The Body of Christ
The fact that there is such a thing as the church, the body of Christ was a total mystery to the Old Testament prophets. As a matter of fact, it was a total mystery during the time of the Lord’s earthly ministry, the time of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
When the Day of
Pentecost, a Jewish holy day, came in Acts chapter two, Peter still knows
nothing at all about something called “the church, the body of Christ. The
reason for it remaining unknown during all that time is that it was a mystery.
It was not until Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the apostle, was saved at the time of Acts chapter nine, that the Lord Jesus Christ began to reveal a mystery which was hidden from “ages and generations” in the past. So it is only in the books of the bible written by the apostle Paul that you are able to learn anything at all about the body of Christ.
Only Paul refers to a joint spiritual body of believers called the body of Christ. For example, when Peter writes to “the strangers scattered abroad,” he refers to them as a “holy nation.” The idea of a “holy nation” is totally absent from Paul’s writings.
From the call of
Abraham in Genesis chapter twelve, the idea of a nation of people chosen of God
and blessed “above all people” was exclusive to the nation of
The body of Christ is a totally different thing. Here are a couple of verses where Paul refers to the body of Christ:
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
