I.　In order to know the Body, we have to deal with and renounce the self, which is the enemy of the Body—Matt. 16:18, 21-26; Luke 9:23-25:

A.　The self is the fallen soul declaring independence from God and, thus, inde-pendence from the Body; the greatest problem, the greatest frustration and opposition, to the Body is the self.

B.　The shaving of the hair of the leper for his cleansing in Leviticus 14 signifies dealing with the difficulties of the self; the razor signifies the cross—v. 9:

1.　The hair of the head signifies the glory of man; everyone has his boasts in certain areas—some boast of their ancestry, some of their education, some of their virtues, some of their zeal in their love for the Lord; almost every-one can find an area in which to boast, to glorify himself, and to make a display before man.

2.　The beard signifies the honor of man; people esteem themselves honorable with regard to their position, their family background, or even their spiri-tuality; they always have a superior feeling that they are above others.

3.　The eyebrows signify the beauty of man; everyone has naturally good and strong points, which did not issue from the experience of God's salvation but from natural birth.

4.　The hair of the whole body signifies the natural strength of man; we are full of natural strength, natural methods and opinions, thinking that we can do this or that for the Lord and that we are capable of doing all things.

5.　When all the aspects of the self are dealt with through the "razor" of the cross, and when we have nothing and are nothing, we shall be clean—cf. Phil. 3:7-11.

6.　We should utterly reject the self by doing everything through the cross and by theSpirittodispenseChristintoone anotherfor thesakeofthe Body of Christ.

II.　In order to know the Body, we must see the vision of the Body—Eph. 1:17; 3:3-6:

A.　When the Lord appeared to Saul on the way to Damascus, He showed him that persecuting the believers was the same as persecuting Him—Acts 9:3-5:

1.　The Lord asked, "Why are you persecuting Me?" He did not ask, "Why are you persecuting those who believe in Me?" When Saul asked, "Who are You, Lord?" the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you persecute"—vv. 4-5.

2.　The "Me" here is a corporate "Me," comprising Jesus the Lord and all His believers; by this, Saul began to see that the Lord Jesus and His believers are one great person—the wonderful "Me."

3.　The Lord showed Saul that he was persecuting the Head when he was per-secuting the members of the Body; every sin that offends the Body offends the Head.

4.　The day that the Lord revealed Himself to Saul was the day that he saw the Body—Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16; 4:4, 12, 16; 5:30; Col. 1:18, 24; 2:19.

B.　After such a high revelation the Lord did not speak to Saul directly but charged him to go into the city, and there it would be told to him what he must do (Acts 9:6); this was also a revelation of the Body:

1.　The Lord committed Saul to the Body through a member of His Body— Ananias—so that Saul would be initiated into the identification with the Body of Christ.

2.　This must have impressed Saul with the importance of the Body of Christ, helping him to realize that a saved believer needs the members of the Body of Christ.

3.　The Lord sent a small disciple to lay hands on Saul, and this disciple said, "Saul, brother" (v. 17); this ushered Saul into the Body of Christ, filled him with the Holy Spirit, and brought him under the anointing.

C.　In the New Testament there are two ways to look at Christ; on the one hand, He is Jesus Christ the Nazarene—the individual Christ; on the other hand, He is Christ plus the church—the corporate Christ—1 Cor. 12:12.

D.　We do not need knowledge; rather, we need revelation to know the Body of Christ and to enter into the realm of the Body; only a revelation from God will usher us into the realm of the Body, and only then will the Body of Christ be-come our experience.

E.　Once a man sees the Body of Christ, he is free from individualism; he will no longer live for himself but for the Body; he becomes Body-conscious and Body-centered and is freed from being self-centered—Rom. 12:5.

F.　Everything depends on our seeing; those who see that they are members will surely treasure the Body and honor the other members—Phil. 2:3-4.

G.　If we truly see our position in the Body, it will be as though we were saved a second time—cf. John 1:49-51.

III.　In order to know the Body, we must be under the limitation of the Body; as members of the Body, we must allow ourselves to be limited by the other members, not going beyond our measure:

A.　God has placed all the members of the Body even as He willed; the Head sets us in our special place in the Body and points us to our special function—Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:15-21:

1.　Each one of us members has our own place in the Body of Christ; it is assigned by God and should be accepted by us; since such an assignment is according to God's will, every member is necessary—vv. 19-22.

2.　Every member has a definite place, a definite assignment, and a particular portion with which he serves the Body of Christ; each member has his own characteristics, and each has his own capability; these characteristics con-stitute the place, position, or ministry of each member—Rom. 12:4-8.

B.　A basic requirement for the growth and development of the Body is that we recognize our measure and do not go beyond it—Eph. 4:7, 16:

1.　We must be willing to be limited by our measure; as soon as we go beyond our measure, we go beyond the authority of the Head and move out from under the anointing—Rom. 12:3, 6.

2.　When we go beyond our measure, we interfere with the order of the Body; to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, without a sober mind, is to annul the proper order of the Body life—v. 3.

C.　Like Paul, we should move and act according to how much God has measured to us, staying within the limits of God's ruling, God's measuring—2 Cor. 10:13:

1.　When we give a testimony about our work, experience, or enjoyment of the Lord, we must testify within measure, that is, within a certain limit.

2.　Although we expect the work to spread, we must learn how to be under God's restriction; we should not expect a spread that is without measure; if we spread the work according to the Spirit, there will always be a certain limit—vv. 13-15:

a.　Inwardly, we have the consciousness that the Lord intends to spread the work only to a certain extent; inwardly, we do not have the peace to spread the work beyond a certain point—cf. 2:12-14.

b.　Outwardly, in the environment, the Lord may cause certain matters to restrict the spread of the work; the environment does not allow us to go beyond a particular boundary line—cf. Rom. 15:24.

3.　In the church service we need to realize that God has measured out only so much to us, and we should not overstretch ourselves—12:3-4, 6a.

4.　Whatever we do should be in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body— cf.Eph.4:4;Zech. 4:6.