15. READ: EPHESIANS 5:22-32
b. What is Christ the savior of?
Answer: Christ is the Savior of His body, (verse 23).
1 Corinthians 12:12-27: "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. SO IT IS WITH CHRIST. FOR WE WERE ALL BAPTIZED BY ONE SPIRIT INTO ONE BODY--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you!' And the head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. NOW YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST, AND EACH ONE OF YOU IS A PART OF IT."
Ephesians 2:14-18: "For He Himself is our peace, Who has made the two [Jews and non-Jews] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this ONE BODY TO RECONCILE BOTH OF THEM TO GOD THROUGH THE CROSS, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit."
Ephesians 4:4, 12, 16: "There is ONE BODY and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called...to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the BODY of Christ may be built up...From Him the whole BODY, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
Colossians 1:18-20: "And He [Christ] is the head of the BODY, the CHURCH; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and THROUGH HIM TO RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL THINGS, whether things on earth or things in heaven, BY MAKING PEACE THROUGH HIS BLOOD, SHED ON THE CROSS."