The Church and the Work


The Relationship between the Church, the Work, and the Apostles

In order to fully appreciate the relationship of the apostles to the local churches, the ground of the church ought first to be considered. The ground of the church has an outward, physical aspect and an inward, spiritual aspect. In addition to the church’s outward, physical boundary of locality (Rev. 1:11), the believers need to be subject to the subduing work of the Holy Spirit within them. The genuine apostles must both recognize this boundary and also be subject to the Holy Spirit in order to maintain a harmonious relationship with all the local churches. In the following passage, Watchman Nee explains that the local church exists when both the external boundary of locality and the inward authority of the Spirit are maintained:

A group today may have some brothers and sisters who are under the authority of the Holy Spirit and others who are not under the authority of the Holy Spirit. Immediately, we can see that there is no ground of the church there. The ground of the church is the Holy Spirit. Whenever the Holy Spirit is offended, the ground of the church is lost. The unanimous decision of all the brothers and sisters does not make up the Body of Christ. It is not a matter of sixteen hundred people raising their hands to pass a resolution, and then there is the church. It is not a matter of these sixteen hundred people, but a matter of whether or not the authority of the Holy Spirit has been executed. If the authority of the Holy Spirit is absent, there is no church ground. Only when everyone submits to the authority of the Holy Spirit does the church have its ground.
The body is that which we can freely use and move around in. It has no conflicts or difficulties at all. Whatever we want to do, it does. That which struggles with us is not the body. Whether or not a local church can be manifested depends upon whether or not it can submit to the Holy Spirit. When this kind of submission is manifested, the church is manifested. Therefore, if a brother likes to speak and make decisions by himself, the authority of the Holy Spirit is damaged, the Body of Christ is damaged, and the church is damaged. Consequently, there is no church in that place. A place with a signboard does not constitute a church. Instead, it is only as the brothers and sisters lay down their own thoughts and subject themselves to the authority of the Holy Spirit, allowing the authority of the Holy Spirit to flow through them without any hindrance, that there is the church.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 55, 152-153)

Watchman Nee makes an important point in this passage. Without the authority of the Holy Spirit, a local church will lack inward reality.

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