Body
August 24, 2022 • Ed Green • Romans 12:4–6, Ephesians 1:22–23
The older I get, the more I realize I have taken for granted the ability of my body to do things. Especially when I have to be careful how I put on my socks in the morning and notice how much slower I get out of my truck. Now, despite what you may think, I am not the poster child for living healthy (news flash: the attached pic is NOT of me…). Ice cream, donuts, pretty much anything sweet is my weak spot. And I’m not real consistent with exercise. I recognize the need for me to take better care of my body.
In the New Testament one of the dominant metaphors for the Church is that of the body. Paul consistently points out that (1) we are the body of Christ, and (2) we actually function like a body. His letter to the Ephesians focuses more on the first point. He writes: “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (1:22-23). We, as the church is the body of Christ, of which he is the head.
In Romans and 1 Corinthians Paul develops the idea that we, as the Church, function like a human body: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us…” (Romans 12:4-6).
How would you describe being physically healthy? Now take a few minutes and transfer those criteria to the body of Christ—whether it is BCC (our own church locally), or what I call, the “big-C” Church (the universal Church all over the place). Are we a picture of health?