We cannot read this Epistle and carefully note its contents without the fact being brought home to us that much of what it teaches is sadly neglected in our day by Christians generally. Did not God design this matchless book for His children’s guidance at all times and in all seasons, and has He not sent down the Holy Spirit to take charge of them, leaving them without the slightest need to resort to making rules and establishing systems of man’s devising? And are not these human substitutes an affront to God?
We come now to the “one body,” spoken of in Rom. 12; Eph. 1:22, 23; 2:13-16; 4:4-16; 5:30; Col. 1:18, 24. “There is one body,” and it still exists on earth, though the truth of it is ignored in practice by the Christian profession in general.
Here as in Rom. 12:4, the natural body is used to illustrate the “one body”. Our natural body has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the mystical body of Christ; or using the precise language of the Scriptures, “so also is (the) Christ.” When Saul of Tarsus was struck down while seeking to rid the world of the followers of the Lord (Acts 9:4), he heard a voice speaking to him, and saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” And he said, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest...” He and His people are one; the Church is His body (Eph. 1:22, 23).
This new body was formed on the day of Pentecost in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 2:1-4), but it is quite plain that neither Peter nor John, nor James, nor the other apostles realized at first, except in a very limited way, what had then taken place.
They knew that “that same Jesus” whom the house of Israel had crucified, God had made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), and that the Holy Spirit had come down as promised; that Israel’s blessing now depended on their acknowledging Christ.
Very interesting it is to note in the book of Acts the gradual unfolding of the truth of God as the saints were able to receive it. A special line of things was given to the converted Saul of Tarsus, when as the apostle Paul he was directed to make known the truth of the Church, Christ’s body, with much more than is contained in his Epistles, that, to the Ephesians notably.
“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” (verse 13).
This, the only body of believers that God recognizes on earth, is, entirely the work of the Holy Spirit; Christians do not “join” it; they are brought into it when they receive Christ as Savior; water baptism is not in view here, as is plain from Acts 1:5, and 11:15, 16. Indeed in Mark 10:38, 39, and Luke 12:49, 50 the Lord speaks of His suffering and death as His “baptism”, and in the former passage also He refers to the cup of which He was to drink; this brings before us the scene in the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42).
Verse 14. God’s thoughts and ways are always far higher than our own. In the body are many members, and each has his (or its) own place to fill; there variety is seen in unity, for all the members together constitute one body, and if in a healthy, normal state, all of them are altogether subject to the head.
Should any of the members of Christ’s mystical body be discontented with their lot, as it is said, If a foot shall say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body; or if an ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body? The hand is more useful than a foot, truly, and an eye would be more difficult to have to do without than an ear, but each is exactly needful for the body. So, rather than being discontented because your place, or mine, in the body of Christ seems inferior to that of another, let us see that we are, each of us, fulfilling our little individual part as members of that one body. And we must not forget that God has set us as members, every one of us, in the body, as it has pleased Him; if this be realized, there is contentment in the heart.
If all were one member, there would be no body, after all; but now are there many members, yet but one body. To this point (verse 20) the Holy Spirit has been occupied with the feebler or less important members of Christ’s body. What tender regard God has for those that are His own, even the feeblest!
Verse 21. But the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. This supposes a more important member, conscious of his importance, looking with disdain on a less useful member. Let him remember, that, much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker, are necessary, and those members of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honor, these we clothe with more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; but our comely parts have not need (verses 22-24). So we drape, or clothe our bodies and limbs and feet, but not our faces.
But God has tempered (or blended) the body together, having given more abundant honor to the part that lacked, that there might be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same care one for another. So there would be some without outward honor put on them who may be very useful in the assembly; others like Epaphras in Col. 4:12, who “labored fervently” in prayers, for the saints he knew; such are far more important in the body of Christ than were some at Corinth who displayed themselves in miracles or tongues, for God uses and honors what we are apt to think little of. It is well to have His thoughts about those that are His own; then we shall have a loving interest in all of them.
Verse 26. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it. This is noticeable as to our human bodies; how quickly an injury to one part, however slight, is felt all over the body! And when it is healed, the whole man feels better.
Now in the present divided state of the Church of God, there is great hindrance to the practical exposition of verse 26, but it is certain from the language of the verse that if saints unknown to us and far away, even on the opposite side of the world, are suffering, are worldly, or are blessed in their souls, we are affected by it, because we are one body in Christ.
Verse 27 states an important principle. The local assembly stands as the body of Christ, of which it is the local expression. The writer already quoted, says in this connection,
“The general expression shows that in the walk of the assembly, and in its general interests, a local assembly can not be separated from the whole body of Christians on earth; and the language employed here shows that as to their position before God, the Christians of one town were considered as representing the whole assembly as far as regarded that locality; not as independent of the rest, but on the contrary as inseparably united to the others, living and acting with respect to that locality as members of the body of Christ, and looked upon as such in it, because every Christian formed a part of that body, and they formed a part of it likewise.
From the verses that follow we see that the apostle, while looking upon the Christians there as the body of Christ, the members of which they were, has in his mind the whole assembly as the assembly of God.”
Verse 28. We have traced the forming of the Assembly, or Church, and the distribution of gifts, the Holy Spirit dividing to each severally as He wills; we have seen the Assembly as the body of Christ, the members every one set in the body as it hath pleased Him.
Now we come to the provision which in the saints God has made for the care and upbuilding of the Assembly. “God hath set some in the Church, first apostles; secondarily prophets; thirdly teachers; after that miracles, etc.” Apostles and prophets were provided for the Assembly’s beginning. Strictly speaking, they are not found today, but the apostles’ inspired writings form a most important part of revealed truth; in that sense, too, apostles and prophets are at the head of the list of Christ’s gifts to the Assembly in Ephesians 4:11, which are to continue until we reach the glory.
Some of the provisions God made, as given in 1 Cor. 12:28, have been called sign-gifts, because it is said that they were a sign to unbelievers. They were, no doubt, and needed for the beginning of Christianity, but there is no intimation that they were to continue, and they are not found in the list in Ephesians 4.
In Mark 16:20, we are told of the beginning,
“And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following.”
Moses, it has been remarked, wrought miracles, and Elijah too, but the later prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others did not. The “tongues” and other alleged tokens of the Holy Spirit which some are building much upon at the present time do not bear the marks of divine approval.
Verses 29-31. In these God-given provisions for the carrying on of His work, all could not hold office, but all may, and should, covet earnestly the best gifts, i.e., those by which the Assembly should be built up. And yet, says the apostle to the power-seeking Corinthians, show I unto you a more excellent way,-which is given in Chapter 13.