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Understanding the Body of Christ UNDERSTANDING THE BODY OF CHRIST A PAULINE TRILOGY Charles F. Baker UNDERSTANDING THE BODY OF CHRIST A PAULINE TRILOGY Copyright Ó 1985 by Grace Bible College Publications, 1011 Aldon Street, S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49509. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any way without written permission from the publisher, except for brief excerpts in magazine reviews, etc. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Baker, Charles F. Understanding the Body of Christ Includes index. 1. Bible. N. T. Ephesians – Commentaries. 2. Bible. N. T. Philippians – Commentaries. 3. Bible. N. T. Colossians – Commentaries. I. Bible. N. T. Ephesians. 1985. II. Bible. N. T. Philippians. 1985. III. Bible. N. T. Colossians. 1985. IV. Title. BS2650.3.B32 227 85-769 ISBN 0-912340-04-5 The American Standard Version of the New Testament Ó 1901 by Thomas Nelson and Sons, has been chosen as the biblical text for this book because of its accuracy in the translation of Greek verbs and for its close adherence to the dignified style of the King James Version. This text has been printed in smaller bold type to distinguish it from the commentary. Brief quotations as noted in the text and in footnotes have been made from the following versions: The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright Ó 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. The Good News Bible, The Bible in Today’s English Version. Copyright Ó 1976 American Bible Society. Used by permission. The Living Bible, copyright Ó 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers. Wheaton, Il. Used by permission. Printed in the United States of America 2 Table of Contents Page GENERAL INTRODUCTION 5 EPHESIANS INTRODUCTION 10 OUTLINE 10 I. SALUTATION – 1:1, 2 12 II. SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS – 1:3-14 12 III. PRAYER FOR KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING 16 IV. CONDITIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS – 2:1-18 18 V. THE FOUNDATION – 2:19-22 25 VI. THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD – 3:1-13 26 VII. PRAYER FOR FILLING – 3:14-19 31 VIII. DOXOLOGY – 3:20, 21 32 IX. WALK AND MINISTRY 33 X. SPIRIT-FILLED RELATIONS – 5:22 – 6:9 49 XI. SPIRITUAL WARFARE – 6:10-20 54 XII. BENEDICTION – 6:21-24 58 PHILIPPIANS INTRODUCTION 60 OUTLINE 62 I. CHRIST OUR LIFE – Chapter 1 63 II. CHRIST OUR MIND – Chapter 2 70 III. CHRIST OUR GOAL – Chapter 3 79 IV. CHRIST OUR STRENGTH – Chapter 4 89 COLOSSIANS INTRODUCTION 96 OUTLINE 96 I. APOSTOLIC GREETING – 1:1,2 97 II. THANKSGIVING – 1:3-8 98 III. PRAYER FOR SPIRIT OF WISDOM – 1:9-14 99 IV. DOCTRINAL: HEADSHIP OF CHRIST – 1:15 – 2:7 101 V. WARNING AGAINST FALSE DOCTRINE – 2:8-23 112 VI. SPIRITUAL LIVING – 3:18 – 4:6 117 VII. PRACTICAL LIVING – 3:18 – 4:6 124 VIII. GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS – 4:7-18 128 3 The author is deeply indebted to the following people who reviewed this manuscript and offered helpful criticisms and suggestions: Dr. Jack Dean, Professor Dale DeWitt, Mr. Carl Smith, Mr. Ernest Green, and Pastor James Carlson. Thanks are also due to Mrs. Scott Mayham and Mrs. Jacob Molenkamp for their help in proofreading and grammatical corrections. 4 Introduction Our subject is, Understanding the Body of Christ. But since there are two different bodies of Christ mentioned in the Bible, we must first make some distinctions. One of the bodies mentioned is the physical, fleshly body in which the Son of God became incarnate. There are some twenty-seven references to the Savior's physical body in the New Testament. Probably the most familiar passage is that at the Last Supper, "This is my body which is given for you" (Lk. 22:19). Another often quoted passage is 1 Peter 2:24: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness." The other Body of Christ, and the one which is the subject of this book, is "the Church which is His Body" (Eph. 1:22, 23). This Body is mentioned only in Paul's epistles. Paul uses the word "body" approximately twenty-nine times in reference to the corporate Body of Christ, composed of all of the saved people of this present dispensa- tion with Christ as its Head. Likewise, there are two Christs in the New Testament. There is first of all the personal Christ. Most of the references to that name refer to Jesus Christ personally. However, Paul does use this word in referring to both the Head and the Church which is His Body. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 12:12: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is (the) Christ." Paul is not speaking of the personal Christ or of His physical body. Paul also seems to use the word "Christ" in this sense in Ephesians 3:4 and in Colossians 4:3 where he speaks of "the mystery of the Christ." When Paul speaks of the Mystery in these two epistles, he is speaking of the hitherto unprophesied Church which is His Body. Christ personally was prophesied hundreds of times, but the Christ, composed of the Body and the Head, was never predicted. The subtitle to this book, A Pauline Trilogy, describes its content. A Trilogy is defined as "a set of three related writings which, though each has its own unity, form together a larger work." Paul's three Prison Epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are the three related writings, forming together the larger work, the Mystery concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ. The word Mystery is a translation of the Greek word, musterion, derived from the verb muo, to shut the mouth, to keep silent. The Mystery of which Paul speaks is thus a body of truth about which God had kept silent. Paul's own words are, "the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints" (Col. 1:26). The mystery is described as a Dispensation or Stewardship which was committed to Paul concerning the Church, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church; whereof I was made a minister according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfill the word of God" (Col. 1:25). The Mystery is that which "fulfills the word of God." The word fulfill means to complete. There was a gap in the revelation of God's great plan caused by the fact that 5 God had kept silent about a part of it, and this secret or mystery part which is now revealed, fills up to the full that gap. The Mystery is not only a distinct part of God's eternal purpose which He had never before made known: it is also a revelation of a distinct outcalling or church, which is called the Body of Christ. The subject of the Mystery is the Body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The word church simply means an outcalling or assembly of people. This word needs to be qualified in order to determine what particular assembly is in view. In the Bible the word is first used of the Israelites who carne out of Egypt under Moses (Acts 7:38). Some forty times the congregation of Israel is called a church in the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament, as in Nehemiah 13:1. Then Jesus called His little band of disciples whom He had called out by this same name in Matthew 18:17. In the Millennial Kingdom, yet to come, Christ's redeemed Jewish brethren will be called a church (Heb. 2:12 quoted from Ps. 22:22). God's called out people in our present dispensation are also called a church, and this church is identified as the Church which is His Body, or as the Body of Christ. Much confusion bas resulted from a failure to keep the Church which is His Body separate and distinct from the other churches of the Bible. The Body of Christ church is the subject of the Mystery which was never before made known to the sons of men until it was revealed to Paul by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ. The word mystery occurs six times in Ephesians (1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 5:32; 6:19), and four times in Colossians (1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3). The Church as the Body of Christ is mentioned eight times in Ephesians (1:23; 2:16; 4:4, 12, 16, 16; 5:23, 30), and five times in Colossians (1:18, 24; 2:17, 19; 3:15). Christ is referred to as head of the Body three times in Ephesians (1:22; 4:15; 5:23), and twice in Colossians (1:18; 2:19). But what about the epistle in between Ephesians and Colossians? Strangely enough, Philippians contains no reference to the Mystery, to the Body of Christ, or to Christ as Head of the Body. It was the discovery of this fact that led to this present study on these three epistles, which we have entitled, A Pauline Trilogy. It is generally agreed that these three epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were all written in the same time frame, at the end of the Book of Acts, while Paul was undergoing his first Roman imprisonment.
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