“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:22-23)
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph 4:4)
Some of our denominational friends would use such texts as John 15 and 17 to say that the body and the church are not the same thing. The Bible declares the opposite to their interpolations to the text. Why would they do such things? The reason why they would do this and “muddy the waters” is because they know that they are not doing what the Bible says to do in regard to certain things. When we were children and we knew we had done wrong, didn’t we do our very best to cover up what we did, or make it appear differently? Our denominational friends have been successful in teaching that there are many ways to be a “Christian.” They have indoctrinated our communities in believing that, “my church is just as good as your church.” If Jesus were on earth today to diffuse what these people were saying He might say, “My church was built upon a rock, yours is built by a man.” The words of Matthew 16 ring in this thought.
Let us look at the words of our text. “And He put all things under His feet...gave Him to be head” Who is this Person that gave the authority and headship to Jesus? There can be only one Person who could do that and that is God the Father. Jesus said time and time again that He received His power and authority from His Father and it is no different in the establishment and rule over the church. God the Father gave Him the reigns over the church. Jesus did not have such authority, until His ascension to Heaven. It will come to pass that after Jesus retrieves His church that He will deliver it to the Father and rule over it no longer; at this time the church will be no more and Christians will be in Heaven for eternity.
“The church, which is His body...there is one body.” The words church and body have been declared to be equal and synonymous. Nothing can be done or spoken about the body without such being done or spoken about the church; they are one in the same. This is not from man’s own private interpretation, nor have the churches of Christ written this into the Bible of the world. This is what the Bible says! It was that the church and the body are one in the same and it says that there is but one! This completely diffuses the concept that there is one body, but many churches make up that body; this is completely foreign to the New Testament pattern.
What a glorious thing to know that we are in the Lord’s body. Jesus invites all those who would obey Him to be in His body. One does not join this church, nor does any member have to be voted on, He adds the obedient soul to His body. Next week we will discuss how one enters the church through Jesus addition. What conditions must be met in order to enjoy the splendor of His church.