This brings us to consider the "great" sacred secret - "The Body of the Christ," "Christ and the Assembly" - Christ, the glorious Head of the Body in heaven, and His people the members of it on the earth. Twice it is called "great" - the "great" sacred secret; in Eph. 5:32 and 1 Tim. 3:16. Not a word was heard of this until it was specially revealed to and through the Apostle Paul. We have considered the three great Scriptures wherein this special revelation is contained.
(1) THE CONSTITUTION OF THE BODY.
There are two other scriptures, which further develop the special figure under which the sacred secret is presented, viz., a Body. These are 1 Cor. 12 and Rom. 12. In the former of these the subject is most completely set forth, in the following manner:
I Cor. 12:1-11.
A. 12:1-11 THE ASSEMBLY and the nine spiritual evidences (manifestation) given to it.
B. 12:12-17. THE BODY. Its unity.
B. 12:18-27. THE BODY. Its members.
A. 12:28-31. THE ASSEMBLY and nine spiritual matters exemplified.
Here in A and A we have the Assembly - while in B and B we have the Body - to illustrate the blessed unity, which exists betwixt Christ and His people. "For, just as, the body, is one, and yet hath many members, but, all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so, also, the Christ;" This cannot of course be Christ Personal; it can be only the Body of the Christ. And how do saved sinners become members of this wondrous Body? Not according to the tenets of a Semi-Pelagian and Arminian Gospel, but according to the Free Grace of our Father: "for in one spirit are we all (i.e., the writer, and the "saints" to whom he wrote, and all of whom it can be said that they are) baptized into one Body,... and have all been made to drink into one spirit." This is the source whence the unity and oneness of the Body springs.
The members of the Body of the Christ are those who have believed God's testimony (as Abraham believed it), as to their lost condition as sinners, as to the great salvation which is in Christ the Savior; and who have reckoned themselves as having died when He died, and risen again when He rose; thus identified with Christ in His death, resurrection into new life and power. This is the truth, which is bound up with the meaning of "the Body of the Christ." One part of a body cannot die, and the rest of the body go on living: one member cannot be amputated, and yet the body be a complete body. Hence, the expression "in Christ' means to be in Christ's Body. There is no other way of being "in Christ." We cannot be in Christ personal, we can be "in Christ" only by being members of His Body. Therefore, if we are "in Him" - when He, the Head, died; then we, the members, must, in the age abiding purpose and judgment of our Father, have died in Him. When He, the Head, rose again; then we, the members, must be risen in Him. If He, the Head, is in Heaven; then we, the members, are seated in the heavenlies in Him.
We must not stop to follow out this wondrous truth, but we must surely be arrested by the thought, and ask, Are all who "profess and call themselves Christians" really members of the Christ's Body? Have they by faith reckoned themselves to be dead and risen with Christ? Do they all know that having died with Christ they need not die at all? Do you rejoice in the fact that death and judgment are past and over for the members of the Christ's Body? Are they aware that the end of the Body of the Christ is that the body will be "received up in glory" - to meet the descending Lord? Is this the hope of the great multitude of professors? It is not for us to judge individuals, but this we know as a fact, that the "gathering together with Christ on the clouds" (the, so called "Rapture") is a truth, which concerns only the Body of the Christ!
The day is drawing near when the Body will be completed, and the members gathered together as one. But now they are in tribulation. Oh what grief and bitterness and murmuring and discontent is manifested as to the position which the members occupy in the Body! They forget that it does not say, they have been placed "as it hath pleased them," but it is written, "God hath set the members, every one of them in the Body, as it hath pleased Him" (verse 18). Now, the members judge one another, some they "think to be less honorable" than others. Ah! Foolish thinkers. It matters not what "we think," but what they are in God's esteem. And then, what a precious lesson we lose through our selfishness. We read (verse 26) "if one member suffer all the members suffer with it," and we restrict this to the mutual sympathy of the members, to the exclusion of the Head. The truth is, He suffered, and we suffered with Him. He is honored, and we are honored in Him. "It is a faithful saying: for if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:11, 12). And what is more
- there is that precious truth in 1 Cor. 12:21. The Head cannot say to the feet, "I have no need of you." How wonderful that the great and glorious Head in heaven cannot say to the weakest, feeblest, humblest, member upon earth, "I have no need of you." It is too wonderful for us to comprehend; but so it is, and we can only bow our heads, and worship.
(2) THE GROWTH OF THE BODY.
We read in Eph. 1:22, 23, that this all comes from the Head in heaven. He has been exalted by Father who "gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Assembly which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all," i.e., all with all. This is exactly what is expressed in 2 Cor. 12:6 "And, distributions of energies, there are, and the same the Lord--who energiseth all things in all." The Head of the natural body is physiologically the source of all feeling and influence to the whole natural body. The brain is not confined to the head. The nerves (though slightly different in structure, the chief difference being that the nerve fibers are insulated by a sheath in the members, but not in the brain) are the continuation of the brain, and they keep up a mysterious connection between the head and all the members of the body. And when a member is injured or in pain, a message is at once sent up to the brain, and succor and sympathy are immediately given. It is probably this connection that is referred in those physiological verses, which, whatever be their meaning, we believe to be in advance of human science. It is this which causes the present renderings to be so unintelligible, and which renders their correct translations so difficult. We will try and make it clear by giving our own version. The first is
EPHESIANS 4:16.
The subject is "the building up of the Body of the Christ" (verse 12), "unto a man of full growth" (verse 13), that the members "may, in love, grow into him in all things,--who is the head, Christ Out of whom all the body--fitly framing itself together, and connecting itself, through means of every joint of supply, by way of energising in the measure of each single part--secureth the growing of the body, unto an upbuilding of itself in love." "fitly framing itself together, and connecting itself, through means of every joint of supply,". The Greek word 860 afh haphe haf-ay', a touching, Lat. Junctura, occurs only here and in the other passage (Col. 2:19). It is not a "joint," but a nexus, or connection, by which supply is passed on from one organ to another! And not so much the parts in contact, not so much the actual touching of the parts as the mutual relation between them. Galen (second century, B.C.) says the body "owes its compactness partly to the articulation (arthron), and partly to the attachment (sumphusis, symphosis)." Aristotle (A.D. 356) speaks of two kinds of union, contact and (symphusis) cohesion. So that it is the contact between the various parts which conveys the necessary supply, with special reference to the adaptation and mutual sympathy and influence of the parts in contact. Aristotle speaks of this as patheetika (full of feeling, or sensitive), and we have tried to express it all by the word "sensation." The other passage is:
COLOSSIANS 2:19.
"The Head, from which (or from Whom) all the Body through the junctures and ligaments being bountifully supplied, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God," i.e., the increase wrought by Father. "Ligaments". Galen uses the word generally to denote any connecting muscles, or tendons, and of ligaments properly so-called. It is not merely unity, which is taught here, but growth. This is the ultimate result of the intermediate processes. The origin of all is God, who hath given Christ to be the Head over all things to this wondrous Body. Christ, the Head, is the source of all, but the members of the Body are made and used as deliverers of spiritual communication and spiritual power in their mutual relation to Him and to one another. The discoveries of modern physiology both give and receive light from the marvelous accuracy of these divine words. But the words of God here are connected directly with spiritual truth. He goes on at once to teach the important truth and to draw the practical conclusion in the next chapter (Col. 3).
"If ye died with the Christ," why are ye subject to the ordinances of man? Why do you allow men to bind you with vows and pledges and badges, saying to you, "Touch not, taste not, and handle not"? All these things perish, as man's commandments and doctrines perish. And if this be so, if ye died jointly with Christ from the elements of the world; if ye were raised (not have been raised) jointly with Christ, what follows? Why then, as the Head of the Body is in heaven, the members of the Body are there "in Christ." Our aims, and mind, and thoughts, will be heavenly not earthly. For (I say it again) "ye died" and you are now, as to your standing before Father, living in another sphere, and on another plane where all is spiritual. Carnal rules and ordinances do not enter into the growth of this Body at all. All is spiritual, heavenly, and age-abiding.
THE END OF THE BODY.
And if this be the growth of the Body, what of its end? What will be "the man of full growth?" When will this Body be completed and what will happen? The natural end of the natural body is dissolution: Will that be the end of this Body? What is its revealed end? It is all a matter of Revelation.
The sacred secret of the Body has so far been revealed, as to its place in the purposes of Father, as to its constitution, and as to its growth. And now, as to its end, another special revelation is needed; and it is given. It flows naturally from its relation to Christ as shown in Col. 3. Seeing that the members died jointly in Christ, and rose in Christ, our life is in Christ. Though we may fall asleep our "life is hid with Christ in God." Therefore, the next thing is "when Christ who is our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifested in glory" (Col. 3:1-4). It was impossible to be otherwise, inasmuch as the Head and members cannot be separated. Hence, the sacred secret is revealed in 1 Cor. 15:51: "Behold, I show you a Sacred Secret," i.e.,
"BEHOLD, I TELL YOU A SACRED SECRET!"
What is it? "We shall not all sleep." What? And, inasmuch as it is in store for men--once for all to die, but after this, judgment" (Heb. 9:27)? Must we not die? No! blessed be God. It is not necessary! The members of the Body were judged with the Head, and were "crucified with Christ," and therefore there is no reason why they should ever die at all, and no reason why they should ever come into judgment (Rom. 8:1). They may "fall asleep," but "not all." But whether alive or asleep, "we shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15:51-57). "But we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who are falling asleep,--lest ye be sorrowing, even as the rest also, who are without hope; For, if we believe that, Jesus, died, and rose again, so, also will, God, bring forth with him, them who have fallen asleep through Jesus; For, this, unto you, do we say, by a word of the Lord,-- that, we, the living who are left unto the Presence of the Lord, shall in nowise get before them who have fallen asleep; Because, the Lord himself, with a word of command, with a chief-messenger's voice, and with a trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven,--and, the dead in Christ, shall rise, first, After that, we, the living who are left, together with them, shall be caught away, in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:--and, thus, evermore, with the Lord, shall we be! So then, be consoling one another with these words." (1 Thess. 4:13-18) Oh! What a blessed truth to be initiated into. Well, may He say, "Behold I tell you a sacred secret." "I would not have you ignorant" of it. This, then, is the end of the Body of the Christ on earth. "The man of full growth" is formed; the Body is complete, and when it becomes completed, it is received up in glory!
We have already considered the three great passages, which reveal it. But there is a fourth, and it sums up the whole round of doctrine contained in the revelation of it, with special reference to the end of the Body of the Christ.
1 TIMOTHY 3:16
GREAT IS THE SACRED SECRET!
The R.V. gives "He who" in the text, and rightly says in the margin, "The word God, in place of He who, rests on no sufficient ancient evidence. Some ancient authorities read which. This is our belief. We believe that the original word was Ho, which, neuter, to agree with the word musterion, which is also neuter. Then some scribe, not understanding the sense added, an "S," thus turning it into hos, which made it masculine, who, or He who, though the sense is thus made more obscure. Finally, some later scribe put a little mark in the "O," thus making it into Th, and making the two letters ThS and abbreviation of the word Theos, God.A microscope reveals the fact that the little mark in the "O," in the Alexandrine MS. Is in different ink, and was evidently added by a later hand. This, we believe, to be the evolution of the reading, and that originally it was simply "O," which.
This passage is generally taken of Christ personal. But if read, as we submit it ought to be read, of Christ mystical, then in the six sentences we have the whole truth, concerning the Body, revealed. The place occupied by the Revelation of the Sacred Secret in 1 Tim. 3:16 will be best understood by the important position it occupies in contrast with the "Sacred Secret of Iniquity." When viewed in the position given to it in the Epistle, the two central numbers, E and E, the two Mysteries or Secrets of God and Satan, are seen to stand in solemn and awful opposition.
THE STRUCTURE OF 1 TIMOTHY
A. 1:1-2. Benediction. B. 1:3-20. Doctrine. C. 2-3:13. Discipline. D. 3:14-15. Intended visit and interval. E. 3:16. The Sacred Secret of Godliness. E. 4:1-2. The Sacred Secret of Iniquity. D. 4:13-16. Intended visit and interval. C. 5-6:2. Discipline. B. 6:3-21-. Doctrine. A. 6:-21. Benediction.
We have what is true of Christ personally, of course; but we have more; we include what is true of the members as well, if we take it as referring to the Body of the Christ - the Head and the members.
What is it?
1. "MANIFESTED IN FLESH." True of the members, and true of the Head (Rom. 1:3).
2. "RIGHTEOUS IN SPIRIT." True of Head, and members as set forth in Rom. 5:12-8:39.
3. "VISABLE TO MESSENGERS." This is explained by Eph. 3:10, where we are told that now unto principalities and powers in the heavenlies, God is making known His manifold wisdom by means of the Assembly.
4. "PROCLAIMED AMONG NATIONS," not merely Christ personal, but the Body of the Christ, is now proclaimed, "made known to all nations" (Rom. 16:26), "made known among the Nations" (Col. 1:27), preached "among the Nations" (Eph. 3:8).
5. "BELIEVED ON IN THE WORLD." It is made known "for the obedience of faith" (Rom. 16:26)
6. "TAKEN UP IN GLORY." If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together, also with Him" (Rom. 8:17). "For whom He justified, them HE also glorified" (Rom. 8:30). This then is the end of the Body of the Christ, as it was of Christ personal. The members are waiting to be "Taken up in Glory," as the Head was. This is our hope, our "blessed hope." So that waiting for God's Son from heaven is part of our Christian position. It enters into the very foundation of our standing in Christ. It is not the mere study of prophecy, which may, or may not, be taken up by Christians as an "extra subject," but it is the warp and woof of our Christian standing in Christ. The three pairs of statements may be thus contrasted: Nos. 1 and 2. Though manifested in the "flesh," we know what it is to be "justified" as to the spirit. Nos. 3 and 4. It is being made known to messenger beings in heaven above; ant it is being proclaimed to men on earth beneath. Nos. 5 and 6. By grace, we believe the wondrous testimony now while in the world, and we are waiting to be
