The Body of Christ (Part 1 of 5)

The Church is 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 in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

There seems to be a tremendous amount of confusion regarding the nature of the Church. In fact, the word “Church” has been corrupted and is almost a negative rather than a positive term. For instance, when most people hear the word “Church” they almost always think of a building. Perhaps even worse is the fact that people think of the Church as a religious organization or institution. There are literally hundreds of different Christian groups today, each claiming to be the Church, yet often teaching contradictory doctrines. How confusing this must seem to the world! It is impossible for the Church to present a coherent message to the world while being so divided and confused. I cannot imagine how confusing it must be for someone who decides to seek the Lord is confronted with the multitude of religious entities that claim to be the Church. Some of these institutions even make the incredible claim that their group is the only true Church! Trying to understand how the Church became so divided is a difficult undertaking. However, we must begin by admitting that what is called the Church is often a poor and inaccurate representation of Christ. The Church represents Christ and should never be separated from the Lord Himself. The Church is not a building or an institution but is the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ is made up of individuals who have been spiritually joined to the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul is the only writer in Scripture to develop this doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ. While Paul is obviously using a metaphor, we should not think that there is no reality behind the imagery. Paul is comparing the Church to the human body. The point is that there is both unity and diversity in the Body of Christ, just as the various parts of the human body together constitute the whole body. The spiritual reality behind this is that every member of the Body of Christ has actually been joined to the Lord. It is the presence and work of the Spirit that has joined us to Christ, making us a part of His Body. Just as our physical bodies are really instruments that allow us to exercise our will as we move about and work, so the Church is the Body of Christ, allowing Him to continue to exercise His will and accomplish His work in the earth while moving through His Body with its various members. The members of the Body of Christ are animated by the Spirit of Christ. Every member is indwelt by the Spirit who also joins each member to the Body. The same Spirit works in all the members, joining them together into a common purpose and fellowship.

The Body of Christ is one entity made up of many different parts. Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth because they were deeply divided, which is always inappropriate for those wearing the name of Christ. It seems that the Christians in Corinth were competing with each other rather than working together toward a common purpose. The Corinthians were exercising many different spiritual gifts, yet they were not doing these things unto edification but for selfish display. The Corinthian Church meetings must have been disorderly and chaotic as they tried to display their gifts and be more prominent than the other person. This kind of chaotic competition contradicts the very essence of Christian fellowship and undermines the purpose of the Church. Paul’s answer to this situation in Corinth was to highlight the unity of the Body, even though there was a diversity of spiritual gifts. All of these gifts came from the same Spirit, Paul argues, and were intended by the Spirit to contribute to the edification of the whole Body. However, if the individual members were selfish and ignored the other parts of the Body then the whole Body would be weakened and could not function. The individual members must think of themselves only in reference to the whole Body and not consider themselves alone. The gift that each member has received is for the Whole Body, not just for the satisfaction of the individual members. No spiritual gift is for private edification. The diversity of gifts is a blessing if each member is concerned about the whole Body.

The focus must be on the health of the entire Body, each part contributing to the well-being of the Whole. Unfortunately, this manner of thinking does not occur naturally. In fact, selfishness is the norm for those who live according to the Flesh. The Church at Corinth was dominated by the wisdom of the world and by the Flesh, which resulted in their chaotic divisions. Paul himself had been the founder of the Church at Corinth. This Church had a legitimate beginning. They had heard the true and pure Gospel of Christ. Yet, these divisions and the resulting chaos still arose. This shows us the powerful influence of the Flesh with its worldly way of thinking. When we look around at the world, we see people living in competition with each other, each trying to have the preeminence. The world is an arena of struggle and conflict where many times the strong simply dominate the weak. The world knows of this tendency and even they try to take steps to avoid the self-destruction of order in society. Sometimes worldly people do manage to overcome their own differences in order to work for a common goal and some astonishing things have been accomplished. The Church is not to think like the world. When it does, as was the case in Corinth, the result is that the Body of Christ cannot function and does not accurately reflect the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is not divided so His Body cannot be divided.

Any personal or private agenda that does not contribute to the overall health and growth of the Body must be aggressively denied and repudiated. When each member is concerned about the other there is unity which leads to mutual ministry and edification. The design of the spiritual gifts is that the Holy Spirit works in particular ways in each member so that everyone can be edified, or built up. It does not seem possible that one person can contain all of the things the Holy Spirit wants to do in the Body. That is why there are many members and a diversity of gifts given. This is why the members of the Body need each other. No one can be independent because no single member has everything that is needed. Therefore, we must depend on each other rather than competing with each other. There is a dangerous kind of thinking today that denies the dependency of the believer on other believers. There are people who claim to be Christians who want to have nothing to do with other Christians. People think that they can have some kind of private faith that has nothing to do with anyone else. They are greatly mistaken. On the other hand, there are those who want to be a part of the Body of Christ, yet they continue to put themselves and their own needs, thoughts, and feelings ahead of the needs of the Body. This is also an unacceptable condition that can only be traced back to the Flesh and not to the Spirit. Those who are truly following the Spirit will subordinate their own needs and desires to the edification of the Body of Christ.