Our number one desire for these
Bible lessons are for them to be understandable, defendable, and for the Holy
Spirit to bear witness that the conclusions are the true, and correct
interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.
Guidelines for our Bible studies on this website:
- We treat the living words of the living God as spoken by the Lord Jesus and given to the Apostle Paul for the Body of Christ the same importance, as the words of the Lord Jesus recorded in red letters in the books of Matthew – Acts Chp. 8, as what should be known as the instructions to the nation Israel.
- We will not be wresting the scriptures against each other, we will look at the verses in their context, and will not try to make the scriptures say anything, but what they say.
- We will be using the verses out of the Authorized Version, commonly known as the KJV. It is fine if you want to look the verses up in other translations if you like, but we will consider the Authorized Version as our final written authority.
- We do not and will not use the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, or Latin languages to prove any points, or give any indication that the Authorized Version has been incorrectly translated.
As we continue our study on
Christian unity let’s look at who makes up the body of Christ. Then we will
discuss and hopefully understand how the body of Christ is to function. Once we
know who and how, it will make the upcoming lessons on the “unity of the Christians and is it possible?”
easy to understand.
Rom.12 [5] So we, being many, are one body in Christ,
and every one members one of another.
Gal.3 [26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus. [27] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Eph.3 [17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;
that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
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. [13] For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit. [14] For the body is not one member, but many.
In the above verses the apostle
Paul is speaking the words and teachings that the Lord Jesus gave him to share
with the body of Christ. What we see is an important point concerning the
members in the body of Christ, all the members are considered equal in
standing. There is neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, everyone
that has been saved into the body of Christ is a member and considered
important to the proper functioning of the body of Christ.
Now a little clarification
because I know some of you will say how can that be no male, no female, no Jew,
no Gentile, not bond, or free? What Jesus is saying thorough the apostle Paul’s
message is that everyone who is saved into the body of Christ is saved into the
body the same way. That is by putting their faith in Christ and then being baptized
into the body of Christ by the Holy Ghost.
The
body of Christ as defined in the Pauline epistles was non-existent prior to the
Apostle Paul’s conversion. For example; Moses, King David, Solomon, John the
Baptist, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus, Simon Zelotes, Judas the brother of James are not
members of the body of Christ, but are part of the Old Testament prophetic
program which has a different role and purpose in God’s plan.
Eph.2 [15] Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law
of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain
one new man, so making peace;
Eph.4 [24] And that ye put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col.3 [10] And have put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
2Cor.5 [17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.
Gal.6 [15] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
You must keep in mind the body
of Christ is a spiritual body and consist of members who have been made new in
Christ. We see that circumcision (being a Jew) and uncircumcision (being a
Gentile) is not important, but instead being a new man or new creature is what is important in the body of Christ.
“Eph.3
[17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted
and grounded in love,”
The body of Christ is made up
of people who have believed the gospel as preached by the Apostle Paul, “how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:” and received Jesus into their heart by
faith.
Now that we have addressed who
is in the body of Christ, let’s look at how the body of Christ should function.
1Cor.12 [14] For the body is not one member, but many.
[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? [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? [17] If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? [18] But now
hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
[19] And if they were all one member, where were the body? [20] But now are they
many members, yet but one body. [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. [22] Nay, much more those members of the body, which
seem to be more feeble, are necessary: [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. [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:
In the above verses our apostle
Paul speaking once again the words given to him by the Lord Jesus, uses the
example of a physical body to share how the spiritual body of Christ is to
function as one. He uses the body parts hand, eye, head, feet, the ears and nose
implied when he asks the questions “if the whole body
were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing,
where were the smelling?”.
This is simple, you need the whole body working as one with each member performing their particular role
or function. If all you can do is see and not hear you have a physically
impaired body, if all your body can do is hear and not smell it is a physically
impaired body!
The apostle Paul is simply
stating in a physically fit body; the eye cannot say to the hand I don’t need
you or the head to the feet I don’t need you. He then goes on to talk about how
some of the more feeble parts are necessary. (feeble; lacking physical strength)
Not long ago I learned about how
important our Parathyroid glands are, they control the calcium in our bodies; how
much calcium is in our bones, and how much calcium is in our blood. Calcium is
the most important element in our bodies (we use it to control many systems),
so calcium is regulated very carefully. Parathyroid glands control the calcium
which provides the electrical energy
for our nervous system, our muscular system, our bones which makes our skeletal system strong. Although the Parathyroid
gland is the size of a grain of rice and could be thought of as feeble in
nature, without it working properly the body would have no strength. This is
just one of the many parts of a physical body that when not functioning
properly affects the whole body which results in physical weakness.
Now let’s look at the spiritual
body of Christ and begin to build on the concept that body of Christ the church
should function like a physical body in that all the parts are functioning as
designed and performing their particular role to keep the body of Christ strong
and healthy.
1Cor.12 [25] That there should be no schism in the body; but
that the members should have the same care one for another.
Paul now says at the end of the
section of scripture dealing with the body that there should be no schism (a division among the members of a group
that occurs because they disagree on something) in the body: but the
members of the body should have the same care one for another.
Sometimes a person’s immune
system will see some of its own body parts as a threat and will attack and try
to kill that part of the body it sees as a threat and will do the body real
harm.
The same thing happens in
Christian churches as what happens in the human body when its members see other
members as a threat. They attack and cause a schism, our brother Paul said the
answer to not having schisms, is for the members of the body to have the same care
one for another.
If we really cared for one
another we would not cause divisions, but would work to heal and help the body!
Before ending this lesson as such I would like to take just a minute to summarize
this lesson.
- We learned that the body of Christ is made up of believers who have believed the gospel as preached by Paul. (The death, burial and resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.)
- We learned that these believers which are many are to function as one body.
- We learned that there should be no schism, but that all the members should take care of each other the same.
Now in the upcoming lessons as
we address the things that divide the body of the Christ, the Christian church of
this dispensation, I believe it will prove to be better received if I
spend time not only on things that divide but also spend time on spiritual things that
edify and build up.
When you go to a doctor and he
tells you that you are suffering from anemia, you also would like the doctor to
tell you how to get better. That is how I want to approach the subject of
Christian unity, I don’t believe I really have to spend a lot of time proving
that Christians are divided but instead want to spend time sharing spiritual things
that can help create a unified body of Christ!
Once again as we seek to answer
the question “Is it Possible for Christian Unity” we will look at the issues
that cause most of the divisions in the Body of Christ and seek to find ways to
influence our readers to help unify the Christians they are in fellowship with.
All of the confusion among
Christianity/Christians today can be attributed to the simple fact that the
church, the Body of Christ, does not recognize the separate, distinct, and
unique apostleship, ministry, and message of Paul.
If you fail to
understand, or fail to learn how to rightly divide the word of truth, you can
never come to the knowledge of the truth, and sound doctrine.
Romans 10 [8]
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach; [9] That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. [10]
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
The words
of our Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles!
2Tim.2 [15] Study to shew thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.
Come join
with us as we study God’s Holy Word!
Remember
most unsound Bible Doctrine, is sound Bible Doctrine misapplied to
the wrong time period, or wrong group of people.
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