The Body of Christ

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.

This one Spirit is the Spirit in which Jesus offered Himself. Hebrews 9:14. All those who have been baptized by this one Spirit are disciples and members of the body of Jesus Christ—or, as Jesus put it, branches in Him who is the true Vine. Thus it would be absurd to say that they could do nothing. Jesus said, “He it is that bears much fruit.” John 15:5.

Jesus is also described as being the Head of the body, and we read what kind of content the Head has: “He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Colossians 1:18-19.

If He Himself is pre-eminent, this means that all the members of His body are eminent. We read further, “. . . that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge . . . For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” Colossians 2:2-3 and 9-10. You can read in Ephesians 1:19-23 about the kind of Head that has been given to the church, “. . . which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

It is quite clear from these scriptures what the body is filled with, just as Paul preached: “. . . and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:19. This development is the sanctification and growth of the disciples. Thus, having been set free from sin, they have become servants of God, and have their fruit unto sanctification. Romans 6:22.

Jesus appointed in the church such servants as could help the saints—those who were disciples—to row and be perfected in their work of ministry, to the edification of the body. Ephesians 4:11-13. We see further how the development of the disciples progresses, “. . . until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” The disciples have this growth until they “all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.”

We cannot have a greater education than to be perfected in the work of ministry, to the edification of the body of Christ. We receive this education when the death of Jesus is active in our body. Then we also understand the importance of serving the other members of the body. We cannot serve in the church unless Jesus’ death is working in our own body.

If it is true, that it is working, how can there be division among the believers? There can’t be, if we believe the gospel! “Is Christ divided?” All the Corinthians understood that this was not so; nevertheless, they quarreled among themselves. If Paul, Cephas, and Apollos had sought their own, then three factions would soon have arisen. 1 Corinthians 1:10-15. But the three of them were servants of Jesus and were able to help the saints to come into the growth and development that we have read about.

The Corinthians were still carnal, infants in Christ. Yet in the same chapter Paul thanked God for the grace that had been given to them in Jesus Christ, for in Him they had become enriched with all doctrine and all knowledge and every spiritual gift, and they were waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ. Clearly, Paul, Cephas, and Apollos were one. See Chapter 3. They themselves had become what the others were to become—and they were to help them to that end. Consequently, it was impossible for divisions—three factions—to develop. As servants in the church and members of the same body, their ministries varied, yet they were one and reckoned themselves as nothing. Only God, who gave the growth, was anything. Verses 5-9.

All the different religious denominations have nothing to do with the body of Christ, even though they explain and twist everything to make it appear biblical. When they explain something, you should ask, “Where is that written?” You will soon notice that if they do reply by quoting Scripture, they nevertheless quickly set out to explain it away. They don’t accept it as it is written, but interpret it falsely, as Peter writes: “And count the longsuffering of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable interpret falsely, as they do the other scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:15-16.

Peter and Paul were one. No matter how wretched the saints were in the beginning, Peter and Paul could serve them. There was no division. There were, however, many to whom these words of Jesus apply: “If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fir and burned.” John 15:6.

It is fairly obvious that none of these religious assemblies have ever really heard the gospel. They believe the gospel to be nothing more than the forgiveness of sins, and that the life of Jesus lived will be imputed to them without partaking of it personally, because they believe it is something they will receive in heaven.

It is quite apparent that despite everything these religious people say about being a disciple, about Jesus being the Head, the church being His body, and we being God’s children, they are just phrases they use which have nothing to do with the gospel. For them, only the message about forgiveness of sins is of any importance. If you speak the truth to them, they reply: “You must not judge.” But those who love the truth experience the truth and the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer, “that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.” John 17:21-23. Verses 7 and 8 tell us that the glory, which the Father gave Jesus and which Jesus gave His disciples, was God’s Word. Unless we keep God’s Word there will be no glory, nor can we be one with the Father and the Son.

This, then, is how we ought to do our missionary work. Every kind of work that has a form of godliness, without the power to conquer sin so that the believers can become one, is just a deception. 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

There are a number of scriptures where the words likewise, even as, and so, are used when speaking about Jesus and about us. In John 17 we see this in several places, e.g.: “As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” Verse 18. This is particularly fitting when we think of Jesus as Lord and Master and ourselves as His apprentices. Then these will not be merely empty words, but the truth. Then we are in the new covenant: “Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’ as it is written of me.” Hebrews 10:7. And the Word also becomes flesh in us, just as it became flesh in Him, as long as God’s grace is over us for our own education and for carrying out His work in the world. When the time of grace is over, the rapture will come.

“But as to the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night . . . .” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. Since He is coming like a thief, you would have thought we needed to know the day and the hour. But Jesus’ disciples don’t need to know because they do what is written: “therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning.” Philippians 2:12-14.

“Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3. This is precisely what Jesus’ disciples are doing whether the time of His return is close at hand or far off; in fact, this is the only way for us to live. However, there are varying degrees of zeal and seriousness. We read about working out our salvation “with fear and trembling.” “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29.

We don’t hear such things among religious people, and that is why they are so keen on calculating the time for Jesus’ return. But, because of the doctrine they have, they have no chance of preparing for it. After all, “Jesus has done everything,” as they say, and “we shall do nothing.” They are all “perfect in Him.” We read that Christ “. . . has entered not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf . . . And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:24-28.

This passage makes it clear that He is not coming the second time the way He came the first time. The first time, He came to take away the sins of many. The second time, He will be coming to take those who are the product of His first coming. In the book of Revelation it is written, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:7.

“But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief . . . So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober . . . but, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-10. And Paul continues, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Verse 11.

Jesus’ disciples have a glorious calling—a “heavenly calling.” “But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” 1 Corinthians 11:31-32. “For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If the righteous man is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and sinner appear?’” 1 Peter 4:17-18.

The righteous man is the one who judges himself. He is among those who, like living stones, are built into a spiritual house. 1 Peter 2:5. Such souls love the truth and will not be condemned together with the world. This is our heavenly calling. But all those who, when they hear the truth, say, “Judge not!” are among the ungodly; for whom God’s wrath is appointed. “Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will render to every man according to his works.” Romans 2:4-6.

From the above we understand that when the time of grace is over, the church—the body of Christ—will have nothing more to do on earth. Then will come the rapture and the marriage of the Lamb. All those bodies in whom the death of Christ has been active and the life of Christ has been revealed will be raptured.