The church of God as One—united— body.

Oct23

“ONE BODY”

Taken from the book

“THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH , Its Rise and Progress”

By H. M. Riggle

Salvation constitutes us members of the church of God, and to those who have thus been saved out of the world and sin the Lord has given certain names or titles to distinguish them from others. In the New Testament God’s people are termed Christians, disciples, brethren, saints, friends, and pilgrims. Each of these terms has its special signification. We are termed Christians to signify that the people of God are like Christ—demonstrate his character, life, and disposition to men. We are termed disciples, a word which means learners, to signify that the moment we are saved we enter the school of Christ and are taught of God. We are termed pilgrims to signify that this world is not our final destiny; that we are traveling to a better country, namely, a heavenly. We are termed friends to signify that, while at one time we were enemies and strangers, we have, through salvation, been reconciled to God and are no longer enemies, but are his friends. We are termed brethren to signify our relationship to the Lord and to each other. We are also termed saints, a word which means a holy one, to signify that all who are saved live sinless lives.

Now these saints, or Christians, who are by salvation called out from sin and the world, joined to the Lord and to one another by the bond of love and heavenly fellowship, constitute a body. Whether viewed in a universal way, as all the saved on earth gathered into the one fold of Christ and the one faith of the gospel, or in a local sense, as a body of people in any city, town, or country place, who are saved of God and assemble together to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, they constitute a body, a saved body of believers. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Romans 12:5. “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1 Corinthians 12:27. So God’s saved people constitute the body of Christ. This, of course, includes all the saved.

In Romans 12:4, 5, the apostle Paul represents the church by the human body. He says, “As we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we [God’s people] being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Here we see that the same close relationship that exists between the members of our physical body exists between the members of the spiritual body, the church. Our physical body is a perfectly organized body. Though composed of many members, yet these members constitute but one body. Not all have the same office. The hands cannot perform the work of the feet, the feet the work of the eye, the eye the work of the ear, nor the ear the work of the mouth. Yet all these members work in perfect harmony. Just so it is with the church of God. There are many members; not all have the same office. “God hath set every member in the body [the church] as it pleaseth him”—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, etc.; some to attend to spiritual affairs, and some to labor with their hands, earning the necessary means for the spread and the support of the gospel. But while we have different offices and different work, as with the members of our physical bodies, we are all one harmonious whole, every member filling his place and every one members one of another. In the physical body, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Just so it is in this spiritual body, the church: “whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” There is a close affinity, a blessed relationship, existing between the members of Christ.

Having seen that the truly saved constitute a body and that this body is the body of Christ, we will now prove the same to be the church. “Who now rejoice in my suffering for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.” Colossians 1:24. “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22, 23. The church is the body of Christ, and, being the body of Christ, it necessarily includes all the members. It follows, then, that any institution which does not constitute the body of Christ is not the church. In order to become a member of the church we must become a member of Christ’s body, and the moment we are thus made members of his body we become members of his church. As before stated, salvation constitutes us members of the body of Christ, the church. The moment an individual is saved that moment he becomes a church-member. If in India or Africa a heathen who has never met a Christian, but who has received a copy of the New Testament, becomes convicted of sin through reading the gospel, and repents, and meets every required condition for salvation, the instant that heathen man is converted to God he then and there is made a member of the body of Christ, the church.

The Lord saves people into but one body. In fact, in his Word he recognizes but one body. “There is one body.” Ephesians 4:4. “The body is one.” 1 Corinthians 12:12. “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.” 1 Corinthians 12:13. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” Colossians 3:15. “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; . . . for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Ephesians 2:14–16. From these and many other texts we see that Christ has but one body, and hence but one church. It is his body, hence his church. All others are but rival churches, earth-born institutions. All others have come into existence since Christ organized his own body. Irrespective of nationality, race prejudice, or any of these things, through salvation all men of all classes are reconciled unto God in one body by the cross. That one body is his church. “But now are we many members, yet but one body.” 1 Corinthians 12:20.

This body, the church, is a perfectly organized body. All bodies of men banded together in an organized form must necessarily have a head or heads. So with the body of Christ, the church. “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:18. “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 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.” Ephesians 4:15, 16. What the head is to the human body—the seat of intelligence and the center of control, all the members of the body moving at its dictation—Christ is to his church. Christ is the center from which all the members of the body act and move in their several capacities in the spiritual work of God. One head supposes but one body; hence Christ is the head of only one body, the church. Since Christ is the head of but one body, and that one body is the body of Christ, all other bodies called churches do not hold Christ as the living head.

Not only do we see the organization of the church in the fact that it has a living head, but God sets in this body members to act and work, and their work is conducive to the edification of the body entire. “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” It is God who sets the members in the body, and it is he who assigns them their work and office, making “some apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Thus the church of God is presented under the figure of a body to show that it is perfectly organized in every particular, divinely so, and needs no tinkering of men, as it is perfect in itself. The fact is, sectarian institutions are to the body of Christ what wooden crutches would be to a sound man. Modern theology teaches us that these institutions are necessary to the organization and the perfect working of the church. If this is so, how is it that the church of God got along so well for centuries before sects arose? The fact is that the church of God in itself is a perfectly organized body; and, with all the inventions and ingenuity of men, they have never been able to improve upon that organization. Wooden crutches are no part of the human body. A man might argue that they are necessary for the speedy travel of man through the world, but such argument would not appear reasonable to an intelligent man with sound limbs and body. He would say, “The crutches retard my progress, hinder my work.” Just so with sectarian institutions; they retard and hinder the progress of the church of God. It is a sound body in itself; there is not a crippled limb or member in it. While for centuries men have been inventing human props and crutches, and compelling the church to limp along upon these, thank God, the time has come when the church of God is casting off all these inventions of men and again walking erect.

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