CHRIST AMBASSADORS STUDENTS’ OUTREACH (Unilag Chapter a.k.

a The Family of Love)

THEME: LOVE UNTO ALL THE SAINTS

TOPIC: DISCERNING THE LORD’S BODY

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, 1 Corinthians 11:29

INTRODUCTION:

We are commanded in the scriptures to love (1 John 4:7, Romans 13:8). Love is the nature (life) of God
(1 John 4:8), and should be expressed in and by those professing to be learning the life of God. This life
of God (love) is expressed in His children at different degrees depending on the level of maturity and
growth that they have come into. The first level of love expression is the love of the spirit also known as
love unto all the saints (Romans 15:30, Ephesians 1:15), the second is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:19)
and the third and highest form of expression of God’s love to us and in us, is the love of the Father (1
John 3:1).

We will be considering the first level of love expression, which is the love unto all the saints and in this
first lesson we will, by God’s help be learning how to properly discern (understand) the Lord’s body,
which is a major prerequisite to loving the saints especially amongst those that are learning truth.

WHAT IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?

To understand what the body of Christ is, we should take a look at Christ Himself who is the head of the
body. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Eternal life Spirit, Soul and Body (John 17:3). This goes to say that Christ is
perfect Spirit, Soul and Body (Hebrews 1:8). Now, if the head, which is Christ is perfect, then the body
should not be any less perfect because the same life that flows in the head is what should flow in the
body, even naturally. Now we know that man is tripartite in nature; He is a spirit who has a soul and
lives in a body. When we gave our life to Christ, our spirit was recreated and became one with the Lord
(1 Corinthians 6:17). This is because our spirit came into the same nature and life that is found in Christ,
the head, which is eternal life. (2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:1, Ephesians 2:5-6).

So the body of Christ is a collection of saved or recreated spirits (1 Corinthians 6:17). This refers to the
spirits of everyone that has given their life to Christ, irrespective of their tribe, believe, language, colour
or location. These are the people scripture call saints (Ephesians 1:1). Saints are those that have
experienced the sanctification of the Spirit by the reason of New Birth and have the Holy Spirit dwelling
in their spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2, Ephesians 1:13). It is good to understand that the body
of Christ in this context is more spiritual than physical. Here, there is no Jew nor Gentile, but Christ is all
in all (Colossians 3:10-11, Galatians 3:28).

When we gave our life to Christ, we became a member of this body (by the reason of our spirit being
added) (Ephesians 5:30), while our souls and bodies were added to the church for to be saved (Acts
2:47).

THE CHURCH

Now, it is good at this point to state that the church is not the same as the body of Christ discussed
above. This is because of the constituent of the church or the entity of man that makes up the church.
According to scriptures, what makes up the church is that part of man that was purchased at new birth
(Acts 20:28), which is the soul and also the body. What makes up church is really the soul (Acts 2:47),
 CHRIST AMBASSADORS STUDENTS’ OUTREACH (Unilag Chapter a.k.a The Family of Love)

the body is in church because of the soul. When an individual gives his life to Christ, his/her spirit
becomes recreated while his/her soul and body are purchased to be redeemed (1 Corinthians 6:20). The
reason for the Church is the redemption of the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:14). The church is a
redemption ground! As such only what is able to redeem should be exalted, which is the word of God
(James 1:21). This word is the revelation and the teaching of Christ who is truth (John 17:17, John 14:6, 1
Timothy 3:15).

Now what makes the church not fit to be called the body of Christ yet is because the soul (which makes
up the church as established earlier) does not have the same nature as Christ like our spirit does. This
means our souls are not yet saved as our spirit is saved (1 Peter 1:9). A soul (or any part of man for that
matter) is said to be saved only when it has come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
(Ephesians 4:13) because Christ has embodied all of eternal life or all of God (Colossians 1:19, 2:9). This
would mean the soul must drop his ways and other things that defines it so that it can conform to the
image of Christ who is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:3).

Note: It is important to state at this point, that the church is also the potential body of Christ, because
the destiny of the church is to be the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-28,32). The husband and the wife
are one flesh (Ephesians 5:31); the husband being the head and the wife being the body (Ephesians
5:28). The essence of raising and building the church is so that it can, one day, become one with the
head by having the same life as the head who is Christ (Ephesians 4:12-15).

THE NATURE OF THE SOUL

For the purpose of emphasis, it is good to reiterate, that man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a
body. These three parts of man are different in their nature and make as seen by the light of scriptures
(Hebrews 4:12), and so the plan of redemption is different for the three parts of man. The spirit is
likened to a candle (Proverbs 20:27), meaning it can go on/off very quickly. This explains why the effect
of sin in the spirit of man was instantaneous (Genesis 2:17, 3:7, man died in his spirit immediately after
partaking of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil which held the life of sin and death) and the
effect of salvation in the spirit also is instantaneous (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5-6).

However, the soul is not like a candle but a book (Hebrews 8:10, Revelation 20:12) or more accurately,
the soul is like a sheep which must be led (Isaiah 53:6, 1 Peter 2:25). This implies that whatever happens
in the soul involves a process. It took a while before the soul started manifesting the nature of sin and
death after the spirit died in the garden of Eden (Genesis 6:1,3). The soul must be written upon by
leading it before an image is formed in it. Death for the soul is a process and salvation for the soul is also
a process. The soul did not die in a day (as a matter of truth, the soul of an unbeliever is still undergoing
death and has not fully died, John 10:10) and will not live in a day (Colossians 1:21, 1 John 3:8). The soul
partook of death by walking in obedience to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2), so also the soul will
be saved by walking in obedience to the life of God (Romans 6:19, 8:14). This is the reason for church!

ONE BIG FAMILY OF GOD

In loving and relating with all saints, one must come to understand that we are all part of one big family
of God by the reason of the fact that we are saved in our spirit, irrespective of the differences in our
culture, tradition, nationality, language, colour or race, which are all products of the many things in our
souls. (Ephesians 1:6, 3:15). We are all brothers and sisters irrespective of our differences in doctrinal
principles and belief systems as found in the church today. We all have one Father (Ephesians 4:6) and
what binds us together is the fellowship of the spirit by the indwelling of the Spirit of God in our spirit.
Blood, they say, is thicker than water, but Spirit is thicker than blood. So we should love one another.