Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee

The local aspect of the church is referred to by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 18:17. The Lord Jesus in the four Gospels mentions the church only twice: once in Matthew 16:18, referring to its universal aspect, and the second time in Matthew 18:17, referring to its local aspect.

In Matthew 18 the Lord Jesus said that if we have any problem that we cannot solve, we should tell it to the church. This refers to the church in a certain locality. It would be hard to tell a problem to the universal church....If we have any problem which needs the church’s help to be solved, where shall we go? We must have a local church that we are part of, from which we can get help and to which we may go with our problems.

(Witness Lee, Basic Revelation, 66-67)

The church of Christ has two aspects. The first aspect, the universal aspect, is spoken of in Matthew 16. The universal church includes all the believers both past and present. There is only one such church, and we cannot add another to it. The universal church is unique. The second aspect, the local aspect, is spoken of in Matthew 18. The local church includes all the local believers at a certain time and in a certain place. It is limited to time and place. It can be counted. This is why we see expressions in the Bible such as the “church'' (Acts 9:31), the “seven churches'' (Rev. 1:4), and the “churches'' (1 Cor. 11:16; 14:33).

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 43, 572)

In the Lord’s mind, the church is always real; there is no such thing as a false church. Not only is this true with the universal church, but this is even true with the local churches. He says, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go, reprove him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you just like the Gentile and the tax collector. Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in heaven'' (18:15-18). In the Lord’s mind, when the church says that a brother is right, he is right, and when the church says that a brother is wrong, he is wrong.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 36, 227-228)

The word “church'' means “the called-out ones.'' The term is used twice in the Gospels, once in Matthew 16:18 and once in Matthew 18:17, and we meet it quite frequently in the Acts and the Epistles....''And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church'' (Matt. 18:17). The word “church'' is used here in quite a different sense from the sense in Matthew 16:18. The sphere of the church referred to here is clearly not as wide as the sphere of the Church mentioned in the previous passage. The Church there is a Church that knows nothing of time or place, but the church here is obviously limited both to time and place, for it is one that can hear you speak. The Church mentioned in chapter sixteen includes all the children of God in every locality, while the church mentioned in chapter eighteen includes only the children of God living in one locality; and it is because it is limited to one place that it is possible for you to tell your difficulties to the believers of whom it is composed. Obviously the church here is local, not universal, for no one could speak at one time to all the children of God throughout the universe. It is only possible to speak at one time to the believers living in one place.

We have clearly two different aspects of the Church before us--the Church and the churches, the universal Church and the local churches.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 51-52)

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