Your body is a conglomeration of trillions of cells working to keep you alive. There are over a hundred distinct types of cells that are coordinated into tissues, organs, and organ systems. Your body only thrives when each cell stays in its particular place and functions as designed. When a cell moves away from its place or acts against its design, there can be terrible consequences. A single, renegade cell can lead to a cancer that has the capacity to destroy the entire body.

While the Apostle Paul did not have our understanding of cells or the complexity of the human body, he knew enough to use the body as an apt metaphor for the Church. The Church is the body of Christ in at least three distinct ways. First, the Church embodies its Savior and serves as His physical presence on the earth. Second, the Church is the context for the glorious interplay of unity and diversity that allows each person to use his or her gifts for the good of all. Third, the Church is the place in which believers grow and develop together.

In 1 Corinthians 12:27 Paul tells believers, “Now you are the body of Christ” (NKJV). The “you” here is plural, which emphasizes that the Church corporately represents the body of Christ. This is an important concept to grasp. When Jesus was preparing to leave His disciples, He told them not to worry since He would come to them in the person of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came at Pentecost and little pillars of fire rested above the heads of the disciples, it was a picture of the New Testament reality that believers would be like miniature tabernacles—an Old Testament place of God’s special presence on the earth. After Pentecost, God’s special presence is now to be found in His people (1 Cor. 3:16). In this way we are truly the body of Christ.

We are the physical manifestation of the presence of the risen Lord on the earth, and we represent and serve Christ in the physical world by worshiping God, ministering the gospel, and serving others. The starting point for thinking about the body metaphor for the Church is to consider that bodies inhabit time and space and are physical. The Church has the profound privilege of being the embodied presence of our Lord in a lost world.

There are three primary Bible passages that speak in an extended way of the Church as the body of Christ (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; and Eph. 4). In each of these places, one of the key emphases is that a body is one unit comprised of many parts and that each part needs to function for the body to be healthy. In other words, there is an emphasis on the unity of purpose in the body combined with the equally important concept of the diversity of the constituent parts of the body (1 Cor. 12:12).

The Church reflects the trinitarian nature of its God. Glorious diversity is combined with a singleness of purpose and love as we are all connected to our Savior. As with a human body, the organism of the Church only flourishes if all the parts are using their diverse gifts in service to the body as a whole. “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function….Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them” (Rom. 12:4, 6). The Church is where people with very different backgrounds and talents come together to serve in such a way that the entire congregation is blessed.

Another feature of all healthy bodies is growth and development. A stagnant church is a dying church. The body metaphor makes it clear that as we serve our Lord together the result should be growth. We expect the Church to become more like Christ, growing in spiritual maturity and grow ingnumerically as God allows us to reach out to new generations and new people. When every person is serving in accordance with his or her gifts and opportunities, the whole body grows up into Christ, the head (Eph. 4:15-16; Col. 2:19). This growth is not the result of the work of the individual parts; it is the gift of God. Since God inhabits the people in the Church, the Church itself should grow and mature as each part fulfills its calling.

The body metaphor of the Church gives pause. It assumes that individuals are connected to and serving one another. If you are a Christian, you should be a member of the visible church. Rejoice in the privilege of being the physical presence of Jesus on the earth. Celebrate the glorious diversity that is united in Christ. Studiously avoid imposing a stifling sameness in superficial matters, but use your gifts for the sake of the body.

In addition, expect meaningful growth. The healthy church recognizes that the body does not belong to the individual cells. It belongs to the Lord. It is His body and He has paid a great price for it. Seek His glory as you serve within it.

Rich Holdeman | Bloomington, Ind., RPC