HERE is indicated the life of the body. Just as the human spirit is necessary for the life of the human body, so the Spirit of God is necessary for the life of the body of Christ. The writer James on somewhat similar lines emphasizes this point. “ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (James 2:2626For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26).) If the mind of the believer is occupied with the thought of the one body, occupied with the doctrine merely, important as that is, and does not emphasize that the life of the body lies in the Holy Spirit he will have a lifeless body at best. He will have left out a very vital part of the truth of the body.
Brethren there have been, furnished with good memories, who could reel off with facility every Scripture bearing on the subject of the body of Christ, but who, failing to keep in mind the essential and vital partnership between the one body and the Spirit of God, have used their knowledge disastrously. Addresses without unction were given, the spirit of Diotrophes engendered, resulting in schisms, divisions and factions. Worst of all with swelling words about the one body of Christ, that surely embraces every believer on the Lord, they practically made their little circle of all importance. They would shrink the body of Christ in their minds to the size of their little fragment. With the loudest pretension to be unsectarian, and labeling everyone outside their little circle as being sectarian, they become the worst of sects, saying " I of Christ " (1 Cor. 1:1212Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:12)), as the badge of a party. If such a sad state of things is possible, and it is, for it actually happened in apostolic times, do we not need the warning to-day? We are assured that we do. If we think we are in no need of such warnings, therein lies our danger of being ensnared by the enemy.
If, however, we duly emphasize the thought of the Holy Spirit as vitally necessary to the life of the one body, and that not in a mere theoretical, but in a practical way, then we grasp what is the mind of the Lord on this subject. If all believers were under the control of the Spirit of God there would be complete and working unity. It would not be a question of agreeing to terms of doctrine, as if that were all, but being subject to the Holy Spirit, seeking not one's own will, but the will of the Lord. It is not that doctrine is of minor importance. " If any man will do His (God's] will, he shall know of the doctrine." (John 7:1717If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:17).) It is the believer, who is keen to do God's will, that will be truly receptive of the doctrine. The Apostle Paul could say to Timothy, " Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life." (2 Tim. 3: 10.) It matters a great deal what we believe as affecting our behavior.
An illustration of not seeking to do one's own will, and seeking to do the Lord's will, and recognizing that there is one Spirit, may help. A number of soldiers are passing out of their barracks on leave. Each soldier chooses where he will go, and how he will spend his leisure. There is no cohesion in this. These soldiers for the time being are merely individuals. Another day we hear the sound of martial music. A number of soldiers with an officer in charge march out. As they pass out they constitute a body of troops. The soldiers on leave did not constitute a body of troops, for each soldier followed the bent of his own will. But when no soldier asserts his own will, but all are under obedience to one will, the control of one mind, that of the officer in charge, that constitutes a body of troops. The word of command affects each soldier alike. When the officer shouts, Left turn, each soldier wheels to the left. If the command is, Halt, each soldier ceases marching and comes to attention. One spirit controls them all.
So it is with the thought of the one body and the one Spirit. The illustration that Scripture uses of the human body and the human spirit is far closer than the illustration we have given, but it may help to a better understanding of the Scriptural illustration of the one body and the one Spirit.
Then as we all press on our journey there is one hope of our calling. The same future is before each member of the body. To be with Christ, to be like Him, to share His glory, to be His spotless bride, the object of His deep affection, with not one member of the body of Christ missing, this is our calling on high. We are but strangers and pilgrims in a scene that rejected our Lord. This world is a wilderness wide to the believer, who loves his Lord. Let us ever seek to be in conformity to the place to which we are going, to the Person whose likeness we shall bear.