, whom you persecute. Acts 9:4-5")
When we see a vision of the corporate Christ, when we realize we have been given this Christ, we have been put in this Christ, and we need to walk in this Christ, who is the Body-Christ, our Christian life will be revolutionized.
We need to walk in the Christ whom we have received; we need to walk not only in the all-inclusive and extensive Christ as the Head but also in the Body of Christ.
To receive and to walk in Christ is to receive and to walk in the Body-Christ, because today Christ is a corporate Body.
Christ is no longer only the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ, the Head with the Body.
If we say we love Christ, we need to also love the Body, and if we say we are walking in Christ, we also need to be walking in the Body-Christ, for Christ the Head and Christ the Body are joined as one.
It makes a great difference in our Christian life for us to walk in the corporate Christ.
We can bring this matter to the Lord and ask Him to show us what it means that we need to walk in the Christ, the Body-Christ.
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of “Christification,” a recovery that is purely and wholly of the person of Christ for Him to gain the reality of the Body-Christ in the church life (1 Thes. 5:23; Phil. 1:19-21a; 3:8-14; 2 Cor. 2:10; Col. 3:10-11).
We need to be brought back to Christ Himself to enjoy Him, hold Him as the Head, gain Him, and walk in Him.
Lord Jesus, unveil us to see You as the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ. May we realize that we have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, and may we walk in the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ today. Amen, Lord, grant us a glorious seeing of Christ the Head with Christ the Body; may we see that we as the Body are joined to the Head to be the Body-Christ, the incorporated God. Wow, Lord, how we praise You that we are members of the Body and we can now walk not only in the all-inclusive Christ as the Head but also in the Body-Christ, the church as the corporate Christ. Show us what this means, Lord, in our daily living. Show us what it means that we have received the Body-Christ and how can we practically walk in the Body-Christ. We open to You. May it make a great difference in our Christian life as we walk in the corporate Christ day by day!
Walk in the Corporate God, the Christ, by the Mutual Sharing of Christ by all the Members
Today the Lord is building the Body-Christ in the church life; He is after not only our individual and personal enjoyment of Christ at home, by ourselves, but the corporate enjoyment and experience of Christ in the Body and as the Body.
In the Body-Christ, Christ is wrought into all His members, and all His members are wrought into Him by the growth in life and transformation in life for the expression of Christ (Col. 2:19; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 12:12-13).
When we were regenerated, Christ began to work Himself into us, and as we fellowship with Him and open to Him, He is working Himself into us a little more.
As we enjoy and experience Christ, we are also wrought into Christ, for we grow in life and are transformed in His life for the expression of Christ. Amen!
We need to tell the Lord to daily grow in us. In the Body-Christ, we enjoy Christ as everything to us (1 Cor. 12:3, 13), and we function as members of the Body (vv. 14-22).
Furthermore, in the Body-Christ there is the blending together of the members in the oneness of the Triune God (vv. 23-27; John 17:21; Eph. 4:1-6).
God has blended the Body together so that there would be no division in the Body.
Blending is not only visiting other localities or countries and having fellowship with the saints there; blending is through the cross and by the Spirit for the removing of the differences and the obtaining of the meal-offering church life.
Amen, in the church life, we are being blended together by Christ in the Body for the Lord to gain a meal offering church life for His satisfaction.
May the Lord show us that we are members of the Body of Christ and, as such, we need to walk in the corporate Christ, that is, walk in the Body-Christ, for we cannot have the Head without the Body.
We are no longer individual believers but members of the Body, and our Christ is not only the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ, the Head with the Body.
We received Christ not only as the Head but also as the Body, and we should walk in Christ.
We today need to walk in the corporate Christ, the Christ, and we do this by being in the church life practically and by having the mutual sharing of Christ by all the members of the Body.
![But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:15-16](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/But-holding-to-truth-in-love-we-may-grow-up-into-Him-in-all-things-who-is-the-Head-Christ-3-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:15-16")
We all can testify that, since we came into the church life and have learned to function in the Body by speaking Christ to one another, we had an increased enjoyment and experience of Christ.
It is like Eph. 3:16-20 says, when we let Christ make His home in our heart through faith, we are able to apprehend with all the saints what the depth and height and breadth and length of Christ are; He is so rich and so wonderful, and in the Body He is exhaustless and immeasurable!
Some believers think that it’s ok not to go to the meeting, for they can stay home and enjoy Christ personally; while it is true that we can have some enjoyment of Christ personally, we have only a small portion of Christ to enjoy, but corporately the riches of Christ are immeasurable! Amen!
When we come to the meetings of the church and open up our mouths to release the riches of Christ we have enjoyed and experienced, others receive and enjoy the Christ we have.
Also, we receive others’ portion of Christ, for all saints are needed to apprehend this wonderful, all-inclusive Christ!
How we thank and praise the Lord that, in the church life, we are learning to mutually share Christ and minister Christ to one another, both giving and receiving something of Christ to our fellow members in the Body (1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 4:15-16)!
This mutual sharing of Christ is like the circulation of blood in our physical body; when we share something of Christ, we “give blood” to the other members, and when we receive others’ sharing of Christ, we “receive blood” from others.
In this way, by our mutual function in the Body, we walk in the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ, and we build up the Body of Christ for the corporate expression of God among us. Praise the Lord!
Lord Jesus, we want to walk in the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ, by receiving and ministering Christ in the church life. Amen, Lord, we receive You and we receive the Body. We receive the Body-Christ, and we desire to walk in this Christ. We want to apprehend with all the saints what the inexhaustible and immeasurable riches of Christ! Oh, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ are immeasurable, and we can apprehend this Christ with all the saints as the Body-Christ! Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy the Body-Christ by being in the meetings of the church and by functioning in the meetings to minister Christ and receive others’ portion of Christ. May there be much mutual sharing of Christ by all the members in the Body so that the Body would built itself up in love. Amen, Lord, in the Body-Christ we enjoy Christ as our everything, there’s the function of all members, and there’s the blending together of the members in the oneness of the Triune God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Vision and Experience of the Corporate Christ,” chs. 3-4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 10, entitled, Governing Principles That We Need to See and Experience in Order to Possess Christ as the Good Land.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The corporate Christ, article by Watchman Nee in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Constituted to be God’s Corporate Expression, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– The One Unique New Testament Ministry, via, Shepherding Words.
– The church being the corporate Christ, a portion from, Five Emphases in the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
– How You Can Have the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The Lord’s Recovery of the Corporate Christ ― the Body-Christ, outline via, MA Churches.
– Mid-Atlantic Working Saints and Families Conference with Mark Raabe (2020), via, Living to Him.
– 7 Wonderful Aspects of the Church in Ephesians, via, Bibles for America blog. - Hymns on this topic:
– Thus with all saints we can apprehend / All the vast dimensions of God. / Knowing Christ’s love passes all we know, / We’re together filled to fullness with our God. / Now we know the purpose of our God, / Visible the mystery became: / Christ, the church, together now we see, / And together put the enemy to shame. (Hymns #1232 stanzas 2-3)
– O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed. / Each day let Thy supporting might / My weakness still embrace; / My darkness vanish in Thy light, / Thy life my death efface. (Hymns #395 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Exercise the spirit! / Human thought reject; / Meet with one another, / Body life respect. / Exercise the spirit! / All the forms forsake; / Share with one another, / Each of Christ partake. / Exercise the spirit! / Natural sense renounce; / Serve with one another, / Christ the Lord announce. (Hymns #866 stanzas 1-3)
About aGodMan
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, vol. 1, “The Vision and Experience of the Corporate Christ,” pp. 490-491
The Christ we have received and we need to walk in is not just the individual Christ but the Body-Christ, the corporate Christ, the Christ.
It makes a great difference in our Christian life for us to walk in the Body-Christ by learning to fellowship with the saints and releasing our portion in the meetings of the church to build up the Body.
Aaaaameeen!
Wow, brother we have received not only the individual Christ, but also the Body-Christ!
Amen, brother, today the Lord is building the body-Christ in the church life; the church is not an organization but Christ Himself and His believers which are the one great person- the wonderful “Me.”
“I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not prevail. God does not require our outward praise; He says we should worship Him in spirit and in truth, how do we do that by eating and drinking Him and breathing in Him as the Spirit.
God is life and we are His organic body in which we grow and express Him, this body is the organism of Christ and the church. “Hallelujah “
The more we release the riches of Christ the more Christ is filled with us.
We must love the church and be part of the body to grow from an individual portion of Christ
Amen brother.
We give thanks to the Father who has qualified us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.
Christ is the Head of the Body, the church.
He and the church are one corporate Christ, and it’s this corporate Christ that we received when we believed into Him.
We must now continue to live in and for the corporate Christ, and walk in this Christ.
At the same time, we need to see that the devil is like a roaring lion and he seeks always to detach us from the flock of Christ.
May we always beware of those who seek to carry us away as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit.
In the church life, we are spiritual billionaires and are able to share our allotted portion with others so that all may be satisfied and even have a surplus to share with others.
today I am enjoying Christ as my rock and my joy.
Keeping me in the flow of life, partaking of His inexhaustible riches and grace
Amen brother the walk we must have today, is not only the individual Christ but also the wonderful “Me,” the Body-Christ, who is the incorporated God.
May our walk today make such a difference in our Christian life as we walk in the corporate Christ. Amen.
1 Cor. 12:12 For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
Col. 2:6 As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.
Praise the Lord!😃🙋🏼🙌
https://youtu.be/rvFQsJ7m1yw?si=L52NY_UQxwaekL7U
Dear brother, we need to see that the Christ we have received is not the individual Christ but the Body-Christ, who is the incorporated God.
We are members of His Body! Hallelujah!
As such members we care for Christ and the church and we can enjoy the circulation in the Body as we function in opening our mouths and speaking in the meetings!
O Lord! For our Christian life, to live in the corporate Christ whom we have received, we need to be in the church meetings and speak!
5/30/24 Governing Principles That We Need to See and Experience in Order to Possess Christ as the Good Land (Week 10, Day 4)
Christ brought forth the church with His life so that the church could be His Body, making the church one with Him. This was foreordained in eternity past by God in His mysterious plan. God’s eternal plan is to gain a group of people who have the life of Christ and who are the brothers of Christ so that they may be the Body of Christ.
Individually, every believer has the life of Christ and is His brother. Corporately, we share the life of Christ and are His Body, expressing His fullness. God’s highest goal is for Christ to obtain a Body so that His fullness would be expressed (Eph 1:23). An individual believer can express a part of Christ, but only the totality of all the believers, who possess the life of Christ in every place and throughout the ages, can fully express Christ.
God has made us the Body of Christ so that Christ may gain a full expression. Although we are the many members who constitute the Body, this Body is Christ because Christ is its life, nature, constituent, and function. Hence, the church is the Body of Christ, and the church is also Christ. Christ is, not only the Head of the church, His Body, but He is also the Body. Thus, on the one hand, He is the Head-Christ; on the other hand, He us also the Body-Christ.
Concerning the church, First Corinthians 12:12 says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” This verse shows that the church is one Body with many members. However, the verse does not end with “so also is the church” but with “so also is the Christ.” This shows that the church as the Body of Christ is Christ, because it is His Body.
Both our head and our body are us. We cannot say that only our head is us; our body is also us. When somebody pinches us on our shoulder, we spontaneously cry out in anger, “Why did you pinch me?” This is because the arm is also “me.” Every person has a head and a body. The head and the body form a complete person.
This also applies to Christ. He is the Head, and His church is the Body. Just as the Head is Christ, the Body is also Christ. Both the Head and the Body are Christ. If the Head is Christ, then the Body is also Christ. Just as the Head is Christ, the Body is also Christ. The Head and the Body are the corporate Christ.
This is the reason why, when Saul (later converted into Paul) was persecuting the church, the Lord from heaven cried out to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 22:4-8) The Me in Acts 22:7 is the corporate Christ, the Christ Who is the Head with the Body, which is the church. Apparently, Saul was hurting the church; actually, when the church was hurting, it was the corporate Christ, Christ with His Body, who was hurt.
The Lord Jesus is Christ, and the church that is joined to Him in His life is also Christ. The many believers who have His life are a part of Christ. Every believer is a member of the corporate Christ, the Body of Christ. Corporately, we are Christ, and individually, we are a part of Christ.
The many parts of Christ together with Christ Himself are the corporate Christ, the mysterious, universal Christ. The universal, mysterious, corporate Christ is not limited by time or space and fully expresses Christ in the universe. Hence, the church is the fullness of the One who fills all in all (Eph 1:23).
Ephesians 4:16 says, “Out from whom (Head) all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”
The Head-Christ does not just supply His unsearchable riches directly to all the members of His Body, but also indirectly through the mutual ministering of life to one another. On the one hand, we need the Head-Christ to supply us with His bountiful supply; on the other hand, we need each member (each one part) of the Body-Christ, through which the riches the Head-Christ are indirectly channeled into the many members. God desires, not just an individual growth, but also a corporate growth because this growth will issue into the building up with fullness of God’s life and nature in order for the Body-Christ to match Him to become His mature Bride for His corporate Wife for eternity.
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg1oJsq5ddE
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v4yfchr-walk-in-the-body-christ-in-the-church-life.html
Col. 2:6 – As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.
[HWMR-Week 10 Day 4]