315 – Metaphors Describing the Church (A Body)

SEMESTER 1

315 – Metaphors Describing the Church (A Body)

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE:  ECCLESIOLOGY I LESSON # 15
METAPHORS DESCRIBING THE CHURCH (A BODY)

Read I Cor. 12:12-27

INTRODUCTION:

1. In no area of the church truth do men talk and reason more wildly than concerning “the Body of Christ.” You hear such things as:

i. I believe in the local church, but what about “the Body of Christ?”
ii. We are baptized “by the Spirit” into the “True Church.”
iii. All believers must be part of the body of Christ.
iv. Does Christ have many bodies?

2. The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is no less biblical or logical than the interpretation of Scripture that motivates all these questions.
3. Read the Scriptures that describe the church as a body (note they are used exclusively by Paul). (Rom. 12:4-5, I Cor. 10:17, I Cor. 12:12-27, Eph. 1:22-23, Eph. 2:16-22, Eph. 3:6, Eph.4:4, 12, 16, Eph. 5:23-27, Col. 1:18-22, Col. 2:19-23, Col. 3:14-15)
4. It is most obvious that with this amount of Scripture, there is much to learn and that God has revealed it.
5. The trouble is that too many men in this area have spent their time trying to correct and purge the Catholic concept of the church with the Bible, rather than throwing it out and starting with the Bible.

I. THE BIBLICAL USE OF THIS WORD IS METAPHORICAL

1. This is an indispensable basic for clearing the fog surrounding the biblical concept of the church.
2. Note the Lord’s use of the word body as quoted in I Cor. 11:24, from Mat. 26:26.

i. The Lord was still in His body. (What did He mean?)
ii. He meant the bread symbolized His body (it was not literally so).

3. Now in biblical usages that describe the church as the “body of Christ,” it is never meant that we are component parts of His physical body.
4. The metaphor is used to show a spiritual relationship between a scriptural church and Christ.

II. THIS DOES NOT IMPLY “ONE CHURCH” AT ALL

1. This relationship can and should exist between Christ and any true church, independently.
2. Paul explains this in Eph. 5:23.

i. The husband is the head of the wife.
ii. Both the words husband and wife are used here generical­ly or institution­ally, i.e., any husband and his wife (any wife) yet none in particular.
iii. The words are singular, but anyone understands there is more than one of each.
iv. While it is biblically obvious that Christ is singular, He is also spiritual, transcendent, and omnipresent.
v. It is equally biblical that church, even though often referred to singularly is immanently plural in the Bible.

III. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHRIST AND EACH CHURCH

1. It is as private as the relationship between husband and wife.
2. He is the head, the church is the body, each being a part of the life of the other.

i. This is equally as symbolistic as the husband being the head of the wife, re-read Eph. 5:23.

3. This shows His authority, and the church’s subjection.
1. It shows the church’s dependency upon Him.
2. It shows the church’s direct connection with Him.

IV. WHAT CHRIST DOES FOR THE BODY

1. He is the savior of the body. (Eph. 5:23)
2. He washes, cleanses, sanctifies the body. (Eph. 5:26)
3. He has (present tense) most intimate union with the body. (Eph. 5:27)
4. He assigns each member their place and function. (Rom. 12:3-8)

V. THE INTERRELATIONSHIP OF THE BODY (THE CHURCH) – (I COR. 12:1-31)

1. We are all (led and influenced by the Holy Spirit) baptized into one body (our individual church), thus in unity of spirit, let us function as a bodily unit. (I Cor. 12:13)

i. Let it be said that baptism is also a symbolism by which we declare our lot to be cast with this body.

2. Each of the members are interdependent if there is to be a unit. (I Cor. 12:14)
3. Each member has its own functions, but needs the functions of the rest of the body. (I Cor. 12:15-19)
4. We are to favor and assist the weaker members. (I Cor. 12:23)
5. We are not to have divisions, contempt or levels of exaltation. (I Cor. 12:24-25)
6. We are to share each other’s sorrows and joys, just as a body distributes pain. (I Cor. 12:26)
7. All this is consummated, explained and fulfilled in clarity. (I Cor. 12:31-13:1)