1. READ: EPHESIANS 1:1-23
c. What is the church?
Answer: The church is Jesus' body, the fullness of Him Who fills everything in every way, (verse 23).
The church is Jesus' body:
1 Corinthians 12:27: "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
The church is the fullness of Him:
John 1:16: "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another."
The church is the fullness of Him Who fills everything in every way:
Ephesians 3:16-19: "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
The following concerning the church being the body of Jesus is taken from Word Meanings in the New Testament by Ralph Earle:
The word soma was used by Homer (about ninth century B.C.) for a dead body. But beginning with Hesiod (eighth century B.C.) it came to be employed for living bodies, whether of animals or men. Metaphorically it is "used of a (large or small) number of men united into one society, or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body; so in the New Testament of the church" (Thayer, p. 611).
Concerning the significance of the church as the body of Christ, Alford writes: "He is its head; from Him comes its life; in Him, it is exalted; in it, He is lived forth and witnessed to; He possesses nothing for Himself, neither His communion nor His glorified humanity, but all for His church" (3:86).
Salmond points out the implication of the "body" in this way: "The relation between Christ and the church, therefore, is not an external relation, or simply one of Superior and inferior, Sovereign and subject, but one of life and incorporation" (EGT, 3:281). The church is "the instrument also by which He works" (ibid.). The last sentence is a very solemnizing thought.
Edie points out a bit more specifically some further implications. He says: "There is first a connection of life: if the head be dissevered the body dies. The life of the church springs from its union to Christ by the Spirit, and if any member or community be separated from Christ, it dies. There is also a connection of mind: the purposes of the head are wrought out by the corporeal organs--the tongue that speaks, or the foot that moves. The church should have no purpose but Christ's glory, and no work but the performance of His commands. There is at the same time a connection of power: the organs have no faculty of self-motion, but move as they are directed by the governing principle within [Christ, the head]... Energy to do good, to move forward in spiritual contest and victory, and to exhibit aggressive influence against evil, is all derived from union with Christ. There is, [finally], a connection of sympathy. The pain or disorder of the smallest nerve or fibre [fiber] vibrates to the Head, and there it is felt. Jesus has not only cognizance of us, but He has a fellow-feeling with us in all our infirmities and trials (pp. 107-8)."
The trouble with most Christians is that they live--in their conscious thoughts and feelings--too much in isolation from Christ, the head.
The following are some comments concerning "the fullness of Him Who fills everything in every way," taken from Word Meanings in the New Testament by Ralph Earle:
The word for "fullness" in the original Greek is pleroma. It comes from the verb pleroo, which means "fill, make full, fill to the full." Thus, pleroma is "the result of the action involved in pleroo." So, in a passive sense, pleroma is "that which has been completed, complement, plentitude, fullness" [Abbott-Smith].
Arndt and Gingrich define pleroma as "that which is full of something."
Alford agrees with the above, as he says: "Here, the simple and primary meaning is by far the best,--"the thing filled,'--"the filled up receptacle'...the meaning being, that the church being the Body of Christ, is dwelt in and filled by God: it is His pleroma [His filled up receptacle] in an especial manner--His fullness abides in it, and is exemplified by it."
Eadie writes: "The word [pleroma], we apprehend, is rightly taken in a passive sense--that which is filled up." And then he concludes: "So the church is named pleroma, or fulness, because it holds or contains the fullness of Christ."
Salmond says: "Hence pleroma is to be taken in the passive sense here, as is done by most commentators and the idea is that the church is not only Christ's body but that which is filled by Him." After comparing this usage with the similar one in Colossians, he concludes: "here the conception is that this plentitude of the divine powers and qualities, which is in Christ, is imparted by Him to His church, so that the latter [the church] is pervaded by His presence, animated by His life, filled with His gifts and energies and graces."
Lightfoot comments concerning pleroma: "It is that plenitude of Divine graces and virtues which is communicated through Christ to the church as His body. The church, as ideally regarded...becomes in a manner identified with Him. All the Divine graces which reside in Him are imparted to her; His "fulness" is communicated to her: and thus she may be said to be His pleroma [the receptacle filled up by Him--that which contains His fullness as He is the fullness of God].
The above becomes abundantly clear when we remember that we, individual members of the body of Christ, are to be clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27; Romans 13:14), have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), wear the Name of Christ (1 Peter 4:14-16), do the Will of Christ/God (Ephesians 6:6-8; Colossians 4:12), are alive only in Christ (Romans 6:11; Romans 8:9-11; Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13), etc.