1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. I. TRUE CHRISTIANS, AS THE BODY OF CHRIST, MANIFEST HIS PERSONAL PRESENCE AMONG MEN. In Christ incarnate "God was manifest in the flesh." Just as really is Christ manifest in His Church. II. THE BODY OF CHRIST REVEALS THE MIND OF CHRIST. So closely do body and mind correspond, that the mind sometimes fashions the body to its own character. Essential characteristics, if not every thought and feeling, are revealed in gesture, gait, and countenance. The human body of Christ served the same purpose in expressing His mind. Now He has another manifestation. He is formed in us and thus expresses Himself as truly as once through flesh and blood. These "living epistles are known and read of all men," written over with Christ's thoughts, as those thoughts were once written on His own face. We are Christians only so far as we embody and reveal Christ to men. III. THESE MEMBERS OF CHRIST'S BODY ARE THE INSTRUMENTS FOR THE EXECUTION OF HIS WILL. The body is the servant of the soul. Such was Christ's body on earth. It is now laid aside for other organs, even His Church, who are "members of His body, of His flesh and His bones". Here is the radical idea of Christian service. We are not independent to follow our own purposes, but the will of Christ. While the hands and feet are involuntary instruments moved by the soul, the organs of Christ's body act freely, although God worketh in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. Though not losing identity or individuality, they are so assimilated to each other and to Christ that they freely act together with the harmony of the most nicely adjusted machine. Again, Christ now is not limited to any spot at once, but is everywhere, in every Christian heart. Were He to get complete possession of all the members of His body and of all the agencies which they command, what rapid and sweeping successes would He achieve! When the Church is sanctified, when no member is paralysed or dormant or reluctant, but the whole are "clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners," how soon will the world be redeemed! (H. Mead, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.WEB: Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. |
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