The Body of Christ (part 1 of 4)

1. What is “the Body of Christ?” There are four statements that define “body of Christ” quite clearly for us in the New Testament.

a. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Eph 1:22-23 – “Hhis” and “him” are references to Christ.)

b. The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (Eph 5:23)

c. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Col 1:18 – Again, “he” references Christ.)

d. Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (Col 1:24)

e. There may be other verses we could reference but these are sufficient to make the point. The apostle Paul states quite clearly that the Church is the Body of Christ. Amazingly though, Paul then goes on to say that the Body is “the fullness of him who fills all in all. This hearkens to Paul’s declaration that in Christ all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form. (Col 2:9 ) As Christ possesses all the fullness of Deity so the Church possesses all the fullness of Christ. And so each Christian is “complete” (or full) as part of and within the Body of Christ since it is in his Body that the Spirit of Christ dwells. We must be very clear that no individual Christian is complete in him- or herself. It is within the context of the Body of Christ, the Church, that the individual Christian finds completeness.

f. In discussing the relationship God intended between a husband and wife, St. Paul draws the parallel to the relationship between Christ and “the Church, his body, of which he is the Savior.” (Ephesians 5:23) Paul begins this comparison between the marriage relationship and the spiritual relationship, however, by identifying that “Christ is the head of the Church…” In the context of the letter, Paul seems to be making the point that while the husband is one with his wife, just as Christ is one with his Church, that there is still a hierarchy that must be observed. The relationship between the Church as the Body and Christ as the Head must be understood that, though there is a deep and abiding intimacy, they cannot be separated; the Head is the one who controls the Body and not the other way around.

i. A similar but shorter statement is made by the apostle to the Colossian Church that Christ is the head of the body, the church. (Colossians 1:18) In the opening of Colossians, Paul is attempting to establish the nature of Christ as having superiority over all created things. It is because of who Christ is (and not just what he’s done) that makes him head of the Church. After all, He is the image of the invisible God. That virtue alone would qualify him to be head of the Church since he possesses supremacy over all that exists but the rest of the godhead. Again, this passage makes it quite clear that while the “Body of Christ” holds a relationship with Christ that is like no other relationship between God and creation, personal and intimate, it is still under the authority of Christ just as the physical body is under the authority of the physical head despite their obviously intimate relationship.

ii. Additionally, there is this statement Paul makes to the Colossian Church that reiterates the same statement within the previous two passages: Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (Col 1:24)

g. The phrase and the point of these three verses we should notice, is that the Body of Christ is the Church and the Church is the Body of Christ. The Church, at this point meaning the universal or catholic Church, constitutes the Body of Christ. There is no part of the Church that is not also part of the Body of Christ and, conversely, there is no part of the Body of Christ that is not also part of the Church. But this begs another question.

h. As well, no Christian can be a Christian without being part of the Body of Christ, the Church. People who claim to be Christian but refuse to have anything to do with the Church are saying, in essence, “I’m part of the Body of Christ but I want nothing to do with the Body of Christ.” They may mean that they don’t like the way the Body of Christ sometimes seems to act. They may despise the brokenness and fracturing of the Church. There may be lots of things they don’t like about the Church or about specific Christians. Refusal to associate with the Body of Christ, however, is like a finger saying that it refuses to associate with the rest of the body of which it is, by nature, a part. To “cut itself off” from the rest of the body is death for that part. As it is for the physical body, so it is for the Body of Christ.

i. But all this begs another question. Who, specifically, qualify as members of Christ’s Body? What “defines” the Body of Christ? We shall consider that question in a post to follow.