Members of One and the Same Body

Members of One and the Same Body

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” No, the vast majority are completely ignorant of it! Neither are the vast majority of all those who believe in the atonement members of the body of Christ. If they were, it would be a terrible body and definitely not the body of Christ. 1 Cor. 6:15, 19.

According to Luke 14:26-27 and 33, only Jesus’ Christ’s true disciples (that is, everyone who truly, in every possible sense of the word, has forsaken everything of his own), can obviously be the only true members of the body of Christ! And this in turn, but in completely different words is the same as saying those who by faith are crucified with Christ, or by faith in the work of Christ have put off the old man with his deeds, have crucified the flesh with its lusts and desires, and who no longer live for themselves! Rom. 6; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Gal. 2:20; Gal. 5:24; Gal. 6:14-15; Eph. 4:20-24; Col. 3:8-10.

The fact is that it is written quite plainly and clearly—but because of ingrained unbelief it is obviously not real and is therefore only a kind of flowery expression that does not mean what it says. As far as most people are concerned, it cannot become that either because they have simply not fulfilled the conditions so that it can be realized now, in the days of our flesh. Luke 14.

All true disciples function as each other’s members of the body of Christ, of which He Himself is the head who directs everything. Therefore each member is willing to be led by Him. This is how, among such people, that wonderful unity that Jesus speaks about in John 17 can be achieved. This unity is obtained in reality, member by member, through the obedience of faith! The Lord be highly praised!

Obviously, the consequence of believing you are a member of this body is that you love to obey the head of the body, Christ, as well as loving one another sincerely with all of your heart, precisely because the other like-minded ones are members of one and the same body!

Always contemplate the members of your own body! There this cohesion, unity, love and care for each other, functions perfectly! There it is impossible to find anything that goes by the name of bearing someone a grudge, or divisions and sects, or anything similar!

Therefore, as is only reasonable, Jesus’ prayer in John 17 has been and is being fulfilled in each true disciple of Jesus Christ! And it is just as surely unobtainable—and with good reason—for all the others.