No. 1
The church is a divine conception and formation; it was conceived in God's mind and heart in eternity, purchased in time by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved the church and gave Himself for it, and formed by the work of the Holy Spirit. While upon earth the Lord Jesus spoke of "My church," saying that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. This is not the view that men on earth have of the church; nor is it the responsible aspect of it that we are given in certain parts of Scripture; it is the church as God thinks of it, and as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are privileged to view it. Although spoken of by the Lord Jesus on earth, it was not until He ascended on high, and the Holy Spirit came, that the church was formed; and a special vessel was chosen, the Apostle Paul, to be minister of the church. It is from the ministry of this apostle that we learn the wonderful relationship in which the church stands to the Lord Jesus Christ as His body.
"Why persecutest thou Me?" (Acts 9:4)
Breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, Saul of Tarsus journeyed towards Damascus to apprehend men and women to bring them bound to Jerusalem, and as he neared the city, a light from heaven caused him to fall to the earth, and he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" What an amazing effect that light produced in his soul; it dimmed for ever for him the glory of this world, for it brought to him the knowledge of the glory of God that shined in the face of Jesus Christ. This light gave character to his preaching as a servant of the Lord; he bore witness to the glory he saw that day, preaching the glory of Christ, who is the image of God; and speaking of the glory shining unveiled in the face of the Lord. The voice he heard proclaimed the truth of the church's union with a heavenly, exalted Christ, a truth which belongs to that great mystery that was hidden from ages and generations. What an astounding discovery Saul made that day: the Lord from heaven revealed to him that in making havoc of the church he was persecuting its Head in His members. Here was the nucleus of the truth that Saul was called to minister, for the Lord not only made him minister of the Gospel, but also minister of the church.
"one body in Christ." (Romans 12:4-5)
In exhorting the saints in relation to the measure of faith given to each one by God, the Apostle Paul introduces the truth of the one body to tell them that what has been given to each is for the benefit of the whole Christian circle. We are not to have high thoughts of ourselves, but to be wise, realising that anything we possess comes from God for the good of His people. None of the members of the human body acts for itself as if it were an isolated or independent unit, but it functions in harmony with every other member of the body for the well-being of the whole body. Thus it is in this mystical body; there are many members; all have not the same office; we have different gifts, according to the grace divinely given, and are therefore to occupy ourselves with our gifts for the help and blessing of the various members of the body. This Scripture teaches the relationship in which we are to each other as Christians; we are members one of another, and as being "In Christ," we together form one body.
Romans 8 prepares the way for the introduction of the truth of "One body in Christ," for there we read that the believer is viewed by God as being "In Christ." In our natural condition we were in Adam, born under his headship and sharing in the results of the ruin produced by his fall; but God, in wondrous grace has not only justified us, but has transferred us from Adam to Christ, where we benefit from all that has been secured by His death. As being "In Christ," we have the free gift of righteousness and justification of life, for God has given to us the life of the One in Whom we have been justified; and this life is ours as having the Holy Spirit, Who is "The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." The next step to showing that we are individually "In Christ" is to show that "We, being many, are one body in Christ." It teaches not only the interdependence of the various members of the Christian circle, but also the unity that exists in a corporate relationship.
It is well that we should observe the truth of unity as made known here in connection with the body, for we are living in a day when this great truth is in danger of being lost. There is but ONE body in Christ; yet all around we have those who speak of different Christian bodies, recognising what is so utterly at variance with the word of God. The ONE BODY is composed of every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; of every one that, having the life of Christ, is "In Christ." No other body is recognised by God, and no other will be recognised by those who know the mind of God and seek to do His will. If God has given to us the gift of prophecy, or service, or teaching, or exhorting, or giving, or whatever it might be in His grace, let us endeavour to occupy ourselves in these things according to the truth of the one body in Christ.
"one loaf, one body." (1 Corinthians 10:17)
Communion is the subject in this passage of Scripture — the communion of Christ's death that is set forth in the elements of which we partake at the Lord's Supper. "The body of Christ" of 1 Cor. 10:16 is clearly the holy body of our blessed Lord, which He laid down in death for us; but the "one body" of the verse that follows refers to the Christian company. It is of one loaf that we all partake, for there is but one circle of Christian fellowship. There are other circles of fellowship in this world, but only ONE of Christian fellowship. In 1 Cor. 10:18 we read of Israel's fellowship, and in the verses that follow the Apostle speaks of the fellowship of demons; and there are many other circles of communion among men that we hear about; but to none of these does the Christian belong. The death of Christ has not only brought us into entirely new relationships in the one body, but it has broken our links with every other circle of fellowship in this world. This ONE fellowship we have been called to by God Himself; it is the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and His death is the foundation and bond of it. While at the Supper we are remembering the Lord, and announcing His death; the one loaf upon the table, bringing before us His precious body given in death to express His great love for us, and also the unity of the fellowship into which His death has brought us. In partaking of that one loaf are we not committed to walk in the light of Christ's death, and in the light of the unity into which we have been brought in the one body? On the table before Jehovah of old there were twelve loaves, representing the twelve tribes of Israel; now there is but one loaf representing the whole church of God. This truth was very necessary for the Corinthians with all their parties and divisions; they needed to learn that the church was one, for their actions tended to deny the oneness of the saints of God — the unity of the body. And is not this great truth as necessary for us today, with the church divided and in ruins? How blessed it is that in spite of all the grievous failure and break-up, we can still, though in great weakness, endeavour to walk in the light of the unity of the body, recognising no other fellowship but the one fellowship into which all Christians have been called.
This chapter opens with the subject of spiritual manifestations, which God gave to His people for profit, not for self-glorification; all these manifestations are operated by one and the same Spirit. The truth of the one body follows, and in relation to what had gone before, evidently to regulate the exercise of the spiritual gifts, whether when the saints were gathered together in assembly, or on any other occasion. As in Romans 12, the human body is used to illustrate the associations into which God has brought the saints with each other. Neither in Romans 12, nor 1 Corinthians 12, have we Christ's relationship as the Head of the body, the church. Christ's Headship in Romans 5 is contrasted with the headship of Adam; He is the Head of a new race; in 1 Corinthians 11 Christ is the Head of every man. Christ could not be spoken of as the Head of the body where the human eye or ear are used as illustrations of members of the one body. The truth of the body not only sets forth the relationship of all saints on earth at any given time; it sometimes has in view all the saints from Pentecost until the rapture; and in this chapter, where we have the expression "Christ's body," there is a local application of the truth to the saints at Corinth.
(1 Cor. 12:12)
How evident is the unity of the human body which is brought before us in this verse very emphatically; and how many are its members, all individually distinct, yet all forming part of one living organism. It is the same with the mystic body that takes its name from Christ; the Christ Who died that this wonderful organic unity might be formed gives His Name not only to each member (the name of Christian), but to the whole company. This seems to follow what we have in Genesis 5:2, "Male and female created He them, and called their name Adam." The saints of God have received the life of Christ, and they bear the character of Christ, so that it is no wonder that they bear His Name. From other Scriptures we shall learn that the church has been derived from Christ, and united to Him, and while these great truths are not taught here, it might well be that they are implied.
(1 Cor. 12:13)
A definite operation of the Spirit of God brought the church into existence as one body, on the day of Pentecost. Such an organism had never been in this world before: it was altogether different from any company of saints that God had owned in past dispensations. Its formation depended on the completion of the work of the cross, on the ascension of the Lord Jesus to heaven, and on the descent of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit indwelt each individual believer, each one of the assembled company, sitting upon each of them, and filling them all. What great results belong to the descent of the Spirit: there was the work in relation to each individual, the baptising into one body of the whole company, and the formation of "a habitation of God by the Spirit."
From John's Gospel we learn that God had revealed to the Baptist that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit, and of his testimony to this we read in the Synoptic Gospels. At the beginning of the Acts the Lord instructs the disciples to remain at Jerusalem until they were baptised with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit relates to the whole company; it is not spoken of in Scripture as the Spirit's action on an individual. There was the outpouring of the Spirit in Caesarea, which reminded Peter of what the Lord had said about the baptism of the Spirit (Acts 10:45; Acts 11:16), but the Scripture does not even say that the special action of the Spirit in bringing in that company of Gentiles was the baptism of the Spirit. It certainly was on the same line as the outpouring of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, and even if it was conceded to be the same, it was in relation to a company of saints and not an individual.
It might be well to observe in passing that the operations of the Spirit, mentioned in this chapter, are because of the Spirit's presence in the house of God; and this is not to be confused with the indwelling of the Spirit in each believer. Moreover we have all been given to drink of one Spirit, which distinguishes for us the portion of the individual. As having thus received the Spirit, He indwells us individually, and becomes to us the seal of God, the anointing, and the earnest; shedding abroad in our hearts the love of God, and bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. But it is of the one Spirit that all have drunk.
There are many different bodies of professed Christians in the world, but there is only one body that the Spirit has formed by His baptism; and in this body there are those of different nationalities and social standing. How the professed church has drifted from the divine thought of the one body! How utterly opposed is all the nomenclature of Christendom to the truth of God! There is no room for Methodist church, Free church, National churches or any such names or organisations in what God has formed. The church is not a voluntary organisation, conceived or formed by man; it is God's assembly; a company that owes its origin to the will of God, the work of Christ, and the baptism of the Spirit.
(1 Cor. 12:14-17)
If all realised that the body is not one member, there would not be the desire for uniformity in the things of God; there is unity, but not uniformity; there is diversity in the unity and unity in diversity. Each member of the human body is necessary for the functioning of the whole system, whether foot, hand, eye or ear; and so it is with the body of which the Holy Spirit has made us members. The Apostle would have each saint to realise that he has a part to perform in relation to all the saints of God, not only in relation to the church universally, but locally, just where he is; and it is as our service is carried out in the place where we find ourselves that we are of most help to the saints. It is so easy to desire to be something other than we are, and to be in some other locality; imagining that we would then be of greater service in the things of God. Whatever gift has been given to us, whether it appear to be of real importance or not, it is for use, and may be of much greater value than we imagine. Many may be saying: "I am not of the body" by the attitude they adopt; their actions speaking more loudly than words. The clerical system owes its existence, to a great extent, to those who are virtually saying: "I am not of the body." They are content to let others do the service for which they have been fitted of God, having little or no exercise regarding their place in the body. When we see practically all the service of what purports to be the church of God, carried out by one man, we can understand why Paul says: "For also the body is not one member but many." What is so obvious in the human body is not at all evident to many in relation to the functioning of the body in the local assembly. There is the hearing, the seeing, the smelling, and the many other necessary functions of the body, which have their corresponding parts in the body of Christ. There are those specially fitted with a discerning eye; those who can hear and judge so clearly, and those whose spiritual susceptibilities are so developed that they can more readily sense when things are right or wrong. Sisters as well as brothers have their special gifts, even if their part is not to take place in public.
(1 Cor. 12:18-20)
What rest for the heart to know that the choice of our place in the body has not been left to man, either to ourselves or to some other; that place has been marked out for us in infinite wisdom, and with perfect love. God has placed us where our part could best serve His will for the good of His church; and for our part He has fitted us perfectly in divine grace. There is therefore no room for envy; no room for self-seeking; our thought should ever be not ourselves, but God's will. No one else has been fitted for the part God has given us; if therefore we do not serve God where He has placed us, something will be lost by the saints of God. It has pleased God to entrust us with some special function in the body, and it is by functioning according to His will that we can give Him pleasure. We can please God in relation to the circumstances of life, seeking His will in the home circle and in the business circle, bearing His testimony before the men of this world; but are we desirous of pleasing God in relation to His assembly? There are many beloved saints of God who have never learned the truth of the one body, and who have never known what it is to carry out the part in the body for which God has fitted them; if we have learned this great and precious truth, it becomes us to be in exercise before God as to how we are answering to His mind. This is a privilege that we shall never have again; let us there-fore embrace it so as to be of some service to the saints of God, in carrying out the will of God in the place He knew was best for us. God's thought in forming the body with many members is that all should have their part within the circle where the unity is manifest in the diversity of the operations of the Spirit of God.
(1 Cor. 12:21-22)
If those who refuse or neglect to take their part in the assembly of God have been largely responsible for the rise and maintenance of the unscriptural clerical system, there have been, and are, those who have also helped to sustain it by usurping to themselves the functions that belonged to other members of the one body. Such may not be aware of the gravity of their actions, nor would they claim verbally to be independent of other Christians, yet by their actions they plainly say to other members of the body: "I have not need of thee." Whatever may be said or done to the contrary, every member of the body is necessary for its well-being; what men think is of little account; we should seek to learn what God's thoughts are regarding His church. The value of any particular member of the body is not to be determined by its apparent degree of usefulness; and members that may appear weaker are none the less necessary. Some may greatly underestimate their own usefulness; others may not be capable of appraising their true value; but they are of real use to God, and necessary for the accomplishment of His will. The apprehension of the truth brought out here will guard against the independency to which man is prone; which springs from the flesh, which in us naturally can do without God, and which in the Christian, if not judged, will do without the provision of God for the good of His assembly.
(1 Cor. 12:23-25)
How rich is God's grace, and how wonderful His care for the members of the one body! There are parts of our bodies that receive special attention, and on which honour is conferred; the feet and hands receive attentions that the face does not need. In the same way God has bestowed special care on members of the body that might otherwise have been lightly esteemed. This no doubt would have special application to the conditions that prevailed at Corinth when the Apostle wrote. The most dignified and the most useful gifts in the local assembly were not those that called most attention to themselves; but those that brought real blessing to the saints. Gifts of healing, miraculous powers, speaking with tongues, and other sign gifts were like the adornments that we give to our bodies; the gifts of greatest value were those that yielded edification, encouragement and comfort to the saints. Yet no member of the body is to be lightly thought of; God has so cared for the members that there should be no division in the body, having given to each what should be valued by all.
(1 Cor. 12:26)
No member of the human body suffers in isolation; the suffering of any one member affects the whole body, and every individual member of it. Thus it is where the truth of the one body in Christ is known and entered into; any trial or sorrow sustained by a saint of God is felt by every other member of the assembly. We suffer with them because they are bound up with us in a divine unity that binds us more closely in life and affection than any other bond of fellowship known in this world. The ties that bind men together in fellowship here are bonds that death snaps, and links that pertain to their natural pursuits and temporary welfare; but in the one body saints of God are bound together by the Holy Spirit in a unity of divine life that death cannot touch, where the interests of God hold us, and where we are occupied with each other regarding eternal things. Is it then any wonder, where these things are truly entered into, that we feel so intimately the sorrows and sufferings of our fellow-members? In the same way we enter into the joys of our brethren. The relationship is so close and so real that we can confide in saints in a way that we cannot with the most closely related in nature; and this because we know and feel the divine character of the ties that bind us together.
(1 Cor. 12:27)
The more accurate rendering of this verse is what we have given in the heading, for the Corinthians, although forming part of the body of Christ, were not the whole body. "Christ's body" is what they were locally and characteristically, as belonging to the one body, which embraces all believers united by the Spirit of God. Of all the saints in any given locality today it could be said that they were Christ's body; as forming part of the body, they bear the features of it, functioning as members of the living organic unity formed by the Spirit of God. The distinction between "The body of Christ,” and "Christ's body" has been illustrated as the distinction between a regiment of soldiers and a detachment from the main body of the regiment in some locality. Although but a small unit when compared with the regiment, a platoon would bear all the characteristics of the regiment, having its uniform, accoutrements and other distinctions. If they were Coldstream Guards, they would be referred to as Coldstream Guards, not as if they were the entire regiment of the Coldstream Guards, but as actually having the name and honour that belonged to the regiment. Amidst the ruins of the church today, it is necessary for us to realise that "Ye are Christ's body" was addressed to the whole church at Corinth, which was composed of every saint of God in that city. No company of Christians today, where the testimony of God has been broken up, could properly claim to be the local assembly, for the local assembly in any city, town or village is composed of every true saint of God there.
We have seen that in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 the human body is used to illustrate truths connected with the one body in Christ, which has been formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is not done in the Epistle to the Ephesians; the one body is brought before us as the body of which Christ is the Head; the saints are seen as not only united to each other, but united to Christ in heaven. Moreover the truth of the body is connected with other great truths with which it is not connected in the two epistles already considered.
"The church, which is His body" (Eph. 1:23).
From verses 10 and 11 of this chapter we learn of the mystery of God's will, a deep secret that He has divulged to His saints, that God has purposed to head up all things in Christ in the coming age, the administration of the fulness of times. All things on the earth and all things in the heavens will come under the Head-ship of Christ, the Man of God's counsels; for He will be the great administrator of the whole universe in the Millennium. To lay the basis in redemption for the accomplishment of all that lay in the counsel of God's will, the Lord Jesus went into death; and it was in relation to Christ in death that God intervened with the display of the exceeding greatness of His power. A display of divine power far exceeding anything that had ever been seen before in the creation took Christ out of death, and set Him down at God's right hand in the heavenlies, and gave Him supremacy above every name of the present or the coming ages. This is His place according to the counsels of God, and is the suited answer to the cross.
Now is revealed the great secret of the heart of God; in this position of supremacy and glory Christ is given a companion, one that has been divinely formed, and is therefore suitable to share His glory and companionable to Him in the day of its display. This companion has not been chosen from the angelic hosts, nor is it composed of the great men of the different dispensations; it is formed of those whom God has called, in the present dispensation, from among Jews and Gentiles, "the assembly of God, which He has purchased with the blood of His own"; the church which Christ loved, and for which He gave Himself; the vessel in which there shall be glory to God "in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages." Here, the church is presented as Christ's body; not in the local aspect al-ready considered in 1 Corinthians 12, nor yet as embracing every true saint on earth at any given moment, but as formed of every member of His body from Pentecost to the rapture. Moreover we read here of Christ filling the whole scene as if it were now an accomplished fact, and of the body as if it were already with Him in the day of the display of His glory. The little interval of time between the rapture and the coming of Christ may appear long to us, but God can pass over it as if it did not exist, and speak of what lies in His counsels as if it were already accomplished.
When Christ fills the vast universe with His own glory, and with divine blessing, He will not fill it alone. There is an aspect in which He is seen alone: "Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him"; "And again, when He brings in the firstborn into the habitable world, He says, And let all God's angels worship Him" (Rev. 1:7; Heb. 1:6). The Personal appearing of Christ as shown in these and many other Scriptures must not be forgotten, but how rich the grace, the sovereign grace of God that has planned to give the church such a blessed place along with Christ in the day when He is displayed as Head over all. It is as His body that the church is His fulness; the vessel through which Christ will express to the wide creation all that is in His heart and mind. Who else but one so intimately united to Him could set forth His thoughts and desires. While the thoughts of the body and the bride are distinguished for us in Scripture, they are in-separable. Eve was part of Adam before she was united to him; and even as Eve was the fulness of Adam, so shall the church be Christ's fulness to bring out before the whole realm of creation the glory of her exalted Head.
"Reconciled in one body" (Eph. 2:16).
The reconciliation of the individual to God is taught in such Scriptures as Romans 5 and 2 Corinthians 5; here we learn how God reconciles the Jew and Gentile to Himself. There was not only enmity between the Jew and the Gentile, but also between them both and God. Although the Jew was nigh to God as having been brought nationally into relation-ship with Him as His people, nevertheless when viewed morally there was no difference between Jew and Gentile: by nature they were all "children of wrath," and needed to he reconciled to God. Their privileges as God's earthly people had not made them any better in their practices than the Gentiles; they were dead in offences before God, and needed the quickening of God, as did the Gentiles, who were dead in trespasses and sins. In divine grace and wisdom, the enmity between the believing Jew and Gentile had been removed in the cross of Christ, for there God brought to an end the whole legal system in judgment. For the Christian, the old system is gone, and in Christ believers from Jews and Gentiles are divinely formed into a new man, in which there are none of the features that belong to Jew or Gentile, but all come from Christ. In this way, God has made peace. Before God, and before the saints of God, there are no longer two men who can quarrel with each other; there is but one man, and that an entirely new man in Christ. (Alas! so often the saints of God allow the men that God has finished with to manifest themselves; the legality of the Jew and the lawlessness of the Gentile, instead of the lovely features of the new man are allowed, and bring distress and sorrow among the people of God.)
In the cross, God also removed the enmity of the believing Jew and the believing Gentile towards Himself. The great love told out in all its fulness in the death of God's Son has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and this has driven every bit of enmity towards God away from us; it has slain the enmity. With the enmity gone, we have been brought into right relations with God in one body. A divine unity that never existed on earth before has been formed; it is composed of those who are by nature Jews and Gentiles, but who are now before God in this living, organic unity; and as separated from all the natural and religious distinctions that formerly marked them as men in the flesh. It is in this one body that we are seen in reconciliation with God. Christianity is not the continuation of Judaism or of any of its features. Men might desire to have, what they consider, the best features of the different religions on earth, but God has even set aside what He once set up on earth for man in the flesh. None of the varied features of the old man will do for God; men can never be in right relations with God so long as they hold on to anything of the old man; all belonging to this man, whether seen in Jew or Gentile, has gone in the cross, and only those who belong to the one body, that has been formed in the wisdom and the power of God, are right with God.
"A joint-body" (Eph. 3:6).
We have seen how the body is presented in relation to the accomplishment of God's purpose in chapter1, and how it is viewed in connection with reconciliation in chapter 2; in this third chapter it is introduced as forming part of the truth of the mystery. There are different parts of this great mystery, which was hid from ages and generations, and the truth of the body is a very important part, which many true saints have never realised. Paul here speaks of the special revelation that was given to him of this wonderful mystery, and of the revelation that was given by the Holy Spirit to the holy apostles and prophets of Christ. His revelation was direct from the Lord; the others received it through the Holy Spirit in quite a different way. Paul's revelation was because of his special mission; he had been entrusted with a peculiar administration of divine grace towards the saints of God, and this administration involved the unfolding of the truth of the mystery, and the preaching of the unsearchable riches of God's heavenly Christ to the Gentiles. Christ's glories as the Messiah of Israel had been unfolded in the prophecies of the Old Testament, but God had something quite new to make known in relation to Christ, glorified in heaven. There were riches in the ascended Christ far beyond anything that prophets of old could tell, that is, riches in connection with God's purposes in Him for the blessing of men; and the mystery brought out what these riches held for those whom God had blessed along with Christ. In this place of divine favour, the Jew had no pre-eminence. Together, as believers in Christ, the Jew and Gentile were joint-heirs, a joint-body, and joint-partakers of God's promise in Christ by the Gospel.
Together, they share in the wonderful inheritance, spoken of in the first chapter; together, they partake in the promise of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised before the ages of time; and together, they have part in a joint-body, in the new formation that belonged to Christianity.
In chapter1, we have seen the church to be Christ's body; in chapter 2, believers from among Jews and Gentiles form one body; here. Jew and Gentile form a joint-body. Nothing of this had ever been revealed, or even hinted at, in the Old Testament Scriptures. Israel was in a highly favoured position before God, and the promises, while holding out blessing for the Gentile in a future day, set Israel in blessing above the Gentiles. That Jew and Gentile should be jointly blessed, without discrimination or distinction of any kind, was an entirely new revelation from God. A living organism on earth, formed by the Spirit of God, in which there were no national, religious, or social distinctions, had never been heard of before. It was a conception that was all divine, and a secret that God had kept in His own bosom until Christ took His place in heaven as Man, and the Holy Spirit came to bring to pass and to light this wonderful secret. How great are God's thoughts! How wonderful His purpose and His plans! How great the grace that has formed the one body in Christ, and united it to Christ its heavenly Head. To minister the truth of this wonderful mystery, Paul was called and fitted by the Lord Jesus Christ. The mystery forms no part of the ministries of Peter and John, though both doubtless knew of it through the revelation in the power of the Spirit spoken of here. Indeed, Peter speaks of Paul, writing in his Epistles of "some things … hard to be understood;" which probably refer to these great revelations about the mystery. The Jew is not degraded by the mystery: it takes the believing Jew from an earthly position and unites him in the joint-body to Christ in heaven.
"There is one body" (Eph. 4:4).
Immediately after the exhortation to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, the unity of the body is brought to our notice, along with the truth that there is "One Spirit," and that we have also been called in one hope of our calling. This evidently teaches that we need to know the truth of the unity of the body and the truth of the hope that belongs to the Christian calling before we could really keep the unity of the Spirit. We have all, as true believers, been brought into a living unity by the Spirit of God, and this unity is the body of Christ; the one Spirit has not only formed the unity, but He is the power to maintain it in a practical way. Each believer is not indwelt or actuated by a different spirit, but by the one Holy Spirit, so that if we allow the Spirit of God to direct us, in all that belongs to God, we shall indeed be endeavouring to maintain the unity of the Spirit. But this could not be apart from the practical recognition of the unity of the body of Christ. If we live in the light of the truth of the one body, it will not only affect us in relation to every other member of the body of Christ individually; it will cause us to be exercised about the church as a whole, as forming one body, and not many bodies, as some think and say. No one at all instructed in the truth of God would say: "To which body of Christians do you belong?" The believer taught in the word of God knows and recognises practically that there is one body. This unity of the body cannot be affected by the failure of men, for it is not dependent on human efforts to maintain it; it exists as a divine formation outside the region of man's responsibility. Still, we are called upon to walk in the light of this unity, and in this we may fail grievously. The oneness that exists in the Spirit of God too remains inviolable, and yet, because of the failures of the saints, it has not been kept in a practical way. This in no way relieves us from our responsibility or takes from us the privilege of answering to the mind of the Lord in relation to the "one body, and one Spirit." If two or three are desirous of doing the Lord's will, they can go on together in the practical recognition of these great truths, and of every other truth set before us in Scripture.
(Eph. 4:12)
Our ascended Head does not desire us to remain as babes, immature in the things of God, and readily influenced by the enemies of the truth. He has made provision for us to be perfected — matured in the truth — so that the truth, held in the affections, will control the whole life, and enable us to grow up before Him in all the lovely features of His grace. With this in view, Christ has given gifts to men, "For the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ." Our perfecting is not simply to be as individuals, but as members of the body of Christ, and for this, Christ has established this work of the ministry. Ever since the coming of the Holy Spirit to form the one body, there has been this divine ministry, with all its spiritual edification for the assembly; and this ministry will continue until "we all arrive at the unity of the faith … at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ." When we get to heaven there will not be the need for edification; the spiritual building up of the body of Christ is for the time of the church's sojourn on earth. With this in view, the evangelists go out to bring souls to Christ; the pastors care for those brought in by the evangelists, and the word of God is unfolded from the writings of the apostles and prophets by the teachers. There is no doubt still a living prophetic ministry which bring the saints, through the spoken word, consciously into the presence of God. All these gifts are necessary to provide the edification needed by the body of Christ, so that we might be brought to the "knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man."
(Eph. 4:16)
Christ's provision for His saints not only includes the edification communicated through the different gifts He has given unto men, but also the grace that is given to every one of us "according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (verse 7). Added to these we also have what comes directly from the Head in heaven to the body, "the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth." Here we learn of the living union between Christ and His saints. It was of this that Saul of Tarsus learned on the way to Damascus, when the Lord said to him, "Why persecutest thou Me?" Not only is the body united to Christ the Head, but it is fitted together in divine workmanship, a vitally articulated organism, in which all the members are interdependent, and controlled and supplied by the living Head. So that the supply from the Head might reach every member of the body, He has provided the body with the joints of supply. These are not exactly "gifts," for there are no gifts as such in the body. The gifts are given "to men" and in 1 Corinthians their ministry is connected with the assembly in "the house" character. The joints of supply would seem to be those who are used by the Lord to help the saints to avail themselves of what He has provided for them. Some may do this in a local assembly, although here it is the whole church on earth that is in view. There are not the distinctions among the joints of supply as in the gifts.
How different is this divine conception and formation from man's thoughts of the church. We are not held together in a loosely formed human bond that men can alter: we are not in the church by our own choice, or with those that we have chosen to be our companions. The body of Christ is not composed of a mixture of believers and unbelievers, but only of those who have the life of their living, heavenly Head, for they are livingly united to Him. The human body is not used here as an illustration as it is used in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12; here it is Christ's body in vital union with Him, receiving its vital supply from Him, and being vitally controlled by Him.
We have been contemplating the body as a whole, but every part has its function in working according to its measure. Uniformity in action does not belong to the members of a complex living organism; each part has its own function and measure, but all working together in union for the good of the whole. Here, all work for the increase of the body in love. All have not the gifts that are enumerated in this chapter, but each one has his function to fulfil in the body of Christ for its self-edifying in love. Does not this Scripture prove the necessity of our walking and acting in the light of the truth of the body of Christ? How can we be here for the will of God as regards His church if we neglect the truth of the body? Let us also observe the place that love has in the self-edification of the body. Without love, nothing can be effected among the saints of God; this is not only inferred here, but forcibly taught in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is the great edifier! Knowledge may puff up, but love will build up.
(Eph. 4:25)
This verse not only speaks of the relationship in which we are to each other in the body, but shows its practical bearing. The Christian is viewed as having put off falsehood, that which is so natural to the old man. Now we are to speak truth, each with his neighbour, because we are members one of another. One who speaks falsehood to his neighbour is not seeking his neighbour's good, but as members of each other we know that anything that would harm a fellow-member would be harmful to ourselves. If we speak truth, we speak what is helpful, what edifies, refreshes and encourages, and what is good in the sight of God. How much that is harmful would have been avoided if saints of God had laid this salutary Scripture to heart. We should speak truth at all times because we have put off the old man, but there is an additional reason for it here in the close and living links that bind us to all the saints.
(Eph. 5:30)
If the body is to be edified in love; love has been manifested in its perfection by Christ, the Head of the body, who loved the church, and gave Himself for it. This is a love "which passes knowledge." In the opening verses of this chapter we learn how this knowledge-surpassing love has been manifested in Christ giving Himself for us, when He delivered Himself up to God as an offering and sacrifice, for a sweet-smelling savour. In verse 25 that same love is expressed in Christ giving Himself for the church, which He even now loves and cherishes, for it is His body and His bride. This Scripture manifests how intimately connected are the truths of the body and the bride of Christ. As united to Christ, we are members of His body, and have thus the privilege of expressing what Christ is as we pass through this world. A union has been formed in divine life and affection, and this union forms a living unity in which the members on earth set forth the features of their Head in heaven.
(Col. 1:18)
This epistle, though so closely linked with the Epistle to the Ephesians, does not develop, as Ephesians does, the blessings of the church; it rather brings out the greatness of Christ, the Son of the Father's love, as the Head of the body, the church. How blessed it is therefore for the saints who form the one body to know that they have such a glorious Head. What can the body lack if the Head is so great and so glorious? It is in Him that we have redemption; He is the image of the invisible God; Firstborn of all the creation, and Firstborn from the dead; indeed, He is pre-eminent in every sphere in which He is found. As members of Christ's body there is nothing for us outside of Christ; He supplies all the nourishment, direction and whatsoever else the body, His body, may need, until the moment comes for the saints to be translated from earth to heaven. The church is entirely independent of this world's resources; it needs not the help of the great or the wise of this world; all man's boasted treasures of philosophy and tradition are not only unnecessary for the church, but unwanted, for they could only come in between Christ and His saints. It was this the Colossians saints specially needed to know; and it is just as necessary for saints to know today.
"The tribulations of Christ … For his body"
(Col. 1:24)
How the Apostle Paul delighted to speak of the church, not only as the one body, but as Christ's body. This was the great truth made known in the words, "Why persecutest thou ME?" In verses 18 and 24 of our chapter, the Apostle is occupied with the thought of the union of the body with the Head in heaven. The unity of the body, the relationship in which we are set to each other in the wisdom of God and the work of the Spirit, was dear to the heart of Paul, but when he speaks of His sufferings for the church, it is because it is HIS BODY. In persecuting the members of Christ's body on earth, Paul learned that he was persecuting the Head in heaven; now he is blessedly conscious that in suffering for the saints, who form the body of Christ, he is suffering for their heavenly Head. It may be that this contrast filled his soul when writing, and gave him the special rejoicing of which he speaks. While writing this epistle, the Apostle is in prison, in Rome; he was there because of the testimony he carried to the Gentiles. He rejoiced in the privilege of suffering for the saints, and desired that they too should glory in what he was passing through for their sakes (see Eph. 3:13).
Paul's sufferings filled up that which was behind of the tribulations of Christ. None could ever share in the sufferings of the cross of Christ, the vicarious sufferings through which the church was procured, of which the blood of Christ is the witness and purchase price. But there were other sufferings that belonged to Christ, sufferings for righteousness, martyr sufferings, for He resisted unto blood striving against sin. The Apostle learned a great deal of what it was to suffer in the conflict of good and evil, even as the Lord said to Ananias, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my Name's sake" (Acts 9:16). How greatly did Paul suffer to secure the church for Christ, through the testimony given to him; and how much he suffered in his endeavours to preserve the church in loyalty to Christ. Christ suffered on the cross to secure the church by redemption; Paul suffered in his labours and conflict to secure the church through the special administration of divine grace committed to him. This administration made him minister of the Gospel (verse 23) and minister of the assembly (verses 24, 25).
(Col. 2:19)
Already, from Ephesians 4:16, we have seen how the body increases to its self-building up in love. This Scripture, on something of the same line, speaks of the body increasing with the increase of God. This is the only kind of increase by which the saints of God can really benefit, and this increase comes from our Head in heaven. To avail ourselves of what abides in Christ for us, we must hold the Head, else how can we have the practical good and realisation of what He holds for us. At Colosse, the minds of some were engaged with the shadows of law, the principles of the world, and with angels; but none of these could ever bring to them the increase of God. From the Head, to whom all the body was united, ministry came to the body; but angels had no part in this. There were joints, who were evidently occupied with the uniting of the different members of the body; there were bands, whose function was to bind together those united by the joints; and these are used by the Head to enable the body to receive the increase of God that dwelt in Him. How independent the saints of God should feel of all the wisdom of this world in having Christ as their Head. When any difficulty arises in the assembly, we have Christ to go to. In our heavenly Head are all resources; we do not need help from the world; we need not to enquire of angels. Here then we learn how the church receives what God has for it; if we seek other kinds of increase, we may get it, but it will add nothing to God's assembly, and may, indeed, bring much of sorrow in its train. In simple dependence on Christ, as knowing that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him, and that we are complete in Him, we can still today, in spite of all the failure in the church, draw upon the spiritual increase that abides in Him.
(Col. 3:15)
Before leaving this world, the Lord Jesus said to His own, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you" (John 14:27). This is the peace that is to preside in our hearts in the midst of all the evils and trials of the present scene. The same peace that possessed the heart of the Son of God, and kept Him calm amidst all the opposition and hatred of evil men, is to be ours as surrounded by the men of the same generation. But, it is not only in an individual way that we are to enjoy this peace, for we have been called to it in one body. We are to enter into the peace of Christ as knowing that we are united together in divine unity, in a living organism the Spirit of God has formed on earth. This peace should mark the saints in all their gatherings, as gathered on the ground of the one body. It was while the saints were gathered together that the Lord, in resurrection, said to them, "Peace unto you." If the Colossians required to be taught that they had been called "in one body" to Christ's peace, do we not require this teaching today? especially when this precious truth is fast being lost by those who once professed to know it.