EPH 4:4The Lord met Saul of Tarsus at his conversion with the words, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" For the first time the truth of the believer's oneness with Christ was there told out. The assembly is one with Christ, united to her risen, glorified Head, the Son of man. To Paul was given to unfold this blessed truth, "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus by the gospel; whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power." Eph. 3:4-10. And we find in Col. 1:25, that this subject completes the Word of God, "the mystery hidden from ages, and from generations, but now made manifest to His saints." In Eph. 1: to 2:10, is an unfolding of God's purposes and counsels about Christ. How God has called and blessed those who are to be His companions, and has made His will known to them, that Christ will be the center of all His ways and glories, and in verses 22, 23, "hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”
Here the body is seen in its entirety, not one member wanting. It is that which was the completing of God's thought for His Son, as seen in type in Adam and his wife. (Gen. 1:27, 28; 2:23; 5:2.) This is what the assembly will be to Him for all eternity-His body and His bride (Eph. 3:21). No failure can hinder God in carrying out His purposes. The result will be as God has designed it.
We have seen how the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, uniting all the believers in Christ into one body. At first it was composed of Jews, then Samaritans, proselytes; and lastly, Gentiles were added. I Cor. 12:12-23, takes them all in, and all on equal ground, and all working together as one body. "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Rom. 12:4, 5. Everyone ever since then, who has believed the gospel of His salvation, and has been sealed with His Spirit, has been brought into the body of Christ. Those who have passed away to be with the Lord are not looked at as in it just now, as the body is here on earth, but they will be in it when the Lord has taken us all up to be with Him in the glory.
This is the only membership we find for believers in Scripture; none but believers are in it. It was God who put them in it by giving them the Spirit. Baptism with water has nothing to do with this. Rom. 12:4, 5, is their mutuality. 1 Cor. is their practical working together, exercising their functions. "There is one body" (Eph. 4:4), is what the truth asserts, and it is the principle of the gathering together of the saints now to the name of Christ. The one loaf on the Table at the Lord's Supper expresses the truth that our communion is on that ground. (1 Cor. 10:16, 17). Eph. 4:8-16, is the ministry the Lord provides for it till perfection is reached.
He loved the assembly, and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25), that was up to the time of His death, before ever it was formed. Verse 26 is what He is doing for it in this present time, separating it from the world, fitting it for Himself; and verse 27 is what He is going to do for it when the last member has been added to it. Then His pearl of great price will be seen in all His beauty that He had put upon it (Matt. 13:45, 46), and will be with Him forever.
O God! with great delight
Thy wondrous thought we see,
Upon His throne, in glory bright
The bride of Christ shall be.
Sealed with the Holy Ghost,
We triumph in that love;
Thy wondrous thought has made our boast,
“Glory with Christ above.”