We have heard of the Lord's promise—"Ye shall be baptized by the Holy Ghost not many days hence" —brought to pass on the day of Pentecost. The little band of disciples—at first about 120 (see Acts 1:1515And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) (Acts 1:15)), then about 3,000 (Acts 2:4141Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:41)), increased largely after-wards (Acts 4:44Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. (Acts 4:4))—were baptized of the Holy Ghost, according to the Lord's promise, but still, this was only the Jewish side of the blessing. In Acts 10, Peter opens the door to the Gentiles. When they of Judea heard of this (see Acts 11), Peter was called to account for what he had done, and he rehearsed the matter from the beginning to them, and declared that the Holy Ghost had acted in a similar manner to that which He had done at the day of Pentecost with the Jews, and the Gentiles too had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Thus we have, in the clearest way, the Jew and Gentile receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. (The baptism of the Holy Ghost is only used with reference to the corporate body of saints upon earth. By it individuals are brought into a corporate relation-ship to each other and to Christ.)
We must now turn to Paul, for to him alone of all the apostles was the revelation of the "mystery" committed, of which he speaks in Eph. 3:66That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: (Ephesians 3:6), etc., which had heretofore been "hid in God" (v. 9), not even in "Scripture," but "in God"—His eternal purpose. "That the Gentiles should be joint-heirs, and a joint-body (with the Jews), and joint-partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel." Thus should the passage be read.
Paul describes at length this body in 1 Cor. 12:12-2712For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑27), where he says, "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [the] Christ." (This name, 'the Christ,' is here applied to the members and head, as to Adam and his wife jointly, in Gen. 5:22Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:2): "He called their name Adam.") "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into [or of] one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many," etc. Here both Jew and Gentile lose their places, as such, and are brought into one body, and united by the Holy Ghost to each other and to Christ, the Head, a Man glorified. (In verse 27, the Apostle recognizes the assembly of God at Corinth as the Body. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular"; that is, in the principle and ground of their gathering they were the body of Christ.)
Now this body is in the world, as is the Holy Ghost, whose presence constitutes it. It is not in heaven. The Head is in heaven, and the members have a heavenly position by faith, while in fact they are in the world. This body has been passing along through the world, its unity as perfect as the day in which the presence of the Holy Ghost first constituted it. Nothing has ever marred its unity. True, the outward manifestation of this body, by the oneness of those who compose it, is gone; true, that the "house of God" as it first appeared in the world, has drifted into (or become like) a "great house" of 2 Tim. 2:19-2219Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. 22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:19‑22); true, that all that was committed to man's responsibility has, as ever, failed. But the body of Christ was in the world then—was here through the dark middle ages—is now in the world, remaining all through the ruin of the professing church, its unity perfectly maintained by the Holy Ghost, who, by His presence and baptism, constitutes it, for He, as ever, maintains the unity of the body of Christ!
Let me give an illustration which will convey simply the fact that the entire number of saints in the world at any given time (just as I write these words, for instance), indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is that which is recognized of God as the body of Christ. Let us suppose a regiment of soldiers, a thousand strong, goes to a foreign country and serves there for many years. All those who composed that regiment die off, or are slain in battle, and their places are filled up by others the numerical strength of the regiment is kept up. After years of service the time comes for it to return home. Not a man who went out is in it now, and yet the same regiment returns without change of its number or facings or identity. Thus it is with the body of Christ. Those who composed it in the days of Paul, are not here, yet the body has passed along through the last eighteen centuries, the members of it dying off, and the ranks filled up by others, and now at the end of the journey the body is here—the Holy Ghost, who constitutes its unity, being here— as perfect in its unity as it ever was.
The main point is easily seen to be the present actuality of Christ's body here upon earth. There are many vague notions as to this grand truth in the minds of the saints. Some have thought that the body of Christ is in heaven, some that it is in course of formation since the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost— a body gradually being formed, part of which is in heaven, part on earth, part (if the Lord tarry) not yet gathered in, that this formation progresses till a certain moment (the Lord's coming), when it is completed, and taken away to be with the Lord.
Now it is quite true that all the saints between those two great events are of the body of Christ, of it in the mind and counsel of God. But those who have died have lost their present, actual connection with the body, having passed away from the sphere where, as to personal place, the Holy Ghost is. They have ceased to be in its unity. The bodies of the dead saints, once the temples of the Holy Ghost, are now in the dust, and their spirits are with the Lord. Their bodies not being yet raised, they do not now enter into account of the body as recognized of God. As those on the retired list of an army, they have passed into the reserve, or freedom from service, as it were, out of the scene now occupied by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. We read, "[If] one member suffer, all the members suffer with it," etc. (1 Cor. 12:2626And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26)); the dead do not suffer. The passage speaks of those who are alive here, in a place where they may do so.
Thus, the body of Christ, as now recognized of God, embraces all believers here upon earth, at this moment as at any given moment. 1 Cor. 12 speaks of the Church of God upon earth: healings, etc., are not set in heaven. The difficulty with many is not reading Scripture as God's mind at any given moment speaking of a thing before His eye. The apostles spoke of a thing before their eyes; they never looked for a long continuance of the Church; they looked for the Lord's coming. All was viewed as contemplating this, though prophetically ruin was predicted, and felt as it came in.
F. G. Patterson