The Church is the Body of Christ: We are the Body of Christ

by Edward Kettner

What do we mean when we refer to the Church as “the body of Christ”? That phrase occurs in several places in the New Testament. The phrase can simply mean the physical body of Jesus which was laid in the tomb, though that is usually referred to as “the body of Jesus” rather than as the body of Christ. When Joseph of Arimathea requested the body of Jesus to prepare it for burial, this was simply His lifeless body. But the Gospels which speak of His burial go on to speak of His resurrection and ascension into heaven.

If the body that died did not in fact rise from death, His death would have no meaning. St. Paul is blunt about that. The creeds echo Saint Paul’s words as he ties together the death and resurrection together and notes this: “For I delivered to you of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). He goes on to declare that if Christ has not been raised, we are misrepresenting God and preaching a lie. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ.... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.... If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (15:14-19).

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. Through His death and His resurrection, death has been destroyed. If His death and resurrection were simply an historical anomaly, it would have no meaning. And if it is not believed, it does no good to the world. In Romans 6, Paul notes that in Baptism we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. In His death we have “died to the law through the body of Christ” so that that we might belong to Christ and bear fruit for Him (Romans 7:4). We, each and every one of us, are joined to Him, and are part of His living body. Using another image, Christ tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). We live because we are connected to Him as the source of our nourishment and of our very lives, and we bear fruit because of that connection.

This plays itself out in an important way, as Paul tells us: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). The Church speaks about the reality of the “mystical union” with Christ, by which we are given life and sustained in that life. To be the body of Christ means that we partake of His life and are actually Christ’s means by which He now serves the world. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul points out that, because we are part of the body of Christ, we actually have been given gifts by the Spirit—gifts by which we serve the world. We should not denigrate ourselves or be envious of others with seemingly greater gifts, because the gifts we have are all important for Christ’s work in the world. The members of the body are not to be in conflict with each other but are to work together in unity.

As he discusses the varieties of gifts which come from the same Spirit, Paul lists numerous God-given gifts which benefit both the body of Christ as well as other people in the world. The congregation—the visible church which is active in the world—receives the benefit of the fruits of faith. And where Christians have gone into the world, they have established welfare organizations, charities and relief agencies, hospitals, orphanages, and so forth, which benefit even those outside of the household of faith. These become means by which we let our light shine and so glorify God in our lives.

Because there is only one Christ, there is only one body. In Ephesians, Paul reminds us that Christ, who descended to earth and indeed to the lower parts, has risen and ascended in order to fill all things. He joins us to Himself to maintain “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). This unity is a given because “there is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (4:4-6) In order to sustain the Church, He gives it the gift of the office of ministry and those who hold it, building up the body of Christ by knitting us together that we might grow in unity. Those who have been brought into the Church, into Christ’s one body, are people of all places and all times, wherever the Word of grace has been preached.

All of this demonstrates the importance of regular attendance at worship. There we confess our sins and receive absolution; we hear the life-giving Word which leads us to repentance, gives us the forgiveness of sins, and then also instructs for faith and life; and we receive Christ’s body and blood to eat and drink to nourish our faith and life. Some people in the world think that we do not need public worship to be sustained in the faith, but the idea that one can worship God out in nature as well as in church is problematic, to say the least. While you may be able to meditate on God, if it is truly God you are meditating on, your meditation will be based on the Word that you have heard. St. Paul points out in Ephesians that the Office of Public Ministry has been given as a gift to the Church so that people will not continue to be blown about by “every wind of doctrine” (4:14)—something which can easily happen when you are left on your own.

When you meditate on God without continuing contact with His Word you will end up making God in your own image rather than being conformed to His image. Some people like to disparage “organized religion,” often because they prefer a mystical, contentless spirituality which ultimately tells them nothing. But while there are indeed organizational aspects to the Church—as there are to anything in the world which wants to accomplish anything—we need to remember and confess that the heart of the nature of the Church is not merely an organization but a living organism. We are members of the living Body of Christ.

Recognizing ourselves as the Body of Christ, being knit together by the Spirit, is the means by which we bear one another’s burdens as well. One of the privileges of going to church, and one of the reasons I like going to church, is the fact that I get to know and interact with my fellow Christians who have their burdens to bear and who in turn share my burdens as we pray for one another. As we come to the communion rail and as we see others also come forward in faith, we take comfort in knowing that the God who has created us and has redeemed us is a very real God and is a God who keeps His promises. It is in knowing this that we can join with King David in saying, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD!’” (Psalm 122:1).

Rev. Dr. Edward G. Kettner is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Concordia Lutheran Seminary (Edmonton).