First of all we have to realize that we redeemed sinners have all been made part of Christ’s Body. Also we have to realize that all the parts of Christ’s Body are organic. They are not only organic, but also properly organic. The sister who received a kidney transplant passed through a lot of things. In other words she passed through a lot of adjustment because the kidney was not properly organic. The surgeons had to do a lot of adjustment to make that kidney organic properly. To be properly organic in the Body doesn’t mean that you simply get baptized and that you get into a so-called church and then you become a member of the Body of Christ; rather it means you must be organically united with Christ. You must be a part properly planted into Christ’s Body organically. Then you will have a proper organic union with the Body of Christ. Then you will become a part of the Body. Every British subject is a member of the Church of England, but we would say strongly that is not the church because it is not something organic.
Many Christians today teach about regeneration, but they never tell people that regeneration brings you into an organic union with Christ, making you a part of Christ. What verses or what portion of the Bible tells us that such an organic matter makes us members of His Body? Only four books in the entire Bible have verses which mention the Body of Christ. In the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels, there is no mention of the Body of Christ. Even in the book of Acts, which is very much related to the establishment of the church, there is no mention of the Body. Even in 2 Corinthians, which is deeper than 1 Corinthians, there is no mention of the Body. In no other of his Epistles does Paul mention the Body. Furthermore, only the Apostle Paul reveals the Body to us. Peter or John or James or Jude do not mention the matter of the Body. Only the minister who completed the revelation, the Apostle Paul, talks about the Body. And even among his fourteen books, only four mention the Body.
We need to ask a further question: among these four books—Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians— which touches the matter of the organic union? Even as the four Gospels show us one person from four different angles, so these four books view the Body from four different directions. Each of these four books has its own angle of viewing the Body. Two words from Romans 12:5 indicate the organic union—“in Christ.” “In Christ” is a matter of the organic union. “We, being many, are one body in Christ.” Just this one little phrase tells us from which angle Romans 12 speaks of the Body. It speaks from the angle of the life union, from the angle of the organic union. How then could we get into Christ? We were not born in Christ; we were born in Adam, but by being reborn we have been transplanted into Christ. We were dead in Adam, and God took us out of Adam and transplanted us into Christ by rebirth. This little phrase “in Christ” has been used many times in the New Testament. Whenever you read “in Christ,” you must remember this indicates the organic union with Christ. “In Christ” always implies the thought or the fact that you are organically one with Christ.
Why does Romans 12 talk about the function of the Body? Because it talks about the Body based upon the organic union we have in Christ. In this union with Christ there is life. Dentures may be put into my mouth, but there is no organic union. The denture will not function because there is no organic union. We have to see that Romans 12 talks about the Body of Christ from the angle of the organic union, from the uniting life, from a life that unites us together, not only with Christ, but also with all the other members of Christ. Today the Christians know the Bible too superficially! Many teachers talk about Romans 12, but hardly one would tell you that Romans 12 talks about the Body from the angle of the organic union.
If we could not see the organic union that we have with Christ, we could never understand what the Body is. The Body does not mean simply that you love me and I love you. That is a society. In 1963 I was invited to visit many places throughout the U.S.A. Many small groups were “hot” at that time; they all liked to hug one another. Although that didn’t scare me to death, that bothered me with a kind of stinking odor. That was just a kind of hugging society.
When I was with the Bible teaching assembly I heard a lot of messages out of Ephesians 4 mostly concerning humility, the bond of love, meekness, and so forth. But for some reason there was hardly a message on the Body. Although they even talked about the oneness, they didn’t speak concerning the Body. Even if we are meek and humble and all really love one another, is that the Body? Even Confucius taught some of these things: you must be meek; you must be humble. Confucius taught meekness, humility, and kindness, but he never touched the organic union with Christ that we all may become the Body.
We all have to realize the Body of Christ is altogether a matter of life that keeps us in an organic union with Christ. When we remain in this organic union, we are in the Body. When we don’t remain in this organic union, we are out of the Body. You need to check yourselves for one day to see how much time you remain in this organic union. You will have to admit that you do not remain very much in this organic union. Occasionally we get there, but quite often we get out of there, so we are not in the Body. The actuality of the Body is the remaining in the organic union with Christ. If we are going to be actually living in the Body life, we must remain in the organic union with Christ. In other words, we must be remaining in Christ. So John 15 charges us to abide in Him. To abide in Him simply means to remain in this organic union. When we remain in this organic union, we are actually living in the Body. If we do not remain in this organic union with Christ, we have left the Body. As long as you say something by yourself, you have left the Body. This means your gossip, your free talk, your loose conversation is a strong sign that you have left the Body.
The Body is not an organization nor a society. The Body is not just a bunch of Christians coming together. The Body is something that is held together by the organic union with Christ. When we remain in the organic union with Christ, we are just living in the Body. Otherwise, we leave the Body. If we talk by ourselves, it is a strong sign that we have left the Body. So the Body is altogether a matter in the organic union with Christ. We are many yet one Body in Christ (Rom. 12:5). “In Christ” implies an organic union.
If you read Ephesians and Colossians carefully, you could see that Ephesians tells us that the church is the fullness of Christ, the new man, the household of God, the commonwealth or the citizenship of God and the habitation of God. The church is also the Bride and the warrior. But you have to realize that the basic item is the Body, and all the other items are subsidiary. Actually speaking, Ephesians doesn’t talk about the new man; it talks about the Body as the new man. It doesn’t talk about the fullness of Christ; it talks about the Body as the fullness of Christ. All the other terms are subsidiary. The basic term is only one, the Body. The Body is the house of God. The Body is the commonwealth of God. The Body is the Bride. The Body is the warrior. It is not so good to turn it around and say that the warrior is the Body or that the house is the Body or that the new man is the Body. The Body is the main point, and all these other terms are subsidiary.