For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For we are members of His body means believers are joined to Christ as members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones, in a close, sacred, enduring and inseparable spiritual union in which they are made one with Him. This belonging comes through personal faith in Christ and sanctification of the truth and not by mere outward church membership, for believers are bought with the blood of the Son of God at infinite cost, pardoned and justified with His righteousness imputed to them, and adopted as children of the royal family so they are not their own. It also reveals that He has made Himself one with humanity, becoming bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and clothing His divine nature with humanity to endure human temptation so He might know how to help the tempted. That union is the ground and pattern for marriage, calling the husband to love, nourish and cherish his wife as his own body even as the Lord does the church, and calling the wife to be subject to and reverence her husband as the church is subject to Christ. Members so joined to Christ are knit closely to one another as firmly as hands, head and feet in the natural body, mutually dependent and sustained by His life and Spirit, so they cannot love Him without loving one another, bearing one another's burdens and governing speech and spirit by love.
Members of Christ's Body
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones means believers belong to Christ as members of His own body, joined to Him as intimately as a body is joined to its own flesh and bones. It is a close, sacred, enduring and inseparable spiritual union in which they are made one spirit with the Lord. The bond is as firm and harmonious as the different parts of the natural body, as hands, head and feet are closely united and mutually dependent, so no member can live and act independently of the others. The life and Spirit of Christ sustains every particular member and causes each to flourish, and they live because Christ lives in them, as a branch can live and bear fruit only by abiding in the vine. This oneness with Christ requires oneness among believers, governing speech and spirit by love for one another and reaching a higher standard, and that unity gives evidence to the world that God sent His Son.
Becoming members comes through sanctification of the truth, not by mere outward church membership. Personal faith in Christ brings the soul into this spiritual union with Him as His body. Receiving Him by faith and living through Him is what His teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood explains. God gives each person a distinct work as His instrumentality, and all are to be united as parts of one great organism that composes the whole body. The Lord's church is made of living, working agencies who derive their power to act from the author and finisher of faith and who carry forward in harmony the great work resting on them, acting for time and for eternity so that even worldly men take knowledge that they have been with Jesus and learned of Him.
This belonging rests on creation and redemption, for men and women have been bought with the blood of the Son of God at infinite cost. Through the merits of Jesus Christ and the office of His atonement they are spared, pardoned and justified, have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and are lifted from degradation and exalted in righteousness. By adoption they become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, precious and honorable in His sight, His heritage, His children, His jewels, His peculiar treasure, and trophies of His grace and power and greatness and riches in glory. Because they are bought with a price they are not their own but are joined to the Lord, and are to treat one another with respect, love and kindness. Each believer has Jesus Christ as husband, belonging to Him by creation and redemption as His property kept by Him, with an individual responsibility that cannot be submerged in an earthly husband, so that no earthly marriage relation can excuse separation from Him, and if need be husband or wife must be forsaken to walk in the light and manifest loyalty rather than turn away at eternal loss.
The words also reveal Christ's identity with humanity, for He became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, clothing His divine nature with humanity. He took humanity upon Himself and pledged Himself to endure all the temptations man must endure, so that He might know how to succor those who are tempted. Through His human life He demonstrated God's love for the human race, and that solidarity with people is the power of His influence. If a person is a member of Christ's church, that person is a member of His body, and if of His body, then full of the divine nature. This belonging is a privilege that carries an inward glory which the eye of flesh cannot see, and understanding it leads a person to live purely, chastely and holily, and to count all the glory of this world as contemptible compared with the glory within. Christ has redeemed the body as well as the soul, so believers are His property and must honor Him in the way they care for their bodies, including in eating and dressing.
The union gives assurance, for the church married to Him is to share His kingdom as joint heir with Jesus Christ, with the assurance of being loved as God loves His Son. Keeping in mind that believers are members of Christ's body, of His flesh and of His bones is necessary in order to act out the mind of God. The Word is assurance of spiritual wedlock with Jesus Christ, so they can approach Jesus with full assurance of faith, joining hands with Him, following where He leads, doing whatsoever He says, and trusting Him to teach them. Because of that union they are to be strong, talk hope, and press through obstacles, leaning wholly upon Jesus Christ and turning to God in heaven as the Source of all wisdom, grace and efficiency instead of seeking counsel from men.
Marriage Reflects Christ's Union
The Lord nourishes and cherishes the church as His own flesh, because believers are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. He loved the church and gave Himself for it to sanctify and cleanse it and to present it to Himself glorious and holy, without spot or wrinkle or blemish. The oneness in which a man leaves father and mother and husband and wife become one flesh is a great mystery concerning Christ and the church, established by His love and redemptive sacrifice. This union is sacred, close, enduring and lasting.
This union is the ground and pattern for marriage, so that even as the Lord nourishes and cherishes the church, a husband must love, nourish and cherish his wife as his own body and as his own flesh and self. He must never degrade her by making her a servant to uncontrolled passion, nor endanger, exhaust or weaken her through selfish passion and sexual conduct. He must not burden her with repeated pregnancies before she has recovered, but care for her as intimately as a body is joined to its own flesh and bones. These instructions are of the greatest importance yet practiced by few, and if carried out to the letter they would change families and make home life pure and elevated, guarded by holy love.
The wife is to submit to, reverence, respect and love her husband, as the church is subject to Christ the head and Saviour of the body. She is to counsel with him as a valued part of their hallowed union, not as a slave or servant, while husband and wife remain united in shared interests and affection and honor their marriage covenant through love and care. The husband is to lead in service to God, loving his wife as Christ loved the church.
Divine love never destroys human love but includes it, refines, purifies, elevates and ennobles it. Human love bears its precious fruit only when united with the divine nature and trained to grow heavenward. By this the family relationship has a sanctifying influence, and Christian homes established and conducted according to God's plan help form Christian character as a symbol of the great family above, where parents and children are united in loving service to Him who alone can keep human love pure and noble.
The unity of Christ and the church is the symbol and standard for unity in the family. The husband is to be house-band, head and priest, binding wife and children together in affection into that same unity. He must show tender interest and thoughtfulness, look upon the mother of his children as deserving of all kindness, tenderness and sympathy, share the care and wise, tender, loving education of dependent children, stay under the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, and with the mother speak no word of censure or disrespect of each other before them, so that children of favorable or unfavorable temperaments are molded to develop characters the Lord can approve. In this way Jesus gives happy marriages and happy firesides, where the warmth of true friendship and the love binding husband and wife is a foretaste of heaven; but if husband and wife share the same faulty mold of character they break every tie of affection and scatter the members filled with bitterness and hatred, to the woe of the children and as a blot on the family.
Each believer is married to Jesus Christ as husband, for He has married His church as His bride unto Himself. The church is His bride, the Lamb's wife, and God is the husband of His church. The wife belongs to Him by creation and redemption because He has bought her as His property at infinite cost, and her soul is in His keeping, so she has an individual responsibility that cannot be submerged in her earthly husband. No earthly marriage relation can excuse separation from Him, and He regards unfaithfulness to Him as a wife's unfaithfulness to her husband. If need be, wife must forsake husband or husband wife to walk in the light, practice religious principles and manifest loyalty to God, rather than turn away to please husband or relatives at eternal loss.
One Body in Fellowship
To be members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones, is to be joined to Christ and knit closely to one another with bonds as firm and harmonious as the different parts of the natural body. As hands, head and feet are closely united and mutually dependent, so no member can live and act independently of the other members. The life and Spirit of Christ sustains every particular member and causes each to flourish, and they live because Christ lives in them, as a branch can live and bear fruit only by abiding in the vine. One Spirit animates and presides over the whole body, while each person maintains individuality united in one faith, and the church is made up of these members who receive their power from Christ and must work together in their different roles in harmony as parts of one whole.
It is impossible to love Christ without loving those who believe in Him, because they are the purchase of His blood and the objects of His tenderest care. Members must therefore have strong regard, deep interest and sincere sanctified love for each other, treating one another with respect, love and kindness. This membership means bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Every fresh manifestation of His grace and affection melts hearts and binds members more closely together in Christian fellowship.
This oneness with Christ requires oneness among believers, governing speech and spirit by love for one another and reaching a higher standard. Through sanctification of the truth believers become members of His body, and God gives each person a distinct work as His instrumentality, all to be united as parts of one great organism that composes the whole body. That unity gives evidence to the world that God sent His Son, so that even worldly men take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus and have learned of Him.
Connection with Christ therefore involves connection with His church, for the relation between Christ and His church is very close and sacred, He the head and the church His body. Members of God's church in every place are organized to do their work intelligently in church capacity, and connection with the church is one of the first steps in a life of service to Christ. To be members of His body means receiving capabilities, light, efficiency and power to act from Christ as the living head and from the author and finisher of faith to bless the world. The Lord's church is made of living, working agencies who carry forward in harmony the great work resting on them, and loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as training that, in a church imbued with the Master's life, leads directly to effort for the world without. That training requires studying missionary responsibilities, obtaining and seriously considering information, and answering the cry for help coming from every quarter in this time of peril and obligation.
God has placed each believer in connection with His church and with the men He has appointed to lead out and bear the responsibilities connected with His work and the advancement and spread of the truth. To neglect or despise those leaders is to reject the means God has ordained for the help, encouragement and strength of His people. No one should pass them by and think light must come through no other channel but direct from God, for that independence leaves a person liable to deception and to be overthrown, because Satan is very wily and a person cannot always of himself tell or discern the spirits.
For we are members of His body means believers are joined to Christ as members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones, in a close, sacred, enduring and inseparable spiritual union in which they are made one with Him. This belonging comes through personal faith in Christ and sanctification of the truth and not by mere outward church membership, for believers are bought with the blood of the Son of God at infinite cost, pardoned and justified with His righteousness imputed to them, and adopted as children of the royal family so they are not their own. It also reveals that He has made Himself one with humanity, becoming bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and clothing His divine nature with humanity to endure human temptation so He might know how to help the tempted. That union is the ground and pattern for marriage, calling the husband to love, nourish and cherish his wife as his own body even as the Lord does the church, and calling the wife to be subject to and reverence her husband as the church is subject to Christ. Members so joined to Christ are knit closely to one another as firmly as hands, head and feet in the natural body, mutually dependent and sustained by His life and Spirit, so they cannot love Him without loving one another, bearing one another's burdens and governing speech and spirit by love.
Members of Christ's Body
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones means believers belong to Christ as members of His own body, joined to Him as intimately as a body is joined to its own flesh and bones. It is a close, sacred, enduring and inseparable spiritual union in which they are made one spirit with the Lord. The bond is as firm and harmonious as the different parts of the natural body, as hands, head and feet are closely united and mutually dependent, so no member can live and act independently of the others. The life and Spirit of Christ sustains every particular member and causes each to flourish, and they live because Christ lives in them, as a branch can live and bear fruit only by abiding in the vine. This oneness with Christ requires oneness among believers, governing speech and spirit by love for one another and reaching a higher standard, and that unity gives evidence to the world that God sent His Son.
Becoming members comes through sanctification of the truth, not by mere outward church membership. Personal faith in Christ brings the soul into this spiritual union with Him as His body. Receiving Him by faith and living through Him is what His teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood explains. God gives each person a distinct work as His instrumentality, and all are to be united as parts of one great organism that composes the whole body. The Lord's church is made of living, working agencies who derive their power to act from the author and finisher of faith and who carry forward in harmony the great work resting on them, acting for time and for eternity so that even worldly men take knowledge that they have been with Jesus and learned of Him.
This belonging rests on creation and redemption, for men and women have been bought with the blood of the Son of God at infinite cost. Through the merits of Jesus Christ and the office of His atonement they are spared, pardoned and justified, have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and are lifted from degradation and exalted in righteousness. By adoption they become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, precious and honorable in His sight, His heritage, His children, His jewels, His peculiar treasure, and trophies of His grace and power and greatness and riches in glory. Because they are bought with a price they are not their own but are joined to the Lord, and are to treat one another with respect, love and kindness. Each believer has Jesus Christ as husband, belonging to Him by creation and redemption as His property kept by Him, with an individual responsibility that cannot be submerged in an earthly husband, so that no earthly marriage relation can excuse separation from Him, and if need be husband or wife must be forsaken to walk in the light and manifest loyalty rather than turn away at eternal loss.
The words also reveal Christ's identity with humanity, for He became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, clothing His divine nature with humanity. He took humanity upon Himself and pledged Himself to endure all the temptations man must endure, so that He might know how to succor those who are tempted. Through His human life He demonstrated God's love for the human race, and that solidarity with people is the power of His influence. If a person is a member of Christ's church, that person is a member of His body, and if of His body, then full of the divine nature. This belonging is a privilege that carries an inward glory which the eye of flesh cannot see, and understanding it leads a person to live purely, chastely and holily, and to count all the glory of this world as contemptible compared with the glory within. Christ has redeemed the body as well as the soul, so believers are His property and must honor Him in the way they care for their bodies, including in eating and dressing.
The union gives assurance, for the church married to Him is to share His kingdom as joint heir with Jesus Christ, with the assurance of being loved as God loves His Son. Keeping in mind that believers are members of Christ's body, of His flesh and of His bones is necessary in order to act out the mind of God. The Word is assurance of spiritual wedlock with Jesus Christ, so they can approach Jesus with full assurance of faith, joining hands with Him, following where He leads, doing whatsoever He says, and trusting Him to teach them. Because of that union they are to be strong, talk hope, and press through obstacles, leaning wholly upon Jesus Christ and turning to God in heaven as the Source of all wisdom, grace and efficiency instead of seeking counsel from men.
Marriage Reflects Christ's Union
The Lord nourishes and cherishes the church as His own flesh, because believers are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. He loved the church and gave Himself for it to sanctify and cleanse it and to present it to Himself glorious and holy, without spot or wrinkle or blemish. The oneness in which a man leaves father and mother and husband and wife become one flesh is a great mystery concerning Christ and the church, established by His love and redemptive sacrifice. This union is sacred, close, enduring and lasting.
This union is the ground and pattern for marriage, so that even as the Lord nourishes and cherishes the church, a husband must love, nourish and cherish his wife as his own body and as his own flesh and self. He must never degrade her by making her a servant to uncontrolled passion, nor endanger, exhaust or weaken her through selfish passion and sexual conduct. He must not burden her with repeated pregnancies before she has recovered, but care for her as intimately as a body is joined to its own flesh and bones. These instructions are of the greatest importance yet practiced by few, and if carried out to the letter they would change families and make home life pure and elevated, guarded by holy love.
The wife is to submit to, reverence, respect and love her husband, as the church is subject to Christ the head and Saviour of the body. She is to counsel with him as a valued part of their hallowed union, not as a slave or servant, while husband and wife remain united in shared interests and affection and honor their marriage covenant through love and care. The husband is to lead in service to God, loving his wife as Christ loved the church.
Divine love never destroys human love but includes it, refines, purifies, elevates and ennobles it. Human love bears its precious fruit only when united with the divine nature and trained to grow heavenward. By this the family relationship has a sanctifying influence, and Christian homes established and conducted according to God's plan help form Christian character as a symbol of the great family above, where parents and children are united in loving service to Him who alone can keep human love pure and noble.
The unity of Christ and the church is the symbol and standard for unity in the family. The husband is to be house-band, head and priest, binding wife and children together in affection into that same unity. He must show tender interest and thoughtfulness, look upon the mother of his children as deserving of all kindness, tenderness and sympathy, share the care and wise, tender, loving education of dependent children, stay under the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, and with the mother speak no word of censure or disrespect of each other before them, so that children of favorable or unfavorable temperaments are molded to develop characters the Lord can approve. In this way Jesus gives happy marriages and happy firesides, where the warmth of true friendship and the love binding husband and wife is a foretaste of heaven; but if husband and wife share the same faulty mold of character they break every tie of affection and scatter the members filled with bitterness and hatred, to the woe of the children and as a blot on the family.
Each believer is married to Jesus Christ as husband, for He has married His church as His bride unto Himself. The church is His bride, the Lamb's wife, and God is the husband of His church. The wife belongs to Him by creation and redemption because He has bought her as His property at infinite cost, and her soul is in His keeping, so she has an individual responsibility that cannot be submerged in her earthly husband. No earthly marriage relation can excuse separation from Him, and He regards unfaithfulness to Him as a wife's unfaithfulness to her husband. If need be, wife must forsake husband or husband wife to walk in the light, practice religious principles and manifest loyalty to God, rather than turn away to please husband or relatives at eternal loss.
One Body in Fellowship
To be members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones, is to be joined to Christ and knit closely to one another with bonds as firm and harmonious as the different parts of the natural body. As hands, head and feet are closely united and mutually dependent, so no member can live and act independently of the other members. The life and Spirit of Christ sustains every particular member and causes each to flourish, and they live because Christ lives in them, as a branch can live and bear fruit only by abiding in the vine. One Spirit animates and presides over the whole body, while each person maintains individuality united in one faith, and the church is made up of these members who receive their power from Christ and must work together in their different roles in harmony as parts of one whole.
It is impossible to love Christ without loving those who believe in Him, because they are the purchase of His blood and the objects of His tenderest care. Members must therefore have strong regard, deep interest and sincere sanctified love for each other, treating one another with respect, love and kindness. This membership means bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Every fresh manifestation of His grace and affection melts hearts and binds members more closely together in Christian fellowship.
This oneness with Christ requires oneness among believers, governing speech and spirit by love for one another and reaching a higher standard. Through sanctification of the truth believers become members of His body, and God gives each person a distinct work as His instrumentality, all to be united as parts of one great organism that composes the whole body. That unity gives evidence to the world that God sent His Son, so that even worldly men take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus and have learned of Him.
Connection with Christ therefore involves connection with His church, for the relation between Christ and His church is very close and sacred, He the head and the church His body. Members of God's church in every place are organized to do their work intelligently in church capacity, and connection with the church is one of the first steps in a life of service to Christ. To be members of His body means receiving capabilities, light, efficiency and power to act from Christ as the living head and from the author and finisher of faith to bless the world. The Lord's church is made of living, working agencies who carry forward in harmony the great work resting on them, and loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as training that, in a church imbued with the Master's life, leads directly to effort for the world without. That training requires studying missionary responsibilities, obtaining and seriously considering information, and answering the cry for help coming from every quarter in this time of peril and obligation.
God has placed each believer in connection with His church and with the men He has appointed to lead out and bear the responsibilities connected with His work and the advancement and spread of the truth. To neglect or despise those leaders is to reject the means God has ordained for the help, encouragement and strength of His people. No one should pass them by and think light must come through no other channel but direct from God, for that independence leaves a person liable to deception and to be overthrown, because Satan is very wily and a person cannot always of himself tell or discern the spirits.