There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. Ephesians 4:4
Friends of ours were amazed at the challenges that came into their life when they had a pair of identical twin boys. The babies were so alike that their mother had to take extraordinary measures to identify them. As they grew, even their close friends were unable to tell them apart, and they quickly learned how to use their identical looks to confuse and play tricks on others. Even their personalities were much alike, as were their intelligence levels and their personal preferences. They made the same grades in school, took the same side in every argument, and dated the same type of girls. Their similarities never interfered with their affection for each other, and they remained very close throughout their lives, and one was seldom seen without the other nearby. Those two lads were as close to being one person as two people could be. And yet, they were not one, when it came to their bodies; they occupied two separate frames. In contrast, we as Christians are all occupants of one body.
Our text states plainly that there is one body. To look at so-called Christendom today you would think that there dozens, perhaps hundreds, of different bodies. Some denominations, and especially some cults, would claim that they alone represent the body. Such claims are nonsense, of course, and anyone making such a claim is ignoring the plain teaching of Scripture. Claiming to be the body of Christ has no meaning unless the body is under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit. Just as the brain of one member of a set of twins does not control the body of the other member, so the Holy Spirit does not control those who are not part of the body of Christ. And the way to tell if the Holy Spirit is on control is to determine whether the body is functioning according to the Word of God, because the Spirit will never move contrary to the Word. The body of Christ, as the Bible teaches, is composed of all those who have trusted Christ as Saviour. Only those who are born again have the Holy Spirit to confirm that they are part of the body. But not all of those who are saved are obedient to the Word of God or submissive to the Holy Spirit, at least not to all of the Word of God and to all of the Spirit’s leading.
In truth, very few of us are always in harmony with all of Scripture and in tune with the Holy Spirit. But we ought to be. There is a place that seeks to be representative of the truth of the body of Christ. Each of God’s Assemblies is a little picture of that body, inasmuch as we are obedient to the Word of God. The functioning of a Spirit-led local Assembly is how the entire body of believers ought to function. And the functioning of a spirit-led Christian is how a local Assembly ought to function.
If we allow Him to do so, the Holy Spirit will enable us to display the truth that the Lord Jesus has a body that functions in unity and obedience. -Jim MacIntosh