The Church as the Body of Christ by Onuoha Simon Gerard, SC

Introduction 

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul referred to the church as the body of Christ. He used this metaphor to relay significant truths about the church and to help believers better understand the value of diversity within the church.

Paul wrote this to the church of Corinth: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many”

The church is called the body of Christ because Christ is the head of the church and we are called to do the work of Christ, each like members of a body. We have different skills, purposes, and spiritual gifts, yet every believer is equally important to the full functioning, mission, and efficacy of the church.l

1.0 Christ as the head of the church.

All parts of the body are very important and when one part suffers, other parts suffers as well, but in this equality, we have the head which happens to be above other parts, the head contains the eyes, which helps us to see, and God being the head of the church sees all things and ever ready to speak to us through his prophets. The head happens to be the brain box that sends signal to every other part of the body in communication of what the body desire at a particular moment.

 Christ being the head of the church, has delegated his powers as the head of the body, the church to the clergy and we the members of this same body are ought to follow the direction of the head delegated to us. When we obey those placed over us, it is important to note that we obey Christ himself.  

2.0 unity of the body 

When we talk about the unity in Christ we talk as well the two keys of unity which is ; humility. Phillipian 2

3.0 disunity among Christians 

There is one body,” (Eph. 4:4) Imagine one head, but two bodies. Two bodies who disagree over the direction the head is revealing to go and in which way it is leading them. One body pulling south and the other body pulling north. The result is embarrassing. Counterproductive. Pointless. Directionless. Such is the church who is divided. The Head (Jesus Christ – see 1:22) reveals direction through the hierarchy of leadership He has called into position. When parts of the body refuse to follow the revealed direction of the Head, the result is always catastrophic.

4.0 Do not give the devil the opportunity to destroy the body of Christ 

As we pursue unity, there are many things that will labor against that pursuit. Satan is the accuser of the brethren, he sows discord, and does all that he can to make sure that churches divide because a divided kingdom cannot stand (Matt. 12:25-26). So when we see the seeds of division starting to appear, we need to see this as a spiritual warfare issue. We do not fight each other, our battle is against Satan and his forces (Eph. 6:12). In light of that, we need to be sober-minded and alert, ready to see the ways in which he may seek to destroy the unity we are called to experience and display.

First, Satan uses distraction. He distracts us with the busyness of life so that we miss opportunities to love and support the body. Second, he uses deception. Satan will lie to us, planting evil thoughts in our heads about others, about the church, and even God. Third, he uses derision. Satan will condemn us, reminding us of our sin and making us discouraged so that we don’t serve others and get involved in the life of the church. Finally, he uses division. Satan will tempt us to idolize our own preferences (styles of worship, models of ministry, ways to evangelize, how often to do the Lord’s supper, etc.). It is crazy how small things like carpet colors have divided churches. These things kill churches and bring shame on the name of Christ.

This is why humility, love, service, and prayer are so often paired with calls to unity. If we are going to be a faithful display of God’s glory in the world, we need to pursue unity. There is great joy available for us in unity and great dangers in the lack of it. May we humbly, prayerfully, and resiliently fight for unity together and so picture the spiritual unity we already have secured for us. For the glory of Christ alone.

5.0 The beauty of oneness. 

Oneness provides ways to imagine and achieve a more expansive conception of the self as fundamentally connected with other people, creatures, and things. Such views present profound challenges to Western hyper individualism and its excessive concern with self-interest and tendency toward self-centered behavior.