The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in the Local Churches

Experiencing Christ in the Local Church

7. Experiencing Being Sanctified in Christ

To be sanctified is to be separated from everything other than God and to be saturated with God. The church is made up of such sanctified believers. Based on 1 Corinthians 1:2, Witness Lee describes Christ as the sanctifying element and sphere of the church:

The church is “sanctified in Christ” (v. 2c), having been sanctified, made holy, in Christ, who is the embodiment of the processed Triune God in His fullness, as its element and sphere. Christ is the embodiment of the processed Triune God in all His fullness. Now we are in this Christ, and we have this Christ as our element and sphere. Just as wood is the element of a table, Christ is the element of the church. He is also the sphere, the realm, of the church.

The church is composed of the “called saints” (v. 2d)—the church of the saints, the sanctified ones, who have been called out of the satanic world. We have been called by God to be sanctified in Christ. We are no longer in the world; we are in the church which is called by God and sanctified in a wonderful person, Christ, who is our element within and our sphere without.

(Witness Lee, Genuine Church, 9)

8. Experiencing Being Transformed by Christ

Transformation is the process of receiving a new element (Christ) into our inward being and simultaneously having the old element (the natural man) discharged, thus producing a new being. Witness Lee uses Peter as an example of a transformed believer to describe what should be taking place in every local church:

Peter received a new name, signifying a new element, and a new being. He was transformed. To be transformed is not simply to be changed outwardly; it is to have a new element added into your being. Transformation brings in a new element and eliminates the old element. To be transformed is to be both charged and discharged. We all need to be charged with Christ, just as a transformer is charged with electricity. When Christ is charged into us, He will discharge many old things. In this way we will be renewed and transformed. Transformation is not merely to have an outward change or correction. In the process of transformation a new element is added to replace the old. As this process continues, we become new and transformed. This is exactly what Peter experienced; the old clay Simon was discharged, and Peter became a precious stone.

In the local churches today we are all under the process of transformation. Day by day Christ is charging Himself into us, and He is discharging and carrying away all the old elements. This process of charging and discharging is transformation.

(Witness Lee, Kingdom, 135-136)

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Described in OT

Revealed in OT

Revealed in NT

Portrayed in NT

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