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The Body of Christ
Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The author of Hebrews is writing to a body of Christians, and is here outlining some of the factors which make Christians distinct. We ”enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus“ and have ”our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.“ This, in theory, is a foundational description of what constitutes the members of the Christian religion. “Entering the Holy Places” is not gathering in particular holy place, but entering into a relationship with Jesus, often as a gathered body of believers. Ultimately, relationship is the most important aspect of the passage above which is in the context of a discussion of God's covenant with His people.
“As the body of Christ, it [the church] is neither organization nor institution, but persons who are members one of another under the headship of it living Lord. Only in the presence of Christ dwelling within it through his Word and his Spirit does the ecclesia have its being” (Humphrey. Emil Brunner. 115).
“Christianity is not a philosophy; it is a relationship.” (Bill Johnson. When Heaven Invades Earth. 91).
Mark Chironna suggests, “May your relationship with Him be your bread, and may His life in you become manna to many” (The Prophetic Perspective. 227). By phrasing it, “may you”, Chironna is admitting our Christianity is often fraught with unChristian behavior, which leads to sin and quarrelling within the church.
Despite some rather unholy behavior by Catholic armies who entered Constantinople, in theory to help the Orthodox, I believe that the various bodies of believers saw themselves as one Church right up until the time of the Reformation. Corruption within the Papal courts had become too much to bear, forcing a radical split. John Calvin wanted very much to retain the communion of saints, one body of Christ. Sometimes this meant not quarrelling over differences, something which he and Luther failed at, leading to the first rupture within the Reformed camp. Still, his sentiment is sound:
“The best thing, indeed, is to be perfectly agreed, but seeing there is no man who is not involved in some mist of ignorance, we must either have no church at all, or pardon delusion in those things of which one may be ignorant, without violating the substance of religion and forfeiting salvation... In other words, we must neither renounce the communion of the church, nor, continuing in it, disturb peace and discipline when duly arranged.” (Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion. 680, [IV.1.12]).
The truth is, if I might paraphrase, the church is a mixed bag of nuts, all trying to get close to Jesus, but often with different methods, different ideas, and different levels of maturity. We are linked by our love for Jesus and the belief that we should be in close enough communion with him to know his will for us personally, and we should be attempting to accomplish his will. Is that an adequate expression of who we are?
Listening to a discussion on the unity of the Church in the work of T.F. Torrance, I was struck by two things: the speaker, a Greek Orthodox theologian was asked to moderate a discussion on the Church by a prominent leader. He asked which church. The answer, “The Church”. Similarly, Torrance, when asked to be the moderator for a similar discussion, refused the title of moderator, stating, “There is only one moderator of the Church, Jesus Christ.” The point is that the true Church is that place where the Holy Spirit brings us into subjection to Jesus. All else is vanity.
Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
1 Corinthians 4:15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
We love to torment Catholics with the first quote. In their defense, Paul calls himself a “father“ of the Corinthian church, that is, a spiritual father. This brings up the issue of leaders in the church, a sensitive topic at this time when so many church leaders are in trouble for financial or sexual abuse. Many believers, still calling themselves Christian, shun the Church altogether because of abuses and quarrels.
Part of the problem is celebrity pastors and the widespread availability of teaching through television and the internet. I have to include this quote from a book by Aimee Byrd:
“A seminary professor once told me that he asked his class who their favorite preacher was, and not one of them mentioned their own pastor. Not only that, but none of them may have even met the pastors they named, as they were all celebrity pastors” (Byrd. Recovering From Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. 158).
In truth, if someone asks me who my favorite preacher is, I might answer in the same way. It isn't that I don't value Bo and his contributions towards myself and this body, I just assume that the question is meant to quiz me on who I listen to of the big name preachers, i.e. what stream am I in. Telling someone who doesn't know Bo that he is my favorite pastor, doesn't tell them what they want to know. The fact is that there are a lot of different Christian cultures out there. Each celebrity has their own peculiarities. Each denomination has its own peculiarities. And now that there are more non-denominational churches, the possibilities are expanding exponentially.
Writer and blogger Alan Jacob presents his first law:
“People who know nothing about a subject are radically vulnerable to those who know less than nothing.” (Jacob. Goodreads.com. 9/24/2024).
The way to know that you are on the right track to Christian maturity is two-fold: know the Holy Spirit and by personal study.
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
We know the Holy Spirit by impartation. This can come by hearing the Spirit filled word (Acts 10:44 ); or it can come by prayer and the laying on of hands (Acts 8:17). Our relationship with the Holy Spirit is strengthened by staying in prayer, especially with other mature Spirit-filled believers.
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
In the King James this is, “study to show yourself approved.” If you want to speak the truth, you must know the truth. In particular, it is important to read the Bible, the whole Bible, not just the favorite passages, or the recommended passages. It is easy to be misled when passages are pulled out of context, or when those passages which reshape what is being spoken are ignored or unknown altogether. There is a lot of good study material out there as well. It is healthy to sample various streams of teaching. Every day I spend time in the Bible and then read books and access YouTube talks. I read and listen to a wide range of viewpoints, even opponents of Christ. It helps me to see wisdom and intelligence that may not be apparent within our closed charismatic circle. So, for instance, I spent a year going through John MacArthur's one-year study bible. I have some strong differences with MacArthur, but he does have insight and wisdom in other areas. I can still learn from him.
The final thing to be said about leadership is that good leaders bear good fruit, bad leaders bear bad fruit.
Luke 6:43-45 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Someone who is mocking and belittling, or is judgmental, busy heresy hunting, someone embroiled in scandals; this is someone whose teaching should be immediately suspect. I am not suggesting that you don't listen to them at all, but that you should carefully weigh everything being said against our gold standard, the Bible. This is easy to do when you are in fellowship with mature Christians, less easy to do when in fellowship with the immature, or not in fellowship at all.
“those who are most forward, and, as it were, leaders in producing revolt from the church, have, for the most part, no other motive than to display their own superiority by despising all other men.” (Calvin. Institutes.... 682 [IV.1.16]).
“What exactly is the church? Two possible views present themselves. The first model is that of the Donatists, who picture the church as a pure, holy society inhabited only by genuine believers. The second model, that advanced by Augustine, is that of the churches a permixta ecclesia, a mixed society of both genuine and false believers. Yet Augustine admits that the desire for a pure church in the present age can tempt the genuine believers to leave the church in a misguided quest for holiness and purity.” (Christopher A. Hall. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers. 241-242).
The first thing to know about the Donatists is that they were declared heretics. Each person's personal standard of purity may make them believe that they are spotless lambs. Wisdom declares such hubris, not just wrong, but dangerously wrong. It is the entry point for a world of corruption.
We wish we were all instantly pure, instantly wise and fully in union with Christ from the moment of our becoming believers, but alas, this is not reality., which is why we must go the extra mile to reach beyond our own convictions, which may be nothing more than ignorance of the deeper things, and have grace for others who may be stumbling ethically or in their understanding. I have strong disagreements with some portions of Catholic thought, and yet I can't think of any Catholics that I don't like. All this, does not mean that we welcome in every wolf the world has to offer. As Bobby Conner says:
“The seeker-friendly, non-confrontational, Cross-removing church will not prepare the Body of Christ for the days we are facing!” (Conner. Living in God's Light. 141).
Editor of Christianity Today Russell Moore, in an interview with the Atlantic, discusses the fact that Christianity in America is rapidly loosing its credibility. He had been a the head of the Southern Baptist ethics committee, but found that the vicious infighting, including personal attacks, led him to not only leave the committee, but to leave the Southern Baptist Convention altogether. While we understand that Christians as individuals are on a journey to full Christlikeness, there is something seriously wrong when the public perception of Christianity as a whole is less Christlike than that of non-Christians. In fact, Christians are viewed as judgement, angry, manipulative, greedy and power hungry.
There have been some rather pronounced failures, which non-Christians are happy to point out: the inquisition, the thirty years war, the crusades, not to mention more recent moral failings of church leaders. On the other hand, Christianity is judged by the ethical standards which arise out of the gospels. None of the aforementioned failures were considered problematic for anyone prior to the advent of Jesus Christ. Greece, Rome, Persia, China, and even Israel routinely devastated their opponents, both individual and national, without feeling a bit of remorse. Western civilization ethics are thoroughly Christian. Christians are being judged by our own ethics.
Christians often take on a siege mentality as our children are taught the failures of Christianity, but never the positive influence. Forgetting that from the very beginning in the gospels, Christ was opposed by the world, especially by worldly Jews. His solution speak to the issue with strength in grace, humility and truth. His call was to believers and those eager to believe. He did not condemn Rome ever. The Church, that fails to serve a broken and lost world, but attempts to dominate using the worlds methods and means—condemnation, mockery, questionable logic and legal force when possible—has lost its soul, which is Christ himself.
Luke 11:35 Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.
Spirituality is popular once again. After several centuries in which spirituality had become a sign of superstition and lack of intelligence, where even Christians had become wary of speaking about unscientific experiences, there seems to be a widespread realization that science is limited, and that to have a world of beauty and goodness requires something more. This situation has a very big downside. There are many proclaiming light in the darkness who only bring greater darkness. Beauty and goodness need truth. We must be the ones who bring light in the darkness. How does Jesus commision Paul (Saul) on the Damascus road?
Acts 26:16-18 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Look closely. Jesus is not calling Saul/Paul to become a leader or a teacher, which he certainly did become, but Jesus is appointing him to be a “servant and witness”. Christianity as a whole must restore their position as servant and witness, or we Christians will never regain leadership and the ability to teach the world.
As Christians, we have become too quick to bring condemnation, i.e. judgement on the world for abortion, for sexual deviance, and for a host of other infractions against God's stated desire for us in scripture. Paul understood his savior and writes to the Corinthians, a church that had fallen into some worldly ways, on what the world should see when they peer into God's people:
1 Corinthians 4:1,5 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God... Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.
We must serve and steward the light. Let the world see our light in the darkness that they might be drawn away from the darkness, cleansed and made whole. We cannot do that if we ourselves do not steward the light in humility and grace. For Paul the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit begins with belief in Jesus Christ and God the Father through whom we receive the Holy Spirit. By our belief, if it is genuine, we are drawn into relationship with God through the Spirit, a relationship which Paul characterizes as enslavement. With God directing us, we cannot help but manifest new fruit.
Romans 6:21-22 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
To this, Calvin adds a note of caution:
“Faith consists in the knowledge of God and Christ (John 17:3), not in the reverence for the church” (Calvin. Institutes... 356 [III.2.3]).
I want to close with some comments on the Church as the body of Christ, starting with a quote from an Orthodox theologian:
The mystery of being a person lies in the fact that here otherness and communion are not in contradiction but coincide. Truth as communion does not lead to the dissolving of the diversity of beings into one vast ocean of being, but to the affirmation of otherness in and through love.... This identification of otherness with unity is incompatible with fallen existence, into which we are born as individuals with a clear tendency to seize, dominate and possess being” (John D. Zizioulas. Being as Communion. 106-107).
Because grace. Because of grace we can see others, in all of their glorious variety, as part of God's great tapestry. Differences make each one of us unique and special in God's Kingdom. The “other” is someone with a place in the Kingdom, a place that the Holy Spirit is longing to lead them to, with your help. By grace, all of our own personal quirks, our scars and failures, are cleansed and transformed to become a part of our own personal tapestry of God's Spirit in action. The light of that beauty, or lack thereof, only becomes visible when we join in fellowship one with another. Communion, the drawing together of the community of Jesus Christ, is an essential aspect of what it means to be Christian. We mature in the body, and we shine in the body.
We need our times of contemplation and prayer, our quiet times with God. Those are the times develop our Christlike character; those are the times that we come to know ourselves and mature as sons and daughters of the most High. But the rose that blooms in the night is meaningless until I arise and walk out to the garden to embrace is beauty.
“Without the ascetic dimension, the person is inconceivable. But in the end the context of the manifestation of the person is not the monastery: it is the Eucharist.” (John D. Zizioulas. Being as Communion. 63, footnote 66).
The beauty of Christ in us personally comes alive in the Body of Christ. Our gathered existence sparkles in a million bright flashes reflecting the light of the Son of God. Each one of us has a special meaning in that brilliant display, our own special meaning that we will see reflected in the eyes of Jesus Christ.