For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
— First Corinthians 12:12
Now you are the Body of Christ, and members in particular
— First Corinthians 12:27
When we were born again, we were born into the Body of Christ. The life in us that we received by being born again demands a corporate living. This means that we can no longer be individualists. In America we have been raised in a culture that tells us to “be yourself.” We are told from childhood to “do whatever you like” so that we can find self-fulfillment. But now we are no longer just by ourselves. We have received the necessity of a new living.
We were born into the Body of Christ. Formerly our life was for ourselves. Whatever we considered to be right or whatever we wanted to do, we would just do it. But now, after being born again, everything is different. Now we have been born into the Body of Christ to live the “Body life.” The Body life is practically experienced in our local church.
Adapted from Born Again, pages 67-68.
Tomorrow: “A Picture of the Body of Christ”