The Great Mystery: The Body of Christ—The Church

We have read about the sufferings and death of Christ, how Jesus suffered in the flesh and was finished with sin, and how He sacrificed Himself in the power of an eternal Spirit. That Spirit then became acquainted with all the sacrifices that had to be offered on the way through the veil, which is His flesh. When that way was completed at Calvary, His body was raised up as a temple. After the resurrection He received the Spirit from His Father, and it was this Spirit that He poured out upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

“Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” Acts 2:33.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and all have been made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:13. We are baptized by one Spirit to be one body. That is the body of Christ. The Spirit must then do the same work in us as the Father did in Jesus. And Jesus says, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” John 16:12-14.

To guide us into all the truth means to give us light over all that is to be put to death, and here an acknowledgment is necessary. The Spirit can only guide those who love the truth about themselves. The Spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit, but I am the one who decides which of them gains power in my life. That is why the exhortations are written to me. Many people say, “The Spirit is to do it,” which means, of course, that the Spirit gets the blame if it isn’t done! No, we are to “serve in the newness of spirit.” Therefore we are exhorted to “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Gal. 5:16. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Rom. 8:13. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Rom. 8:14. And so on.

All those who do not love the truth will be deceived by the Antichrist; God Himself will see to that. In 2 Thess. 2:13-15 it is written: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”

We see that it is the Spirit that guides us into the truth. The Spirit works with us. Unless we love the truth, however, He cannot lead us to sanctification. We are to win the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we do that through obedience to the form of doctrine. Thus we walk on the way He has consecrated for us, and we partake of His life. Then we are His body, and Jesus is the head of the body. Despite the fact that we are so different, both Jews and Gentiles, we are nevertheless baptized by one Spirit to be one body. That is the same Spirit in which Jesus offered Himself and by which we are led. “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Gal. 5:24. Unless we have done that, we cannot be led by the Spirit.

“And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” Eph. 2:16. And, “...having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.” Eph. 2:15.

We see from these verses that the two—Jews and Gentiles—became one new man on the cross. This is the church, the body of Christ. Eph. 3:4-6. What a mystery!!! Where can you find it? You will never find it among the various religious organizations with their different names. They are in stark contrast to the church, which is the body of Christ. The very fact that they try to find so many fine, Biblical names for their so-called churches is a powerful testimony against them. Often they fight against each other and also among themselves. This strife can be so manifest that it even gets reported in the daily newspapers and becomes a national disgrace.

Jesus said: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matt. 18:20. He also prayed to His Father: “Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” John 17:11. We can see from this that those who take another name have no chance of becoming one. Nor do they have any promise that Jesus will be among them. Jesus continues: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:20-21.

Where can you find a church today in which this prayer of Jesus has been fulfilled?! You cannot find it among all the denominations with their various religious names. They deny that Jesus came in the flesh, that He partook of flesh and blood just as the children; they deny that God condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Therefore they have no part in the gospel which was promised through the prophets “...concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Rom. 1:3-4.

They know nothing of the death of Christ, which is the mystery Paul writes about, and which we are always to carry about with us in the body so that “...the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” 2 Cor. 4:10-11. When they know nothing of this death, how can all these different people become one as the Father and Son are one!? It is absolutely impossible! Their lack of unity is constantly being manifested.

But wherever the gospel about Jesus, who came of the seed of David, is preached, the hearers can partake of a righteousness which they could not partake of under the law. Then they are joined together by the Head, who is Christ. “...from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Eph. 4:16. What a glorious mystery is revealed to us through the Scriptures! We must truly say, “So great a salvation!”