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Foreword
A Variety of Lenses
"The Mystical Body of Christ" gives us a valuable, challenging devotional overview, of the fundamental Biblical and theological concept of the Mystical Body of Christ. Here we have a variety of lenses by which we can gain a new and focused view of God in Christ, ourselves, others, the church, and the culture in which we live. ✞
On Earth and In Heaven
C S Lewis (1898-1963), the British novelist, poet, and Christian apologist at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, reminds us in his letters, written over seventy years ago. 'The New Testament does not envisage solitary religion, for the Church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities, but the Body of Christ." ✞
A Study Book
"In this body, all members, however different, (and God rejoices in the differences and by no means wishes to iron them out), must share the common life, complementing and helping one another, precisely by their differences.' The Mystical Body of Christ is a study book. It contains helpful questions for personal and group reflection. I am glad that it reminds us of the scope, the grandeur, the vitality, and the saving dynamics of "The Mystical Body of Christ."
The Rt. Rev. Douglas C. Blackwell✞
Dedication
On Earth and In Heaven
Thanks to our friend and colleague, The Rt. Rev. Douglas Blackwell, former Bishop of Trent Durham in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, who wrote this foreword. This book is dedicated to the memory of my late wife Audrey Kathleen Meacock (Griffiths) (June 3rd, 1948 - January 19th, 1993) and all other members of the Mystical Body here on earth and there in heaven. ✞
Introduction
The mystical Body of Christ is an exciting and vital concept for the Christian. In its many emanations, the Body of Christ appears at multiple levels on earth and in heaven. Today, the church struggles to find its place in a new age. It casts around looking for a model to enable it not just to survive but to grow gracefully. Rather than tinkering with the institutional church's mechanics, we might be better looking at the Early Church model of the Mystical Body of Christ. Saint Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12.27, "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." ✞
An Unmerited Favor
Each Christian is a vital part of the cumulative mystical Body of Christ. The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) writes of "the spiritual Body, the holy Church." Classical Greek philosophy and literature influenced Clement in the early third century, but he essentially agreed with Saint Paul's words. The French scholar and theologian at the University of Paris, William of Auxerre (1145-1231 AD), was possibly the first to distinguish "the natural Body of Christ" from "the Mystical and gratuitous Body of Christ." The word "gratuitous" or "free of charge" refers to the grace of God. In 1230, William of Auxerre was dispatched to Rome to see Pope Gregory IX and reach a resolution between Paris and the university after a student strike in 1229. He eventually secured a decree in 1231, establishing the independence of the university. Belonging to the Body of Christ is the gift and unmerited favor of God. The mystical Body of Christ is vital and relevant for Christians today. ✞
Many Emanations
There are about twenty references to the "Body of Christ" in the New Testament. For example, Saint Paul writes in Romans 7.4, "So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who God raised from the dead so that we might bear fruit for God." Belonging to the Body of Christ is a way of producing spiritual fruit for God. Saint Paul emphasized our oneness in the Boby of Christ. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 10.16, "Is not the cup of thanksgiving, for which we give thanks, participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the Body of Christ?" The negative side of his argument in 1 Corinthians 11.29 is, "For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves." ✞
Mystical Reality
This mystical reality propels small groups, institutions, and even denominations toward the grand vision of the universal, global, and Heavenly Body of Christ. In the words of Ephesians 4.12, our role as Christians is "to equip his people for works of service, and build up the body of Christ." The Body of Christ quietly energizes today's leadership, clergy, lay leaders, ordinary Christian men and women, and even our boys and girls. In the Mystical Body of Christ, we rediscover the church's vision no longer burdened with buildings but set free to be God's hands and feet in the world. ✞
Hungry for God
David Watson (1933-1984 AD), the British evangelist and author, wrote, "Two thousand years ago, it was the person of Christ that was compellingly attractive, not the individual disciples with all their blemishes. Today, it is the Body of Christ, when deeply united in love, and not individual Christians, that can most of all make one hungry for God." While studying at Cambridge, David Watson became a Christian. He noted, "Undoubtedly, the most formative influence on my faith during the five years at Cambridge was my involvement with the boys' house parties or 'Bash camps.' It was the best possible training I could have received." ✞
The Mustard Seed
David became the curate-in-charge of St Cuthbert's Church, York, in 1965, when just twelve people attended, and it was a year away from closing. Eight years later, the congregation had outgrown St Cuthbert's, resulting in a move to St Michael-le-Belfrey in York, where he also established an outreach ministry in a cafe called the "Mustard Seed." The congregation grew to many hundreds in only a few years. As his ministry progressed, he became involved in missionary enterprises throughout the world as a high-profile advocate of reconciliation in Northern Ireland. I will never forget David and his traveling troupe of young people performing with great flair the parable of the Prodigal Son. His memory continues today! ✞
Questions
Understanding the relationship of today's church and Christ's Church Body is vitally essential to the Christian and the local community. There are probably many questions concerning Christ's Church Body. What is the Body of Christ, and what does she do? Is "the Body" the same as the congregation we attend on Sunday or is there something more or even less? What does Christ's Body have to do with the man named Jesus, who lived in 30 AD? What does Christ's Body have to do with the Christian today? What is the Mystical Body of Christ, anyway? ✞
Real Church
Our mistake today is to imagine that our church is the same as the New Testament Church. Saint Paul explains how the Early Church worked as a single unit in 1 Corinthians 12.12-14, "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so, the body comprises not one part but many." The phrase "baptized by one Spirit" in this verse may mean "baptized with or in one Spirit." ✞
Early Church Community
The Body of Christ meant the church to the early Christian community. The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1.24, "(Christ's) body, the church." For the first three centuries after Christ, there were very few church buildings as we would know them, and most of these are lost today. In many instances, intimate family groups nourished faith in the sanctity of their own homes. "Church," as we now describe it, is several times removed from the original Early Church model of Christ's Body. "Can you describe Christ's Church Body in your own words?" ✞
Female Body of Christ
The word "church" is typically used today for a building where Christians meet. It is, in fact, more appropriate for a group of people called apart to worship the Lord. The word for "church" is "ecclesia." The term "ecclesia" has two parts, "ek," meaning "out of," and "klesis," meaning "a calling." These combine to make "church" an assembly "called apart to the Lord." ✞
Assembly
"Ecclesia" translates an older Hebrew word, "kahal," meaning "assembly." The Greek New Testament describes the body of Christ using the female term "her." Though this comes as a surprise to many people, God has chosen the human female form to describe the Body of Christ's ideal faith community. This fact gives special meaning and characteristics both to the New Testament and today. The words for "church" are feminine, and it is entirely appropriate to describe the church as the "female body of Christ" and use the word "she" to tell of her. However, many people today still wrongly refer to the church as "it." In New Testament writings, "the church" was invariably a small local worshipping group of Christians rather than a building. The body of Christ is the ideal ministry model. Before there were buildings for worship, she was the church and God's choice for the Twenty-First Century. When rediscovered, this body will provide what we now call "our church" with a clear and focused vision. We shall realize what we can be. ✞
Human Body Christ
We can examine the human Body of Christ and its male, female, human and non-human, and non-gender aspects in detail. The New Testament sometimes called this female entity "the bride of Christ," and Saint Paul considered her female. He wrote, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word." Though the Bible generally describes the Body of Christ as female, this does not limit her. ✞
Not a Human Entity
Like God, the Body of Christ is not strictly speaking a human entity except that she is as close as we can understand God from our perspective. The Body of Christ may exhibit other male, female, or non-human characteristics too. The human Body of Christ is masculine because her head is Christ. The Body of Christ exists in many different forms today. Christ's Body in the sacramental elements of the bread and wine at the holy table is neither masculine nor feminine but of vegetable origin. We may see the body of Christ as a microscopic fertilized egg or as a gigantic heavenly chorus. She is the most complex and best-kept secret in the Universe! ✞
"Mystical Body Foreword"
by Ron Meacock © 2021
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