We have been considering the Lord as Ruler and Head. As Ruler He has been controlling the whole earth. He has been directing the affairs of all the nations for the spreading of the gospel and the gathering in of God’s people. This rulership implies His moving on this earth. He is carrying out a great move. When we consider Him as Head, in addition to His moving we realize that the matter of life is brought in. Under Christ’s headship, a very fine work in life is being done. We do not know the details of Christ’s heavenly ministry as Ruler moving on earth. When we come to His ministry as Head, however, we see a fine work in life, by life, and with life.
In Ephesians 4 we can see two categories in this fine work of life. The first is Christ’s giving of gifts for the perfecting of the saints (vv. 8-12). “He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints.” The second category is His making all the saints grow that they may function. By this growth and functioning, the Body is directly built up. “But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, Who is the Head, Christ, out from Whom all the Body, fitted and knit together through every joint of the supply, according to the operation in measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love” (vv. 15-16).
For both these categories the headship is working. It is the headship of Christ which produces the gifts that the members may grow and function. This is a fine work in life.
Christianity’s way of operating is absolutely contrary to this. They establish seminaries; hire professors to teach the Bible, theology, church history, Hebrew and Greek; then hope the students will be perfected as preachers, ministers, pastors, and such. Their trust is in an educational system. History has already demonstrated that the Body of Christ cannot be built up in this way. Paul was not a seminary graduate. It was under the headship of Christ alone that he was raised up to be the most useful apostle.
How did the headship of Christ operate to gain Paul as a gift to the Body? You will recall that Stephen suffered martyrdom right before the eyes of a young man named Saul of Tarsus (Acts 7:58). Stephen’s death was not an isolated, individual matter. At that time the whole Body of Christ was under persecution. Saul was one of the ringleaders; he “made havoc of the church” (Acts 8:1-3). The Head of the Body allowed that persecution to show Saul what the Body of Christ is. Saul saw the Body suffering when he persecuted the members who called on the name of the Lord. After this, he happily began his journey to Damascus intending to arrest still other members. This is the set of circumstances the Head arranged for this apostle-to-be!
Suddenly Jesus stepped in, not from the earth but from the heavens. This Jesus was now “Head over all things to the church, which is His Body”! Saul was shocked to hear the voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4). Yes, he was shocked to be confronted by Jesus, but even the more he was shocked to be made aware that the believers he had been persecuting were members of the Body of Christ. Even at his conversion, under the headship of Christ Saul realized the Body.
Saul, of course, did not argue. He did not say, “Lord, I was not persecuting You. I was not persecuting anyone in the heavens. The ones I was trying to get are on earth.” Why did Saul not argue? I believe that while the Lord was saying, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (v. 5), the Spirit of the Body was moving in Saul.
Peter’s conversion was much simpler than Paul’s. Peter was with his brother fishing when the Lord called, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:18-20). That Galilean fisherman had no hesitation in following Him. He liked the thought of becoming a fisher of men, rather than simply catching fish!
Paul’s case was far more profound. The way the Lord approached him, asking him that short question, surely set him thinking. Though the words the Lord said to Saul were few, they must have occupied his thoughts during those days immediately after when he could not see. Surely he did not spend those three days sleeping! He must have been greatly troubled by that momentous encounter. Why, he must have wondered, did that voice say, “Why persecutest thou me?” What does Me mean? The Spirit of the Body would have told him, “Me means the enlarged Christ, the increased Christ, the corporate Christ, the Christ including Peter, James, and Stephen.” When Saul asked, “Who are You, Lord?” the reply was, “I am Jesus.” But how could that be Jesus? Was Jesus not dead and buried? How could He come now from the heavens?