Body of Christ

From Anstey’s Doctrinal Definitions:

The figure of a human body is used in Scripture to describe the Church of God (the assembly) on earth in relation to Christ in heaven (Rom. 12:4-54For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:4‑5); 1 Cor. 12:1212For 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. (1 Corinthians 12:12)). Believers on the Lord Jesus Christ are viewed as the members of the body––each having a different “function” (Rom. 12:44For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: (Romans 12:4))––with Christ being the Head. This union of the Head and the body is maintained by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Bible teachers sometimes refer to it as the “mystical” body of Christ, meaning that this union is something that is not seen with the naked eye. The Apostle Paul is the only New Testament writer to use this figure, and it is only found in four of his epistles—Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians.
This is the only membership that Scripture speaks of concerning believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. C. H. Mackintosh said, "There is no such thing in Scripture as being a member of a church" (The Assembly of God, p. 10). J. N. Darby said, "Membership of an assembly is unknown in Scripture. There it is members of Christ's body" (Collected Writings, vol. 31, p. 383). Notwithstanding, Christians often speak of "your body" and "our body" in reference to various man-made fellowships in Christendom. This implies that Christ has many bodies on earth, which is a practical denial of Ephesians 4:44There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:4) which says, "There is one body."
The “one body” refers to all Christians on earth, wherever they may be, at any given time. Its present aspect does not include Christians who have died and have gone on to be with the Lord. This can be seen in the fact that the members of Christ’s body are said to suffer along with those members who are suffering (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)), and there is surely no suffering in heaven. However, all Christians will be part of the body in its completed state, when Christ comes to reign in His millennial kingdom (Eph. 1:2323Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)). Thus, they lose nothing in the end, even though they are presently not viewed as being in the body now.
W. J. Hocking said, "I hardly think that Scripture warrants us in saying that the Church of God, that is, the Church of God composed of all believers in Christ from Pentecost to the day of His coming, is described as the body. The body is the living thing at any given time here on earth, though associated with Christ in heaven. Those saints who have fallen asleep and are now with Christ, still form part of the assembly which Christ is building, but the body of Christ is the living organism on earth" (Christ and His Church, p. 42).
J. N. Darby said, "This is plain: the Holy Ghost being down here, the saints do not enter into account as of the body at present, but I said of course they were finally of the body—of it now in the mind and purpose of God, though not actually, as having passed out of the scene where the body was formed by the Holy Ghost come down from heaven" (Letters, vol. 1, p. 511). He also said, "We are told nothing of departed spirits but that they are with Christ, but they lose no privilege save what is down here. They surely are not separated from Christ and re-united to Him afterwards; that, as a matter of faith and first principle, cannot be; but the body being de facto down here they do not personally in its present condition make part of it....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 that sphere where, as to personal place, the Holy Ghost is. They have ceased to be in its unity—their bodies not being yet raised, they do not now enter into account of the body as recognized of God" (Letters, vol. 1, p. 527).