“By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.  The body is not one member, but many.”1

The invisible, inscrutable body of the Lord Jesus Christ is as all pervasive and as dependable throughout this present dispensation as is gravity.  The body of believers is real.  It has expanded and continues to grow with additional believers year after year.  It is a spiritual body, experiencing spiritual fellowship with other believers, carrying on spiritual endeavors resulting in eternal spiritual benefit.  We can perceive of its unitary nature, but we see only results of its activity.

Different parts of this great body function in different ways and in different places.  The Bible illustrations are seeing, hearing, smelling, activity of a hand or a foot (1 Cor 12:14-21).  Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Matt 16:18).  That universal mystical church is the mightiest endeavor in progress through the centuries since.  It is one massive endeavor of which we are but a small part.  Jesus Himself is the head of the universal church, directing its every activity.  He is the one to get credit for anything we do as members of that body.

In addition to making comparisons employing the human body, God appointed that through this dispensation believers function corporately, serving Him in smaller congregations, units similar to the greater body, but local and temporal.  Local churches begin, function, and disintegrate.  The universal church sees no disintegration, but continues to add new members to that one body until the Rapture.  Local churches, then, are in a sense miniature bodies of the Savior.  When recognizing the reality of this smaller unit, it is important to distinguish between the organism and the organization, that is, the reality and that which is visible.  Not that there are two different churches, but it is necessary to recognize the spiritual nature of the one and the physical activity of the other.

The universal body of Christ consists only of spiritually born again believers.  So does the organism of the local body of believers.  Only those with a new nature are a part of the spiritual body.  Organizationally, those who come for membership are asked to give testimony of their conversion, but their judgment may be wrong and that of the voting congregation may be wrong.  The ideal is that the local organization correspond to the functioning organism.  God distinguishes, humans cannot do so clearly.  The purpose of these miniature units is for cooperative endeavor.  The local church is God’s appointed unit for doing His work through this dispensation.

The organization of the local church is outwardly visible and its functions discernible.  It can crudely be compared to clothing of a human body.  Clothes can be seen, activity can be described, etc.;  it is the person who is acting, not the visible outward garments.  Local churches are temporal functioning congregations.  They have a beginning, growth, and expansion.  The organization may last for centuries, but the organism may consist of only a few spiritual members, if any.  God says a local church may be removed from its candlestick (see Rev 2:5).

- “Cogitations”, Dr. Warren Vanhetloo2

  1. 1 Cor 12:13-14 [↩]
  2. To begin subscription, ask questions, or make comments, email Dr. Van at cbsvan@sbcglobal.net [↩]