The Body of Christ: Scene One
The phrase body of Christ has always intrigued me. Why would God choose that metaphor to help us understand the church? Stay with me as I dig a foundation giving insight into this mystery.
Let’s start at the beginning.
… then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 2:7
The ‘man of dust’ needed to be formed into the image and likeness of God; the Potter was ready to mold the clay. However, without the breath of life there would be no image-bearer: no living creature. God formed man to represent Himself to the world, therefore, this lower story ultimately foreshadows the upper story of a spiritual re-forming that was necessary after sin entered the scene.
Remember Jesus’ words as He spoke of the lower and upper story,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:5-6
Since the fall of man it was necessary to be reborn, not physically (of water) but spiritually; mankind needed a ‘re-formation’ accomplished only by the Holy Spirit. The metaphor becomes clearer as we think of the body of Christ as the upper story: a group of believers who have experienced a re-formation or spiritual rebirth.
Staying in Genesis let’s explore the idea of the body of Christ as a group of believers. Since there was no spiritual rebirth in the Old Testament let’s discuss the Jews as the first believers.
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May He give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham … Genesis 28:3-4a
Isaac declared that prophetic blessing over his son Jacob promising empowerment from El Shaddai to be fruitful, multiply, prosper, have success, and overall goodness: that’s the true meaning of ‘blessing’. The name El Shaddai means the God who is all-powerful, all-sufficient, and full of all strength. His power was imparted to this kehillah, assembly, community, or, get this, army of people who will bless the whole world. This fulfilled what God promised Abraham:
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 12:2-3
The spiritually re-formed body of Christ continues to represent God and requires this blessing of empowerment to fulfill our calling today. That’s where the Holy Spirit enters the scene to clothe the body with power (Luke 24:49). More next week.
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