In this study, the edification of the church of the body of Christ is the main subject of concern, and it is to
be shown from Scripture how this body edifies itself in that each member of this body, each believer in the church, has
a function and is to fulfill this function. In a different study, I had shown that each member in the church has such a
function within God's plan for the church, and in that study scriptures which speak of "one another", etc. were helpful
indicators to realize this great truth. From those observations it is clear that not only an elder or a minister in the
church is the only one who is to care for and encourage, admonish and love the others in the church, but rather that
each member, each believer, has been given such a duty by the lord.
A closer look at a few verses from Ephesians 4,
as well as a section in 1 Corinthians 12, are the basis, which will help to deepen our understanding and to clarify for
us that indeed it is a matter of support and working together of all members if the church is to be edified in
love.
Ephesians 4 contains perhaps the most emphatic statement regarding this truth.
Ephesians 4:15 and 16:
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
This section of Scripture mentions the picture of a body for the church.1
The important topic at hand ist that this body should grow and be edified. This is the concern of these verses. Here,
we can also read how this can be achieved and how it should be achieved.
In verse 15, we read about
"speaking the truth in love, may grow up …" Already here, the word "grow" is used, and we are told that we are to
"grow up into him in all things". This concerns not only a growth in certain things, but rather a growing up into him
"in all things". Also, we read what this growing process is directed toward, "into him … which is the head, even
Christ". We are to grow up into him, we are to become more and more Christ-like, he is to be formed in us and we are to
be found in him. This is the aim of that growing process. With the new birth we have received holy spirit in us, we've
been equipped with power from on high, it is "Christ in you". Now, we as the church are to grow up into him, who is the
head, in all things!
Ephesians 4:16:
From whom the whole body … maketh increase increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love [causes or brings about the growth of the body unto its own edifying].
There is also an explanatory or parenthetical remark in verse 16, the main thought being completed at the end
of the verse as indicated above. The "whole body" contributes to the growth and increase. It is not just one single
person, not just a few believers here and there, but the whole body has part in and is to work together toward that
end.
The parenthetical remark then describes how this working together is accomplished and what happens as each
member contributes.
Ephesians 4,16:
… fitly joined together and compacted…
Here we see that the body is "fitly joined together". This reminds me a bit of a puzzle where the many
different parts are also fitly joined together. The parts are touching each other, and there are no holes and no empty
spaces and cracks, for they fit each other exactly and then they form one larger whole picture. When the correct pieces
are placed next to each other, even the most "crooked or wound lines" fit together and together form the whole picture.
This to me describes the "fitly joined together" quite well.
Next we read "and compacted". This deepens the matter
a bit and describes further how the various parts will attach to each other. The individual members of the body are
connected to each other, are fitly joined together in a certain way. They are most effectual when they are joined
correctly. Perhaps, you have seen instances where two things are correctly joined and really fit and you may have seen
cases where they did not quite fit very well. For example, if a part of a finger has been cut in an accident and is
more severed than attached to the rest of the finger, then it is still attached to the body, but there are tremendous
difficulties for that part as well as for the body. The possibilities for helping each other are very slim or not in
existence at all. Such a tape of connection is not desirable, instead all endeavours should be to have such a
connection where everything fits properly and where an exchange in all directions is possible. The members are not just
to be joined, but rather they are to be fitly joined and compacted, in a way where they can function properly.
Next
follows the mention of "every joint" and "according to the effectual working in the measure of every part". Each part
is connected to the other parts in this body. We should also note that, just as in the physical human body, not all
members are connected directly to all other members, The analogy of the body teaches us that the tip of the small
finger is connected with the sole of the foot, however only indirectly and by quite some distance. Immediately it is
connected to the next part of the finger, then with the rest of the finger, then with the hand, then the arm, etc.
Where will be the immediate and perhaps strongest support for this part? In and by those parts with which it is
connected directly. Other support will only be indirectly by other members of the body. So it is with the functioning
of the church as well.
Some believers are irritated by certain teachers who speak of always needing to have the
whole body in mind and not separating oneself from other Christians. They teach and proclaim that all Christians must
unite, all Christians must work together if they really want to accomplish that which God has called the body of Christ
to do. Certain evangelistic movements in the recent past in German speaking countries have propagated such ideas. Under
the cover of talk about the "one body" such movements have begun to influence numbers of churches and subvert them with
teachings that are the work of deceiving spirits.
Such a working together of the whole body of Christ is simply
impossible! All Christians, since the original outpouring of the holy spirit at Pentecost until now together form that
church of the one body of Christ. This body encompasses members whom we most definitely cannot support and edify today,
such as the apostle Paul. He belongs to the body of Christ, but what type of edification can we provide for him today?
None, because he has fallen asleep, has died, a long time ago. Then there are members of this body at all kinds of
places in the world today with whom we never even get in contact with or of whom we perhaps never know anything until
the return of Christ. How are we to provide edification for them? It is not the point of the exhortation that the whole
body of Christ work together, beause as I have just shown, this is impossible! We must see the body of Christ within
the biblical statements made about it and we are not to twist the truths from God's Word. Also, in 1 Corinthians the
church at Corinth, i.e. only a part of the whole body, is called "the body of Christ".2
We are mainly in contact with those members of the body who are where we are, where
we live, where we work. The local church where we learn and live God's Word, which we are linked to is certainly our
main area for unfolding our support and where we can most likely receive support as well. Beyond that there are
certainly other possibilities depending on the contacts which exist to other members of the body and where and how
support can be granted or received.
The main focus will be on the fellowship of those members which form the local
assembly, the local church. Beyond that, churches meet together, work together in certain ways and perhaps have
connections in other ways. We cannot just speak of the universal picture of the whole body leading to a result that in
the end nothing much happens because the important perspective and focus has been lost. The edification of the church
starts with one's own family, then follows the fellowship of the local church, then follow other churches and further
away churches to the degree that they have contact to each other.
All members are linked or joined together through
all joints, and each member supports the other according to the measure of its power. The measure is further elaborated
upon in verse 7
Ephesians 4:7:
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
The supplying (in verse 16) is done "according to the effectual working in the measure of every part". The
efforts are directed toward the increase and edification of the body, that it builds itself up in love. This body
consists of individual members, of human beings who have Christ in them , of born again believers. Main point is the
edification of the body, not so much the edification of individual members or individual persons. The main concern is
therefore also not about material things or wordly affaris and need of the individual, but the concern is the building
up of the body, the edification of the fellowship of the believers in love.
Sure, they may be help and assistance
given to a members in some regard perhaps to help them with a certain project. Such would be the manifestation or
expression of where the real edification happens. The church is not a group of people which meets once and which is
only a church for the duration of that meeting. The church is not only an assembly or a fellowship for a certain period
of time. No, it is much more, it is an organism. The body is a live organism in which the members constantly are linked
to each other. The small finger, even if it doesn't have to fulfill a specific job at this time, still belongs ot the
body.
In the church the essential element is not the meeting but rather the relationship among the members. We are
born into the church of the body of Christ, and we have a relationship to all other members. It is then a question of
how these relationships are built and how well they really are. If relationships have been developed and are
functioning well, an exchange is possible and assistance and help can be given or can be received. If there is only a
get together of four bodies within four walls for a short period of time, and if there is no real relationship, then a
few individual "soloists" are meeting, but not really a church in the biblical sense. Those believers still would be
connected to each other somewhere, but it would be as with four almost cut off members which would and really could do
only very little for each other.
The main weight of church life therefore is not on the meetings, but whether the
members have cultivated a relationship on their common basis of the salvation which they have been given in Christ. If
the individual members are attached to each other, a support and helping one another is possible, only then can the
body increase or grow and receive edification of itself in love. Then the body can have the God designed increase and
will edify itself in love.
1 Corinthians 12 also has in a somewhat different context – the context there
deals foremost with spiritual matters – an illustration of the body for the church. But this section conveys great
truths for our study.
1 Corinthians 12:12:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
The body spoken of here is "Christ" — it is the body of the church of God. The believers on Christ now make up the church of the body of Christ. A foundational truth in here emphasized: Even though there are many members to this body, they all are part of and form only one body.
1 Corinthians 12:13:
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
The individual members all belong to one body because they all have the same spirit of God — for all
members it is "Christ in you". We do not belong to this body because we are interested in chess as a vacation time
exercise; we are not part of this body because we are all interested in the newest or most exclusive or just normal
fashion designs; or because we have the same occupation or trade or perhaps work on the same job. Those things are not
what makes us to be members of this body. We have the same holy spirit!
Verse 13 shows immediately that outward
things are not of any real or decisive influnce. The groups which are mentioned here had nothing to do with each other
socially speaking, there was no social contact. All that and any barriers however are overcome by the one spirit.
"Bond (slaves)" and "free" had a certain relationship to each other, but also those differences are overcome. We have
received one spirit, and we now have God's spirit within us.
1 Corinthians 12:14:
For the body is not one member, but many.
The body is an organism which consists of many members. If we look at the body and we desire that it be edified, then this is best possible when as many or possibly all members concerned are involved. The body is not just one member.
1 Corinthians 12:15 and 16:
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
This might be a very "interesting" idea, just as we perhaps had had once in a while, such as: "I am worth nothing; I can't fo this and I can't fo that. I can't accomplish anything, therefore I really don't even belong here and am not really a part of the body." That's a wrong argument because I still belong to that body! It is totally irrelevant if a members brings up such arguments because they are wrong. To say, "Because I am not the other one, I don't belong here" is a wrong logic and it must be corrected
1 Corinthians 12:17:
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
That also would be a very undesired situation, and we could continue the list with a few other things, but in each case something else would really be missing.
1 Corinthians 12:18:
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
This, by the way, is also true of the physical body. God has designed man the way he is, and each members has
received from God its specific function: The ears are for hearing, the eyes are for seeing, the nose for smelling, the
feet have their job, the hands another one, etc. That's the way it is, and no one after Adam has come up with anything
better because this is how the body functions best. All ideas of man to improve this system, have not achieved
anything.
With the church it is similar. There as well, in a figurative sense, we are members of one body. Each
members has its specific function and job to do and thus contributes that which it is enabled to do and it does so
where it is located at that particular time.
1 Corinthians 12:19 and 20:
And if they were all one member, where were the body?
But now are they many members, yet but one body.
How about this logic that all members are really only one member? That would cause problems of another kind, and there would not be any body!
1 Corinthians 12:21:
And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
Here we see an important truth. Even two members which are on opposite ends of the spectrum – head and feet – could not claim that they don't need each other.
1 Corinthians 12:22–25:
Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
It is truly remarkable how humans can sometimes be really completely wrong in their estimation of a certain
situation.
God has put the body together and has designed it in a way that divisions and schisms are somewhat
prevented by giving the lesser part more abundant honour and by all members having the opportunity to have the same
care for one another.
1 Corinthians 12:26 and 27:
And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
The "body of Christ" here obviously does not refer to the whole number of all believers of the church of God at
all times and in all places. Rather, the local church at Corinth is said to be "the body of Christ". The church has
many members, but it is only one body.
The local church in a home, a part of the universal church of the body of
Christ, is nevertheless the body of Christ. The members which form this church are to care for one another and are to
each contribute to the edification. Members cannot wait without end that somebody does something. What happens if 10
such members form a fellowship or church? No one wants to contribute, but all would like to have support from all the
others. This won't work. Only when one starts and begins to support, can something begin to move. When 5 of the ten
members wake up from their lethargical sleep and begin to contribute, then this church will look much more alive. As
more members in a church begin to give, the church becomes more alive. Then relationships begin to develop where
everyone starts to contribute. Those who previously only were sitting around and waiting for someone to bring them
something no longer will be just sitting there and waiting. There will be so much coming their way that they will have
difficulties to receive all of it. That way the body is alive and builds itself up in love.
Also, the aspect of
speading the good news of the gospel should be considered in this light. Many are concerned about this, and plans are
made for evangelizing, God's Word is being spoken and steps are taken to get something going outside the church. But
many times, nothing much happens in that respect, because within the church not all are working together toward that
aim.
Perhaps a magnet will serve well as an illustration. A magnet is a piece of iron, but as long as the small
pieces which make up the iron are not ordered in a certain way, nothing really happens. Then you just have a piece of
iron, but not a magnet. Before this piece of iron begins to show some magnetic power, something must happen inside the
piece of iron. The small pieces in it must be ordered and aligned according to their measure and must be pointing in
the same direction. Once this has been accomplished they together have the effect of a magnet, and the more have
combined for the effort, the stronger the magnetic force.
If in the body of the church one member pulls in one
direction and another in the opposite direction, their power is neutralized. Sure, they both are busy and are doing
something, but together they produce nothing. Power is there, but it is not working effectually. The full force is only
seen when the members are pulling in the same direction, when they are "pulling on the same string".
That's how it
is with the magnet as well. On the outside of itself, the magnet is not doing anything really, it has simply built up a
field of magnetic force. Then, whatever enters this field of the magnetic force, is being drawn in by that force. The
power is at work within the magnet, power eminates from it which attracts other things. This reminds me a bit of a
statement in Romans, which speaks of the goodness of God leading or "drawing" the sinner toward repentance.
When
the designed building up is happening in a church, it will unfoild toward the outside sort of like a magnet. On the
other hand, all missionary efforts will not avail much if there are two contrary poles at work. Only when the power is
there and when it is put to work properly and together, will other feel invited and drawn to the church and want to
remain there.
All outward activities only lead to some success when the individual members understand that they
each have a specific function and when they then begin to do something according to the working of the power which is
in them and provide some edification and building up to the church. It is necessary that they care for one another,
that they have a functional relationship among the members. In the church we are joined one member to the other just as
is the case in a physical body and its members. We must give each other support. This is not a matter of waiting for
what someone else may do. We begin to do something, we begin to give support and we care and provide what is necessary
to gave the body build itself up in love.
This does not solely ar even mainly concern purely the natural or
handiwork type abilities we each may have as members. It is certainly wonderful if one member can help another member
in the church with such specific talents or trades and is able for example to help fix up a car. The edification of the
church however is touching even on a totally different level. The concern is the person, not his car. We all in the
church have the same Christ in us, and in the measure of this power can we walk and give what is profitable for the
edification of the body in love.
Each particular member has a function and is absolutely necessary. It is true that
some members have special functions, special work which may go beyond what someone else among the believers has.
Elders, overseers and deacons are mentioned in the Word of God who are to provide special service which is to be to the
benefit of all members in the church. Their service as well is directed toward the edification of the church in
love.
Epheser 4,11 und 12:
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
In this body one member if joined to another member. No one can just leave or obsolve this connection. The best
we can do is to recognize and acknowledge what God has done and what He has set up; and then make it our obligation to
fulfil whatis ours to accomplish with all our power and might. It is perfectly clear that a finger does not contribute
in the same way to the body as a foot does; but each and every part of theat body has its job to do for the edification
of the body.
We perhaps at times think of having the greatest satisfaction when sitting around and doing nothing,
and thinking, "The best would be if as many as possible would do something for me." But with such thinking we have
fallen pray to a great error, because it is absolutely not true. Just the opposite is the case!
Each on of us in
the body has been given a very vital part to accomplish in the body, and then it is God who is at work within us both
to will and to do of His good pleasure.
1 In other verses, other pictures or comparisons are used to describe the church, such as husbandry, building, etc.
2 Cp. 1 Corinthians 12:25.