by Timothy W. Burnett
There is truly one body of Christ made up of many members. First it is important to understand that this is not about Jesus Christ during his ministry on earth. The body of Christ is not made up of people who agree that Jesus was alive at one time on earth.
It is made up of people who have believed with their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead. In other words it is about the body of people who have the spiritual seed of Jesus Christ in them. Jesus Christ is alive and in heaven sitting on the right hand of God's highest authority.
Notice how the word "one" is used so many times. There is only one body of Christ made up of many members that have been baptized into the body by one spirit. Let's compare this with our local communities. Every town that I've visited has a number of different churches. At first glance I would be realy happy about it because people desire to find others to fellowship with. Yet, the word "one" in the scripture shines light on a major problem. That being the church of God is greatly divided.
The reason there are different churches in a town or city is because there is division among the Christians. the church is divided over doctrinal and practical beliefs and practices. The one body of Christ is divided in a huge way.
You might ask what does it matter as long as people are in a church? It matters a great deal when we consider that God calls it the one body of Christ. In other areas He refers to the singular church. In even other scripture He talks about the unity of faith. When we compare the church today with what God's word says, it is clear that the one body of Christ is divided in a big way.
If we caled together every teacher of God's word and told them to rightly divide any subject from the scriptures, they would all come up with the same understanding of the scripture. This is because God is not ambiguous. His word does not have different meanings for different people. When God used a figure of speech, it was meant to be understood in a specific way. We can address the highly charged issues that differ in the various churches and find exactly how God defines what it's suppose to mean. This only works when we allow God's word to interpret itself.
"Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (1Peter 1:20-21).
God set up a dynamic body of Christ made up of many members who have been baptized by one spirit that is from God through Christ Jesus our Lord. The body of Christ does exist today. And we can be thankful to God for helping us to see that it still exists within the divided church.
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