THE BODY OF CHRIST IS NOT A MEETING
06/09/23 08:23
To recap, we have been saying in these posts that Jesus died for us and by the Spirit is expressed as us in His resurrected life. Thus, The Body of Christ is more than a gathering of Christians. ‘The Body’ is our expression of Christ as Jim and Mary in oneness with Him. As the Eucharist indicates, the Body of Christ is those who are one with Christ – as in ‘Those who eat Me will live because of Me.’
THE GOOD NEWS
Timothy Keller wrote, “After looking at a number of Pauline presentations of the gospel, Gathercole identified three recurring ideas. First, there was the good news
of who Jesus is (Romans 1:3-4). He is the eternal Son of God, who
humbled himself and also became a human being, the Messiah.
Second, there is the good news of what Jesus has done - he died on the cross and
rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Finally, there is the good news
of what he brings. When he rose from the dead he brought in the new
creation and the power of the Spirit (Colossians 2:13-15; Ephesians 2:4-7).
In summary, Gathercole says that the gospel is that, through the "death and
resurrection" of "Jesus the Messiah . .. he atones for sin and brings new
creation."
BLIND
The category of ‘spirit’ has no practical existence for some Christians who equate it with ‘religion’. But genuine spirituality is not religion. If we have been socialised in legalism and its rational-legal assumptions, we will have trouble with the notion of spirit and, so to speak, live as a woodpile rather than a tree of life. Life in the Spirit for us is Christ come in our flesh to be manifest as our person.
NEW CREATION PEOPLE
What is this new creation? It is the new you and the new us formed by the expression of Christ as us. I use the words ‘as us’ to avoid the dualism of a Christ external to our being. The mystery of the life lived in the Spirit is that Christ is expressed as our person. This is the difference between legalism/moralism and living our inheritance in Christ. Don’t leave your treasure in the ground.
THE GOOD NEWS
Timothy Keller wrote, “After looking at a number of Pauline presentations of the gospel, Gathercole identified three recurring ideas. First, there was the good news
of who Jesus is (Romans 1:3-4). He is the eternal Son of God, who
humbled himself and also became a human being, the Messiah.
Second, there is the good news of what Jesus has done - he died on the cross and
rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Finally, there is the good news
of what he brings. When he rose from the dead he brought in the new
creation and the power of the Spirit (Colossians 2:13-15; Ephesians 2:4-7).
In summary, Gathercole says that the gospel is that, through the "death and
resurrection" of "Jesus the Messiah . .. he atones for sin and brings new
creation."
BLIND
The category of ‘spirit’ has no practical existence for some Christians who equate it with ‘religion’. But genuine spirituality is not religion. If we have been socialised in legalism and its rational-legal assumptions, we will have trouble with the notion of spirit and, so to speak, live as a woodpile rather than a tree of life. Life in the Spirit for us is Christ come in our flesh to be manifest as our person.
NEW CREATION PEOPLE
What is this new creation? It is the new you and the new us formed by the expression of Christ as us. I use the words ‘as us’ to avoid the dualism of a Christ external to our being. The mystery of the life lived in the Spirit is that Christ is expressed as our person. This is the difference between legalism/moralism and living our inheritance in Christ. Don’t leave your treasure in the ground.
