Linked in life
Four key passages paint for us the portrait of the church as the mystical body of Christ: Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 10-12; Ephesians 1-4; and Colossians 1-3. Taken together, they present to us four great principles.
Unity without unanimity
The one body has many members (1 Cor. 12:12, 20, 27; Eph. 4:4; Col. 3:15) for “the body is not one member, but many” (1 Cor. 12:14). There are ten systems of the body (skeletal, muscular, digestive, circulatory, etc.) which provide the unifying benefits of common life in the body. Yet the various organs are allowed to be individuals, with their own ministries within that one body.
“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Col. 3:15). At the beginning of the verse is a passive act of submission to the divine resource that will captivate our hearts if we simply allow the Lord to carry on. At the end of the verse is an active bringing to mind of reasons to be thankful for the believers in each local assembly.
Diversity without division
How often we see things through our own gift: If you aren’t doing what I’m doing, the way I’m doing it, you aren’t doing anything of value! “For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ” (Rom. 12:4-5). In fact, the more I minister to the body with my gift, the more I have a vested interest in other parts of the body.
There is amazing variety in the body, not all of it obvious to the eye. How often we think little is happening in our assemblies because we see little happening! But, of course, I don’t see you digesting your dinner (nor do I want to) or supplying your extremities with fresh oxygen, yet these are the secrets of a healthy body.
Paul says, “God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another” (1 Cor. 12:24-25).
Allegiance not atrophy
Our loyalty to the Head (Col. 2:19) is manifested by our communion in the body. The breaking of bread is a weekly confirmation of what should be a daily reality: “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…” (1 Cor. 10:16-17).
Our recognition of the vital role of our glorious Head, however, does not cause us to leave all the work to Him. He has chosen to work through His body, not independently of it.
The church “is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23). We should not ask Him to do things we have been instructed to do; nor should we attempt to do by our energy what He has said He will do. Praying once a week at our prayer meeting, “Lord, save souls,” is a sickly response to His commission to go, show, and tell. Of course we should pray, because there are aspects of evangelism that only He can perform, but our part (done by His strength, of course) is our part.
Co-operating not competing
It’s a good thing my left foot never tries to race my right foot to the door. And though I am right-handed, my left hand has never expressed any desire to dominate by snatching objects from its partner. “If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him” (1 Cor. 12:17-18).