Close Your Church for Good, Chap. 4, Part 3.  In the previous post, we looked at the radical concept from Paul that the church is connected to each other in ways never before imagined. We now conclude our briefly look at First Corinthians and the church as “The Body of Christ.”

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So when Paul begins to really emphasize in chapter 12 the image of the church as the Body of Christ, his readers will have understood that they are all in this together. What one person does spiritually or physically, is done to all. If an action spiritually or physically harms one, it harms all. If it benefits one, it benefits all. Paul’s emphasis in First Corinthians 12 is that as members of the Body, we are connected to each other. Each person has a unique purpose and function within the Body to fulfill, which, if carried out, benefits the individual and the rest of the Body.

This idea continues on through chapters 13 and 14, and is climaxed in chapter 15 with Paul’s discussion of the resurrection. Paul’s point in this entire section is that the church is a unified whole, which he calls the Body of Christ. The Body is a community of people in Jesus Christ. “The Body of Christ is precisely the Church in which Christ moves out into the world.” In the words of K. L. Schmidt, “Christ is the church itself, for this is the Body of Christ.”

Such an understanding is surprisingly similar to what was seen in the discussion of ekklēsia above. The church consists of those who have been gathered by God into Jesus Christ. Therefore, the church—Body of Christ—is Jesus Christ to the world. All who are gathered into Jesus are part of Jesus, and participate with Jesus in what He does in the world.

So the church as a Body is not a tradition to be followed or an office to be filled, but is rather the total, unified whole of all who are in Christ. Everyone is equal within the Body, and everyone has a part to play. At the same time, all actions, behaviors, and beliefs of one part affect every other part. Though the Body is not an individual person, each individual within the Body must understand that their actions have consequences, not just for themselves, but for the entire church. This is the point Paul seeks to drive home here in First Corinthians, and in other letters as well (cf. Rom 12:4-8; Eph 4:12-16).

So the picture of the church as the Body of Christ is an excellent image, and is probably the most common image in the mind of most Christians even though the concept is found in only a few places within the writings of Paul. So although it is a good image, it is not the only image for the church, nor is it the most common. Therefore, another image should be used.

Close Your Church for Good. Chap 4, Part 2. After introducing the popular image of “The Body of Christ” for the church, we now look briefly at the only place in Scripture where this exact term is used. This will be covered in two blog posts.

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The primary passage from Paul that talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit is First Corinthians 12. In this chapter Paul compares the church to a body, and just as each part of a body has its own unique function, so also our gifting by the Holy Spirit provides each of us a unique purpose within the church, which is the Body of Christ (12:27). To understand Paul’s idea in First Corinthians 12, some background is necessary. As noted above, the vast majority of the uses of the word “body” (Gk. sōma) in the New Testament are by Paul. Of these, he uses it most frequently in the letter of First Corinthians. Why?

The Corinthian Christians saw themselves as spiritually elite. They were super spiritual. For them, everything was about the Holy Spirit, and their own spiritual life. Many of them were beginning to neglect the physical reality around them, and even deny that what was done in the flesh had any serious ramifications upon their spirit. In their minds, the flesh and the spirit were separate. This error of dualism has its origins in the philosophical ideas of Plato. Much of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is focused on correcting this hyper-spiritual outlook on life. He attempts to show that what is done in the flesh has serious ramifications for life in the Spirit.

This is part of the reason Paul emphasizes the image of “body” so much in his letter to the Corinthians. He wants to show that what is done in the body affects not only the spirit, but also the body, including the entire Body of Christ, the church. The earth-shattering concept that Paul emphasizes to the Corinthians is not only that the physical and spiritual side of a person are connected in one unified body, but also that each and every person within the Body of Christ is connected to each other. When we sin in our own flesh, we drag the entire Body of Christ with us.

One example is sufficient to show Paul’s thought. After an extended discussion of why the Corinthians should glorify God with both body and our spirit, Paul tells the Corinthians in 6:15-20 that having sex with a prostitute is not simply a sin of the flesh, but also engages the spirit. Beyond this, it is not just their own body and spirit that are united to the prostitute, but the Body of Christ and the Holy Spirit as well! Paul argues that such an idea should be enough to keep us from sin.

Do I need to say it? A lot has been going on. But it’s all Peanuts in China. Hopefully I can get back to regular posting soon, but no promises. Below is the next installment of the book I am writing.

Close Your Church for Good, Chap 4, Sec 1. I am beginning to defend and clarify my definition for “church.”

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When people think of biblical imagery for the church, the most common picture that comes to mind is the Body of Christ. However, this exact phrase is only found a few times in Scripture (e.g., Rom 7:4; 1 Cor 10:16; 12:27; Eph 4:12). All of these are from Paul, and all except one do not refer to the church, but to the actual body of Jesus. Only one text, 1 Corinthians 12:27, refers to the church specifically as the Body of Christ. This text will be discussed below. Other passages hint at the church being the Body of Christ, but do not contain the exact phrase (e.g. Rom 12:5; Eph 1:22-23; 5:23; Col 1:24; 2:17).

Paul may have selected body imagery for the church due to the similarities between the Greek concepts of body (Gk. sōma) and the church (Gk. ekklēsia). For example, sōma is a word which represents a person in their totality. It is understood that the sōma has parts, some physical (bones, flesh, blood), some spiritual (soul, spirit), and some psychological (emotions, intellect, will, personality), but the word does not refer to just one of these parts, such as the physical, but to the entire person. This is like the church, the ekklēsia. The church is a unified whole, and while it is made of numerous members, does not refer to only one member.

Nevertheless, although the image is a good one, it is used only by Paul, and even then, less frequently then other imagery. Since this is so, how is it that the idea of the church being a Body became so prominent if it is not found throughout the New Testament, but only rarely in Paul’s letters? How did it become the most popular and widely known image for the church? It is probably a result of the dual emphasis in many churches on the teachings of Paul and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These twin factors converge in passages that picture the church as a Body, and so in the minds of many, the Body is the main image for the church. One of the most common passages which supports this image is First Corinthians 12, which we turn to next.