What is the Body of Christ Two? ( Written in the 1990's)

The Philosophy of the New Testament Church.

        Our human body is made-up of 200 bones fastened together by tissues and ligaments.   The circulatory system employs our blood as it is drawn through the heart’s right chamber and winds into the lungs.  The lungs secure the blood with much needed oxygen, mail it back to the heart via its left chamber, and finally propels into the main artery or aorta.  The aorta’s blood branches into smaller and smaller places. The first are arteries, designated as arterioles, which ebb into the furthest recesses of our bodies through minute capillaries.  Our immune system fends off unfriendly proteins, and infectious microorganisms, with a one two punch of antibodies.  A deadly left uppercut makes holes in the foreign cells, and a swinging right hook engulfs and digests foreign matter.  Our digestive system starts up in our mouths. The food is broken into fragments by our chewing and is mixed with saliva.  It then goes down the esophagus and right into the stomach.  The digestive process is redoubled by the ferocious activity of gastric and intestinal juices.  The digested nutrients are then sucked into the small intestine.  The remains of unassimilated foods, and waste substances from the liver, are passed into the large intestine and gloriously expelled from our bodies. The pituary gland secretes a variety of hormones.  One of them governs the rate at which the cells utilize oxygen, and another imposes the metabolism of carbohydrates, sodium, and potassium.  Finally, our skin is one big living organ!  It protects us from drying up, controls the loss of fluids, and shields us from harmful substances.  Its sweat glands are our body’s air conditioning, the skin receptors discriminate levels of body temperature and pain, and our fat cells insulate us. (Excerpts are taken from Microsoft’s 1999 edition of the Encarta Encyclopedia In my reading of the above passage of God’s beautiful scheme for the function of our human body, three things really struck me about its functions.

        There are “no personalities and no pew sitters” within our bodies’ members!  Wow!

        Every member knows exactly what its function and calling is.  It does it effectively and naturally, it does not take glory or attention for itself, and it always works at its peak.

Do you notice as I did, that every bodily member’s role is active, it does not assume a defensive but offensive posture, and it always is seeking to protect?  The church is Christ’s body and should operate along the same lines as the human body.  Our Christianity then cannot be an individual self-centered affair.  If it is then, it fails to realize, that Christ has called forth the church through the active participation of all of its members, to manifest Him and make Him complete.  If we cannot see this, we have misunderstood as to what the supreme purpose of the church is all about.

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Eph1:12 That we (the church) should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

Eph 3:21  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

        Glory, is that principle which makes the invisible Christ become visible in the church and through out the world.  Glory is the invisible God’s visible mode of being.  The Lord’s mighty deeds, glorious interventions, the manifestation of His presence, and the activity of the invisible are all brought forth through His glory.  God’s glory then manifested through the church becomes the object of the world’s praise to God.  The more glory, the more praise.  The more glory, the more that Jesus Christ will be lifted up, and draw all men unto Himself.

This grave responsibility falls in the hands of the church.

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

        The church is viewed as a receptacle into which all of the blessings, the presence of God, and God’s inheritance, through Christ is funneled into, and manifested by.

         God from His fullness fills all believers’ with all blessings, which belong to their being and welfare.  If Christ filled the whole universe, so the church is filled with all.

        The body of Christ will be filled with Christ’s fullness as, and when, it grows up into the fullness of Christ.  The more is the maturity and obedience of every believer, and the more that each believer fulfills his or her calling, the more will be the fullness or the very essence of the Lord in that local body.

        The church then is a society that is in vital connection with the Lord, sustained by His power, and it is the instrument by which our Lord works.

        The church is what makes Christ complete.

        The church is also Christ’s divine receptacle, into which all that belongs to Christ is funneled by Him, so as to be used exclusively for His purposes.

        It is by filling every person in a local church with His Spirit through their uncompromising obedience, and by becoming Lord of every aspect of each person’s life, that Christ becomes all and in all.  His glory becomes fully manifested in that local body, and He draws all men unto Himself through the power of God and a subsequent revival.

        This church then is filled with Christ’s pleroma or with all that constitutes the very Christ Himself.  The analogy of Christ’s pleroma is simple.  What is a bottle of coca cola filled with?  Coca cola, of course!  What is Christ filled with then?  Christ Himself of course!  This is the pleroma of Christ.  A local body in a state of total maturity is the treasure bearer of Christ’s pleroma!

          The church then, is not only Christ’s body, but is the ONLY universal agent that is filled by Christ and can  fully manifest Him.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

        Another object of the church is that the numerous and multicolored wisdom or ways of God, so opposite to the world, might be known or be declared.  God desires that His arrangements, His will, and His works might be displayed to angels, demons, and men, by the church.  Basically the church’s job is to declare the ways of God, and to make the invisible God, visible in glory to the whole universe!

Eph 2:21  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

        This is defined as to frame together perfectly the members of Christ’s body, as parts of a building are brought together.  Joining, cementing, and fitting together to form a building must take place, so that the building can then be raised up.  The church accomplishes this, as all of its members perform to their peak efficiency by their callings, ministries, and giftings, in uncompromising obedience. Every one must participate!

        This holy temple is in actuality, a Holy of Holies for the Lord.

        The great lie of the enemy has been to place the function of the church into the hands of the few, and encourage most others to be pew sitters, thus severely hampering the glory of God and the salvation of men.

        Today, church philosophies that curtail the use of spiritual gifts for the purpose of not offending the lost, are deceived by the enemy to stop the manifested presence of Christ, and block the salvation of those very people whom these churches are seeking not to offend!

Eph 2:22  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

        Every believer individually and corporately also are being built up together with the object of constructing and abode or dwelling place for the Lord in the Spirit. A dwelling place is an abode where God will feel totally at home, and will have full rights to do as He pleases.

Col 2:2  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

        The knitting together comes after every member of the local church has been fit together into a proper building for the Lord through the ministries and callings of every individual. The believers’ hearts are then knit together in affection.  This oneness, in combination with the effectiveness of every member’s ministries and spiritual gifts, will bring this local body into a full understanding of the accurate knowledge of the mystery of the Godhead and Trinity.  This then is the fullness of the glory of God, which should be displayed to the world.

        Thus the church can be seen as an entity that is in a continual process of being fitted together by every one’s ministry and gifts, being joined together in love and intimacy, and growing in to God’s Holy of Holies to manifest His glory. 

        This fitting, joining, and growing to achieve spiritual growth continues as every member seize the head, which is Christ.  It denotes the compact connection of one part with another.

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

        Every member then, of a local body, must work to his or her peak performance through the use of spiritual gifts, callings, and ministries. There can be no “one-man show,” and no pews sitters.

        Every member must find his or her place in the body in terms of his or her ministry, giftings and callings and raised up in them.  This is the job of the five fold ministry whom the local pastor heads.

        The main role of the pastors is to spear heading the five fold ministry. Elders and deacons should shoulder some of the ongoing activities of the local body so that the pastor can be feed up to do this.

The Functioning Philosophy of the NT Church

1Cor 12:12 ¶ For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 

        Paul in this scripture then confirms what we have already stated.  The human body, and the body of Christ as His church, should function alike.

1cor 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.  The Greek makes use of the “absolute negative” for the word “not”. Literally defined, we are told that under no circumstance, should a congregation be made up of a few active members.  One pastors whom literally controls the governing life of a church, makes for all intents and purposes, the body of Christ into a “non body”.  Like wise, parishioners who fail to discern, and fulfill their ministries, forcing pastors and ministers into positions of control, do just the same. 

1Cor 12:15  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

 1Cor12:16  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 

        What an incredible dependency we must have for each other.  An independent spirit towards the Lord Jesus, or towards one other, will stunt our process of growth.  Every member is called to sharpen each other, through their callings and ministries.

1Cor 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?  

        The fewer the number of members serving and ministering within a local body, the fewer will be the giftings available to it.  This particular congregation will be greatly hindered in its discernment of demonic infiltration.  There will be a deficiency in the prophetic that administers guidance, exhortation, and encouragement, and the confirmation of God’s will.

1Cor14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

  If the apostolic ministries are deficient, how will the right foundation be laid?  A church without the revelation of Jesus through the apostolic witness of the risen Christ will build lopsided.

Eph 3:4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

5  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

  Every church that I have attended in the last twenty years, for the exception of the one that I go to now, has been unable to discern the presence of wolves, gross sin, and major doctrinal error, blatantly obvious in its midst.  In due time God always exposed these forces. Considerable damage had been done to the flock however, or God finally closed the congregations down.  Much of this has to do with the lack of commitment and participation of the church’s members or the prohibition of spiritual gifts by the elders.

1Cor12: 18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him..

21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.


Literally the Greek admonishes us, that not even of the weakest member can we say “I have no need of you” and not be lying!  The superior members are in desperate need of the inferior.

22  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.  The weakest members are indispensable.

23  And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.


Literally “we place a wreath of superabundant honor upon the weaker or more unseemly members”, says the Greek. ..  Our deformed, indecent, and unseemly parts always require special care.  That same care should be given to all weaker members within our congregations.

24  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: “To temper” means That God has caused each part of His body to be melted and hammered together into an organic whole.