THE CHURCH - WHICH IS THE CROSS AS A PERSON 
WORKING IN A PEOPLE 
 
                                 by J W Luman 
 
It is a joy to share His Living Word with His Living Expression! We are 
dealing with the reality of the Church - the Church as an expression of 
Christ - not something waiting for an expression, but the Church which is 
an expression of Christ. If that expression is not being made manifest 
then the Church is not there. His Body is made up of born again 
believers, but His Church is the expression of Him in the earth through 
those believers. The Church is defined in the scripture in terms of 
relationship. The relationship is established in the Body which is in the 
heavens, that invisible realm that only the Spirit can show us. And the 
Spirit can only reveal that Body to those who are part of it. How shall 
the world see Him? Through that vessel and instrument which is called 
"the Church" - that visible expression of that invisible Body. To the 
natural ear that sounds confusing because it sounds like you've got a 
Body and a Church - no, you don't. You have a Body being expressed in the 
earth as the Church. What it does divide is that which is indeed the 
Church, the expression of Him, from that which is a form that we have 
called "Church".  
 
We have alienated in our hearts and in our minds the Church from the 
reality of Christ - we have taught it as a vehicle in the earth waiting 
to go to heaven, waiting for Christ to come and get it. We have taught it 
as a vehicle strictly confined to one dispensation and not a very 
important dispensation seemingly, at that. None of those things are true. 
The Church is the very expression of Christ in the earth, and every other 
move of God has to come out from that. The Church is that which comes out 
from the heavens; the heavens being represented by Christ and His Body; 
those that are summed up in Him, those that are baptized into Him, those 
that are caught up together in the heavens in Christ Jesus - His Body, 
His Living Body! The Church comes about when Christ is revealed in those, 
and those in whom He is revealed become a corporate expression in the 
earth of that heavenly reality. That we call the Church - that expression 
of Him. If that expression of Him is not there, then the Church is not 
there. We've got believers, but not believers in expression of Him. And 
the down side of this is that those believers, who have not had Christ 
revealed in them, being told, 'You are His Body' (and all that is true), 
are given various precepts by which to live and things to do, and we call 
that the Church.  
 
And the fact of the matter is that really isn't the Church, so it doesn't 
really make any difference what you do along that line. It ends up being 
people doing things - Christian people doing things, but Christ is not 
having an expression. That expressing can only come out of the heavens, 
it can only come where Christ is being revealed. And He is revealed in 
His Body and in those in whom He is revealed, He is expressed in the 
earth as a corporate expression. The Church is a relationship, a heavenly 
relationship exhibited in the earth. We are going to deal with the Church 
which is the Person of Him - it gets right down to it.  
 
It must be noted that the fact of the Church and the Church as an 
expression are two different things. The Church as a fact is the Body. 
The Body of Christ is factual. Everybody who is born again is part of the 
Body of Christ, whether they know it or not, whether they comprehend the 
reality of that or not. Through the revealing of Christ we come to know 
that we're His Body, and we come to comprehend who is the life of the 
Body. And in fact that Body is the Church. But the Church in expression 
is what we're calling that visible thing in the earth called the Church. 
The Body is the factual thing, the Church is the expression of that 
reality in the earth. But that reality is only expressed where Christ is 
revealed in His Body, and that segment of His Body becomes an expression 
of Him in the earth. That's what the scriptures call 'The Church'. 
 
Christ is called the Head of the Church, the savior of the Body. He is 
the Head of the Church because Headship expresses a relationship, it 
expresses a people in a particular relationship with Him. He is given to 
be Head over His Church, which is His Body. Headship is experienced - 
it's Christ being revealed in you. And Headship is exhibited as the 
Church. We try to make all of those just facts of matter. We say He's 
Head of the Church, then we come up with our little form that we call the 
Church, and say He's the Head of it. He's not only not the Head of it, He 
doesn't have anything to do with it! Because Headship is not merely a 
title as it is written, it is a relationship He is having - a 
relationship we are having with Him. It is given Him to be Head over all 
to the Church, that is, to His expression in the earth.  
 
So what is the Church, then? The Church is the expression in the earth of 
the Headship of Christ. It's not an instrument in the earth trying to 
make Him Head. The Church is the expression of His Headship in the earth, 
and where His Headship is not in expression, the Church is not in 
existence - it's just believers trying to learn Jesus. It's the Church 
when He is in Headship. This is relationship, and all relationship has to 
come to an ultimate view, and the ultimate view of relationship is His 
absolute Headship being expressed. True Church growth is here in 
relationship. It's manifested in the earth as Christ. We do not bring 
members into the Church, we bring members into the Body of Christ. The 
Church is when those members are giving Him expression in the earth. So 
the measure of the Church is not in numbers, but in the measure of Christ 
Himself being expressed in the earth.  
 
We have to understand the Church in fact, His Body, and the Church in 
expression are distinguished one from another. One is the fact of the 
matter and the other is the expression of that in the earth. And what 
makes the difference is God revealing His Son. You can be in Christ 
without having Christ revealed in you, but until Christ is revealed in 
you, there is not going to be an expression called the Church. That's 
heavy! You are not brought to His Body through the revelation of Christ - 
you're brought there through baptism into His death. Now, the purpose of 
being in His Body is that Christ be revealed in you. But I was born 
again, Spirit filled a long time before God revealed His Son in me, and I 
was as carnal as a doorknob and just as saved as I am now as far as new 
birth is concerned. But to what purpose? I was told it was to get out of 
hell and get to heaven, so I was hot in pursuit of that. But then I came 
to realize that's not what it's all about. Why am I born again? The 
answer comes in the revealing of the Son! 
 
The True Church must only and is only built, not constructed - built upon 
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which is exactly what He said. "Upon this 
rock, the revealing of me by My Father, My Father's understanding 
concerning our union - this understanding upon which I will bring forth 
and bring to fulness - My Body? No - MY CHURCH! The expression of Me! 
Where He is not being revealed of the Father, the expression that is 
called Church is not taking place. Where He is genuinely being revealed, 
believers in the Body are genuinely being joined in the revelation of Him 
one to another. And where He is being revealed, He is in the earth having 
an expression. "Where two or three are summed up together, joined 
together, gathered together into, in the midst of my name, there AM I." 
 
There's a difference you see, in His Body - I AM. That's a statement of 
fact. "Where I am there ye shall be also". That's a statement of fact. 
But with the Church it's not so. With the Church it's - there AM I, and 
in the original text it is a statement of manifestation. Not just there 
do I exist, there is a manifestation of me! He didn't say 'there I am', 
He said, 'there AM I'. And wherever that term is used, it is stating a 
fact concerning Him, a fact to which His people must relate. " Where two 
of three are gathered..." The "gathered" there is "gathered as one with 
me." "In my name" means "into the midst of me", that's being gathered in 
the knowledge of the Lord. That's being gathered in the reality of His 
presence that can only come when God reveals His Son in you. That's the 
true gathering. Where He is not revealed there is no true gathering. 
Everybody in the Body is Christ is not gathered, but they are there to be 
gathered. Look at the four words given to us by Paul - "ye are quickened 
together (as one), raised up together (as one), seated together (as one) 
- Why? that in the administration of the fulness of times he might gather 
together (as one) all things in Christ!" 
 
We are there to be gathered - quickened, raised, seated - that gets you 
there. But in the administration of the fulness of times, that He might 
gather. Gather what? What is quickened, raised and seated, gather what is 
in One. The King James version says, "He might gather together in one, 
all things in Christ." That translates to "that He might gather as one, 
in one, all things in Christ." He is gathering in one, but He is 
gathering as one. Why? For the MANIFESTATION OF ONE! 
 
So He says wherever at least two or three experience that administration 
of the fulness of times, that being gathered as one, in one, in Christ - 
there AM I MADE MANIFEST! And that 'made manifest' means it has to be an 
expression in the earth. That's who and what the Church is. And it comes 
right out of the heavens. So the Church does not gather, the Church is a 
gathering. The Church shouldn't be a vessel we're trying to get together, 
the getting together comes in the Body, in the revelation of Christ. 
Wherever there's an expression of that, it's already gathered. If it 
wasn't gathered it wouldn't be the Church. It would just be some people 
trying to get along, which is what we have. It would just be some people 
trying to figure out some basis of communion, which is what we have. The 
Church is a gathering, and it does from time to time come together - it 
is a gathered people. They do come together from time to time, but that's 
not the only function the Church has. THEY WHO ARE GATHERED WILL 
GATHER! The scripture says that - both in heaven and in earth. If it's 
done in heaven it's done in earth, even in Him! There's not one gathering 
in heaven and another gathering in the earth. The only gathering in the 
earth is the one that's in heaven. And if it's not gathered in the 
heaven, it's not gathered in the earth - I don't care what you call it. 
 
The Church is that expression of the reality of Christ in a people. And 
it does result in a tangible manifestation - they that are a gathering 
will gather. Those are the functions of the Church. Where even two or 
three experience that administration of the fulness of times, and are 
truly gathered into the knowledge of Me, into the midst of Me, into My 
name - there AM I - there the I AM is manifested in the earth - there AM 
I in the midst! 
 
Now here's where the CROSS comes in. We have made in religion, in 
Christianity, the Church a building and the Cross is a symbol on it 
somewhere. So the Cross becomes a symbol of Christianity. But the Church 
is not a building - it's a living expression of a living Person. And the 
Cross is not a symbol - it's a character and a nature that is ever 
inworking and ever ongoing. The Cross is the wisdom and the power of God 
whereby it is Christ and not me. Look how close the form comes to that, 
because you'll very seldom see a church building without a cross. See, in 
actuality that's the truth. WHERE THE CROSS IS NOT WORKING IN A PEOPLE, 
YOU HAVE NO EXPRESSION OF CHRIST. Where you have no expression of Christ, 
you have no Church. So the Cross and the Church are inseparable. Look at 
the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Right in the midst of the 
midst of the midst stands the Lamb as though he were slain. The throne is 
always relegated to God and the Lamb. Finally, in the last and ultimate 
view of a people in manifestation of Him, the Church as the city, you 
still have the throne of God and the Lamb. You never can separate a 
people who are an expression of Christ from the Cross, because it is the 
Cross that makes possible that expression. 
 
You see, what is of ourselves by nature, and what is of this present 
world is not the Church. The Church is Christ expressed corporately. It 
is the Cross that eliminates what we are by nature and can not give Him 
expression. Where are we ourselves eliminated? By the Cross! Look at the 
picture. You've got a building with a cross on it, and people in it 
trying to be like Jesus - trying to be an expression of the Lord. What I 
want to get down in our hearts is the Church is not trying to do or be 
anything. The Church is that expression of Him! All of this is unto the 
Perfect Man finally having His expression. Where He's being revealed in a 
people, and people are in expression of Him - there is the Church! 
 
The Church is the result of the Cross! I have said that it was the result 
of the revelation of Christ, but you see, Christ is never revealed aside 
from the working of the Cross! You'll never see Christ and not at the 
same time see, 'My God, it's not me, it's Christ!' That's the Cross - 
that's the instrument that's the wisdom of God, that's the power of God, 
that's the Cross! It ceases to be a symbol and becomes a reality, an 
understanding. Never will He be revealed in you without that 
comprehension to some degree coming to be realized in you. And it is a 
growing thing. It isn't me - it's HIM! 
 
God revealed His Son in me - Oh, I'm crucified with Him! NOT I, CHRIST 
LIVETH! That's the Cross, and the two are inseparable. And without that 
working of the Cross, you have no true expression of Him in the earth. 
And a building with a cross on it, and people in it, trying to be like 
Jesus is no substitute for the true Church, though we've made it one. No 
wonder we've had to concoct doctrines to get that idea, that form into 
heaven. And it's a poor expression of heaven. No wonder we've had to 
concoct an idea that He's going to come and take this off the earth 
before the devil gets it. That kind of understanding leaves an open door 
for all of that kind of doctrine - a people struggling, a people trying 
to stay a step ahead of the devil, a people looking for gloryland - and 
we call that the Church! You've got to come up with some kind of a 
doctrine that will alleviate their suffering, and give them some kind of 
hope. 
 
So you look at verses of scripture that teach a reality of relationship, 
and you dispensationalize those things and make doctrines and events out 
of those things, and tell the Church, 'one day this will happen to you.' 
And in fact, all of those things speak of a relationship which is the 
Church. But once you see the difference, you at least can understand how 
these things got an entrance to get in, and how they are perpetuated now 
by ministry that is set in place. But we have a High Priest that has once 
entered into the heavens, and we by Him! Hallelujah! It's out from the 
heavens that the Church comes. The Church, though it is a manifestation 
of Christ on earth, is not an earthly, carnal vehicle waiting to go 
somewhere. The Church is a manifestation of Christ coming right out of 
the heavens into the earth, or it isn't the Church! 
 
The Cross. The Cross producing a true comprehension of Christ - NOT I, 
BUT CHRIST! Only then the Church, which is His Body, becomes the Church, 
which is the expression of His Person. Only as the Cross produces a true 
comprehension of Christ - Not I, but Christ; only then does the Church, 
which is His Body, become the Church, which is the expression of His 
Person. I want to deal now with the Cross in that relationship - The 
Cross seen as a Person - The Person of the Cross - THE CROSS AS A PERSON. 
We know there is The Man appointed to die. In the Greek it is all 
mankind, without reference to gender, race, nationality - man as Adam. It 
is all men, or The Man. Jesus in that form comes to the cross - as all 
men, or The Man. The result of this is the I AM, the New Man, who is to 
have His expression as the Church. And here we have all New Man. The Man 
was by death, but the New Man is by resurrection.  
 
In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul makes a statement. "I have determined to know 
nothing among you (The Church) save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
That is not a sermon, that's an understanding. "So that your faith would 
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." This is Paul's 
view of Christ to the Church - Christ and Him Crucified! He's not talking 
about a dead Christ, but Christ and Him crucified. The crucifixion of 
Christ embraces His death, His burial and His resurrection. Paul says 
that's the testimony of God. Let's look at what the term "Christ and Him 
crucified" is all about. He's not just a Jew hanging on a cross. It's not 
a symbol, but it's an ongoing reality of the power and the working of the 
Cross. Not Christ and Him dead - Christ and Him crucified. Paul says, "I 
am crucified. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me." That 
is Christ and Him crucified! I am crucified with Him. Christ and Him 
crucified is one who is forever dead to sin; forever dead to the first, 
and forever alive unto God! So Paul says 'I am crucified with Him - 
forever dead to all of the first and forever alive by Him unto God! Not 
I, Christ liveth in me.' Christ and Him crucified.  
 
In the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ He is revealed there to 
John as Christ and Him crucified. "I am He that liveth. I was dead, but I 
am alive forever more." He is revealed there as one who is forever dead 
to sin and forever alive unto God. No wonder sin shall have no dominion 
over you - forever dead to sin, forever alive unto God! CHRIST AND HIM 
CRUCIFIED! The Church is to be in the earth the expression of one forever 
dead to sin, forever alive unto God - Christ and Him crucified! It's the 
reality of the Cross.  
 
Let's look at Hebrews 2:9-11. "But we see Jesus, who for a little while 
was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death.  But we see 
Jesus crowned with glory and honor. And it is because He submitted 
Himself to taste death for every man. Wherefore God hath highly exalted 
Him." But looking to the Man for whom God is after; The Man to whom God 
looketh, the Man of whom God spoke when He said, 'My glory is his, my 
dominion is his.' We find it not in the first man - BUT WE SEE JESUS. We 
see Jesus who for a little while was made lower than the angels for the 
suffering of death. But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor; in 
that He suffered death for every man He is now crowned with glory and 
honor and it is in Him that we see the Man of God's own heart! You look 
at man after Adam and you're disappointed. BUT WE SEE JESUS! 
 
We see Jesus bringing many unto glory, so that He's not ashamed to stand 
in the midst of them and sing praises unto God and identify Himself with 
them as brethren. We see Jesus. But the Jesus we see is CHRIST AND HIM 
CRUCIFIED! Hebrews 9:26,"For then must he have often suffered since the 
foundation of the world, but now once, in the end of the age..." Age, not 
world, not cosmos, collective humanity. In the Bible, an age is defined 
by the inhabitants of it. So the age that he's talking about is the end 
of humanity, the age of man. For those who are in Him, the age of man has 
come to an end. By the Cross the age of man has come to an end, and God 
recognizes a New Man. If you think God deals with you as white or black, 
or Jew or Greek - you're wrong. He dealt with you that way at the Cross! 
And that judgment was not whether I was right or wrong, that judgment is 
- I am dead! Me in anything is wrong! If this that I'm doing is a true 
expression of Christ, then it's fine. If it isn't then it's an expression 
of me, and if it's an expression of me it doesn't make any difference 
whether it's a right one or a wrong one - it's all wrong. It's dead! 
 
Here's the judgment - "ONCE" - you'll see it three times here. The 
problem with believers is man can not face finality. We like things to be 
ongoing. God brings things to an end, not as we know end, but God brings 
things to completion, and that completion is ever ongoing. God brings 
things to a final, consummate end. He did so at the Cross with one 
mankind. He will do so by the revealing of Christ with a New Mankind, and 
this mankind shall finally come to give Him full expression. You and I 
may or may not be part of that, but God will have that, because He has 
already got it in His Son. See, we can argue all we want to whether we're 
dead or not. By the Son - we're dead! So God has nothing to argue about. 
In the eternity of eternities it is so. We see it in the book of the 
Revelation of Jesus Christ. There's the Lamb slain - God looks at His Son 
and says it's once done, it's always before my face, it's once done. The 
judgment is there, and based on that, I judge you. What a judgment! It's 
not an issue of doctrine with God, but with many of us it is.  
 
Finally it's all got to come to the Cross, if you go along with the Lord, 
because He brought it to the Cross. It's got to come to a finality. It 
isn't right, wrong or indifferent. It's either dead or alive! It is me or 
Christ! And man as man hates that. If there's one fear that all mankind 
has it is the fear of death. We hate finality. So when the Cross brings 
us to a finality and says, 'You're dead', we say, 'Well, I'm trying to 
die.' No - you're dead. 'I'm just going to die daily'. YOU ARE DEAD! But 
that's too final for us. Yes, we're ever learning that, but we're ever 
learning that we're dead, not that we're dying. The point is we are dead! 
Paul was saying there that daily I am a dead man, daily I have no life 
but Christ. He wasn't trying to die for Jesus. It's got to soon come to a 
finality, and its ever ongoing with us. And every time you come to be 
faced with the Cross, it's going to be a finality. It was that way before 
we ever faced it - we just didn't face it. It's settled. There's the 
judgment by which I'm judged, and the judgment that you and I must be in 
the earth.  
 
We're not called to run around and judge each other, but we are called to 
be a judgment in the earth. And the judgment in the earth is the Cross. 
We are to be a people whose very life says it is 'Not I, but Christ'! We 
are to be a people whose very life style and mannerisms say 'I am dead, 
He is my life'. I don't have to go around judging you. We are a judgment 
in the earth, and that's the only true judgment that there is. And out 
from that comes all understanding, all wisdom and knowledge. And aside 
from the Cross there is no true wisdom and there is no true understanding 
and knowledge - it is only in the Cross.  
 
So Paul says, "Therefore we thus judge, when one died, all died with 
Him." Based upon that judgment, we can not know each other after the 
flesh, we can not make judgments based upon that realm. We try to 
understand each other by our colors or by our special problems. No - 
you've got to understand that you're just as dead as a doornail and that 
there's no life except Christ. There's the judgment. And there's where 
we've got to start dealing with one another. I'm not going to deal with 
you like you're white or black, male or female, or have a special line of 
problems. God doesn't deal with us like that. He just takes us to the 
Cross - you're just dead, and you have no life but Christ! You want 
understanding - there is understanding. You want wisdom - there is 
wisdom. Handle your problems and your situations in that understanding 
and wisdom. Deal with one another in that knowledge. There's judgment! 
 
This is the Cross as it relates to the Church, that expression of Him. We 
have the Church as a bunch of Christian people running around trying to 
figure out right and wrong. We do that on every level because we hate 
finality. "Wait a little longer, sweet Jesus." That's why we're so sold 
on the doctrine of His coming, and refuse to understand that the word 
there is an expression of Him in a people - THAT HE IS COME! But I'm not 
ready for that. Give me another year and I'll get ready. His coming 
waiteth for no man! 
'What would you do if Jesus came and spent some time with you?' We'd 
rather have it that way, because in between those times I could do 
whatever I wanted to, within certain Christian legal limits. But what 
would you do if you come to find out that Jesus IS IN YOU? And HE'S 
ALREADY COME! You'd do what Paul did - you'd fall on your face and say, 
'My God, I am wretched and there's only one way out of the body of this 
death. I am crucified with Christ.' That's the only way out of it - THE 
CROSS! NOT I, BUT CHRIST! Look at the creation that takes care of. Not 
I - look at what that has eliminated! Not I - that's the power, that's 
the finality of the Cross. THE ONLY I LEFT AFTER THE CROSS IS THE I AM! 
 
And that is the I that is come to be made manifest in the earth called 
the Church - the Church which is His Person. That's the only I that God 
recognizes. Not I - a whole creation, a whole existence wiped out; a 
whole basis of relationship exterminated. But we don't like that 
finality. God help us - many of us, if we were in the crowd at the Cross 
would have been saying, 'If you're the Son of God, come down from there.' 
And He is there saying, 'Because I am the Son of God, I am here!' NOT I! 
What a soul transforming realization, and it releases us into - BUT 
CHRIST! It releases us into all of the fulness that He Himself is! What 
a release that is! Nothing around me has died - I died. I've come to the 
realization - I'm dead. I don't burn down my house and divorce my wife, 
quit my job and sell my car - nothing dies but me. But my relationship to 
all of that is totally different now. CHRIST LIVETH IN ME! He rules. He 
reigns! Christ liveth in me. That's a hard pill to swallow for those who 
have not come to the Cross, because we're always counting everything it's 
going to cost. How silly can we be. We're acting like we're not dead; 
we're acting like if we just don't recognize it, it's not so. If I don't 
accept it, He didn't do it and God won't demand it.  
 
That's like Abraham and Ishmael - if he just insists Ishmael is the heir, 
God will say okay. Abraham went along like that for thirteen or fourteen 
years - you know he's telling that boy about his inheritance and 
rehearsing all the promises. And then the Lord appeared to Abraham. I 
read that and thought, 'What a time for the Lord to appear!' And the Lord 
spoke different to him there than He did at any other time. He said, 
"Walk before me, and be thou perfect." Finality has come upon you 
Abraham. Circumcision - back to the altar, so that it would be Isaac. 
Isaac wasn't one among the sons - he was the only son. Christ is not one 
of my lives. He is the only life! He's not one among many. He's the only 
One! He's to be manifested in many! 
 
The finality of the Cross is what I'm talking to you about. The Cross 
becoming a Person, the Cross becoming all man - the Man, mankind, unto 
death; and the New Man unto life. And before the Church can ever become 
the expression of His Person, we must face the Cross as a Person. NOT I, 
BUT CHRIST! Finality. While finality is a thing mankind hates to face, 
there is such a great relief and freedom and joy once faced. "Stand fast 
now in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free." To be finally 
over and done with it, and not have to make endless decisions concerning 
it. The Cross. What's the name God gives to all of this? REST - finally 
we are at rest. And what a rest! Our labors are all along the line of 
rest, and entering into rest. It's not the strivings of the flesh and 
right and wrong - it's rest. When people die we say 'we laid them to 
rest.' 
 
"What, know ye not that so many of us as have been baptized into 
Christ..." Laid to rest. And in fact the term there that signifies rest 
also means 'a laying down' in the Greek. Strife is over. Now, learning 
Him is ever before us, but learning Him is not a debate with the flesh, 
it's not an act of strife, but a walk in the Spirit. The Cross has got to 
become the Person. 
 
Now Ephesians 2. We know all these things, but it's ever ongoing. Verse 
14, "For he is our peace, who hath made both one." You understand that 
the both here is all men - Jew and Gentile. "...who hath made both one, 
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition.." That's what He's 
done. Now, how has He done it? "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity 
(the struggle, the strife) to make in himself of two, one new man, and so 
making peace." How did He do that? How did He ever reconcile that? Here's 
how He did this. "And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body 
by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." The Revised Standard 
Version says, "And might reconcile us both to God in one body by the 
cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end." What do I mean? When 
did the Cross become a Man? When He took both and made them all one man 
in his body of death - by the Cross.  
 
The New Man is not made up of two; the Body is just Christ - it's never 
been Jew, it's never been Gentile. It's from a new birth, a New Creation, 
birthed by Christ, He as the firstborn. When did the Jew and the Gentile 
become one? Not in the New Man, because there's no such thing there to 
become one. In the New Man there is just one - one living! Not me, not 
you - HIM! We by Him! Not we as a Jew, not we as a Gentile. We as 
birthed by Him, we as those who have no life but Christ; as though we 
have never ever existed before.  
 
That's what born anew stands for. It talks about an original birth, not a 
second birth. There is no such thing as a second birth - that's what 
Nicodemus thought. Jesus said I'm not talking about a second birth, I'm 
talking about a new birth - born anew! Then where did He make them one? 
He made them one in the body by the Cross! They became one man and He 
killed them both - He crucified them as one - one man, dead as a 
doornail. That's the only reconciliation. The Bible says we are 
reconciled by His death, we are saved by His Life! Here is 
reconciliation, and here is the ministry of reconciliation of the Church. 
We call 'ministry of reconciliation' trying to get each other to get 
along with ourselves, try to get us to accept each other. Someone said, 
"Brother, you just have to accept me as I am." And I said, "I don't know 
why. God didn't." He accepts us as Christ is. As Christ is - here we 
stand. We are not unique forms of Christ. He only has one form. And we 
are to be conformed to that image, that form. He doesn't need any unique 
expressions. People say, 'whatever I do, you just have to accept it and 
know that it's just not me, it's Jesus.' Be careful with that, friends. 
If it's me doing anything, I can tell you, it's not Jesus in any form. 
It's just the same old Adamic man trying to get away from the Cross. It's 
the same old Adamic man trying to escape finality and blaming it on God.  
 
He made us one at the Cross - that's where both became one. In the New 
Man, in the Body, neither are found at all. So the Church can not be an 
expression of me or you, it must be the expression of Him! Before the 
Church is the expression of His Person, the Cross must become to us a 
Person! Except there be the working of the Cross, there is no expression 
of the Person, there's just an expression of flesh in one form or 
another, and that's not the Church! 
 
 
Lord, we thank you for your great grace and mercy extended to us in 
the abundance of the measure of Christ Jesus our Lord. Now by thine 
own Spirit reveal Him in us. AMEN.