There Is One Body
According to Ephesians 4:4 there is only one Church. In spite of all the
circumstances that seem to deny it, the fact remains that as far as God is
concerned, there is only one body of believers on the earth today. Although
this Church is never visible to man in its entirety, yet it is formed into a
common body by the Holy Spirit.
Christ is the Head of the Body
By using the analogy of the human body (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians
1:18), Paul teaches us that Christ as Head in heaven controls His body on
earth. The head speaks of authority, leadership, and the seat of the intellect.
The head and the body share the same life, interests and prospects. As the head
is not complete without the body, so, in a sense, Christ is not “complete”
without His Church. Thus we read in Ephesians 1:23 that the Church, as His
body, “is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all”. This is cause for
deepest awe and worship in the believer.
All Believers are members of the Body
The moment a person is saved, he is added to the Church as a member of
the body (Acts 2:47). This membership transcends the bounds of race, color,
nationality, temperament, culture, social caste, language and denomination.
In his classic passage on the members of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians
12:12-26), Paul reminds us that there are many members in the body (vv. 12-14).
Every member has a function to perform (vv 15-17). However, not all members
have the same function (v. 19). The welfare of the body depends on all the
members working together (vv. 21-23). Because all the members of the body need
each other, there is no cause for envy or discontent, on the one hand (vv.
15-17); or for pride and independence on the other (v. 21). Because all are
members of the one body, there should be mutual care, sympathy, and joy (vv.
23-26).
The Holy Spirit is the representative of Christ in the
Church
After He ascended into heaven, the Lord Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be
His Representative on the earth (John 14:16,26). The Spirit’s activities in the
Church may be seen in part from the fact that He leads Christians in their
worship (Ephesians 2:18); He inspires their prayers (Romans 8:26, 27); He
empowers their preaching (1 Thessalonians 1:5); He guides them in their activities,
both positively (Acts 13:2), and negatively (Acts 16:6, 7); He raises up
overseers for the church (Acts 20:28); He bestows gifts for its growth and
effectiveness (Ephesians 4:11) and He guides believers into all truth (John
16:13).
The Church of God is Holy
God is calling out of the nations a people for His name. He sets them
apart to Himself from the sinful world and calls upon them to respond with
lives of practical holiness (1 Corinthians 3:17). Only in this way can the
Church faithfully represent a holy God in this corrupt scene.
Gifts are Given for the Edification of the Church
It is the Lord’s will that the Church should grow both spiritually and
numerically. To that end the risen Christ gives gifts to the Church (Ephesians
4:11). These gifts are men who are given special ability to build up the
Church. As listed in Ephesians 4:11, the gifts are apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers. [1].
We believe that the apostles and prophets were concerned primarily with
the foundation of the Church (Ephesians 2:20). The need for these apostles and
New Testament prophets passed when the foundation was laid, and we no longer
have them, in the primary sense of the terms.[2]
However, we still do have evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The
evangelists go out to the world with the Gospel, bring sinners to Christ, and
then lead them into the fellowship of the local church. Pastors take a
shepherd-care of the flock, nourishing the sheep, encouraging them, and
guarding them from evil. The teachers unfold the Word of God in an
understandable way, and present the doctrines of the Scriptures in a
well-balanced manner. However, the probability is that the “pastor-teacher”
gift is one gift as the care of the flock would include teaching the Word of
God.
As these gifts minister, the Church grows and the saints are built up in
their most holy faith. Gifts are God’s provision for the expansion of the
Church.
All Believers Are Priests of God
A final truth which we will mention in connection with the Church is the
priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5, 9). In the old Testament, only a
certain group of men were eligible for the priesthood – the tribe of Levi and
the family of Aaron (Exodus 28:1). Today there is no special caste of priests,
separate from their fellows, with distinctive garb and peculiar privileges. All
children of God are priests of God with all the privileges and responsibilities
that go with such a name.
The Completion and Destiny of the Church
As has already been noted, the Church is now in the process of
construction. Every time a soul is saved, a living stone is added to the
building. The edifice is rising silently without sound of hammer. The Holy
Spirit adds daily to the Church such as should be saved (Acts 2:47).
One day soon, the work will be finished. The last stone will be added,
and the Lord Jesus will descend into the air. As if drawn by a divine magnet,
the Church will rise to meet the Savior, and together they both will return to
the many mansions of the Father’s house. And so shall we ever be with the Lord”
(1 Thessalonians 4:17).
It will be the Church’s blessed portion not only to be with Christ
forever, but also to share the glories which He won during His earthly career
(John 17:22).
Throughout eternity the Church is destined to be an eternal witness to
the glory of God. “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).
In the meantime, the Church is God’s masterpiece on the earth – an
object lesson to principalities and powers in heavenly places of the manifold
wisdom of God. Every believer should therefore be vitally interested in the
Church, and his Christian service should have the expansion and edification of
the Church as one of its primary aims.
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Notes
[1] In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, another list of spiritual gifts is given:
the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the
working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues,
and interpretation of tongues. There is no necessary contradiction between the
two lists. In Ephesians 4, the gifts are persons whose whole career,
apparently, is given over to evangelism, teaching, or pastoral work, In 1 Corinthians
12, the gifts are endowments or abilities which are not necessarily limited to
certain individuals but which the Holy Spirit may give to any member of the
Body of Christ at any time He chooses. For instance, any Christian man may be
Spirit-led to give a “word of wisdom” or a “word of knowledge” and yet not be
exactly a teacher. Another may be able to point a soul to Christ and yet not be
an evangelist.
Again in 1 Corinthians 12:28, Paul speaks of apostles, prophets,
teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, helps, governments, and diversities of
tongues. The question inevitably arises here as to whether we still have gifts
of a miraculous nature today. In Hebrews 2:4, it is stated that God used signs
and wonders to authenticate the early preaching of the Gospel. This was in days
before the complete Word of God was available in written form. Many believe
that with the coming of the complete Bible, the need for these miracles ceased.
The Bible does not settle the matter decisively. While we believe that these
miracle gifts are not with us today, generally speaking, yet we cannot say that
the sovereign Spirit is not at liberty to use them still, especially on those
mission fields where the Scriptures are not extensively available. In any
event, those who do profess to have these miraculous gifts must be careful to
use them in accordance with the instructions of the Word (for example, the use
of tongues is regulated in 1 Corinthians 14).
[2] In a secondary sense, we doubtless still have apostles, if we simply
mean men sent forth by the Lord, In this lesser sense, we still have prophets
also, that is, men who cry out for God against sin and abuse But we utterly
reject the idea that there are men today who have the same authority as was
committed to the original apostles or who can speak by the same direct and
inspired revelation as the New Testament prophets.
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