The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 407

Ver. 12.-The ~dy of Christ. The anaiogy the apostle here uses is broadly true of the whole fcllowsb1p of redeemed and regenerate souls-" the Catholic Church throuah- out all_ the_ world,''. ,~hich acknowledg~s Christ as ~ts living Head. It also applie: to the Co_rmtluan Chri_strn~s as a local soc1ety, a part ot the grand whole. 'l'he principles on winch the constitut10n of the whole depends are supposed to be illustrated in that of each l!arti~ular part. . The comp~riso1:1 of the Church with a living body is not one ~hat we tind m th_e teac~mg:s ~f Clmst himself; ~ut be employed an essentially similar image when be said to his d1sc1ples, "I am the Vme, ye are the branches" (John xv. 5). ,vhetber we take the figure of the body or of the tree, substantially the same ideas are presented. There is in each case an organization animated by a mysterious principle of life. And the hidden life is the cause of the oraanization 0 determines it shapes it "af~r its kind." ?he life is t!1e formative principle. The gro-;th of the body or of the tree 1s not by add1t1on from without, but by development from within. The materials that nourish and build it up lie without, but it is the life that appropriates them . assimilates them, transforms them into its own substance, turns them to its own prope; uses. So with the form of Christian society. We believe in no " visible Church .,. which is not the spontaneous result of the free play of the Divine Spirit in the minds and consciences and hearts of men. Its beliefs, its worship, its fellowship, its work, all have real worth in them just so far as they are the spontaneous expression of the Spirit that dwells within, and no further. Note respecting the Church- I. hs ID"ITY. As the body with its many members is one," so also is Christ.',. Here is unity in variety; variety of parts with a principle of unity underlying them~ flowing through them, binding them into one connected whole. And Christ is that uniting power. It is the "body of Christ." The body that was "prepared" for him when be became " God manifest in the flesh" (Heh. x. 5)-tbe human body in which the" fulness of the Godhead" dwelt, which grew from infancy to m\nhood, which was crucified and then transformed in the imprisoning tomb,-this body bas been with- drawn from the earth. Men see it no longer. It is glorified and immortalized "within the veil." But he ha.q taken to himself another body, in which the Divine energy dwells, through which the Divine beauty reveals itself, which he is leading on gradually to a perfect manhood-" the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." That body is his Church. .And just as the unity of our physical frame lies in the indwelling soul which holds all its parts together, and without which they would soon lose their organic form and dissolve into their primary elements, so the unity of the· Church is the presence of Christ by his Spirit in the whole and in every part (ver. 13). The sentient life pervades every fibre of our frame. Enthroned in the centre, it throbs and ulows in the remotest part. But the members have no separate and independent life i~ themselves. Let any one of them be severed from the rest, and it is senseless, powerless, dead. So is it with_ our souls in relation to him who is to the spiritual body both as the heart and the head, the inspiring energy, and the living bond of unity. "Apart from me ye can do nothing," etc. (John xv. 5). Thus it comes to pass that union with Christ and union with the Church, in the deepest and truest sense, are one and the same thing. The old dictum, "Out of the Church no salvation," has profound truth in it; but not as they imagine who by the "Church" mean any outward organi- zation that is of human origin and under human control. The papal doctrine asserts, " Where the Church is, there is Christ.'' We rather say, "Where Christ is, there is the Church.'' 'fo be in personal fellowship with him is to have a " part and lot" in it of which no power in the universe can ever rob us. This is the principle of unity-the living Christ dwelling by his Spirit in each and all. II. 'I'HE RELATION ITS MEMDERS DEAR TO EACH OTHER. "The body is not one member, but many." The context shows that the apostle has not mere number but variety also in view, variety as of the hand and the foot, the ear and the eye. 'l'be relation between Christian men is spiritual, not form11l; one that lies in community of OH. xu. 1-31.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 41&