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THE
NEW LIFE by
John Marshall
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Chapter
3 • BECOMING
PART OF THE BODY OF Christ
The One Body
The family of God to which the newborn son belongs "has
many members" yet, as Paul shows, it is "one body"
which has Jesus as its appointed head. In this divine family
there are people of diverse personalities and temperaments;
of widely differing abilities, education and culture. It has
always been the same. Jesus drew to him not only the poor
but the rich, not only the illiterate but the cultured, not
only nonentities but rulers. And all have to be transformed
into the divine image so that they become a unity of faith,
character and service.
To illustrate the nature of this unity Paul uses the analogy
of the human body, with its multitude of parts and functions
all directed to preserving the efficiency and health of the
body as a whole, and we understand the force of his illustration.
The little finger is a very small and seemingly insignificant
part of the whole, but how destructively would the balance
and functions of the hand be disturbed if it were lost! The
simplest and humblest member of an ecclesia might seem quite
unimportant beside so many who play a public part in ecclesial
We, yet if he has faithfully fulfilled his spiritual part
how much he is missed when he has gone!
Paul shows quite clearly that every part of a healthy body
is vital to its proper functioning: "The eye cannot say
to the hand, I have no need of thee: or again the head to
the feet, I have no need of you." In this family everyone
counts, everyone is necessary to an ecclesia and everyone
should have, or find a job to do which will contribute to
the spiritual health of its individual members.
This is & family and each member of it has to get to know
and to understand the others. There has to develop a community
of sympathy so that it can truly be said: "Whether one
member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member
be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
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References
1 Cor 12v12, Eph 4v4, Col 1v18, 1 Cor 12v21, 1 Cor 12v26
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Chapter
3 • BECOMING
PART OF THE BODY OF Christ
The Practical Application
This one body, this family of God is so important that the name
"Christadelphian" should not mislead us into a false concept
of spiritual values by giving too much importance to the name which
is but a convenient label. Rather we should remember that the body
is "the house of God which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth" -the support and bulwark
of the truth.
God has chosen each believer without partiality, without respect
of persons, and no one should ever, in human pride of place or status,
forget this, because the ecclesia is the witness to the world of
God's eternal wisdom and purposes, and each member of it should
be worthy of its majestic role. In the first of three parables covering
the life and work of the believer Jesus put service to the household
first. He said that a "faithful and wise" servant was
one whom his lord set over his household to give them their meat
in due season (R.V.).
Who is the servant who is set over, or made to rule, in the lord's
household? Are we meant to assume that these are the elders or the
leaders in an ecclesia? That is not necessarily the kind of rulership
that Jesus meant: "Whosoever would become first among you shall
be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
During the last supper Jesus gave his followers the greatest example
of this principle of service when he knelt before his disciples
and washed their feet: "Know ye what I have done to you? Ye
call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash
one another's feet.
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References
1 Tim 3v15, Matt 24v45, Matt 20v27 RV, John 13v12-14
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