The figure
chosen (head and body) aptly illustrates how close is the
relationship and vital the link between Christ and His
church. It exists only by His indwelling Spirit, operates by
His power, and functions as His representative.
The metaphor of "head and body" makes
Paul's earlier descriptions of the functions of individual
members of the body--the church--very plain, that the
body without the head is not able to function, and in reality would
be dead. All must function in unity with the head:
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."
Romans 12:4-5: "Just as each of us
has one body with many members, and these members do not all have
the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and
each member belongs to all the others."
Each part
of the body--the church--must share in the suffering of
Christ, the head of the body. Just as Christ suffered on the
cross to atone for sin, we, the body, will gladly experience the
sufferings necessary to carry this Good News to a lost
world:
Colossians 1:24: "Now I rejoice in
what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still
lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His
body, which is the church."
