Section 5a - The Body of Christ
 

The Body of Christ

It must be borne in mind, here, that though the evangel of the Uncircumcision is to be preached among the nations, God is not yet calling every individual from these nations to become believers.

When John came preaching repentance, and Jesus Christ came heralding the coming kingdom of God, they were separating individuals from the rest of the nation of Israel in readiness for the forming of the ‘bride’ ecclesia. Individuals out of the whole of Israel.

In a similar way, this evangel through Paul is a calling out of individuals from out of the whole of humanity. Any member of the human race is an eligible candidate for God’s calling. There is, therefore, no barrier raised by distinction of race or status, or any other form of fleshly differentiation between individuals.

2Cor.5:16,17  ...we, from now on, are acquainted with no one according to flesh. 
Yet even if we have known Christ according to flesh, 
nevertheless now we know Him so no longer. 
So that, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: 
the primitive passed by. Lo! there has come new! 

Gal.6:15  For in Christ Jesus 
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, 
but a new creation. 

Gal.5:6  For in Christ Jesus 
neither circumcision is availing anything, nor uncircumcision, 
but faith, operating through love. 

1Cor.7:18,19  Was anyone called having been circumcised? 
Let him not be de-circumcised. 
Is anyone called in uncircumcision? Let him not circumcise.
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, 
but the keeping of the precepts of God. 

Gal.5:2-4  Lo! I, Paul, am saying to you 
that if you should be circumcising, Christ will benefit you nothing. 
Now I am attesting again to every man who is circumcising, 
that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 
Exempted from Christ were you who are being justified in law. 
You fall out of grace. 
For we, in spirit, are awaiting the expectation of righteousness by faith. 

Gal.3:27,28  For whoever are baptized into Christ, put on Christ,
in Whom there is no Jew nor yet Greek, 
there is no slave nor yet free, 
there is no male and female, 
for you all are one in Christ Jesus. 

Col.3:11  wherein there is no Greek and Jew, 
Circumcision and Uncircumcision, 
barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, 
but all and in all is Christ. 
 

The basic premise of Scripture is that God is GOD! He is the Supreme, the Subjector, the Placer. But, how many of us, though we call ourselves Christians, really believe in it? Lip service, yes! But, actual humble acknowledgement? We would rather opt for something that will bolster our pride as independent decision-makers, something that will enhance our reputation as great achievers for God. This fact of God, however, is declared all through Scripture.

2Tim.1:9 Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, 
not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose
and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian, 

1Cor.2:6,7  Yet wisdom are we speaking among the mature, 
yet a wisdom not of this eon,
neither of the chief men of this eon, who are being discarded,
but we are speaking God's wisdom in a secret, 
wisdom which has been concealed, 
which God designates before--before the eons, for our glory, 

Rom.8:28,29  Now we are aware that God is working all together
for the good of those who are loving God, 
who are called according to the purpose that, 
whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, 
to be conformed to the image of His Son, 
for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren. 

Rom.9:11-13  For, not as yet being born, 
nor putting into practice anything good or bad, 
that the purpose of God may be remaining as a choice, 
not out of acts, but of Him Who is calling,
it was declared to her that "The greater shall be slaving for the inferior,"
According as it is written, "Jacob I love, yet Esau I hate." 

Rom.9:14-16  What, then, shall we be declaring? 
Not that there is injustice with God? May it not be coming to that! 
For to Moses He is saying, 
"I shall be merciful to whomever I may be merciful, 
and I shall be pitying whomever I may be pitying."
Consequently, then, it is not of him who is willing, 
nor of him who is racing, but of God, the Merciful. 

Rom.9:17,18  For the scripture is saying to Pharaoh that 
"For this selfsame thing I rouse you up, 
so that I should be displaying in you My power, 
and so that My name should be published in the entire earth."
Consequently, then, to whom He will, He is merciful, 
yet whom He will, He is hardening. 

Rom.9:19-24  You will be protesting to me, then, 
"Why, then, is He still blaming? for who has withstood His intention?"
O man! who are you, to be sure, who are answering again to God? 
That which is molded will not protest to the molder, "Why do you make me thus?"
Or has not the potter the right over the clay, out of the same kneading 
to make one vessel, indeed, for honor, yet one for dishonor?
Now if God, wanting to display His indignation
and to make His powerful doings known, carries, with much patience, 
the vessels of indignation, adapted for destruction,
it is that He should also be making known the riches of His glory 
on the vessels of mercy, which He makes ready before for glory-- us, 
whom He calls also, not only out of the Jews, but out of the nations also. 

Tit.3:5-7  not for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do, 
but according to His mercy, He saves us, 
through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit, 
which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
that, being justified in that One's grace, 
we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian. 

1Cor.6:9-11  Or are you not aware 
that the unjust shall not be enjoying the allotment of God's kingdom?
Be not deceived. Neither paramours, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 
nor catamites, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards; 
no revilers, no extortioners shall be enjoying the allotment of God's kingdom. 
And some of you were these, 
but you are bathed off, but you are hallowed, but you were justified 
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. 

1Cor.1:26-31  For you are observing your calling, brethren, that there are 
not many wise according to the flesh; not many powerful, not many noble, 
but the stupidity of the world God chooses, 
that He may be disgracing the wise, 
and the weakness of the world God chooses, 
that He may be disgracing the strong, 
and the ignoble and the contemptible things of the world God chooses, 
and that which is not, that He may be discarding that which is, 
so that no flesh at all should be boasting in God's sight. 

Eph.2:8-10  For in grace, through faith, are you saved, 
and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present, 
not of works, lest anyone should be boasting. 
For His achievement are we, 
being created in Christ Jesus for good works, 
which God makes ready beforehand, that we should be walking in them. 

Col.1:12,13  at the same time giving thanks to the Father, 
Who makes you competent for a part of the allotment of the saints, in light, 
Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of Darkness, 
and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 

Rom.8:30  Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, 
and whom He calls, these He justifies also; 
now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also. 

2Cor.5:18-20  Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, 
and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation,
how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, 
not reckoning their offenses to them, 
and placing in us the word of the conciliation.
For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. 
We are beseeching for Christ's sake, "Be conciliated to God!" 

2Cor.5:21  For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be sin for our sakes 
that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him. 
 

It was in the first eon that God created the heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1). And when the earth was created it was not chaotic but designed for habitation (Isa.45:18) and a place of such beauty and promise that ‘the sons of God shouted for joy’ at the sight of it (Job.38:4-7).

But there occurred an upheaval, called the Disruption (Greek katabolê means disruption rather than themelios which means ‘foundation’, see Lk.6:48,49 and Rom.15:20 and especially Heb.6:1 where both words occur), and the earth became empty and formless (Gen.1:2)!

Scripture declares that we were chosen in Christ even before this disruptive event, before there came to be chaos and emptiness on the earth!

We are the complement of Christ and chosen to exist in Christ, as one body or as one unit, holy and flawless in His sight and designated, also as one body or unit, for the place of a son for Him through Christ.

Eph.1:3-6  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ, 
according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, 
we to be holy and flawless in His sight, in love designating us beforehand 
for the place of a son for Him through Christ Jesus;  [see Eph.4:13]
in accord with the delight of His will, 
for the laud of the glory of His grace, which graces us in the Beloved: 

2Tim.1:9  Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, 
not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose
and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian, 

Relationship To God

It is in God’s wisdom that humanity has come into the world to experience the rigours of life in an evil environment and an enforced estrangement from Him in order to truly appreciate God and the privilege of fellowship with Him. 

Rom.5:12  … through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, 
and thus death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned—

Rom.5:19a   … through the disobedience of the one man, 
the many were constituted sinners,… 

Rom.3:23  …all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God. 

1Tim.2:3,4  … our Saviour, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved 
and come into a realization of the truth. 

Eph.2:8,9  For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; 
it is God's approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting. 

1Tim.4:10,11  …we rely on the living God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, 
especially of believers…. 

Gal.3:22  But the scripture locks up all together under sin, 
that the promise out of Jesus Christ's faith
may be given to those who are believing. 

Eph.1:4-12  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, in Christ,
according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, 
we to be holy and flawless in His sight, 
in love designating us beforehand for the place of a son for Him 
through Christ Jesus; in accord with the delight of His will,
for the laud of the glory of His grace, which graces us in the Beloved:
in Whom we are having the deliverance through His blood, 
the forgiveness of offenses in accord with the riches of His grace,
which He lavishes on us; 
in all wisdom and prudence making known to us the secret of His will 
(in accord with His delight, which He purposed in Him) 
to have an administration of the complement of the eras, 
to head up all in the Christ--both that in the heavens and that on the earth—
in Him in Whom our lot was cast also, 
being designated beforehand according to the purpose of the One 
Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will, 
that we should be for the laud of His glory, 
who are pre-expectant in the Christ. 

Rom.8:29,30  that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, 
to be conformed to the image of His Son, 
for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren.
Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also,
and whom He calls, these He justifies also; 
now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also. 

1Cor.1:9 Faithful is God, through Whom you were called 
into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

1Cor.10:13  No trial has taken you except what is human. 
Now, faithful is God,
Who will not be leaving you to be tried above what you are able, 
but, together with the trial, will be making the sequel also, 
to enable you to undergo it. 

1Thes.5:23,24  Now may the God of peace Himself be hallowing you wholly; 
and may your unimpaired spirit and soul and body be kept blameless 
in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Faithful is He Who is calling you, Who will be doing it also. 

2Thes.2:13,14  Now we ought to be thanking God always concerning you, 
brethren, beloved by the Lord, 
seeing that God prefers you from the beginning for salvation, 
in holiness of the spirit and faith in the truth,
into which He also calls us through our evangel, 
for the procuring of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Phil.1:6  having this same confidence, 
that He Who undertakes a good work among you, 
will be performing it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

Rom.5:10,11  For if, being enemies, 
we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, 
much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life.
Yet not only so, but we are glorying also in God, 
through our Lord, Jesus Christ, 
through Whom we now obtained the conciliation. 

Rom.8:31-33  What then, shall we declare to these things? 
If God is for us, who is against us? 
Surely, He Who spares not His own Son, but gives Him up for us all,
how shall He not, together with Him, also, be graciously granting us all?
Who will be indicting God's chosen ones? God, the Justifier?

Rom.8:34,35  Who is the Condemner? 
Christ Jesus, the One dying, yet rather being roused, 
Who is also at God's right hand, Who is pleading also for our sakes? 
What shall be separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? 
Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

Rom.8:37-39  Nay! in all these we are more than conquering through Him Who loves us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor messengers, 
nor sovereignties, nor the present, nor what is impending, nor powers, 
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, 
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

1Cor.2:9,10  But, according as it is written, 
That which the eye did not perceive, and the ear did not hear, 
and to which the heart of man did not ascend—
whatever God makes ready for those who are loving Him.
Yet to us God reveals them through His spirit, 
for the spirit is searching all, even the depths of God. 

Eph.1:10-12  to have an administration of the complement of the eras, 
to head up all in the Christ--both that in the heavens and that on the earth—
in Him in Whom our lot was cast also, 
being designated beforehand according to the purpose of the One 
Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will, 
that we should be for the laud of His glory, 
who are pre-expectant in the Christ. 

2Cor.5:18-20  Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, 
and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, 
how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, 
not reckoning their offenses to them, 
and placing in us the word of the conciliation.
For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. 
We are beseeching for Christ's sake, "Be conciliated to God!" 

Relationship To Christ

The relationship we have with Christ is also of God’s doing. It is He Who calls us and brings us under the jurisdiction of His Son.

1Cor.1:9 …God, through Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, 
Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Col.1:13,14  Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of Darkness, 
and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
in Whom we are having deliverance, the pardon of sins, 

1Tim.1:15,16  Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, 
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I. 
But therefore was I shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, 
Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience, 
for a pattern of those who are about to be believing on Him for life eonian. 

1Cor.3:23  …yet you are Christ's, yet Christ is God's. 

This entity, or organism, has Christ as Head and the ecclesia as the body. As a functioning unit, each is the complement of the other. And, just as Eve, as Adam’s complement, was already in Adam when he was made, in the same way the body, as Christ’s complement, was already in Christ when He came into being as God’s Original (Rev.3:14), the Firstborn of all creation (Col.1:15)! 

At that time when the ecclesia was chosen in Christ, it was already looked on by God as ‘holy and flawless’ (Eph.1:4). As each of these chosen ones is actually brought into being as part of humanity, just as Eve was, each has their individual human characteristics, just as Eve had, and shares in the human experience in the same way as everybody else, just as Eve did (except that she was not born into the world). Membership in the body of Christ is latent until each receives his out-calling. It is then that each functions in the operations of the body for its growth in accord with God’s will.

1Cor.12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members of a part, 

1Cor.12:12-14  For even as the body is one and has many members, 
yet all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, 
thus also is the Christ.
For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body, 
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, 
and all are made to imbibe one spirit. 
For the body also is not one member, but many. 

Col.3:15  And let the peace of Christ be arbitrating in your hearts, 
for which you were called also in one body; and become thankful. 

Rom.12:4,5  For even as, in one body, we have many members, 
yet all the members have not the same function, 
thus we, who are many, are one body in Christ, 
yet individually members of one another. 

Rom.8:28-30  Now we are aware that God is working all together 
for the good of those who are loving God, 
who are called according to the purpose that, 
whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also,
to be conformed to the image of His Son, 
for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren.
Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, 
and whom He calls, these He justifies also; 
now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also. 

Eph.5:23,24  … Christ is Head of the ecclesia, and He is the Saviour of the body… 
the ecclesia is subject to Christ,… 

Col.1:24  I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and am filling up in my flesh, 
in His stead, the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, 
for His body, which is the ecclesia

Col.2:19  …the Head, out of Whom the entire body, 
being supplied and united through the assimilation and ligaments, 
is growing in the growth of God. 

Eph.4:15,16  Now, being true, in love we should be making all grow into Him, 
Who is the Head--Christ-- out of Whom the entire body, 
being articulated together and united through every assimilation of the supply, 
in accord with the operation in measure of each one's part, 
is making for the growth of the body, for the upbuilding of itself in love. 

Eph.1:10-12  to have an administration of the complement of the eras, 
to head up all in the Christ--both that in the heavens and that on the earth—
in Him in Whom our lot was cast also, 
being designated beforehand according to the purpose of the One 
Who is operating all in accord with the counsel of His will,
that we should be for the laud of His glory, 
who are pre-expectant in the Christ. 

Eph.1:22,23  … and gives Him, as Head over all, to the ecclesia which is His body, 
the complement of the One completing the all in all. 

Col.1:18,19  And He is the Head of the body, the ecclesia, 
Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead, 
that in all He may be becoming first, 
for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell, 

Col.2:10-13  And you are complete in Him, 
Who is the Head of every sovereignty and authority,
in Whom you were circumcised also with a circumcision not made by hands, 
in the stripping off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ. 
Being entombed together with Him in baptism, 
in Whom you were roused together also 
through faith in the operation of God, 
Who rouses Him from among the dead, 
you also being dead to the offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, 
He vivifies us together jointly with Him, 
dealing graciously with all our offenses, 

Eph.5:29-32  For no one at any time hates his own flesh, 
but is nurturing and cherishing it, according as Christ also the ecclesia, 
for we are members of His body. 
For this "a man shall leave his father and mother 
and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh." 
This secret is great: yet I am saying this as to Christ and as to the ecclesia. 

Eph.5:25-27  …Christ also loves the ecclesia, and gives Himself up for its sake, 
that He should be hallowing it, cleansing it in the bath of the water
(with His declaration), that He should be presenting to Himself 
a glorious ecclesia, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, 
but that it may be holy and flawless. 

1Cor.1:30,31  Yet you, of Him, are in Christ Jesus, 
Who became to us wisdom from God, 
besides righteousness and holiness and deliverance, 
that, according as it is written, 
He who is boasting, in the Lord let him be boasting. 

Eph.3:17-19  Christ to dwell in your hearts through faith, 
that you, having been rooted and grounded in love, 
should be strong to grasp, together with all the saints, 
what is the breadth and length and depth and height—
to know the love of Christ as well which transcends knowledge—
that you may be completed for the entire complement of God. 

Eph.4:12,13  toward the adjusting of the saints for the work of dispensing, 
for the upbuilding of the body of Christ,
unto the end that we should all attain to the unity of the faith 
and of the realization of the son of God, to a mature man, 
to the measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ, 

Rom.14:8,9  For both, if we should be living, to the Lord are we living, 
and if we should be dying, to the Lord are we dying. 
Then, both if we should be living and if we should be dying, we are the Lord's. 
For for this Christ died and lives, 
that He should be Lord of the dead as well as of the living. 

2Thes.3:1-3  Furthermore, pray, brethren, concerning us, 
that the word of the Lord may race and be glorified, 
according as it is with you also,
and that we should be rescued from abnormal and wicked men, 
for not for all is the faith.
Yet faithful is the Lord, 
Who will be establishing you and guarding you from the wicked one. 
 

What Believers Were

God declares that all humanity, every human being, is under the control of Satan. The Adversary manipulates the philosophies and principles by which it operates. In effect, they are mere puppets in his hands. And this satanic influence and dominion carries on until God intervenes, individually, to extricate each from the web of ignorance in the clutches of the evil one. 

1Jn.5:19  We are aware that we are of God, 
and the whole world is lying in the wicked one. 

2Cor.4:3,4  Now, if our evangel is covered, also, it is covered in those who are perishing, 
in whom the god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving 
so that the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ, 
Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them. 

Eph.2:1-3  And you, being dead to your offenses and sins, 
in which once you walked, 
in accord with the eon of this world, 
in accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air, 
the spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness 
(among whom we also all behaved ourselves once 
in the lusts of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of the comprehension, 
and were, in our nature, children of indignation, even as the rest), 

Eph.4:17-19  …By no means are you still to be walking 
according as those of the nations also are walking, 
in the vanity of their mind, their comprehension being darkened, 
being estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, 
because of the callousness of their hearts, who, being past feeling, 
in greed give themselves up with wantonness to all uncleanness as a vocation. 

Col.3:5-7  Deaden, then, your members that are on the earth: 
prostitution, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed, which is idolatry,
because of which the indignation of God is coming on the sons of stubbornness-- 
among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these things. 

Col.1:21,22  you, being once estranged and enemies in comprehension, by wicked acts, 
...yet now He reconciles by His body of flesh, through His death, 
to present you holy and flawless and unimpeachable in His sight, 

Col.1:13  Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of Darkness,                  [see Lk.22:53]
and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 

Eph.2:4-7  yet God, being rich in mercy, because of His vast love with which He loves us 
(we also being dead to the offenses and the lusts), 
vivifies us together in Christ (in grace are you saved!) 
and rouses us together and seats us together among the celestials, in Christ Jesus, 
that, in the oncoming eons, He should be displaying the transcendent riches of His grace 
in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Believers Are Justified

When someone hurts another, admits to it, and is contrite, he may be forgiven. When someone commits a crime, admits to his guilt and pleads for mercy, he may receive a pardon. Forgiveness and pardon relate to a guilty party. These are common themes in Scripture. The parable of the unforgiving servant (Mt.18:23-35) brings out the fact that both are contingent upon a change for the better, and may be revoked if the guilty one does not show an appreciation for what he has received.

Justification, according to the evangel of the Uncircumcision, is permanent. We have been guilty, no doubt about the fact. Not only do we die because of the penalty for Adam's transgression, we deserve to die for our own transgressions and offences! We are shown to be utterly unworthy to be alive, even! How are we to be justified? How can we be justified? There is absolutely no way we can justify ourselves, that is for certain. We can only attempt to claim extenuating circumstances and concoct lame excuses. But, what we are unable to do, God can. In fact, the solution was in God's hands even before the problem became a reality.

Our old humanity with all its inherent death-generated weaknesses, 'corrupted in accord with its seductive desires' (Eph.4:22), has already been dealt the death penalty it deserves. In His wisdom and by His grace we, believers, are in Christ. We are His complement. We are one unit - He is the Head, we are His body. Christ was crucified. Hence, we were crucified with Christ. Christ died at Golgotha. We died at His crucifixion! As such our old humanity, together with all the sins done in it, has been executed! We have been executed! God's justice has been satisfied by our death in Christ. We have been justified from sin! Our justification is by the faith of Christ, in Whom we are, through God's grace.

Rom.8:30  Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, 
and whom He calls, these He justifies also; 
now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also. 

Rom.6:6,7  knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, 
that the body of Sin may be nullified, 
for us by no means to be still slaving for Sin,
for one who dies has been justified from Sin. 

Rom.6:3-5   …whoever are baptized into Christ Jesus, are baptized into His death? 
We, then, were entombed together with Him through baptism into death, 
that, even as Christ was roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father, 
thus we also should be walking in newness of life. 
For if we have become planted together in the likeness of His death, 
nevertheless we shall be of the resurrection also,

Gal.2:20  With Christ have I been crucified, 
yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ. 
Now that which I am now living in flesh, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, 
Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me.

Rom.5:9  Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, 
we shall be saved from indignation, through Him. 

Rom.4:25  Who was given up because of our offenses, 
and was roused because of our justifying. 

Rom.8:33  Who will be indicting God's chosen ones? God, the Justifier? 

Rom.3:24   Being justified gratuitously in His grace, 
through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus 

Tit.3:7  that, being justified in that One's grace, 
we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian. 

Gal.3:8  …scripture, perceiving before that God is justifying the nations by faith, 
brings before an evangel to Abraham, that In you shall all the nations be blessed. 

Rom.5:1,2  Being, then, justified by faith, we may be having peace toward God, 
through our Lord, Jesus Christ, 
through Whom we have the access also, by faith, into this grace in which we stand, 
and we may be glorying in expectation of the glory of God. 

1Cor.6:11  …but you are bathed off, but you are hallowed, but you were justified 
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. 

Gal.2:16  having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, 
except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, 
we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ 
and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified. 

Rom.4:5  Yet to him who is not working, 
yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, 
his faith is reckoned for righteousness. 

Act.13:39  and from all from which you could not be justified in the law of Moses, 
in this One everyone who is believing is being justified. 

Gal.3:11,12  Now that in law no one is being justified with God is evident, 
for the just one by faith shall be living. 
Now the law is not of faith, but who does them "shall be living in them." 

Rom.3:26-28  toward the display of His righteousness in the current era, 
for Him to be just and a Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is debarred! 
Through what law? Of works? No! But through faith's law. 
For we are reckoning a man to be justified by faith apart from works of law. 

Gal.3:24  So that the law has become our escort to Christ, 
that we may be justified by faith. 
 

We were disposed of under Sin (Rom.6:14). We were slaves to Sin (Rom.6:17), obeying its dictates, behaving according to its behests, and drawing a deserved ration in its common currency, death (Rom.6:23).

But, we have been ransomed, we have been bought from our old master, Sin. The currency of the transaction is the most precious there is, the blood of Christ. This demonstrates just how precious we are to God, our Father.

1Tim.2:6,7  Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all 
(the testimony in its own eras), 
for which I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), 
a teacher of the nations in knowledge and truth. 

1Cor.6:20  For you are bought with a price. By all means glorify God in your body. 

1Cor.7:23  With a price are you bought. Do not become the slaves of men. 

1Thes.5:9  for God did not appoint us to indignation, 
but to the procuring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

Eph.1:13,14  In Whom you also—
on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your salvation—
in Whom on believing also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise
(which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment, 
to the deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory! 
 

Does inclusion in the ecclesia make believers perfect? Do they not sin anymore?

Far from it. The local ecclesia at Corinth, to whom Paul wrote a number of times, is an example. Though they were part of the ecclesia of God and, therefore, members of the body of Christ, Paul had to admonish and correct them for many shortcomings, individually and as a body. Just a glance at his first letter shows some of their weaknesses and indiscipline.

They were proud of their ‘wisdom’ 3:18,19;  4:6;  4:18,19;  10:12; 
There were sectarian, having differences in doctrine 1:10;  11:18,19;  12:25
They belonged to factions 1:11-13
They were soulish in outlook and condoned sin  2:14;  5:1,2,11;  6:15-18;  7:11
They were immature and unappreciative 3:1-4;  3:16,17;  4:7
They were undisciplined and contentious 9:24-27;  11:2-12;  12:1-31;  14:1-40
They were critical and uncaring 4:3,4;  6:12,13;  8:5,6;  8:9-13;  11:20-22;  13:13
They abused freedom and were vengeful  6:7-11;  10:23; 

Being in the ecclesia which is the body of Christ, with each member having been sealed with holy spirit and in whom the spirit is permanently resident, does not automatically guarantee freedom from error in doctrine and understanding, nor from wrong attitudes and motives or from unbecoming behaviour. In this sense, we are no better off than the Circumcision believers. We are advised to change our focus, to behave the way that Jesus would have us, to walk in spirit and not to pander to the weaknesses of the flesh.

1Cor.3:3  … For where there is jealousy and strife among you, 
are you not fleshly and walking according to man? 

Jas.3:14-16  Now if you are having bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, 
are you not vaunting against and falsifying the truth? 
This is not the wisdom coming down from above, 
but terrestrial, soulish, demoniacal. 
For wherever jealousy and faction are, 
there is turbulence also, and every bad practice. 

Rom.13:13,14  As in the day, respectably, should we be walking, 
not in revelries and drunkenness, 
not in chambering and wantonness, 
not in strife and jealousy, 
but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and be making no provision for the lusts of the flesh. 

Satan does not have to give too much attention to people of other ‘faiths’ - Scripture reveals that these are already under his jurisdiction (1Jn.5:19; Eph.2:1-3) and can be left to his lower echelon minions to keep them distracted from God's revelation with soul-soothing ‘wonders’ and ‘miracles’, thus to keep them bound within the existing religions. He concentrates his wiles and strategy on the members of the ecclesia, to disrupt their harmony and fellowship, and to retard the growth of the individuals as well as that of the whole body. Being inherently a liar (Jn.8:44), his attacks focus on distorting the truth through misrepresentation, misapplication, and counterfeit 'Christian' doctrines camouflaged as ‘from the bible’. He also deceives members of the body of Christ into expending precious time and energy through involvement in endeavours and activities that will distract them from their main objectives. Noting the present-day 'church' environment with its various programmes and emphases on 'organisation' and statistical 'growth', we must conclude that the Adversary has been very active and eminently successful. Very few even suspect that he is at work in their midst. We would be wise to be alert to this and to prepare ourselves for his tactical onslaughts, overt and covert, cunning and insidious, against our spiritual integrity.

Scripture details our best defence, the armour that can see us through against Satan's campaign. The provision is there. We have to put it on piece by piece!

Eph.6:10-12  ….be invigorated in the Lord and in the might of His strength. 
Put on the panoply of God, 
to enable you to stand up to the stratagems of the Adversary,
for it is not ours to wrestle with blood and flesh, but with the sovereignties, 
with the authorities, with the world-mights of this darkness, 
with the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials. 

2Cor.10:3-5  For, walking in flesh, we are not warring according to the flesh. 
For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God 
toward the pulling down of bulwarks; pulling down reckonings 
and every height elevating itself against the knowledge of God, 
and leading into captivity every apprehension into the obedience of Christ, 

Eph.6:13-17  Therefore take up the panoply of God 
that you may be enabled to withstand in the wicked day, 
and having effected all, to stand.
Stand, then, girded about your loins with truth, 
with the cuirass of righteousness put on. 
and your feet sandaled with the readiness of the evangel of peace; 
with all taking up the large shield of faith, 
by which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the wicked one. 
And receive the helmet of salvation 
and the sword of the spirit, which is a declaration of God. 

2Tim.3:12 And all who are wanting to live devoutly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. 

Jn.15:20  Remember the word which I said to you, `A slave is not greater than his lord.' 
If Me they persecute, you they will be persecuting also…. 

1Thes.3:3  No one is to be swayed by these afflictions, 
for you yourselves are aware that we are located for this. 

Phil.1:29,30  for to you it is graciously granted, for Christ's sake, 
not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also, 
having the same struggle such as you are perceiving in me, 
and now are hearing to be in me. 

Eph.4:2-6  with all humility and meekness, with patience, 
bearing with one another in love, 
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit with the tie of peace: 
one body and one spirit, 
according as you were called also with one expectation of your calling; 
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all.

1Cor.12:13,14  For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body, 
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, 
and all are made to imbibe one spirit.
For the body also is not one member, but many. 

1Cor.11:18,19  For first, indeed, at your coming together in the ecclesia, 
I am hearing of schisms inhering among you, and some part I am believing.
For it must be that there are sects also among you, 
that those also who are qualified may be becoming apparent among you. 

2Tim.2:15    Endeavor to present yourself to God qualified, an unashamed worker, 
correctly cutting the word of truth.

2Tim.2:20,21  Now in a great house there are not only gold and silver utensils, 
but wooden and earthenware also, 
and some indeed for honor, yet some for dishonor. 
If, then, anyone should ever be purging himself from these, 
he will be a utensil for honor, hallowed, and useful to the Owner, 
made ready for every good act.  [ see 2Tim3:16,17]

2Cor 5:16,17  So that we, from now on, are acquainted with no one according to flesh.
Yet even if we have known Christ according to flesh, 
nevertheless now we know Him so no longer.
So that, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: 
the primitive passed by. Lo! there has come new! 

Gal.6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, 
but a new creation.

Eph.1:4  according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, 
we to be holy and flawless in His sight, 

Eph.5:25-27  …according as Christ also loves the ecclesia, 
and gives Himself up for its sake, that He should be hallowing it, 
cleansing it in the bath of the water (with His declaration),
that He should be presenting to Himself a glorious ecclesia, 
not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, 
but that it may be holy and flawless. 

Col.1:21,22  And you, being once estranged and enemies in comprehension, 
by wicked acts, yet now He reconciles by His body of flesh, through His death, 
to present you holy and flawless and unimpeachable in His sight, 

Meanwhile there are many times that we fall short of the ideal. We must strive to correct such weaknesses - and we must understand that other believers face similar difficulties, too. We must remember that each one is just as truly a part of the new creation as we are.

There will, certainly, be those who will object strongly to what we know to be truth. Our spirit may recoil from the doctrines they propose. We may cringe from their manner of spreading error, whether they be aggressive or subtle. We should, however, realise the underlying problem and treat these antagonisers with kindness and in a spirit of service for the betterment of the ecclesia, praying that God will change their attitude and open their minds to the truth. Their growth in attitude and understanding, or even their lack of it, is still according to the will of God!

2Tim.2:24-26  Now a slave of the Lord must not be fighting, 
but be gentle toward all, apt to teach, bearing with evil, 
with meekness training those who are antagonizing, 
seeing whether God may be giving them repentance 
to come into a realization of the truth, 
and they will be sobering up out of the trap of the Adversary, 
having been caught alive by him, for that one's will. 

2Cor.5:7  for by faith are we walking, not by perception, 

Rom.14:23  …Now everything which is not out of faith is sin. 

God Places The Members

We need to remind ourselves, again and again, of the fact that God is GOD and is, therefore, 'operating all in accord with the counsel of His will' (Eph.1:11). For the growth of the ecclesia, He dispenses gifts to be used to this end. Not only does one become a member of the body of Christ, he is also placed in a strategic functional position within the body according to the gifts God has graciously given him.

1Cor.12:18  Yet now God placed the members, each one of them, in the body 
according as He wills. 

1Cor.12:27-30  Now you are the body of Christ, and members of a part, 
whom also God, indeed, placed in the ecclesia, 
first, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers, thereupon powers, 
thereupon graces of healing, supports, pilotage, species of languages. 
Not all are apostles. Not all are prophets. Not all are teachers. 
Not all have powers. Not all have the graces of healing. 
Not all are speaking languages. Not all are interpreting. 

Rom.12:3-5  For I am saying, …to everyone who is among you, 
not to be overweening, beyond what your disposition must be, 
but to be of a sane disposition, as God parts to each the measure of faith.
For even as, in one body, we have many members, 
yet all the members have not the same function, 
thus we, who are many, are one body in Christ, 
yet individually members of one another. 

Eph.4:11-14  And the same One gives these, indeed, as apostles, 
yet these as prophets, yet these as evangelists, yet these as pastors and teachers, 
toward the adjusting of the saints for the work of dispensing, 
for the upbuilding of the body of Christ, 
unto the end that we should all attain
to the unity of the faith and of the realization of the son of God, 
to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ, 
that we may by no means still be minors, 
surging hither and thither and being carried about by every wind of teaching, 
by human caprice, by craftiness with a view to the systematizing of the deception. 

A Dynamic Ecclesia

A basic problem with 'churchianity' is that it has been divided into two camps. An invisible, unauthorised, line has been drawn between clergy and laity. Those of the clergy revel in their respected positions of power and decision where they may exercise their penchant for controlling and directing others. They would not like to 'rock the boat' or do anything that would undermine their assumed authority. They like to be, and to keep on being, referred to in matters of 'spiritual significance'. So they get the laity involved in a host of organised activities, fund raising, etc. The more interesting these activities can be, the more new members are attracted to the 'club', which many churches have, in effect, become. The success of the clergy and the dynamism of churches are assessed in terms of growth in numbers rather than in quality of spiritual content. Hardly any time is utilised in any concerted effort to raise the level and understanding of the laity on Scripture, on true spiritual development, for growth towards spiritual maturity (Eph.4:11-14)! 

Those of the laity seem to have submissively accepted this unscriptural caste system. Over the centuries, this has become the traditional separation. Giving in to their 'sheep instinct' (after all, pastors are shepherds), and depending on the clergy to interpret Scripture for them, they have allowed themselves to be led up the garden path - and they seem to find it very comfortable to have it so! Spiritual lethargy has set in and takes its inevitable toll. Most have become unable to think for themselves or to even attempt to operate without this 'assistance' and approval from the clergy. No matter what their age or academic status, they are left spiritually immature, their growth retarded. They have become static, mere observers, and 'yes' people to the clergy.

The way has become wide open, therefore, for errors, both doctrinal and behavioural, to continue creeping in without eliciting any suspicion or protest, to grow unchecked, and to become endemic! Even despicable 'divide and rule' policies as well as other mercenary corporate practices have found their place in 'church' organisations!

Scripture insists that we grow together, helping one another onto maturity, each one contributing to the advancement of the whole ecclesia. Each member has an active part to play for the whole body. Each is called to participate in its operation. The ecclesia, assimilating the supply of holy spirit from God, should be ever developing, continually up-building itself, a dynamic organism working for the glory of God in the spirit of Christ. 

Eph.4:15,16 Now, being true, in love we should be making all grow into Him, 
Who is the Head--Christ--  out of Whom the entire body, 
being articulated together and united through every assimilation of the supply, 
in accord with the operation in measure of each one's part, 
is making for the growth of the body, for the upbuilding of itself in love. 

Eph.4:25  …putting off the false, let each be speaking the truth with his associate, 
for we are members of one another. 

1Thes.5:14,15  Now we are entreating you, brethren; admonish the disorderly, 
comfort the fainthearted, uphold the infirm, be patient toward all. 
See that no one may be rendering evil for evil to anyone, 
but always pursue that which is good for one another as well as for all. 

1Tim.5:21  I am conjuring, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus 
and the chosen messengers, 
that you should guard these things, apart from prejudice, doing nothing from bias. 

1Cor.12:24-26  Now our respectable members have no need, 
but God blends the body together, giving to that which is deficient more exceeding honor, 
that there may be no schism in the body, 
but the members may be solicitous for one another. 
And whether one member is suffering, all the members are sympathizing, 
or one member is being esteemed, all the members are rejoicing with it.

Eph.5:1,2  Become, then, imitators of God, as beloved children, and be walking in love, 
according as Christ also loves you, and gives Himself up for us, 
an approach present and a sacrifice to God, for a fragrant odor. 

Eph.4:1-6  I am entreating you, then, I, the prisoner in the Lord, 
to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, 
with all humility and meekness, with patience, 
bearing with one another in love, 
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit with the tie of peace: 
one body and one spirit, according as you were called also 
with one expectation of your calling;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 
one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all. 

Rom.12:9-13  Let love be unfeigned. Abhorring that which is wicked, clinging to good, 
Let us have fond affection for one another with brotherly fondness, 
in honor deeming one another first, 
in diligence not slothful, fervent in spirit, slaving for the Lord, 
rejoicing in expectation, enduring affliction, persevering in prayer, 
contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality

Eph.4:30-32  And do not be causing sorrow to the holy spirit of God 
by which you are sealed for the day of deliverance. 
Let all bitterness and fury and anger and clamor and calumny 
be taken away from you with all malice, 
yet become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate, 
dealing graciously among yourselves, 
according as God also, in Christ, deals graciously with you. 

Col.3:12,13  Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, 
pitiful compassions, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, 
bearing with one another and dealing graciously among yourselves, 
if anyone should be having a complaint against any.
According as the Lord also deals graciously with you, thus also you. 

Rom.12:15,16  so as to be rejoicing with those rejoicing, 
lamenting with those lamenting. being mutually disposed to one another, 
not being disposed to that which is high, but being led away to the humble. 
Do not come to pass for prudent with yourselves. 

Gal.6:1,2  Brethren, if a man should be precipitated, also, in some offense, 
you, who are spiritual, be attuning such a one, in a spirit of meekness, 
noting yourself, that you, also, may not be tried. 
Bear one another's burdens, and thus fill up the law of Christ. 

Rom.15:1-3  Now we, the able, ought to be bearing the infirmities of the impotent, 
and not to be pleasing ourselves. 
Let each of us please his associate, for his good, toward his edification. 
For Christ also pleases not Himself, but according as it is written, 
"The reproaches of those reproaching Thee fall on Me." 

Rom.14:1-4  Now the infirm in the faith be taking to yourselves, 
but not for discrimination of reasonings. 
One, indeed, is believing to eat all things, yet the infirm one is eating greens. 
Let not him who is eating be scorning him who is not eating. 
Yet let not him who is not eating be judging him who is eating, 
for God took him to Himself. 
Who are you who are judging Another's domestic? 
To his own Master he is standing or falling. 
Now he will be made to stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 

Rom.14:5-9  One indeed, is deciding for one day rather than another day, 
yet one is deciding for every day. 
Let each one be fully assured in his own mind. 
He who is disposed to the day, is disposed to it to the Lord; 
and he who is eating, is eating to the Lord, for he is thanking God. 
And he who is not eating, to the Lord is not eating, and is thanking God. 
For not one of us is living to himself, and not one is dying to himself. 
For both, if we should be living, to the Lord are we living, 
and if we should be dying, to the Lord are we dying. 
Then, both if we should be living and if we should be dying, we are the Lord's.
For for this Christ died and lives, 
that He should be Lord of the dead as well as of the living. 

1Cor.10:32  And become not a stumbling block
to Jews as well as to Greeks and to the ecclesia of God, 

1Cor.8:9  Now beware lest somehow this right of yours 
may become a stumbling block to the weak. 

Phil.1:9-11  And this I am praying, that your love may be superabounding 
still more and more in realization and all sensibility, 
for you to be testing what things are of consequence, 
that you may be sincere and no stumbling block for the day of Christ, 
filled with the fruit of righteousness that is through Jesus Christ 
for the glory and laud of God. 

Rom.14:10  Now why are you judging your brother? 
Or why are you also scorning your brother? 
For all of us shall be presented at the dais of God, 

Rom.14:12,13  …each of us shall be giving account concerning himself to God. 
By no means, then, should we still be judging one another, 
but rather decide this, not to place a stumbling block for a brother, or a snare. 

Rom.14:14  I have perceived and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus 
that nothing is contaminating of itself, 
except that the one reckoning anything to be contaminating, 
to that one it is contaminating. 

Rom.14:15-18  For if, because of food, your brother is sorrowing, 
you are no longer walking according to love. 
Do not, by your food, destroy that one for whose sake Christ died. 
Let not, then, your good be calumniated, 
for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, 
but righteousness and peace and joy in holy spirit. 
For he who in this is slaving for Christ, 
is well pleasing to God and attested by men. 

Rom.14:20,21  Not on account of food demolish the work of God. 
All, indeed, is clean, but it is evil to the man who with stumbling is eating. 
It is ideal not to be eating meat, nor yet to be drinking wine, 
nor yet to do aught by which your brother is stumbling, 
or is being snared or weakened. 

1Cor.8:10,11  For if anyone should be seeing you, who has knowledge, 
lying down in an idol's shrine, 
will not the conscience of him who is weak be inured to the eating of the idol sacrifices? 
For the weak one is perishing also by your knowledge; 
the brother because of whom Christ died. 

1Cor.8:12,13  Now in thus sinning against brethren, and beating their weak conscience, 
you are sinning against Christ. 
Wherefore, if food is snaring my brother, 
I may under no circumstances be eating meat for the eon,
lest I should be snaring my brother. 

Back to:
....Main menu of articles

....Section 1   -    Introduction
..........................The Advent of Jesus Christ 
....Section 2   -   The Promise of Holy Spirit 
..........................Mankind in Need of God 
....Section 3   -   A New Operation 
....................... . The Law 
....Section 4   -   God's Operation

Proceed to:
....Section 5b   -   The Body of Christ
....Section 6   -   Conclusion