Ephesians 4:7-16Baptism and Body Life
What is a Christian? Baptism tells us: not a mere do-gooder, but someone converted and committed to the living Christ, a born-again person washed from his sins through Christ’s blood and now indwelt by Christ’s Spirit. What is the church? Again, baptism tells us: not a mere club, an organized interest group, but a supernatural organism of believers so linked to their Master, and through him to each other, that all are truly “members”—that is, “limbs,” “working parts”—of one “body” of which he is “Head.” As there is one body, one Lord, and one faith, says Paul, so there is one baptism (Ephesians 4:4ff.); one, because union by faith with the Lord in that one body is what baptism always signifies.
By “church member” we normally mean one who has been received into a worshipping community; by “body of Christians” we usually mean a denomination. But the New Testament knows neither church members nor Christian bodies, only members of Christ, and of his body. Our usage stemmed from Scripture, but has parted company with both the Bible’s grammar and its meaning. In scripture, Christ’s body is essentially ordinary folk living together a new and extraordinary life because the risen Lord has touched and claimed and now controls them. When we say “body” or “member,” this should be the thought in our minds.
Ethics of the Body
“Body life” is a current term for the network of mutual relationships which Christ both calls and causes the limbs of his body to build. As a sign of incorporation into “the mystical body of (God’s) Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people,”1 baptism commits us not only to personal conversion, but also, with that, to practicing the ethics of body life in the Christian family. Scripture spells out these ethics in terms of first valuation and then service.
(1) Valuation. “All baptized in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27ff., JB). The racial, social, economic, cultural, and sexual distinctions which operate as restraints on our acceptance and appreciation of each other cannot be abolished, but the limits they impose must be transcended. In Christ’s body, all must welcome and value each others as “members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25). All whom God values as his children we must value as brothers; all who with us are limbs of Christ’s body we should cherish as we do our own body (see 1 Corinthians 12:25ff.; Ephesians 5:28ff.). Jesus pinpoints practical concerns for the lowliest and neediest of his disciples, just because they are his disciples, as a vital virtue, a necessary element in genuine Christianity. (See Matthew 10:42; 25:34-45; cf. James 1:27.)
You might not think it from watching what goes on in our churches, but God wants life in his new society to be a perfect riot of affection, goodwill, openheartedness, and friendship. (So what on earth are we all playing at? You tell me!)
(2) Service. Service is love in action. Christ’s body, says Paul, “upbuilds itself in [through, by means of] agape [love]” (Ephesians 4:16). Agape in Scripture is more than sweet talk or sweet smiles; its measure is the evil that you avoid inflicting, and the good you go out of your way to give. How then is the church upbuilt—that is, edified—in love? By “each part . . . working properly” in koinonia (fellowship). Koinonia means giving and taking according to the marvelous formula of the Communist Manifesto—“from each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” What by God’s gift we have and are is for sharing—not hoarding!
This sharing is the diakonia (service, ministry) to which every Christian is called. Preachers and pastors are provided, says Paul, “that Christians may be properly equipped for their service.” (Ephesians 4:12, Phillips). The gifts (i.e., powers to serve) which all Christians receive from the Holy Spirit must be used to the full for others’ good.
Called to Minister
Edifying (the upbuilding of the body) is corporate: either we all advance towards Christlike maturity together, through mutual ministry (layfolk to layfolk and to clergy too, as well as vice versa), or we all stagnate separately. So a great deal depends on our hearing that call to Christian ministry which our baptism has issued to us all.
Note:
1The Anglican Prayer Book
Further Bible Study
Serving in Christ’s body:
Ephesians 4:7-16
1 Corinthians 12:14-13:13
Questions for Thought and Discussion
What is the source and the form of the Christian’s “extraordinary life”?
The Bible says that there are no racial, social, or sexual distinctions in Christ. How then should we act toward one another?
Why is it true that we either advance together or stagnate separately? Do you think this is right? Why?