food for thought - it's not about 'plus' but about 'minus'

August 3, 2011

Paul did not say anything wrong grammatically or spiritually when he said: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the Christ" (1Corinthians 12:12). I think that some of us would like to correct him. Grammatically, or logically, it is wrong. He ought to have said, "so also is the Christ and the Church." He only says, "Members ... body ... so also is the Christ." So the Head is the Christ and the Body is the Christ. Both are the Christ -- the Head and the Body.

So the Body is the Christ. Everything that comes from Christ constitutes that Body. Then anything that does not come from Christ can never get into the Body, and must be ruled out. It is not a question of "plus," it is a question of "minus." That is all the difficulty. It is not a question of what you must be, or must experience, in order to make you a member. No, you are a member, but because you are one, therefore many things have to go. If you see the spiritual constitution of that Body, the heavenliness of that Body, the divineness of that Body, you will see that nothing from you can be attached to it. Anything that is not Christ can never be in the Body. (Twelve Baskets Full)

And so the question becomes, what are we allowing in our lives that is not of Christ? What are we not 'minusing' from our lives and our very selves simply because we are members of Christ's body?