"There is One Body"
Ephesians 4:4
The song says "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so."
Friends, that is not only why I believe that Jesus loves me, but why I also
believe that there is one body - because the Bible tells me so. When the apostle
Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he said: "There is one body
and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling"
(Eph. 4:4). Just as surely as there is one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, and one God, there is one body. Other passages clearly say
the same thing (cf. Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-14, 20; Eph. 2:16; Col. 3:15). So
there can be no doubt that the NT teaches that there is one body, and this one
body is identified as Christ's church (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18, 24).
One body, one church, pretty simple isn't it? In fact, I might be tempted to
conclude this article at this point, since I have explained why I believe there
is one body; but the belief in one body (or one church) is really not the issue
in modern "Christendom." Almost everyone believes in one body. In commenting on
Ephesians 4:4, Alfred Martin writes: "One body. The organism composed of the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Head and all true believers in him." (The Wycliffe
Bible Commentary, p. 1310). That is a good explanation of what the NT teaches,
and his comments are representative of other commentators like Barnes, Henry,
Hendriksen, Barclay, et al. So it is not the belief in one body that gives us
trouble; it is our various conceptions of this body's nature.
There are many misconceptions about the nature of Christ's one body, but one of
the greatest misconceptions is the idea that this one body is composed of "true
believers" from among all the various denominations in "Christendom." In this
brief article, I want to explain why this concept cannot be correct Biblically.
First of all, most of the denominations in modern "Christendom" do not teach the
truth about conversion. They do not teach that one must be baptized for the
remission of his sins to be saved. If that is what the NT teaches, and it is
(Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21), then those who have not been baptized for the
remission of sins are not really Christians. Everyone would agree that if
someone is not really a Christian, he cannot be a member of
Christ's one body (1 Cor. 12:13). While it is conceivable that someone could be
taught wrong about baptism and baptized right (if the student listened to the
Bible instead of his teacher), such a scenario would be highly unlikely. Jesus
said that if the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch (Mt.
15:14). So this one point alone demonstrates the fallacy of the idea that
Christ's body is composed of people from all the various denominations.
Secondly, modern denominationalism promotes division that is diametrically
opposed to the unity that Jesus desires for His people (cf. Jn. 17:20-23). What
denominationalism really means is division! In fact, the only reason that these
denominations exist is because they preach and practice different doctrines.
Paul asked the Corinthians the rhetorical question: "Is Christ divided?" (1 Cor.
1:13). The obvious answer is "No!" But who can deny that
modern "Christendom" is divided? If Christ is not divided and "Christendom" is
divided by all the modern denominations, how can Christ's body be made up of
those who are promoting and perpetuating such division?
Thirdly, the popular idea that Christ's one body is made up of people from all
the different denominations, while they preach and practice contradictory
doctrines, makes Christ's body a freak or a monster. Let me illustrate what I
mean. If we let the Baptists represent one leg and the Methodists another, we've
got one leg going one direction and the other leg going another when it comes to
the doctrine of "once saved, always saved." The Baptists say you can't be lost,
and the Methodists say you can. If we let the Catholics represent one arm and
the Presbyterians represent another, we've got a fist fight when it comes to the
essentiality of baptism. The Catholics say you must be baptized to be saved, and
the Presbyterians
say the opposite. If we let the United Pentecostals represent one eye and the
Assembly of God the other, we've made the body of Christ a cross-eyed freak when
it comes to the nature of God. The Assembly of God believes in the Trinity, and
the United Pentecostal Church believes in the Jesus Only Doctrine. And on and on
it goes. Is this the picture of Christ's body that is depicted in the NT? No! a
thousand times no!
Now, denominationalists try to dismiss these differences by making a distinction
between "gospel" and "doctrine"; they say that as long as we agree on the
"gospel," doctrinal differences do not matter. "We're all going to heaven, we're
just taking different (doctrinal) roads!" But they have evidently
ignored the fact that just as the "gospel" contains facts to believe (1 Cor.
15:1-4), commands to obey (2 Th. 1:8), and promises to trust (Col. 1:5), it also
contains doctrine to instruct (1 Tim. 1:8-11). The apostle Paul does not make a
distinction between "gospel" and "doctrine." But even if this distinction could
be found in the pages of the NT, one wonders if those who make this argument
have read what the NT says about the importance of
doctrine (cf. Mt. 15:7-9; Rom. 6:17-18; 16:17-18; Col. 2:20-23; 1 Tim. 1:3-4;
6:3-5; 2 Tim. 4:1-4; 2 Jn. 9-11). The word "doctrine" just means "teaching," so
when one says that "doctrine" doesn't matter what he is really saying is that
the "teaching" of Christ and His apostles does not matter. Do we really want to
affirm that?
For these three reasons alone, we must reject the idea that Christ's one body is
made up of people from among all the various denominations.
By Kevin Kay
From Expository Files 10.5, May 2003
