THE BODY OF CHRIST

It might be easier to understand the plan if we first look into the method, which is Jesus Christ. We know that the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary placing the seed of God in her womb. Mary supplied the seed with a body. The body that she provided became the body of Christ. That was a human body. This is why He could be called the “man” Jesus. The “body” is the only thing that made Him a relative of the human race. So, what do we really have here? A one hundred percent human body, filled with the Holy Ghost. Jesus is the man, and Christ is the God, hence Jesus Christ, the anointed of God.

It is the submission of the man to the Spirit of God who dwelled within Him that made Him holy and acceptable unto the Father. It is also the Spirit of God within the body who quickened that human flesh and made it alive unto God and godliness. Without the Holy Ghost Jesus’ body would have been like any other human, preferring sin and susceptible to death. Through the indwelling of the Spirit and the obedience of the man to the will of the Father, the body itself remained sanctified unto God.

The point here is that Jesus Christ was made liken unto us, or rather, we have been made liken unto Him in that we are now partakers of His flesh.

Ephesians 3:6

That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Ephesians 5:29-30

29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

The body that Christ lived in was anointed; it was the temple of God. It is the same Spirit of Christ who inhabits our bodies; there is only one Christ, occupying many bodies. Each of those bodies is spiritually the same; they all have the self-same Spirit within. That makes them all the bodies of Christ. They become His flesh and His bones.

THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST

Tradition told us we would never be one hundred percent holy because our bodies are sinful in contrast to the body of Jesus who knew no sin. We believed this.

Colossians 2:10

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Being complete in Christ means we lack nothing. It means whatever God did with us is finished and nothing else has to be done. We need nothing else to accomplish that which God has called us to do and to be. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

When we say we are deficient, we can only be deficient in those things He told us to add to our faith; God’s work is finished. If we are in Christ, WE ARE COMPLETE.

Colossians 2:11-12

11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

As it relates to salvation, our error came when we saw the regeneration of the new man only from within.

St.Matthew 9:17

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

Circumcision in the natural is a cutting away of the foreskin from the male genitals. Spiritually, circumcision is also a cutting away, a sanctifying and cleansing of the flesh. It is an operation of God through which He cut away or removed from us the dominion of sin. This is a total separation of Satan's spirit of disobedience from one's body, soul and spirit. Just as how the foreskin of the male's genital is removed, Satan's spirit which corrupts the flesh is totally severed from it.

Romans 6:6

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

When the old Adam man died, God took the soul and the spirit and put it in the Holy Ghost; when we rose, we rose complete in Christ. We used to think that when our soul and spirit were submerged in Christ we received the ability to subdue the flesh. We taught that we had the power to bring this body under submission. This is true but God wants to show us why we can bring this body into submission. He is showing us the reason why we have no excuses.

God took our soul and spirit and put it in the Holy Ghost but He also dealt with our body. He cut away the sin and took its dominion over us. The Holy Ghost, which He gave us, quickened our mortal bodies and brought them alive again unto God. Our flesh is now the body of Christ and no longer a body of sin. We must look at the complete operation of God. We need to remove the questions in our mind as to whether or not Jesus had an advantage over us.

1 Thessalonians 5:23

And the very God of peace sanctify you WHOLLY; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our whole body, spirit and soul can be preserved blameless until Jesus returns. In our salvation walk, from the time we are born-again until the return of Jesus, our body, soul and spirit should be blameless. How can we not blame our body when it is our body that has the memory of sin? If we are saved for thirty years before Jesus returns, God expects our body to remain blameless.

God does not expect our body to be an opposition to Him. He does not expect our body to be a “body of sin.” Jesus came in the flesh to condemn sin in the flesh (Romans 6:3).

Jesus’ coming condemned sin in the flesh, therefore, where is our escape? God does not expect us to have a thought war or our body to be tempted to sin against Him. Why can He make such a demand when He knows we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity? Because He is God and His work is finished. God knew He was going to subject us to a body of vanity so He circumcised our flesh. He stripped away the dominion of sin.

Colossians 2:13

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

We were dead in sin because our flesh was not circumcised. God quickened our flesh alive at the same time He slew our spirit and our soul. THE WHOLE MAN IS NOW THE NEW CREATURE. As long as our soul is in agreement with the Holy Ghost who lives on the inside, our body is quickened alive unto God. Therefore, it has now become the “body of Christ.” When we walk in the Spirit, we do not desire sin, nor is it a temptation.

We are New Creatures; our body is now the body of Christ. Our body is just as Jesus’ body that never knew sin. It is when we follow after the rudiments of the world that we have a struggle walking in holiness. As long as our life stays hidden in Christ, the body is not a problem.

If we do not have a desire to sin because of the quickening power of God in our flesh, then our mortal bodies have been made alive unto God. We do not have to sin because we are in fellowship with Him. This body, which is now under the control of Christ, always does those things that please the Father. Under the power of the Holy Ghost, our flesh knows (experiences) no sin. He cannot commit sin because the seed remains in him. He is the Son of God.

Romans 8:19

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

We are the creatures with the earnest expectation of a new body. The whole operation of God remained in these bodies of vanity. The fact is these vessels God left us in, are prone to infirmities. They get tired, sick and weak. Moreover, they have had a track record of sin and the memory of sin.

God is telling us, however that the sin problem should not be a problem. The sin issue was dealt with at salvation. At the baptism into Christ God removed the dominion of sin, and we rose in the body of Christ. The truth is if sin is an issue, it is because we as Sons of God make a conscious decision to sin against the Father. We do this in spite of the great love and mercy He has shown us.

As long as our soul remains in submission to the Spirit of Christ within, the earthen vessel in which we reside is the same as Christ, in thought, emotions and desires. As long as we walk in the Spirit this vessel of vanity is no problem as it relates to sin. God may allow the enemy to attack it with affliction for the trying of our faith, or, He may allow the enemy to attack us for the trying or edification of someone else’s faith. When we walk in the Spirit, our body becomes the body of Christ and Christ cannot be tempted with sin. We are on the other side of the resurrection now.

1 Corinthians 6:20

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus had a choice . . . He could die or He could refuse to. He made a choice to die, and His reward for dying was the ability to impart righteousness unto us. Those whom He begets are given the gift of righteousness. When the Son is walking in the Spirit, He is the righteousness of Christ. He is the manifestation of the choice Christ made to obey the Father even in the presence of death.

Colossians 2:10

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

WE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM.

Have you ever felt that Jesus had an advantage over you, as it pertains to living holy? Many feel if they had been born with a sinless body that had never known sin it might have been easier for us not to sin. We attribute the thoughts that come to tempt us to the fact that we once knew sin and still have a memory of sin. We did not receive salvation and then lose our memory; we remember the pleasures of sin.

When the thoughts or suggestions come it is easy to attribute our yielding to the memory of sin. We have tasted sin and we know its pleasures. We have come to a place where we believe that if we had never known sin then it would be easier to abstain. Or, if we were in a body that had never committed sin, like Jesus was, it would be easier to stay holy.

Many feel their body (flesh) is the reason they cannot live holy. So it would seem as though Jesus had an advantage that we will never enjoy. There is nothing further from the truth. The fact is the Father sanctified the flesh holy and acceptable unto Himself. It is not the memory or knowledge of sin that causes us to miss the mark, because the Lord Jesus Christ had the knowledge of sin. Remember, God replied that the man would become as one of us, knowing good and evil.

Jesus came with the knowledge of sin. He simply refused to submit to it. We might as well accept the fact that it is the choices we make that cause us to sin. It is out of this erroneous thought process that many doctrines have evolved.

DOCTRINAL ERROR

As long as we are in this flesh, we will never be perfect. This is actually taught to the Body of Christ. The following scriptures are often quoted and taken out of context to substantiate false doctrines.

Romans 3:23

, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; . . .” Or, they use

1 John 1:8

, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

When we have our tutors and governors telling us that nobody is perfect then sooner or later we are going to commit sin. This mindset is constantly fed to the Body of Christ and this is what it believes. If pastors are not living a sinless life then they will not advocate a sinless life. They have to give an explanation for the reason they have not lived holy.

Colossians 2:6-8

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Anything that denies the perfection of Christ in us is vain philosophy. Anyone who tells us we cannot become very Christ right now is trying to deceive us. Paul does not mean, “Christian-like”, he means Christ. Paul means the same man Jesus is, we can be. My fear is that some who received the Holy Ghost ten, fifteen, twenty years ago have never lived sinless lives and because they never have, they will not believe they ever will.

I am afraid that this message will not be effectual because they will continue to look at their past and believe their failures more than the report of the Lord. It does not matter how long we have been missing the mark, we do not have to continue missing it, nor do we have to transgress.

Colossians 1:21-24

21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

There is a man named Jesus whom God anointed with a Spirit called Christ. Christ now needs a body on earth because the one He originally used went back to glory and is seated at the right hand of the Father. The Father has now sent back the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost, to live in bodies on the earth to finish the work of Christ. We have never seen the significance of this, why? Because we have been taught the philosophy of men regarding salvation.

Our perception of salvation is that we are men or women with the Holy Ghost. We say, “I have the Holy Ghost.” And this is what we really mean; “I am Jane Doe, but I have the Holy Ghost.” This separates us from the Holy Ghost. We think of ourselves as separate from the Spirit instead of being at one with Him.

St. John 17:20-21

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Jesus is the first-born of many brethren; He was the pattern of the things to come after Him. Paul confirms this in his letter to the Hebrew church.

Hebrews 2:6-8

6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

The testimony above is relative to “man” and Jesus the “son of man.” Paul reports that the angels were concerned about this creature who was made lower than them, but given authority over all the works of God. Note here however, they too realized that the only difference in “man” and the “son of man” was that the latter had been visited by God. This is the reality for men that will also be visited by God.

The term “thou madest him,” refers to the fact that this visitation: Leaves the new man a little lower than the angels. This is his first estate. Then he is crowned with glory and honor. This is his raptured state.

Finally he is set over all the works of God. This is his eternal state. Verse 8 suggests that God has purposed to put all things under the feet of man. This is not the season for all things to be put under him, (Keep in mind He is talking about the sons), for this exaltation of the New Creation has not come to pass as yet.