What is the church? The building on the corner? An organization of like-minded individuals? Any gathering of Christians? With everything, but especially in Scriptural matters, we benefit greatly from having not only a correct understanding, but a comprehensive one. In this post, we’ll continue to examine what the Bible teaches us about the church and explore one of its most mysterious but fundamental aspects: The Body of Christ. Often misunderstood as merely an inspiring metaphor, the Body of Christ is a spiritual reality. And a proper Scriptural vision of the Body of Christ affords us an unparalleled understanding of our relationship with Christ, other believers, and God’s purpose.
Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body.” The church is not merely like a human body, having a head and associated members; the church is the Body of Christ. This is mysterious, and the Apostle Paul admits as much in Ephesians 5:32: “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” Paul’s unique experience of salvation and of meeting Jesus Christ makes him uniquely qualified to speak on this aspect of the Church. A young and zealous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, had made a career of persecuting Christians. (Acts 22:4; Phil. 3:6) Acts 9:3-5 records Saul’s salvation experience: And as he went, he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute.
The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Saul in glory with a perplexing question: “Why are you persecuting me?” Surely Saul was confused. He had been authorized to seize Christians, the followers of Jesus, but Saul had never met Jesus in the flesh. Yet, the Lord accused Saul of persecuting Him directly. We can’t be sure when this monumental realization became clear to him, but we do know that Paul is the only writer of the New Testament to call the church the Body of Christ. According to the Spirit’s inspiration, Paul mentions the Body of Christ at least 11 times throughout his epistles. Colossians 1:18 says, “And He is the Head of the Body, the church,” and Ephesians 5:30 tells us: “we are members of His Body.” It was clear to Paul that every Christian, every believer in Christ, was mysteriously yet undeniably one with Christ Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, he writes, “For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” The conclusion of this verse is striking. Based on the progression, a careful reader would expect Paul to conclude by saying: “so also are the believers.” It’s easy to understand how the believers could be considered a body, an organized group of people. But Paul explicitly states that Christ has many members. These many members are not merely followers of Jesus Christ and His teachings, but organically united with Christ as the constituents of His universal Body. Jesus Himself conveys a similar thought in John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Consider a vine and its branches. The parts are distinct; you can distinguish one from another. Yet they are also a single organism; one cannot be affected apart from the other. In our daily walk with Christ, we probably have the thought that we are following Him, but apart from the revelation in the Scriptures, we would not dare to say that we are a part of Christ. We may not think of ourselves as qualified to be identified with Jesus Christ in such a close and intimate way. But the Apostle Paul and even Christ Himself were so bold.
This profound realization not only affects our relationship with Christ but also with the other members of His body. In Ephesians 4:15-16, Paul writes: But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
Our individual walk with Christ and growth in life equals “the operation of the measure of each one part.” This operation not only causes our individual growth but, more importantly, the growth of the Body of Christ. In the Body of Christ, He is the Head, and we, the believers, are His members. As members of Christ’s Body, we are not only members of Him but also of one another. Romans 12:4-5 says, “For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” This is an extraordinarily liberating realization. As members of the Body of Christ, we are not in competition but in coordination. As we grow individually, our function in the Body is manifested. (Rom. 12:6) At times, we have thought other believers were much better than us. That their function was surely necessary, but we were surely expendable. This is wrong! Every member of the Body of Christ is necessary, and no one can replace another. Yes, each member needs to “hold the head” by remaining in fellowship with Christ and walking with Him (Col. 2:19). But every member’s function is also unique; we do not all have the same function. Not only are you invaluable because you’re a member of Christ’s body, but also within the Body of Christ, you are indispensable. We need to consider one another, care for one another, and love one another, “because we are members of His Body.” (Eph. 5:30)
We hope this post has helped you gain a revelation of the Body of Christ. The importance of this Scriptural understanding of the church cannot be overstated. So we should pray to the Lord, and ask Him, as Paul did in Ephesians 1:18-17, for a spirit of wisdom and revelation and to enlighten the eyes of our hearts. It is not too much to ask the Lord: “Lord Jesus, I want to see what Paul saw. I want to know the church as the Body of Christ. I want to grow and I want to function as a member of Your Body.” If we truly see that the church is the Body of Christ, our Christian life will be irrevocably changed.
