life of Christ through death is his own life. At the same time the separated fragments of creation are brought together, and the barriers by which men are kept apart are removed.
These thoughts find clear expression in the Apostolic writings: He Himself bore ( ajnhvnegken carried up and laid as upon an altar) our sins IN HIS BODY upon the tree, that we having died unto sin might live unto righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).
Ye were made dead to the law through THE BODY OF CHRIST (Rom. 7:4; comp. Heb. 6:3 ff.).
By the offering of THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST we have been sanctified (Heb. 10:10).
So far the personal effects accomplished through the Body of Christthe Body of His humiliationare affirmed. The wider effects are described no less distinctly.
It was the good pleasure [of the Father]...through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross ...and you did he reconcile ( ajpokathvllaxen ) in THE BODY OF HIS FLESH through death...(Col. 1:19-22).
He is our peace, who made both one ( ta; ajmfovtera e{n )... that He might create in Himself of the twain one new man ( tou;" duvo ... eij" e{na kaino;n a[nqrwpon ); and might reconcile them both in ONE BODY unto God through the cross...(Eph. 2:14-16).
What is thus begun has to be fulfilled. This fellowship with the ascended Christ finds a realisation on earth. There is still an organism of the life of the Son of man, a Body through which He works, and to which men may minister.
I...fill up on my part ( ajntanaplhrw' ) that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for HIS BODY'S sake, which is the Church (Col. 1:24).
Of this Body He is even now the Head: The Father...gave Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is HIS BODY...(Eph. 1:23; comp. 4:15; 5:23).
He is the head of THE BODY, the Church...(Col. 1:18). This Body is necessarily one, even as Christ is one: In one Spirit were we all baptized into ONE BODY, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free (1 Cor. 12:13).
There is ONE BODY and one Spirit...one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all...(Eph. 4:4, 5).
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in ONE BODY (Col. 3:15).
At the same time, like the natural body, it grows by the action of its own vital law through the ministry of its constituent parts, and it is built up by the introduction of new members; but growth and building up are alike manifestations of the informing power of Christ, the Head:
... the Head, from Whom all THE BODY, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God ( au[xei th;n au[xhsin tou' qeou' ) (Col. 2:19).
He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets,...for ( prov" ) the perfecting of the saints, unto ( eij" ) the work of ministering, unto the building up ( oijkodomhv ) of THE BODY OF CHRIST (Eph. 4:11, 12).