654 The Spiritual Man
(4) The Lord is equally for the glorification of the body. This
pertains to the future. Today we attain great heights if we walk by
Him, yet that does not change the nature of our body. But the day
shall come when the Lord shall redeem it and transform this lowly
frame into a likeness of His glorious body.
We must underscore the significance of the body being for the
Lord. If we yearn to experience the Lord for the body we first must
practice the body for the Lord. It is impossible to experience the Lord
for the body if we use our bodies according to our wants and for our
pleasure instead of presenting them for living entirely unto the Lord.
Yet were we to hand ourselves over completely to God, yielding our
members as instruments of righteousness and conducting ourselves
in all matters according to God’s order, He most surely would accord
us His life and power.
“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power”
(v.14). This is to explain the last clause of the preceding verse which
is “the Lord for the body.” The resurrection of the Lord is a bodily
one: our future resurrection will therefore be bodily too. As God has
already raised the body of the Lord Jesus so will He also raise ours
from the dead. These two facts are equally certain. Hence this is how
the Lord is for our body: He will raise us up by His power. It is yet
future, nevertheless today we may foretaste the power of His
resurrection.
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I
therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a
prostitute? Never!” (v.15). The first question is noticeably unusually
phrased. In other places, such as 1 Corinthians 12.27, it merely states
“you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”; but only
in this passage does it say “your bodies are members of Christ.” Our
whole being is indeed a member of Christ; why, then, is the body
specified here? We naturally assume that our spiritual life is a
member of Christ for is it not spiritual? But how can this corporeal