The (real) Body of Christ: the fullness of Him

I continue to make my way through Ephesians. I’m in a new Bible (new translation) so it makes it all a bit fresher for me, which is always a good thing. We should never become complacent in the Word of God. The passage I am looking at is Ephesians 1:22-23

²²And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, ²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

This passage is very convicting to me. We have cheapened the term “Body of Christ.” We have made it an earthly thing. But Ephesians tells us that He is the head – not just the One to consult from time to time. (I’m obviously generalizing a bit.) The Church is meant to be His body! This should not be taken lightly!

It reminded me of the passage about greater things coming after Christ has left this world.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.John 14:12

He’s telling of the Holy Spirit’s work in and through us – for salvation and to reach to the ends of the world.

Through the Holy Spirit, our Helper, Christ then moves through people, through cultures, through the world for His plan and purposes. It’s a powerful picture. The fact that Christ himself tells us, “it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you…” should give us pause. We should give infinite value to the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we are truly the Body of Christ; truly his representatives or ambassadors.

The representatives we appoint in government are held with the expectation that they are to perform for the well-being of those whom they represent. They are to vote as directed, as the people wish. Of course, politics is an extremely flawed system to use, but you get the picture. They are to perform for those whom they represent, not by their own opinions or feelings. And if they don’t represent the people in the way the people like, they will replace that politician.

In faith, we are representatives – ambassadors of Christ as 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells us.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us…

If we are truly Christ’s ambassadors, then our actions should be in the best interest of the Kingdom…to give glory to God, not based on our own opinions or feelings. As a Church, are we doing a good job at that? My answer is plainly this – thank God for grace and mercy.

We cannot do this on our own. Only through the Holy Spirit can we be changed. Only through yielding to Him and seeking Him can our hearts be transformed and our characters representative of Christ himself. Only with His Spirit in us, guiding us, can we in all outward ways truly be Christ.

Ephesians 1:7-9 says it beautifully
⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace ⁸which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight ⁹He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.

It is all possible only in and through Him. Our salvation is entirely through Him. Any knowledge or understanding we have is completely through Him revealing Himself to us. So if we are not deeply rooted in Him – not the pastor, church or anyone else, but in Him – then we need to double check exactly whose ambassador we are. The Body of Christ is not a building – it is those believers rooted in Him.