Literally "The Body"

I don’t know what comes to your mind when you think of the Church as the “Body of Christ”. Probably, like most people we have heard it said so many times “we are the body of Christ” that it became a thoughtless truism and you didn’t give it a second consideration. I know this is true of most by the way we Christians treat/respond/ other Christians---How I treat/respond to other Christians.

Before beginning the next paragraph, skip to the bottom and read the below bible verses very carefully then come back. While you read, try to take the term “Body of Christ” mentioned in the verses very literally, very seriously, and not as a metaphor or word picture.

I am beginning to understand “Body of Christ” in concrete terms instead of Sunday school colloquialism. In my reading and thinking on this, here is what I have come to understand so far. Christ “new” Body is “THE Church” if you find that troubling, take a deep breath, re-read the below verses again and come back.

So, what does that mean? Here is what I think it means; every time you meet a Christian the Resurrected, Jesus & Creator of the universe is standing before you, In that person, through the Holy Spirit. Try to see that for a moment, shake off the numbing familiarity of the verses below and think of “Body of Christ” in a literal sense.

I am beginning to understand that the Church (the Body), IS the presence of Jesus on earth. If this is true, then how does that change or not change the way we do Church? How is the Church supposed to mirror Jesus? What does that say about revelation (God revealing) through the Church?

Unless this is an isolated event occurring centrally around only one person “myself”, there is one thing I know for certain from the below verses’. That is, most of us church folk haven’t been behaving like Church folk (note caps). In the Church, Christ is present in the Body so when we meet, come together, we fundamentally are meeting our Lord as he stands in-between ALL relationships. So shouldn’t we meet our fellow Christians with joy, love, reverence, humility, you fill in the blank—resulting in putting the needs of others ahead of our own?


BIBLE VERSES

(Rom 7:4 ESV) Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

(Rom 8:10 ESV) But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

(Rom 12:5 ESV) so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

(1Co 10:16 ESV) The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

(1Co 12:12 ESV) For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

(1Co 12:27 ESV) Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

(Eph 3:6 ESV) This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

(Eph 4:12 ESV) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

(Col 1:24 ESV) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

(Col 3:15 ESV) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.


(1Th 5:23 ESV) Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.