We are remiss exiting this spiritual anatomy discussion without connecting to scriptural teaching about the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). We tend to focus exclusively on being “individual members of it.”
Jesus Himself makes the point for us in John 17:21,
“That they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Our connection to the Body of Christ seems secondary because we are insecure about our primary relationship in Christ. Grace is a relationship! The “Body” is interpreted as the church, where we gather to satisfy social needs while becoming spirituality religious. Nurturing a relationship with a living Person is not a religion.
The personal dynamics of being in Christ is exactly what Paul argues in his letters to the churches. But how is this distinguished from our corporate relationship “in Christ”? Or does one flow directly into the other? How does our individual membership in the Body of Christ differ from our personal relationship in Christ?
The “glory of the Lord” occurs within us when we are created 2Corinthians 5:17 Christians. It is the “glory of the Lord” others see because we are born a second time in Christ. It is the riches of His grace changing us from one degree of glory to another through His Spirit (2Corinthians 3:18) making us one Body in Christ. Jesus told Peter He would build His Church upon Himself and the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The person who created the worlds is the same person who is building His church. We need to put ourselves at His disposal so that we participate in what He is doing. But isn’t that what we are doing when we are seeking spiritual maturity?
Adam’s sin proves to us God’s love is greater than our sin. Where sin increases, grace increases even more (Romans 5:20). God’s grace allows us to share within us His glory giving hope for our completion when we see Jesus. The same power and Person who is building the Church is making “living stones” (1Peter 2:5) into spiritual houses where we make living sacrifices so that we can replace our spiritually dead selves with the living life of our resurrected Lord and Savior.
Adam’s sin created sinners of everyone. God has already reconciled everyone back to Himself through Jesus, His own Son. It is up to us, individually, to accept the reconciliation God has already provided. If we do, He creates with the “arm” (Isa 52:10, Luke 1:51) of His power not only a union with His own Spirit but the power to hold and change our polluted self into His glorious righteous nature. The more we walk in the assurance of what has been given to us, the more apt we are to minister to the needs of others rather than ourselves. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 3:21, “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations, forever and ever. Amen”. Obviously, Paul is referring to our earthly ministry as Christ’s Body.
Jesus Himself is our framework for spiritual anatomy. Under the first Adam we are born in sin, spiritually dead under the judgment of our idolatry. In Jesus Christ, the last Adam, we are created new into a unity, which is holy and leads into glorification with Christ. This is the end, the hope of our salvation, to be glorified in and with Jesus eternally. Understanding the spiritual meaning of glory within a Christian person reveals the Body of Christ. Remember how Paul put it in Romans 3:23,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Adam was created perfect. He was the product of the arm of God’s hand and God was pleased with what He had done, it was “good” (Gen. 1:31). Adam was given dominion over what God created and had fellowship with Him in a personal way. Adam was the head over the creation God created and Eve was made for his companionship. Eve was deceived, Adam was not (1Timothy 2:14), but Adam loved Eve and took responsibility for her as her “head” identifying with her and her consequence.
God’s love for His people exceeds the love Adam had for Eve. God not only bought back (redeemed) His people out of their sin but did “much more” (Romans 5). He restored their fellowship with Him and raised them up by grace to share His righteousness. He brought His glory into their midst, taking on their humanity and glorifying the Son of God as the Son of Man in obedience to the Father. He is the “head” of those who accept His love and we become His Body of believers.
Jesus is now in heaven seated on the right hand of the Father as both the Son of God and the Son of Man. We have access to much more than the first Adam could have conceived. Jesus was the second and last Adam. God’s love for us is able to do far more than Adam’s love for Eve. His love for us is the source of all of God’s saving grace including what we already have and what we are yet to receive.
Jesus is the head of a body composed of individual believers who are in fellowship with each other because we are in one source of life. We function together as different parts of the same body and are to be glorified together in Christ, Romans 8:17.
Glory exists because God exists. Our hope is in the reality of the promises and work of Jesus Christ. God created life and He also created the pathway for us to travel into His glory as a body of believers.
The writer to the Hebrews gives us this eternal perspective. “It was ‘fitting’”, he says in Hebrews 2:10-11, that the Father, “for whom and by whom all things exists, should make the founder of their salvation (Jesus) perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies (Jesus) and those who are sanctified (2Corinthians 5:17 believers) all have one source (the Father or the word). That is why he (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brothers,” (Matt. 25:40).
It is “fitting”, the Holy Spirit says through the writer of Hebrews that the eternal Jesus should demonstrate what God in the flesh looks like. He was tempted in all point as we are, yet without sin. He was tested in the context of what life experiences bring to our human souls. It was “fitting” that He should do this so that He could bring His life into our experience.
This amazing passage not only gives gospel context but dimensions our spiritual walk. The direction of our walk depends on where we are compared to where we are going. Here in Hebrews 2:10-11, we find a description of our journey in the work of Jesus Christ as He walked in human flesh. Jesus came out of heaven into flesh walking us out of our flesh into His glory. He came out of His place in glory to experience our life in the flesh providing us an example of how we can live in our flesh using His own resurrected life. Wherever our starting point might be, we can find it in Jesus Christ who is our head and will lead us into the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge so that we can be filled with all the fullness of God Himself (Eph. 3:19).