The One Body: June 2013
Table of Contents
The One Body
“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 Cor. 12:12). A vital truth. A living reality. The Head of all things is Christ; the church is His body, united to Him by the Spirit, who dwells in each member of His body. He loves His body and is laboring to present it to Himself without spot or wrinkle. United to Him, His body is both heavenly in its character and destiny. As Head, His body receives both its direction and its nourishment from Himself. The members of His body are to edify and help one another, reflecting His love for them to one another. The oneness of the body is both formed and maintained by the indwelling Spirit in each member. The bond of peace is maintained by each member walking in lowliness and meekness, bearing and forbearing in love with one another, so reflecting the heart of the Head and by each one submitting to the one Spirit who leads all in harmony to the Head. Our desire in this issue is to edify and encourage each one who reads it to have a greater personal appreciation for the Head — what He is to His body and what His body is to Him. May each heart be drawn to walk more “worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”
One Body, One Table, One Supper
“When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ... Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:1-4,41-42).
We find that that which the Lord Jesus had spoken of concerning the church in Matthew 16 and 18 is now an accomplished fact. Acts 2 reveals to us that it has now taken place. The Spirit of God has come. That rushing, mighty wind was the symbol of the Spirit of God, which had come into the world to live as a divine Person upon the earth. The result was that on that day something was created that had never existed on the earth before — the body of Christ, made up of all of the believers indwelt by the Spirit of God. These believers went out and preached the gospel that day and three thousand souls were saved.
Brethren, what did they join? What organization did they join? If you look at verses 46-47 for a moment, it says, “They, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Teaching on the One Body
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 we read, “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. 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 one Spirit.” We have the explanation here of what took place on the day of Pentecost. I have no doubt that if you had asked Peter that day the significance of what had happened, all he would have been able to say was, “It was the promise of the Father — the Holy Spirit is come that He might be with us and in us.” The Lord had told him that. But now the Apostle Paul is used to reveal the significance of what happened on that day of Pentecost. “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” It is not that they were not saved, but they had not been put together into one body. For that to happen, the Spirit of God had to come, and that had to wait for the day of Pentecost. But now we are told that on that day one body was formed, and by God’s wondrous grace, the Spirit of God not only joined all believers together into one body, but He also joined us to the Head, which is in heaven — the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why it says here in 1 Corinthians 12:12, “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.” This means that the body and its head have a name, and that name is Christ. Isn’t that a marvelous thing?
You remember how it says of Adam and Eve that God looked upon them and “called their name Adam.”
Eve was so closely identified with Adam that she took his name. Here we find the body is identified with the Head. The Head is in heaven and the body is here on earth. So closely are you and I united with our Head in heaven, so much is the body one with the Head, that the Word of God gives the Head and the body one name. That name is Christ. “So also is Christ.” “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.”
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Do you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you believed the gospel of your salvation? If you have, then the Word of God says you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The moment that you accepted Christ as your Saviour and believed the gospel of your salvation, the Spirit of God came to dwell in you. You were sealed by the indwelling of the Spirit of God, and at the same moment you were made part of the body of Christ. By the indwelling of the Spirit of God, you were brought into that which was formed on the day of Pentecost, and if you belong to Christ, the Spirit dwells in you and forms a divine link, which links you, not only with every other believer on the face of the earth, but also with your Head who is in heaven.
Going on to 1 Corinthians 12:25-27 we read, “There should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” Here we find the Lord’s care for the body, and as members one of another we are called upon to have that care one for another.
The Unity of the Spirit
In Ephesians 4:1-4 we read, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” What took place on the day of Pentecost was the formation of the body of Christ. Now we are told that it isn’t simply that there was one body, but there is one body. Today, it is just as true as it was on the day of Pentecost: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.”
On the day of Pentecost, the believers were all together, with one accord, in one place, but their all being together did not make them into one body. The three thousand were not made members of the one body of Christ because they went on with the others. They were made part of the body of Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and on the day of Pentecost when a soul was saved, he was indwelt with the Spirit of God, and when a soul is saved today, he is indwelt by the same Spirit of God. On the day of Pentecost the saved soul was added to the assembly, and the soul that is saved today is immediately added to God’s assembly by the Spirit of God. Nothing has changed. As far as God is concerned and as far as that which is vital is concerned, there is still one body and one Spirit.
When you and I look around today, we see very little outward evidence that there is one body, but there is one body. The Spirit of God has maintained that which He formed on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God has not been fragmented. The Spirit of God has not had His work demolished by man’s frailty and man’s failure. What He formed still exists, but the Word of God says, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Endeavoring to keep it. God has formed, by His Spirit, the unity of the body, and it is unbreakable. But the unity of the Spirit — that which is to represent before this world that the one body of Christ is a reality — is sadly fragmented today.
The fact that the testimony to the truth of the one body of Christ that God intended to be seen in this world is so broken up does not in any way set aside your responsibility and mine to endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
One Table
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 10:15-21: “I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils [or demons].”
God has formed this body by His Spirit. We are instructed to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, that is, to act in such a way in our relationships one with another as to conform scripturally to the truth of that which God has formed by His Spirit. God has formed one body, and in endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit, we want to act in such a way as to show out that there is one body formed by the Spirit of God.
Communion
One of the ways, indeed the principal way, that God has given to His people to manifest that there is one body is in believers’ all partaking of the one loaf. We find in 1 Corinthians 10 that “the cup of blessing which we bless ... the communion of the blood of Christ” is mentioned first because, before we can take the step that would bring us to the Lord’s table, we need to know the ground for our acceptance there, and that is the precious blood of Christ. By being saved through the precious blood of Christ, we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. By being indwelt with the Holy Spirit, we are made members of the body of Christ, and by being members of the body of Christ, our place is at the Lord’s table.
We next read of the body: “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” There in that loaf every member of the body of Christ is represented — one loaf, one body! We look at that loaf on Lord’s Day morning, and what we see there is the symbol that God has given to us to represent what God has formed by His Spirit: the one body of Christ.
The Lord’s Supper
When we talk about the Lord’s table and the Lord’s supper, we are talking about that which is infinitely precious, and yet we must ever be conscious of the truth that “holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever.” They are told in verse 28, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” They were to examine themselves and to put away that which was contrary to the Word of God, and then they were to partake of that bread and drink of that cup.
But, brethren, what has happened in Christendom today? Man examines himself or others and he says, “I don’t like it. I think those people are too strict. I’m going to start my own table and I’ll claim the Lord’s presence too. I’ll claim I’m meeting in the name of the Lord too.” Or perhaps discipline comes in and the result is that the man who is set aside forms his own table, as Jeroboam did. So we look around today and we see the saints of God divided into so many companies. The Word of God, in language that cannot be clearer, shows us that there can only be one loaf partaken of that expresses that there is one body. The Corinthians were to examine themselves and partake of that bread, not one of their own choosing.
There are problems and difficulties that beset the Lord’s people in acting on this principle, but the fact remains that God by His Spirit is still gathering to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That which is to characterize those who are thus gathered remains the same: an endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, a separation from evil, and a conscious sense of the name to which we are gathered and of His presence there. Such will be a house of prayer, a place where discipline is exercised to maintain holiness, and a place, above all else, where the Lord is worshipped.
We must never expect the Lord Jesus to do that which would frustrate His own purpose and His own prayer “that they all may be one ... that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” He will, and still does, make Himself the center to which He would gather all His people around Himself, where they can partake of one loaf and express that they are one body.
Adapted from J. Brereton
Christ As Head of the Body
Among the many glories of Christ, we may think of Him as “Head of all principality and power” or as Head of His body the church (or assembly). It is about the latter — the present marvelous relationship of Christ in heaven to His saints on earth — we would like to comment.
First of all, let us not fail to notice that Scripture connects His headship to the assembly with His ascension — an important point as to its effect on our hearts, because it leads us to look to Him in the place where He now is, when we consider his connection with His assembly on earth. Poets have indulged the thought that Christ as the Head died for the members, but we know from Scripture that when here in incarnation He was “alone.” “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone” (John 12:24). The disciples were our Lord’s “brethren” and God’s “children,” but not yet members of His body. The body was not yet formed, for until Jesus had ascended there was no one in heaven who could be Head of the body. When Christ as man went through death into the glory of God and was set at “His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:20), then it was that God gave Him to be “Head over all things to the church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22-23). The body could not be formed till the coming of the Holy Spirit, for we are told that it is “by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). We could not therefore scripturally speak of Christ as Head of the assembly in the days of His flesh, or when He died, or when He rose again. However, we can look up to Him where He now is and know, among many other glories, that He is the Head of His body the church.
Our Link With Christ Ascended
When we think, then, of God’s assembly on earth, it always connects us with Christ in ascension. We are a heavenly people; our life, blessings, inheritance, supplies and home are there. We are partakers of a heavenly calling and look for the Saviour to take us there. The consciousness of this will produce heavenly-mindedness and ways.
The more we ponder the truth, the more shall we realize that the whole economy of the assembly on earth flows from association with Christ in ascension. If it is a question of gifts for edification, they are from Him who ascended up on high (Eph. 4:8). If it is the apostles of the church, we find an entirely new order of apostles from that of the kingdom as appointed in the gospels (though many of them were the same men). Of the ascended Christ it is said, “He has given some apostles ... with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12 JND). Paul was one of these apostles and was especially distinguished as a minister of the church (Col. 1:23,25). Peter was an apostle of the kingdom when our Lord was on earth, but when we see him in Acts 1-2 as an apostle from the ascended Christ, we see an immense difference.
If Christ’s present ministry from heaven is before us, it is for “the building up of the body of Christ.” If our souls really apprehended these things, we should easily see how pleasing it is in His sight when our affections and interests are toward His saints as “members of His body” according to His mind, not only as the purchase of His own precious blood, but as one with Himself. May we ponder in our Lord’s presence this truth, so that we have more of His own regard and care for His dear ones on earth! Then we will be able to “endure all things for the elect’s sake” (2 Tim. 2:10) and be willing to “lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
Head and Members
We should never forget that “Head” and “members of the body” are relative terms. We cannot think of the Head without the thought of the members, neither should we think of members of His body without thinking of the Head to which they are united; they must go together. The “one new man” (believing Jews and Gentiles) consists of Christ the Head in heaven and believers on earth united to Him and to each other by one Spirit. It is therefore entirely new — something which never was before and never will be repeated. It is a mystical body, perfectly one, as consisting of Head and members — God’s own workmanship. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in this mystery. Perfect wisdom, intelligence, sufficiency of grace, never-failing supplies of truth, and blessings are treasured up in the ascended and glorified One who is Head of the assembly. His love, care and sympathy are toward us as to His own flesh, and He ever regards us as His complement or “the fullness of Him who filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23). What a marvelous union of Head and members is Christ and the assembly!
But He is not only Head of the body; He is also Head over all to the body. All the church’s springs are in Him. He is to us the Fountain of living water, and all our resources are in Him. So truly are we the members of the one body with the Head that all our endowments, all our ministrations, and all our sufficiency are in and through Him. When this is truly apprehended as a divine reality, it will certainly set us in the place of entire dependence on Him, as well as filling us with thanksgiving and worship.
Holding the Head
Much failure among the Colossian saints was traced to their “not holding the Head” (Col. 2:19), and no doubt much that is wrong among believers today may be traced to the same source. Saints may hold the doctrine that Christ is Head of the body, but “holding the Head” is much more than that. Those who are “holding the Head” are in communion with Him as to the members of His body; their hearts and minds are interested in what interests Him. Their sympathies, affections and care have no less a circle than “all saints.” They look at them, think of them, pray for them, and feel for them (in their measure) according to the mind and heart of the Head. There is no other prevention of or cure for sectarianism. When our hearts are really in communion with the Head of the body, we cannot be satisfied with a narrower or larger circle than all the members of the body.
We may resolve to cultivate a catholic spirit and desire to have an interest in and service to the whole Church of God, yet never become disentangled from a sectarian spirit on the one hand or from being latitudinarian on the other, because we do not accept in simple faith that “holding the Head” is the only true way whereby such desires can be accomplished. It is impossible to be right with the “members of His body” unless we are right with “the Head,” nor can the true liberty which the Holy Spirit gives be known, in a day of ruin and in difficult times like the present, by such as are not “holding the Head.” If we are truly in communion with Him and in subjection to Him, the heart will be kept in freshness and care for “all saints,” even though circumstances necessitate that in loyalty to Him we walk in a narrow path.
Paul’s Presentation
of This Mystery
Perhaps none knew this better than Paul. Not only was he arrested by the wondrous revelation that Christ in heaven was one with His saints on earth, but also to him was revealed the mystery of the assembly, and he was also made a minister of the assembly. We can, in some measure, imagine what the effect of all this on his life and walk must have been. He writes to some believers whom he had not seen, “We are praying always for you” (Col. 1:3); he desired they might know the conflict, or agony, he had for them, lest they should not intelligently and heartily acknowledge the mystery of God. He could say to others, “I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:8); to others, “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith” (1 Thess. 3:10). He wept over others because they were dishonoring the Lord. The members of the body were so dear to him that he suffered trouble and endured all things for the elect’s sake, and he said, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the [assembly]” (Col. 1:24). So much was the welfare of the whole church of God upon his heart that he not only prayed for all saints, but he also could truly say, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” (2 Cor. 11:29).
There is another important point as to the Head of the body, namely, that all the comfort, edification and growth of every member flows from the Head. It may be through gifts or the different healthful exercises of other members of the body according to their measure and the grace given unto them. We know that our blessings come to us in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, but here it is Christ the Head ministering in every way to His members, in the perfection of love. He loved the church and gave Himself for it. He is now sanctifying and cleansing it with the washing of water by the Word, and in a little while He will present it to Himself a glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. How unspeakably dear to His heart must every member of His body be! What favor we all must have in His eyes! How precious to Him must the feeblest be!
The Supply From
the Head to the Body
There is, then, a constant ministration of grace and truth from the Head to all the members of His body, and as we are in communion with Him, “holding the Head,” we shall be conscious of this living blessing from Him. But if the workings of unbelief, self-importance and unjudged evil come in, surely this grieving of the Holy Spirit will result in a lack of comfort and edification to those who are so dear to the Head. When, however, we are “speaking the truth in love,” we shall surely grow up to Him in all things who is the Head, Christ, “from whom the whole body [observe, the whole body, not one member excluded] fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16). In this way we may expect growth and the increase of God. It is not easy to act on this great principle of divine truth in a time of confusion and evil, but if only two or three are faithful to the Lord and honor His name and word, such will, in a very special way, have His presence and blessing. But we cannot expect, however well instructed we may be in Scripture knowledge, to have that communion with the Lord or to know His present mind unless we are “holding the Head.”
H. H. Snell, adapted
What the Body Is to Its Head
The church: When did it commence? Not with the incarnation — not even with the personal ministry — of our Lord. For the formation of the church two things were needed — the death of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit. The power by which alone this gathering could be accomplished was the power of the Holy Spirit and He, the Comforter, could not come till Jesus was glorified — not risen merely, but glorified. Hence, the very first mention we have of the church historically, that is, as actually existing, is in Acts 2, when Christ had been glorified and the Holy Spirit had come down. Then the church was formed.
Consider the Epistle to the Ephesians, where we have the subject of the church perfectly unfolded. How the heart feels, in turning to such a portion, the deep need of what the Apostle so touchingly implores, where he asks, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” The Lord grant that it may be thus, both with writer and readers!
The blessing of the church is complete and, as to all that secures and establishes it, already accomplished. It is not blessing conditional on obedience, as was that of Israel in the land, but blessing in Christ, to which we are introduced, consequent on His accomplishment of all that the Father gave Him to do. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (ch. 1:3). Who hath blessed us! And with all spiritual blessings! And in Christ! How complete! How certain! How inalienable!
Jesus Ascended in Heaven
Satan and the world are convicted of being guilty of the death of Christ and lie under sentence on this account. Where then is Jesus? Ascended into heaven. Rejected of the earth, heaven’s worship is presented at His feet, while heaven’s highest glories surround His brow. How is it He has not long since executed judgment on the earth? Jesus was more than the Son of David — more than the seed of Abraham — more than the Second Adam. He was higher than the angels. He was God manifest in the flesh. He was the Son of the Father, the Son of the living God. Hence His death — His blood — is of infinite efficacy. What is the first great proof of its power? Why this — that He who so really was “made sin” as to have to say, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” is He who is now at the right hand of God! What is the second great proof of its efficacy? This, that the church is united to Him there! But let us hear the Apostle in the latter part of Ephesians 1. He prays that the saints may know “what is the exceeding greatness of His [God’s] power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things [notice how the church is associated with Him who is over all things] to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”
Notice the four points in this passage:
1. That Christ having gone down into death, in order to vindicate God’s holy majesty and accomplish His purposes of holy love, He, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, has raised Him from the dead, exalted Him to His own right hand in the heavenly places, and made Him head over all things, all things being put under Him.
2. The church is the body of Him to whom all things in heaven and in earth are thus subjected.
3. The power which now works in the believer is the power which wrought in Christ, when He was thus exalted from the grave to the right hand of God.
4. The working of this power in the church is according to its working in Christ when He was raised from the dead and received up to glory. Or may we say, earth having rejected and heaven having received Jesus, the church is the body of Him, who has been thus rejected by the one and received by the other. And where can the church have its blessings? On the earth which has rejected or in heaven which has received Christ? There can be but one answer to this question. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” May the heart of each Christian who reads these pages join to say so!
From Whence to Hence
But the Apostle proceeds. Having shown the exaltation of Christ and that the church is His body, the fullness of him that fills all in all, he turns to the Ephesian saints and writes as though he would remind both them and himself of the rock from which they were hewn, the hole of the pit from whence they were digged. All alike, whether Jew or Gentile, were dead in sins and children of wrath. “But God,” says the Apostle, “who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” So completely is the church identified with Christ that what is affirmed of the one is affirmed of the other also. Did Christ die for sin, while we were dead in sin, and was He quickened from that death He stooped to undergo? God has quickened us together with Him! Was Christ raised as well as quickened? God has raised us up together. Has Christ sat down in heavenly places? God has made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The church is in Christ. It is His body, His fullness. In the language used by another, “As the body is the complement of the head to make up a man, so it is with Christ and the church: He, as Head directing, exercising all authority over the church, His body, but the church, as the body, rendering complete the mystical man, according to the eternal counsels of God.”
One thing follows immediately in the chapter we are considering: that is, that in the presence of this unity with Christ and with each other, all earthly distinctions disappear. What was the design of this? It was “to make in Himself of twain one new man”: this new, mystic man of which He Himself, Christ glorified, is the Head and of which Jews and Gentiles, who truly believe, are alike members. The Jew taken out of his natural position and the Gentile taken out of his are both brought into this new, wondrous position — of being members of this new, mystic man — ”members of Christ.” Marvelous grace! May the sense of it unite us practically to each other.
W. Trotter
One Body and One Spirit
In Ephesians 4:4 we read these clear and definite words: “There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” This precious truth, so dear to God, was revealed to Paul from a risen Christ in glory. Paul taught it to all those believers to whom he ministered, but it is most clearly brought out in Ephesians, a book that gives us the highest blessings of the believer. To be joined to a risen Christ, as our Head in heaven, and to be part of His body on earth is a privilege that was never known before the present dispensation of grace, nor will such a privilege be accorded to any others after the church is called home. Not only is it a signal honor to be chosen, as believers, to be members of His body, but also it is a truth supremely precious to Christ. That is why His voice from heaven said to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (when he was intent on arresting and killing believers), “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4). Any act against believers was felt by the Lord Jesus because His own body was being touched.
No doubt this truth was well-known and acted on in the days of the apostles. Paul mentions it in almost all of his epistles, the truth being developed most fully in Ephesians. However, it was not long before this truth, among others, was abandoned, and before he was taken home, Paul had to say, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). History tells us that shortly after this, much of the truth that Paul had taught was practically given up, and human arrangement took the place of the authority of God’s Word. For many centuries the truth of the one body was scarcely recognized, much less acted upon practically.
The Recovery of This Truth
Nearly two hundred years ago, it pleased God to raise up men who recovered and preached this truth again, and a real work of God in souls caused many believers to come out of the systems of men and to gather simply as members of the body of Christ. They saw that the body of Christ was universal and not bounded by national, racial or denominational restrictions. Once more the privilege of being members of the body of Christ was enjoyed and acted on. Many believers took hold of this truth and appreciated its significance, even though they frequently remained in systems that did not display this truth practically.
As time went on difficulties arose, and as often happens, the truth was distorted in two different directions. Another has expressed the problem well: “Satan is busy, seeking to lead us to one side or the other — to destroy the largeness of the unity of the body, or to make it mean looseness in practice and doctrine. We must not fall into one in avoiding the other.” On the one hand, it is a wonderful privilege to recognize the whole body of Christ and that every true believer is a member of it. God’s Word does not recognize membership of assemblies or groups — only members of the body of Christ. To come together on that ground is the broadest possible ground on which to gather, and the Spirit of God gathers on no other ground. In spite of all the failure that man has brought in, the blessed truth remains, “There is one body.” Nothing can change this, for it is a unity established and kept by God Himself.
The Need to Purge
From Vessels to Dishonor
On the other hand, there is a need in these last days to separate from that which is not according to the Word of God. We are told in 2 Timothy 2:21 that a man must “purge himself from these,” referring to vessels to dishonor. We must separate from what dishonors the Lord, for His claims and His glory must come first in our lives, whether individually or collectively. Even a true believer may connect himself with what is not according to God’s Word, and in separating from what dishonors the Lord, we of necessity separate from the believer too. This makes the pathway for faith a narrow one, for there are still many today who are like “all in Asia” and who have turned away from Paul’s doctrine.
In mentioning this need for balance, it is important to notice that separation is here connected with the “house” aspect of Christianity; at first it was called the house of God, but now in 2 Timothy 2 it is simply called a “great house.” Separation is not connected with the truth of the one body, for, as we have seen, it is a unity made and kept by God Himself. We cannot separate from the body of Christ, although we may not act responsibly as members of the body; that is, we may not keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. However, responsibility and walk are connected with the house of God, and it is in this connection that we must separate from vessels to dishonor.
The Right Balance of Truth
How then can we balance the truth and avoid the ditch on either side of the road? I would suggest that we need to remember that the same verse that tells us “there is one body” also says “and one Spirit.” We are living in the days when the Spirit of God is here on earth, indwelling each true believer individually and dwelling among believers collectively as the house of God. It is the Spirit that formed believers into one body on the day of Pentecost, and it is the Spirit of God that acts today to save souls, bringing them into that one body. If there is a unity of the body that cannot be broken, there is also a unity of the Spirit that continues to exist today, in spite of the failure of man. It is in this unity of the Spirit that we are called to walk. It is not enough merely to recognize that we are all members of one body; the Spirit of God is here so that we may practically act on this truth. It is the Spirit of God who is the interpreter of Scripture, so that we are not entitled to our own interpretation of it. It is the Spirit of God that is willing to make us “likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Phil. 2:2). It is the Spirit of God that will enable us to “walk by the same rule” and “mind the same thing” (Phil. 3:16). It is the Spirit of God that will make it possible for us to “be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus,” that we may “with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:5-6).
The Spirit does not need to be prompted or encouraged to do this; it is His function. But how often our own wills and our own thoughts get in the way! Then human arrangement takes over, for as the power of the Spirit declines in our hearts, man seeks to cover his failure with human energy. Some go to the extreme of sectarianism, losing the sense of the largeness of the unity of the body, while others fall into looseness and dishonor the Lord. Both extremes have contributed to the ruin of the church and have distorted the precious truth of the one body. The result is seen in our day — a day similar to the days of the judges in Israel, when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25).
The Unity of the Spirit
It does not need to be this way. We should not expect that everything will come back together as it was in the early days of the church; nevertheless, the Spirit of God is still here, and there is a unity of the Spirit in which we can walk. It involves constant self-judgment, for self will always want to get in the way. “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire” (Gal. 5:17 JND). For this reason Paul told the Ephesians to use “diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3 JND). There is no need for this diligence when God’s purposes and blessings are spoken of, but when it is our practical walk, diligence is most necessary. If the flesh is continually judged and kept in the place of death, the Spirit of God is free to lead us (and every other believer) into that unity which is according to the truth of God as revealed in His Word. In spite of the “perilous times” of these last days, God can give us the grace to walk in that unity.
W. J. Prost
Safe in the Body
“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 Cor. 12:12). The term “Christ,” as here used, includes Christ Himself and all the members of the body, looked at as a complete whole. Hence, the body of Christ includes Himself as the Head and all believers on earth who have received the indwelling Spirit, and, consequently, every child of God who can cry, “Abba, Father,” is a member of the body of Christ. The Apostle thus says, “We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30).
Some time ago I stated to a dying believer, “Do you know that you are a member of the body of Christ?” The answer was, “No; I never heard of that,” and I shall not soon forget the joy that overspread that dying countenance as I unfolded the Scriptures bearing upon this subject. Let me, then, ask you to consider what being a member of the body of Christ involves. First, and foremost, it teaches us that we are united to Christ — to Christ as a glorified man, at the right hand of God, for inasmuch as He is the Head of the body, every member is vitally and, may we not say, organically united to Him. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). See then the vast extent of the grace of our God! It is not only that our sins are forgiven, that we are justified by faith, that we are brought into the perfect unclouded favor of God, that we are risen with Christ, and that we are seated in Him in the heavenlies, but even, as down here upon the earth, encompassed by weakness and infirmity, it is given us to know that we are united to Christ in glory. We can look up to Him where He is and say, “We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”
How could there be discussions upon the question of whether we may know our safety now, if this truth were known in power? And what strength it would give us all, in the presence of trials or dangers, ever so great, if we had the thought before our souls that we are united to Christ. And oh, what a revelation it gives us of the nearness and the intimacy into which we are brought with Him! We are made to know that we are one with Himself, that whatever touches us touches Him (see Acts 9:4), and therefore that we are inseparably, indissolubly, connected with Himself forever.
Members of the Body of Christ and Members One of Another
Second, we are taught that being members of the body of Christ, we are also members one of another, and it is essential for us to apprehend this truth if we would understand the character of our relationships with all the children of God. The same bond, then, that unites us to Christ unites us also to all believers, for the same Spirit that unites us to Christ has united us also one to another. This is what is meant by “the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3); that is the unity of all the members of Christ which has been formed on the earth by the Spirit of God.
You will see that the term “the body of Christ” is no mere figure of speech, as is so often alleged, but that it expresses a reality—the reality indeed of our union with Christ, as also of our union with one another. And I am sure that you will see that our responsibilities to Christ as the Head of the body and our responsibilities to our fellow-members cannot even be understood, much less discharged, if this truth is overlooked or ignored. But, on the other hand, when it is known, not only have we the joy of conscious union with Christ, but we can also rejoice in our indissoluble union with all the members of His body in all parts of the world. It leads, moreover, to very practical results. For example, if I am asked to connect myself with a denomination, I instantly reply that I cannot do that which plainly denies this blessed truth. “You ask me,” I should say, “to join a certain number of Christians who agree upon certain things, but I am united to all believers, and I need them all, and I cannot therefore accept a ground of union which excludes any.” Again, if it is proposed to me to unite with a number of Christians irrespective of denominations, I should answer, “I am a member of the body of Christ, and I cannot, therefore, make any ground of union apart from that of the body. I must be on God’s ground or upon none at all.” Until, therefore, I know the truth of the body of Christ, I cannot understand the place which the Lord would have me to occupy upon the earth.
E. Dennett, adapted
The Unity of the Spirit
The “body” is not used to express union with Christ, for the body is united to Christ by the Holy Spirit. Those who are together in the practice of this truth are “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The Holy Spirit constitutes the unity of the body. They are seeking to walk in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit — a divine Person who will not bend His ways to us — we must bend our ways, in the truth, to Him. People suppose that because they are members of Christ, they must consequently have the practice of such a truth. None can have the practice of it (although really members of it) unless walking in practical submission to the Spirit; it is impossible to have it avowedly apart from such. The common practice of the day is to accept divine principles and terms apart from their practice. Scripture is too strong for this.
May our hearts be led into that love of the truth, and love in the truth, and for the truth’s sake!
F. G. Patterson, adapted
Christ and We Are One!
The church as “the house” and as “the body of Christ” began on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2 records the way in which it took place, and 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that all were then baptized by one Spirit into one body.
This was a “saved remnant” from among the Jews, to which was afterward added the Gentiles in Acts 10. This was fulfilling the word in John 10:16, which is correctly rendered “one flock,” and also the word in John 11:52, which speaks of the gathering together “in one” the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Paul received by revelation the wondrous mystery of what had taken place. Christ and we are one (Eph. 3:1-7)!
We may get bad material when the church is viewed as the house, for man may add that which is not real, but all is good material when it is the body, for it is the Holy Spirit that unites to Christ in glory.
The “one loaf” on the table in the breaking of bread is the precious symbol of this unity formed by the Spirit (1 Cor. 10:17). Such an assembly is an “assembly of the saints” (Psa. 89:7).
LORD JESUS! are we one with
Thee?
Oh height! Oh depth of love!
And crucified and dead with Thee,
Now one in heaven above.
H. E. Hayhoe
One Body and One Spirit
I love Thy saints, Lord Jesus!
For they are one with Thee;
They bear Thy holy likeness,
Faint though the impress be:
“One body and one Spirit,”
Truth to my soul, how dear!
No union so enduring,
No earthly tie so near!
But were the bond united
To all the world displayed —
The light in beauty shining
O’er all this death-dark shade —
Witness that Christ, the sent One,
Among us came to dwell,
To do the Father’s bidding,
The love of God to tell.
Mark how the foe confederate
Their banners raise on high,
The Word of God unheeded,
Or spurned with mockery;
While we are seen halfhearted,
A feeble scattered band,
Who, one in mind and spirit,
For all the truth should stand.
Be Christ our one true center,
The Holy Ghost our guide;
“Love in the truth” be flowing
To saints on every side;
One hope our hearts possessing —
Our coming Lord to see;
Thus should we dwell, as brethren,
In holy unity!