What a Body!
Dearly beloved of God, we share in the greatest association mankind has ever known.
Since we confessed Jesus as Lord and believed in our heart that God raised him from the dead we are saved, and now we have a standing before God in Christ!
Christ is the head of the Church, which is his body, the fullness of Him that fills all of the saved ones with all that he accomplished.
In Christ dwells all the fullness of the divine nature bodily and we are complete in him who is the head over every ruler and authority. God has blessed us in him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.
Each and every member of the body of Christ has the identical standing before God; we stand before God our Father in Christ and by his accomplishments. He gave us access to the Father by the spirit of sonship. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
God determined that every member of the body of Christ would be conformed to the image of His Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. In fact, the Father freely gives us all things with His beloved Son.
In Christ we are justified; we are the righteousness of God in him.
We are redeemed, having the remission of sins by the riches of His grace which He abounded to us.
We are sanctified in Christ by the gift of holy spirit he gave us in the new birth.
We will be glorified together with Christ when he returns to gather us up to him; we will be as he is having glorious bodies like his.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the body, the Church. He is a beginning, that is, the firstborn from the dead, with the result that in all things he might have preeminence.
This was done because it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell in Christ. It also pleased Him to reconcile all things to Himself through Christ, whether things upon earth or things in heaven.
Through death, the Lord Jesus Christ presented us to God as holy, unblameable, and unimpeachable in His sight.
In Christ and by his work alone we are now the children of God, His heirs, and joint heirs with Christ. In Christ we each have the hope of obtaining the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dearly beloved, what is true of any one member in the body of Christ is true of every member. What a standing we have before God in Christ!
As the human body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body: so also is Christ.
We were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether we were Judeans or Gentiles in the flesh; whether we were bond or free; we were all given to drink one spirit.
There is no other body of saved ones except the body of Christ. Christ is the savior of the body. He gave himself for the Church so that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water in the Word.
Christ did this to present the Church illustrious to himself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that it might be holy and without blemish. Christ nourishes and tenderly cares for the Church because we are members of his body.
As a husband and wife are one flesh so are Christ and the Church. We are one body in him, dearly beloved. This is a great mystery, but I am speaking concerning Christ and concerning the Church.
How should we respond to such great grace?
Beloved, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
Walk worthy of the calling to which you were called with all humility and meekness, with longsuffering, upholding one another in love, putting forth a diligent effort to guard the unity that is from the spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
There is only one body in Christ, dear ones, only one. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God gave forgave you in Christ. Be imitators of God as His beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.
By the grace of God we are all members of the body of Christ. This is God’s doing, not ours, dearly beloved. Thank God for His grace.