LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Major Allegory
Paul was the instrument God used to bring the greatest light upon the church. He himself recognized that God had chosen him to reveal this mystery hidden for ages and ages.
The church is such a marvelous and complex reality that God uses different similes or allegories to explain it. In the New Testament there are several of them, but the greatest is that of the body. Paul develops it mainly in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians.
Paul received light about this precious simile very early, when he was stopped by the Lord on his way to Damascus. He heard the Lord speak some strange words to him: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?". Saul did not know himself to be persecuting the Lord directly, for, to him, Jesus had been dead for several years. But here he is shown a new and marvelous reality: the Christ who speaks to him from heaven is one with the men and women he is persecuting. He persecuted men and women, but it was Jesus who was persecuted. In this new reality -this heavenly Man- the Head was in heaven and the Body on earth.
Then, when Paul is sent to Damascus to receive instructions, he is enlightened about the value of each member, no matter how small. From that day on, the Lord wanted Paul, at the moment of receiving help, not only to look upward, but also to learn to look sideways, in the direction of his brethren.
What happens with Paul in the later years of his ministry was, in a way, the development of that primordial revelation. When we read his epistles of maturity, we find the same thing again, but amplified.
In Ephesians, Paul brings to the summit the heavenly vision of the church as the body of Christ, in a universal sense, while in 1 Corinthians, he shows us the functioning of the Body on earth, in its local expression.
In Ephesians, this Heavenly Man is shown in its origin, for on the cross the two 'old' peoples died and there arose in their place "one new Man", who is seated in the heavenly places, who grows to the measure of a perfect man, who fights the battles of God with a full armor.
1 Corinthians shows the diversity of members, their interdependence and complementarity. Nothing that happens to one member can be indifferent to the others, and nothing that enlivens one member will fail to bless the others. In the body of Christ there are honorable members and others less honorable, but all have their place, and the least receives the greatest honor.
The church as a body is a marvelous reality, in its position and in its functioning. As this revelation expands in the midst of the children of God, the church will attain the glory that is prophesied for the last time. The relationship of the children of God will no longer be external and formal, but organic and vital. In this way, the whole church, united to the Head, receiving from Him the supply, will grow to the stature of the perfect Man. May the Lord open our eyes to see it and live it!