The body of Christ

[Christian Markle]

Body, not in the literal sense.. but body as in assembly, congregation.. so there can be multiple.

In Ephesians, there is one New Testament congregation/assembly of Jesus at Ephesus and the context of the chapter is about unity.  So.. one faith, one baptism, one God.. this isn't about numbers but unity.

I need to go and find S.E Anderson's book 'Real Churches or a Fog' .. so I can show the scriptural backing more in depth.  He explains it better than I can.

The issue of mulitple bodies though I think is not an issue, if you think of body not in terms of Christ's literal body.. but body as in assembly, congregation.

How does changing the idea from a literal body to a "non-literal" assembly, congregation change anything? The logical steps to your conclusion are not evident. Maybe the book you are searching for will help...but it will take a bit of magic to make "one" equal "multiple." But I am certainly interested.

[TheSword]

Body, not in the literal sense.. but body as in assembly, congregation.. so there can be multiple.

Again, on what basis are you making this claim? If you figuratively interpret "body" in Eph 4, then in order to be consistent you must also interpret "Spirit", "hope", "Lord", "faith", "baptism", "God", and "Father" in a non-literal way.

You cannot read the understanding of congregation or assembly (ekklesia) into the meaning of body (soma) because it does not fit within the semantic range and is never used in that sense. We may use "body "to describe an assembly in modern English, but 1st century Greek-speakers did not. This word refers to a physical mass and almost always associated with the corporeal tissue of a human, animal, or plant. In the rare instances it does reference a non-physical body, it is always used to reference a heavenly body, thereby rendering an earthly congregation/assembly invalid. This is what I meant in my earlier post by anachronism.

In Ephesians, there is one New Testament congregation/assembly of Jesus at Ephesus and the context of the chapter is about unity.  So.. one faith, one baptism, one God.. this isn't about numbers but unity.

Yes, Ephesians is about unity, but there is no reason to restrict its meaning and applicability to a single local body. Additionally, if your interpretation is correct, it conflicts with Rom 12:4-5:

"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."

Since, at this point, Paul had never been to Rome and was certainly not a part of the church there (he was baptized in Damascus if you recall), he cannot be including himself in anything but a universal body.

The issue of mulitple bodies though I think is not an issue, if you think of body not in terms of Christ's literal body.. but body as in assembly, congregation.

As mentioned above, you cannot make this assumption based on the text. You have to bring in outside pre-understandings to make that work.

[MikeWatson1]

If the body of Christ is the church..  the church is in the Greek.. Eccessia:

So then:

Ecclessia:

from

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books, Tracts & Preaching/Printed Books/Dr Jack Hyles/The Church/the_body_of_christ-chap_10.htm

In Ephesians:

This word church is the word ekklesia, which means a called-out assembly. All believers have not yet been called out and assembled. They will not be assembled until the rapture when the church of the firstborn will be assembled in Heaven and all believers become a church. All believers are not now a church. He is referring to the called-out assembly or local church in the city of Ephesus.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25

If anything refutes the invisible church, this is it. Jesus compares Himself and His church to a man and wife. Consequently, if there an invisible church, then a man has an invisible wife. Jesus does not love an invisible church. He could have chosen another relationship to compare it with. He could have chosen angels because they are invisible to us. He could have used spirits or souls, but He chose to use the visibility of a man and his wife. Jesus is talking about a visible organization which is His church and His body.

 

Corinthians:

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. I Corinthians 12:12

A called-out assembly is the same as the church. The church is the same as the body. The body, called-out assembly, or local church has many members, and all members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. We do not belong to the body that He purchased just because we are saved, because He purchased the local assembly. What difference does all of this make? It makes a big difference because there are many Christian people who are not a part of a local church. There are Bible colleges where most of the faculty and students are not actively involved in a local church. I am not talking about liberals. I am talking about fundamentalists. They believe that the church is not as important as the college.

More in Corinthians:

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. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because Jam not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because lam not the eye, Jam not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. 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. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 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. I Corinthians 12:13-23

What does it mean by one spirit? Are we all baptized into one body? He is talking to the church at Corinth, and telling them that the Holy Spirit immersed them into that church.

 

We have been influenced by this invisible church idea. We need to get back to the fact that the local ekklesia is the called-out assembly, and that all believers have never been a called-out assembly. All believers are not members of the church. If people are going to be reached, it will be through the ministry of local churches.

 

another website:

http://www.pbministries.org/Theology/Davis Huckabee/Sermons To Baptist Churches/ch01_body_of_christ.htm

 

for Corinthians:

Thus, this verse has no reference whatsoever to either the Holy Spirit or Holy Spirit baptism. Paul was writing to saved persons, members of the Corinthian church who had been baptized into that church, which is the only scriptural way of entrance into any sound church. At the same time, baptism always has the same purpose and is administered the same way for all people if it is scripturally administered. "In one spirit were we all baptized into one body" therefore means that this baptism was administered in a unity of purpose and practice.

Again, it is to be noted that this verse neither says nor intimates that "we were all baptized into the same body," for if a person has been Scripturally baptized into a New Testament church, he has been baptized into one body whether that one body was the Damascus church as in Paul’s case, or the Corinthian church as with these to whom Paul was writing, or the Woodrow Baptist Church as it was in this writer’s case.

 

Many Baptists, while rightly rejecting the idea of a present universal church, yet inconsistently hold to some sort of a universal Body of Christ. But the church and the body of Christ are identical, as many passages show. "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. . .Who now rejoice in my sufferings 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," (Col. 1:18, 24).

 

I need to go and have a look at the Romans verse too.. but if you see above.. a local body of Christ only is sound.

[MikeWatson1]

Okay.. now on the Romans verse:

from:

http://idahobaptist.com/body-christ-romans-123-8/

Admittedly, there are scriptures which speak about all the churches of Christ in one breath as “the church.” But those scriptures are not stripping away the fact that each of them were local assemblies. Never are those scriptures saying that there is only one true church made up of all believers, or even of all the baptized members of all the local churches.

Once we reach that definition and that conclusion, it is easy to define the Body of Christ. Paul is talking either about the“ekklesia” which assembled in Rome, or he was talking about that “ekklesia” and the specific “ekklesia” in which he was a member, along with all the others. With that definition in mind, there is no problem when he says, “So WE, being many, are one body in Christ.” He was using something called the “editorial we.” He was using the word “we” in the same way as it is found in the Constitution of the United States. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…” In this case a group of men were speaking or writing on behalf of a great many others. Paul is speaking here of the Body of Christ – just as he was in I Corinthians 12:13. “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. 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.” Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, those people who had been baptized in Corinth became a part of the Body of Christ in that location. That was just as Paul had been baptized into the Body of Christ in Damascus and eventually became a member of the Body of Christ in Antioch.

Here in Romans 12 Paul was writing about the Church of Christ which specifically gathered in Rome, and more generally about any Church of Christ found anywhere in the world, including Calvary Independent Baptist Church.......

 

So I know these are posts from other websites.. and not my direct reasoning from scripture.. but these are how I would explain also.