“In modern parlance, church is an institution, a form of
Christian community, a set of people believing in Christ (or at least
having some concept of God) which convenes regularly. When we
talk about church, we immediately picture a number of people
who, on the basis of some common understanding or arrangement,
have formed a Christian association. ...When Paul thought of the
church, however, he thought of Christ. The idea that the church
could be anything beyond the embodiment of Christ never crossed
his mind.” 30
“Christ and the church are one single reality! The body is not
an attachment to Christ; it embodies Him. It gives expression to
Christ – the whole Christ – and it carries Him within it. In the
church, in the body, Christ Himself lives and acts and speaks. The
church is the corporate Christ – Christ in the saints through the
Holy Spirit. This indwelling Christ is her nature and structure, her
unity, truth and certainty; He is everything to her. And Christ is in
every member!” 31
“Christ and the church are absolutely and indivisibly one. The
church is utterly absorbed in the experience of the risen and
present Lord. The inner reality and presence of Christ stamps her
indelibly. She is directed by Him and held together by Him, and
the very length and breadth of her is the person of Christ Jesus. Her
authority is His, her mind is His mind, and her holiness His
holiness. She has nothing of her own.” 32
“The church has only this task: to embody Christ, manifest His
nature, demonstrate God’s love to the world and proclaim His
Lordship over all things.” 33As the ontological essence of the Church, the living
Lord Jesus is also the dynamic expression of all that
transpires in the Church – His Body. Jesus Christ in each
individual Christian relates to Himself in another Christian,
allowing for interactive interpersonal relationships that
comprise a loving social community. Early observers of the
Church, of Christianity, marveled at how the Christians
“loved one another.” In the expression of Christ’s character