The Body
Christians are part of the body of Christ—both body as a single
entity and body in the corporal sense—of which Jesus is the
head (Ephesians 1:22-23). This metaphor is employed often
throughout the New Testament, particularly in the Epistles,
in which the Apostle Paul writes to various churches. For instance,
in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul urges the Corinthian church
to reject discord and embrace unity. Just as the body is comprised
of multiple parts that each serve a vital purpose to overall
function and health, the Church is made up of believers
diverse in ethnicity, class, culture, and background who are
made one through baptism by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians
12:13). We are equipped with diverse gifts, service, and activities—healing,
helping, teaching, administrating—but are
filled with the same Spirit and worship the same God, who
also empowers those gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
Insofar as the Church is the body and we are part of that body
as Christians, we are called to love and serve it, not just for our
sake but so that the world will see Christ. Paul says, “If one
member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored,
all rejoice together” (1 Corinthians 12:26, ESV). This means
Christians must serve their churches through time, energy, finances,
and gifts. For many, this also means going through a
church’s formal membership process—not to obtain some title
or status but to mark both one’s commitment to the church
and the church’s commitment to them. Christians must also
practice global prayers: for the safety of brothers and sisters
worshipping in China despite governmental persecution, for
kingdom workers in Honduras striving to bring the hope of
the gospel amidst gang violence and murder, for churches to
be planted in an increasingly secular United Kingdom. It is
through this love for each other and for this body, Jesus says,
that the world will see his disciples (John 13:35).
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow
up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
from whom the whole body, joined and held together
by every joint with which it is equipped, when each
part is working properly, makes the body grow so that
it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)
Window, Kristen Marchetti '22
The Bride
In biblical Jewish wedding tradition, after the groom and
bride were betrothed, the groom would go away for an unknown
length of time to prepare his house for his future wife.
The bride would wait in anticipation for her groom to return,
after which they would be in union forever. So then, the
church is the bride of Christ. Jesus has ascended to heaven
and is preparing the Father’s house for us (John 14:2). One
day, he is returning for his church. Then, the church, in it all
of its revealed glory, will be dressed in white robes before God
as the “Bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:19,
ESV); for the blood of the Lamb has washed away the
crimson stain of our sin, rendering us pure and blameless
before an infinitely righteous God.
The church’s identity as the Bride is also good news for
us on this side of eternity—it is a promise of the full
redemptive work of Jesus in justifying, sanctifying, and
eventually glorifying his people through his blood shed
on the cross. It pictures the truth that we ought to live
12 Fall 2020