Chapter 11: One Body In Christ
Before we pass on to our last important
subject we will review some of the ground we have covered and summarize the
steps taken. We have sought to make things simple, and to explain clearly some
of the experiences which Christians commonly pass through. But it is clear
that the new discoveries that we make as we walk with the Lord are many, and we
must be careful to avoid the temptation to over-simplify the work of God. To
do so may lead us into serious confusion.
There are children of God who believe that all
our salvation, in which they would include the matter of leading a holy life,
lies in an appreciation of the value of the precious Blood. They rightly
emphasize the importance of keeping short accounts with God over known specific
sins, and the continual efficacy of the Blood to deal with sins committed, but
they think of the Blood as doing everything. They believe in a holiness which
in fact means only separation of the man from his past; that, through the
up-to-date blotting out of what he has done on the ground of the shed Blood,
God separates a man out of the world to be His, and that is holiness; and they
stop there. Thus they stop short of God's basic demands, and so of the full
provision He has made. I think we have by now seen clearly the inadequacy of
this.
Then there are those who go further and see that
God has included them in the death of His Son on the Cross, in order to deliver
them from sin and the Law by dealing with the old man. These are they who
really exercise faith in the Lord, for they glory in Christ Jesus and have
ceased to put confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3). In them God has a clear
foundation on which to build. And from this as starting-point, many have gone
further still and recognized that consecration (using that word in the right
sense) means giving themselves without reserve into His hands and following
Him. All these are first steps, and starting from them we have already touched
upon other phases of experience set before us by God and enjoyed by many. It
is always essential for us to remember that, while each of them is a precious
fragment of truth, no single one of them is by itself the whole of truth. All
come to us as the fruit of the work of Christ on the Cross, and we cannot
afford to ignore any.
A Gate And A Path
Recognizing a number of such phases in the
life and experience of a believer, we note now a further fact, namely that,
though these phases do not necessarily occur always in a fixed and precise
order, they seem to be marked by certain recurring steps or features. What are
these steps? First there is revelation. As we have seen, this always precedes
faith and experience. Through His Word God opens our eyes to the truth of some
fact concerning His Son, and then only, as in Faith we accept that fact for
ourselves, does it become actual as experience in our lives. Thus we have:
1. Revelation (Objective).
2. Experience (Subjective).
Then further, we note that such experience
usually takes the two-fold form of a crisis leading to a continuous process.
It is most helpful to think of this in terms of John Bunyan's `wicket gate'
through which Christian entered upon a `narrow path'. Our Lord Jesus spoke of
such a gate and a path leading unto life (Matt. 7:14), and experience accords
with this. So now we have:
1. Revelation.
2. Experience: (a) A Wicket gate (Crisis)
(b) A narrow path (Process)
Now let us take some of the subjects we have been
dealing with and see how this helps us to understand them. We will take first
our justification and new birth. This begins with a revelation
of the Lord Jesus in His atoning work for our sins on the Cross; there follows
the crisis of repentance and faith (the wicket gate), whereby we are initially
"made nigh" to God (Eph. 2:13); and this leads us into a walk of maintained
fellowship with Him (the narrow path), for which the ground of our day-to-day
access is still the precious Blood (Heb 10:29,22). When we come to
deliverance from sin, we again have three steps: the Holy Spirit's work
of revelation, or `knowing' (Rom. 6:6); the crisis of faith, or `reckoning'
(Rom. 6:11); and the continuing process of consecration, or `presenting
ourselves' to God (Rom. 6:13) on the basis of a walk in newness of life.
Consider next the gift of the Holy Spirit. This too begins with a new
`seeing' of the Lord Jesus as exalted to the throne, which issues in the dual
experience of the Spirit outpoured and the Spirit in dwelling. Going a stage
further, to the matter of pleasing God, we find again the need for
spiritual illumination, that we may see the values of the Cross in regard to
`the flesh' -- the entire self-life of man. Our acceptance of this by faith
leads at once to a `wicket gate' experience (Rom. 7:25), in which we initially
cease from `doing' and accept by faith the mighty working of the life of Christ
to satisfy God's practical demands in us. This in turn leads us into the
`narrow path' of a walk in obedience to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).
The picture is not identical in each case, and we
must beware of forcing any rigid pattern upon the Holy Spirit's working; but
perhaps any new experience will come to us more or less on these lines. There
will certainly always be first an opening of our eyes to some new aspect of
Christ and His finished work, and then faith will open a gate into a pathway.
Remember, too, that our division of Christian experience into various subjects:
justification, new birth, the gift of the spirit, deliverance, sanctification,
etc., is for our clearer understanding only. It does not mean that these
stages must or will always follow one another in a certain prescribed order.
In fact, if a full presentation of Christ and His Cross is made to us at the
very outset, we may well step into a great deal of experience from the first
day of our Christian life, even though the full explanation of much of it may
follow later. Would that all Gospel preaching were of such a kind!
One thing is certain, that revelation will always
precede faith. When we see something that God has done in Christ our
natural response is: `Thank you, Lord !' and faith follows spontaneously.
Revelation is always the work of the Holy Spirit, who is given to come
along-side and, by opening the Scriptures to us, to guide us into all the truth
(John 16:13). Count upon Him, for He is here for that very thing; and when
such difficulties as lack of understanding or lack of faith confront you,
address those difficulties directly to the Lord: `Lord, open my eyes. Lord,
make this new thing clear to me. Lord, help Thou my unbelief!' He will not
fail you.
The Fourfold Work Of Christ In His Cross
We are now in a position to go a step further
still and to consider how great a range is compassed by the Cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the light of Christian experience and for the purpose of
analysis, it may help us if we recognize four aspects of God's redemptive work.
But in doing so it is essential to keep in mind that the Cross of Christ is
one Divine work -- not many. Once in Judaea two thousand years ago the
Lord Jesus died and rose again, and He is now "by the right hand of God
exalted" (Acts 2:33). The work is finished and need never be repeated, nor can
it be added to.
Of the four aspects of the Cross which we shall
now mention, we have already dealt with three in some detail. The last will be
considered in the two succeeding chapters of our study. They may be briefly
summarized as follows:
1. The Blood of Christ to deal with sins and guilt.
2. The Cross of Christ to deal with sin, the flesh and the natural
man.
3. The Life of Christ made available to indwell, re-create and empower
man.
4. The Working of Death in the natural man that that indwelling Life
may be progressively manifest.
The first two of these aspects are remedial.
They relate to the undoing of the work of the Devil and the undoing of the sin
of man. The last two are not remedial but positive, and relate more directly
to the securing of the purpose of God. The first two are concerned with
recovering what Adam lost by the Fall; the last two are concerned with bringing
us into, and bringing into us, something that Adam never had. Thus we see that
the achievement of the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection comprises both
a work which provided for the redemption of man and a work which made possible
the realization of the purpose of God.
We have dealt at some length in earlier chapters
with the two aspects of His death represented by the Blood for sins and guilt
and the Cross for sin and the flesh. In our discussion of the eternal purpose
we have also looked briefly at the third aspect -- that represented by Christ
as the grain of wheat -- and in our last chapter, in our consideration of
Christ as our life, we have seen something of its practical outworking.
Before, however, we pass on to the fourth aspect, which I shall call `bearing
the cross', we must say a little more about this third side, namely, the
release of the life of Christ in resurrection for man's indwelling and
empowering for service.
We have spoken already of the purpose of God in
creation and have said that it embraced far more than Adam ever came to enjoy.
What was that purpose? God wanted to have a race of men whose members were
gifted with a spirit whereby communion would be possible with Himself, who is
Spirit. That race, possessing God's own life, was to co-operate in securing
His purposed end by defeating every possible uprising of the enemy and undoing
his evil works. That was the great plan. How will it now be effected? The
answer is again to be found in the death of the Lord Jesus. It is a mighty
death. It is something positive and purposive, going far beyond the recovery
of a lost position; for by it, not only are sin and the old man dealt with and
their effects annulled, but something more, something infinitely greater is
introduced.
The Love Of Christ
Now we must have before us two passages of
the Word, one from Genesis 2 and one from Ephesians 5, which are of great
importance in this connection.
"And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall
upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, which the Lord God had
taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man
said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called
Woman (Heb. ishshah), because she was taken out of Man (Heb.
ish)" (Gen. 2:21-23).
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having
cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the
church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25-27).
In Ephesians 5 we have the only chapter in the
Bible which explains the passage in Genesis 2. What we have presented to us in
Ephesians is indeed very remarkable, if we reflect upon it. I refer to what is
contained in those words: "Christ ... loved the church". There is something
most precious here.
We have been taught to think of ourselves as
sinners needing redemption. For generations that has been instilled into us,
and we praise the Lord for that as our beginning; but it is not what God has in
view as His end. God speaks here rather of "a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but .. holy and without blemish".
All too often we have thought of the Church as being merely so many `saved
sinners'. It is that; but we have made the terms almost equal to one
another, as though it were only that, which is not the case. Saved
sinners -- with that thought you have the whole background of sin and the Fall;
but in God's sight the Church is a Diving creation in His Son. The one
is largely individual, the other corporate. With the one the view is negative,
belonging to the past; with the other it is positive, looking forward. The
"eternal purpose" is something in the mind of God from eternity concerning His
Son, and it has as its objective that the Son should have a Body to express His
life. Viewed from that standpoint -- from the standpoint of the heart of God
-- the Church is something which is beyond sin and has never been touched by
sin.
So we have an aspect of the death of the Lord
Jesus in Ephesians which we do not have so clearly in other places. In Romans
things are viewed from the standpoint of fallen man, and beginning with `Christ
died for sinners, enemies, the ungodly' (Rom. 5) we are led progressively to
"the love of Christ" (Rom. 8:35). In Ephesians, on the other hand, the
standpoint is that of God "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4), and
the heart of the gospel is: "Christ ... loved the church, and gave himself up
for it" (Eph. 5:25). Thus, in Romans it is "we sinned", and the message is of
God's love for sinners (Rom. 5:8); whereas in Ephesians it is "Christ loved",
and the love here is the love of husband for wife. That kind of love has
fundamentally nothing to do with sin as such. What is in view in this passage
is not atonement for sin but the creation of the Church, for which end it is
said that He "gave himself".
There is thus an aspect of the death of the Lord
Jesus which is altogether positive and a matter particularly of love to His
Church, where the question of sin and sinners does not directly appear. To
bring this fact home Paul takes that incident in Genesis 2 as illustration.
Now this is one of the marvelous things in the Word, and if our eyes have been
opened to see it we will certainly worship.
From Genesis 3 onwards, from the `coats of skins'
to Abel's sacrifice, and on from there through the whole Old Testament, there
are numerous types which set forth the death of the Lord Jesus as an atonement
for sin; yet the apostle does not appeal here to any of those types of His
death, but to this one in Genesis 2. Note that; and then recall that it was
not until Genesis 3 that sin came in. There is one type of the death of Christ
in the Old Testament which has nothing to do with sin, for it is not subsequent
to the Fall but prior to it, and that type is here in Genesis 2. Let us look
at it for a moment.
Could we say that Adam was put to sleep because
Eve had committed a serious sin? Is that what we have here? Certainly not,
for Eve was not yet even created. There were as yet no moral issues involved
and no problems at all. No, Adam was put to sleep for the express purpose that
something might be taken out of him to be made into someone else. His sleep
was not for her sin but for her existence. That is what is taught in
these verses. This experience of Adam had as its object the creation of Eve,
as something determined in the Divine counsels. God wanted an ishshah.
He put the man (ish) to sleep, took a rib from his side and made it into
ishshah, a woman, and brought her to the man. That is the picture which
God is giving us. It foreshadows an aspect of the death of the Lord Jesus that
is not primarily for atonement, but answerable to the sleep of Adam in this
chapter.
God forbid that I should suggest that the Lord
Jesus did not die for purposes of atonement. Praise God, He did. We must
remember that today we are in fact in Ephesians 5 and not in Genesis 2.
Ephesians was written after the Fall, to men who had suffered from its
effects, and in it we have not only the purpose in Creation but also the scars
of the Fall -- or there would need to be no mention of "spot or wrinkle".
Because we are still on the earth and the Fall is a historic fact, `cleansing'
is needed.
But we must always view redemption as an
interruption, an `emergence' measure, made necessary by a catastrophic break in
the straight line of the purpose of God. Redemption is big enough, wonderful
enough, to occupy a very large place in our vision, but God is saying that we
should not make redemption to be everything, as though man were created to
be redeemed. The Fall is indeed a tragic dip downwards in that line of
purpose, and the atonement a blessed recovery whereby our sins are blotted out
and we are restored; but when it is accomplished there yet remains a work to be
done to bring us into possession of that which Adam never possessed, and to
give God that which His heart desires. For God has never forsaken the purpose
which is represented by that straight line. Adam was never in possession of
the life of God as presented in the tree of life. But because of the one work
of the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection (and we must emphasize again
that it is all one work) His life was released to become ours by faith, and we
have received more than Adam ever possessed. The very purpose of God is
brought within reach of fulfillment by our receiving Christ as our life.
Adam was put to sleep. We remember that it is
said of believers that they fall asleep, rather than that they die. Why?
Because whenever death is mentioned sin is there in the background. In Genesis
3 sin entered into the world and death through sin, but Adam's sleep preceded
that. So the type of the Lord Jesus here is not like other types on the Old
Testament. In relation to sin and atonement there is a lamb or a bullock
slain; but here Adam was not slain, but only put to sleep to awake
again. Thus he prefigures a death that is not on account of sin, but
that has in view increase in resurrection. Then too we must note that Eve was
not created as a separate entity by a separate creation, parallel to that of
Adam. Adam slept, and Eve was created out of Adam. That is God's method with
the Church. God's second Man' has awakened from His `sleep' and His Church is
created in Him and of Him, to draw her life from Him and to display that
resurrection life.
God has a Son who is known to be the only
begotten, and God is seeking that the only begotten Son should have brethren.
From the position of only begotten He will become the first begotten, and
instead of the Son alone God will have many sons. One grain of wheat has died
and many grains will spring up. The first grain was once the only grain; now
it is changed to be the first grain of many. The Lord Jesus laid down His
life, and that life emerged in many lives. These are the Biblical figures we
have used hitherto in our study to express this truth. Now, in the figure just
considered, the singular takes the place of the plural. The outcome of the
Cross is a single person: a Bride for the Son. Christ loved the Church and
gave Himself up for it.
One Living Sacrifice
We have said that there is an aspect of the
death of Christ presented to us in Ephesians 5 which is to some extent
different from that which we have been studying in Romans. Yet in fact this
aspect is the very end to which our study of Romans has been moving, and it is
into this that the letter is leading us as we shall now see, for redemption
leads us back into God's original line of purpose.
In chapter 8 Paul speaks to us of Christ as the
firstborn Son among many Spirit-led "sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). "For whom he
foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he
also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified" (Rom. 8:29,30). Here justification is seen
to lead on to glory, a glory that is expressed not in one or more individuals
but in a plurality: in many who manifest the image of One. And this object of
our redemption is further set forth, as we have seen, in "the love of Christ"
for His own, which is the subject of the last verses of the chapter (8:35-39).
But what is implicit here in chapter 8 becomes explicit as we move over into
chapter 12, the subject of which is the Body of Christ.
After the first eight chapters of Romans, which
we have been studying, there follows a parenthesis in which God's sovereign
dealings with Israel are taken up and dealt with, before the theme of the first
chapters is resumed. Thus, for our present purpose, the argument of chapter 12
follows that of chapter 8 and not of chapter 11. We might very simply
summarize these chapters thus: Our sins are forgiven (ch. 5), we are dead with
Christ (ch. 6), we are by nature utterly helpless (ch. 7), therefore we rely
upon the indwelling Spirit (ch. 8). After this, and as a consequence of it:
"We ... are one body in Christ" (ch. 12). It is as though this were the
logical outcome of all that has gone before, and the thing to which it has all
been leading.
Romans 12 and the following chapter contain some
very practical instructions for our life and walk. These are introduced with
an emphasis once again on consecration. In chapter 6:13 Paul has said:
"Present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God". But now in chapter 12:1 the emphasis
is a little different: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable service". This new appeal for consecration is made to us as
"brethren", linking us in thought to the "many brethren" of chapter 8:29. It
is a call to us for a united step of faith, the presenting of our bodies as one
"living sacrifice" unto God.
This is something that goes beyond the merely
individual, for it implies contribution to a whole. The `presenting' is
personal but the sacrifice is corporate; it is one sacrifice. Intelligent
service to God is one service. We need never feel our contribution is not
needed, for if it contributes to the service, God is satisfied. And it
is through this kind of service that we prove "what is the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God" (ch. 12:2), or, in other words, realize God's eternal
purpose in Christ Jesus. So Paul's appeal "to every man that is among you"
(12:3) is in the light of this new Divine fact, that "we, who are many, are one
body in Christ, and severally members one of another" (12:5), and it is on this
basis that the practical instructions follow.
The vessel through which the Lord Jesus can
reveal Himself in this generation is not the individual but the Body. "God
hath dealt to each man a measure of faith" (12:3), but alone in isolation man
can never fulfill God's purpose. It requires a complete Body to attain to the
stature of Christ and to display His glory. Oh that we might really see
this!
So Romans 12:3-6 draws from the figure of the
human body the lesson of our inter-dependence. Individual Christians are not
the Body but are members of the Body, and in a human body "all the members have
not the same office". The ear must not imagine itself to be an eye. No amount
of prayer will give sight to the ear -- but the whole body can see through the
eye. So (speaking figuratively) I may have only the gift of hearing, but I can
see through others who have the gift of sight; or, perhaps I can walk but
cannot work, so I receive help from the hands. An all-too-common attitude to
the things of the Lord is that, `What I know, I know; and what I don't know, I
don't know, and can do quite well without.' But in Christ, the things we do
not know others do, and we may know them and enter into the enjoyment of them
through others.
Let me stress that this is not just a comfortable
thought. It is a vital factor in the life of God's people. We cannot get
along without one another. That is why fellowship in prayer is so important.
Prayer together brings in the help of the Body, as must be clear from Matthew
18:19,20. Trusting the Lord by myself may not be enough. I must trust Him
with others. I must learn to pray "Our Father ..." on the basis of
oneness with the Body, for without the help of the Body I cannot get through.
In the sphere of service this is even more apparent. Alone I cannot serve the
Lord effectively, and He will spare no pains to teach me this. He will bring
things to an end, allowing doors to close and leaving me ineffectively knocking
my head against a blank wall until I realize that I need the help of the Body
as well as of the Lord. For the life of Christ is the life of the Body, and
His gifts are given to us for work that builds up the Body.
The Body is not an illustration but a fact. The
Bible does not just say that the Church is like a body, but that it
is the Body of Christ. "We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
severally members one of another." All the members together are one
Body, for all share His life -- as though He were Himself distributed among His
members. I was once with a group of Chinese believers who found it very hard
to understand how the Body could be one when they were all separate individual
men and women who made it up. One Sunday I was about to break the bread at the
Lord's table and I asked them to look very carefully at the loaf before I broke
it. Then, after it had been distributed and eaten, I pointed out that though
it was inside all of them it was still one loaf -- not many. The loaf was
divided, but Christ is not divided even in the sense in which that loaf was.
He is still one Spirit in us, and we are all one in Him.
This is the very opposite of man's condition by
nature. In Adam I have the life of Adam, but that is essentially individual.
There is no union, no fellowship in sin, but only self-interest and distrust of
others. As I go on with the Lord I soon discover, not only that the problem of
sin and of my natural strength has to be dealt with, but that there is also a
further problem created by my `individual' life, the life that is sufficient in
itself and does not recognize its need for and union in the Body. I may have
got over the problems of sin and the flesh, and yet still be a confirmed
individualist. I want holiness and victory and fruitfulness for myself
personally and apart, albeit from the purest motives. but such an attitude
ignores the Body, and so cannot provide God with satisfaction. he must deal
with me therefore in this matter also, or I shall remain in conflict with His
ends. God does not blame me for being an individual, but for my
individualism. His greatest problem is not the outward divisions and
denominations that divide His Church but our own individualistic hearts.
Yes, the Cross must do its work here, reminding
me that in Christ I have died to that old life of independence which I
inherited from Adam, and that in resurrection I have become not just an
individual believer in Christ but a member of His Body. There is a vast
difference between the two. When I see this, I shall at once have done with
independence and shall seek fellowship. The life of Christ in me will
gravitate to the life of Christ in others. I can no longer take an individual
line. Jealousy will go. Competition will go. Private work will go. My
interests, my ambitions, my preferences, all will go. It will no longer matter
which of us does the work. All that will matter will be that the Body
grows.
I said: `When I see this ...' That is the
great need: to see the Body of Christ as another great Divine fact; to
have it break in upon our spirits by heavenly revelation that "we, who are
many, are one body in Christ". Only the Holy Spirit can bring this home
to us in all its meaning, but when He does it will revolutionize our life and
work.
More Than Conquerors Through Him
We only see history back to the Fall. God
sees it from the beginning. There was something in God's mind before
the Fall, and in the ages to come that thing is to be fully realized. God knew
all about sin and redemption; yet in His great purpose for the Church set forth
in Genesis 2 there is no view of sin. It is as though (to speak in finite
terms) He leaps in thought right over the whole story of redemption and sees
the Church in future eternity, having a ministry and a (future) history which
is altogether apart from sin and wholly of God. It is the Body of Christ in
glory, expressing nothing of fallen man but only that which is the image of the
glorified Son of man. This is the Church that has satisfied God's heart
and has attained dominion.
In Ephesians 5 we stand within the history of
redemption, and yet through grace we still have this eternal purpose of God in
view as expressed in the statement that He will `present unto himself a
glorious Church'. But now we note that the water of life and the cleansing
Word are needed to prepare the Church (now marred by the Fall) for presentation
to Christ in glory. For now there are defects to be remedied and wounds to be
healed. And yet how precious is the promise and how gracious are the words
used of her: "not having spot" -- the scars of sin, whose very history is now
forgotten; "or wrinkle" -- the marks of age and of time lost, for all is now
made up and all is new; and "without blemish" -- so that Satan or demons or men
can find no ground for blame in her.
This is where we are now. The age is closing,
and Satan's power is greater than ever. Our warfare is with angels and
principalities and powers (Rom. 8:38); Eph. 6:12) who are set to withstand and
destroy the work of God in us by laying many things to the charge of God's
elect. Alone we could never be their match, but what we alone cannot do the
Church can. Sin, self-reliance and individualism were Satan's master-strokes
at the heart of God's purpose in man, and in the Cross God has undone them. As
we put our faith in what He has done -- in "God that justifieth" and in "Christ
Jesus that died" (Rom. 8:33,34) -- we present a front against which the very
gates of Hades shall not prevail. We, His Church, are "more than conquerors
through him that loved us" (Rom. 8:37).