The Body And The Church Are The
Same Thing
Christ Is The Savior Of The Body.
The Body Is Not The Savior.
We should know this fact because many are not aware of this.
The Body Is The Church
“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over
all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all
in all” (Ephesians 1: 22-23).
“And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the
first born from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence”
(Colossians 1:18).
“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what
is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is
the church.” (Colossians 1:24).
Introduction
There is much mis-information in the world today about what the church is all
about.
Many false teachers suggest that the body and the church are two separate entities.
The same way that they describe the kingdom and the church as two separate entities.
But the Bible teaches otherwise.
The body of which Christ is the Savior is the church also known as His kingdom.
In saying Christ is the Savior of the body, the apostle in effect was saying
Christ is the Savior of the church.
Now the question is, “Which church?”
There are thousands of churches on earth today, with different names, following
different patterns of worship and teaching different doctrines?
In the first century when the apostle wrote these words, there was only one
church—the one that Christ had promised to build.
He had said it’s going to be, “My church” (Matthew 16:18)
The Bible says that The LORD adds daily to the church (Acts 2:47) those who
are saved by believing in Him and obeying His command (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38).
Evidently, He adds the saved ones to His church and not to many different churches.
This is where the world gets it wrong.
The world accepts all these different faiths as being part of the one church.
That does not agree with the Bible.
Jesus knows only His one church.
His church wears His name (1 Corinthians 12:27; Romans 16:16), and the members
of His spiritual body, the church, are called after His name—Christians
(Acts 11:26).
They worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and they endeavor to abide
only by the doctrine of Christ in everything (2 John 9).
The apostle, in 1 Corinthians 12:13, also taught, “For by one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greek, whether slaves
or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”
Centuries before any Catholic or Protestant denominational churches came into
existence, saved persons were all, by the direction of the Spirit of God, baptized
into one body—that is, into one church.
Since Christ adds all the saved people on earth to His church, the church therefore
is the body of saved ones on earth.
Noah’s Ark
The apostle Peter explained to his readers a lesson using a familiar example.
An example that they were very familiar with.
And one that we should also be familiar with.
Noah and his family was ordered by God to get into the Ark to be saved from
the flood that was going to destroy all living beings on earth, except those
in the Ark that was constructed according to the specifications God had provided
Noah (Genesis 6-7).
The Ark was not the savior, but only those who got into the Ark were saved through
water.
Or could we say that they were “saved from the water”?
Later, the apostle Peter, reminding Christians about Noah’s Ark and the
eight souls who were saved in it from the destruction of those who were outside
of the Ark, wrote:
“Who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited
in the days of Noah. While the Ark was being prepared, in which a few, that
is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now
saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”.
(1 Peter 3:20-21)
The point the apostle was making was that those who were in the Ark were saved
through water.
It was the water of the flood that separated Noah from the disobedient generation
of his time, and it is the water of baptism that separates the saved of today
from the disobedient, and their fate.
"
As Christ commanded, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but
he who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16).
The water that was the means of destruction to others became the very means
by which Noah and his household were delivered from the old world of corruption.
There is a resemblance between the two deliverances in that Noah was delivered
by means of water and the hearers or the believers who have been saved through
baptism in water.
Baptism, the apostle declared, is the antitype of the water through which Noah
was saved in the Ark.
In both cases water is involved.
In baptism there is a picture or portrayal of Christ’s death, burial and
resurrection (Romans 6:3-4).
The person being baptized realizes that baptism saves in the sense that it is
a condition required by the Savior and that, in reality, salvation comes through
the resurrection of Christ.
Just like Noah had to make the ark exactly as God directed, so we must do exactly
what God directs us to do.
The efficacy of baptism for salvation depends not upon the work done; but upon
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which imitates Christ’s death.
It is the foundation of our faith and hope.
Conclusion
It was the water of the flood that washed away the filth of that evil generation,
and it is the water of baptism that washes away sins (Revelation 1:5).
The former affected the flesh and not the conscience, while the latter affected
the conscience and not the flesh.
How, though, can one have a good conscience if he refuses to be baptized for
the remission of sins or to wash away sins, as the Bible teaches (Acts 2:38;
22:16)?
That is a question that many will ask themselves in eternal torment.
By Carey Scott from an article I read
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