By Charles F. Baker
But since there are two different bodies of Christ mentioned in the Bible, we must first make some distinctions.
One of the bodies mentioned is the physical, fleshly body in which the Son of God became incarnate. There are some twenty-seven references to the Savior's physical body in the New Testament. Probably the most familiar passage is that at the Last Supper, "This is my body which is given for you" (Lk. 22:19). Another often quoted passage is 1 Peter 2:24: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness."
The other Body of Christ, and the one which is the subject of this book, is "the Church which is His Body" (Eph. 1:22, 23). This Body is mentioned only in Paul's epistles. Paul uses the word "body" approximately twenty-nine times in reference to the corporate Body of Christ, composed of all of the saved people of this present dispensation with Christ as its Head.
Likewise, there are two Christ’s in the New Testament. There is first of all the Personal Christ. Most of the references to that name refer to Jesus Christ personally.
However, Paul does use this word in referring to both the Head and the Church which is His Body. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 12:12: "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is (the) Christ." Paul is not speaking of the personal Christ or of His physical body. Paul also seems to use the word "Christ" in this sense in Ephesians 3:4 and in Colossians 4:3 where he speaks of "the mystery of the Christ." When Paul speaks of the Mystery in these two epistles, he is speaking of the hitherto unprophesied Church which is His Body. Christ personally was prophesied hundreds of times, but the Christ, composed of the Body and the Head, was never predicted.
The subtitle to this book, A Pauline Trilogy, describes its content. A Trilogy is
defined as "a set of three related writings which, though each has its own unity, form together a larger work." Paul's three Prison Epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, and
Colossians are the three related writings, forming together the larger work, the Mystery
concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ.
The word Mystery is a translation of the Greek word, musterion, derived from the verb muo, to shut the mouth, to keep silent. The Mystery of which Paul speaks is thus a body of truth about which God had kept silent. Paul's own words are, "the mystery
which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his
saints" (Col. 1:26). The mystery is described as a Dispensation or Stewardship which
was committed to Paul concerning the Church, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your
sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church; whereof I was made a minister according to the
dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfill the word of God" (Col. 1:25). The Mystery is that which "fulfills the word of God." The word fulfill means to complete. There was a gap in the revelation of God's great plan caused by the fact that 6 God had kept silent about a part of it, and this secret or mystery part which is now revealed, fills up to the full that gap.
The Mystery is not only a distinct part of God's eternal purpose which He had never before made known: it is also a revelation of a distinct out calling or Church, which is called the Body of Christ. The subject of the Mystery is the Body of Christ, of which He is the Head.
The word church simply means an out calling or assembly of people. This word needs to be qualified in order to determine what particular assembly is in view. In the Bible the word is first used of the Israelite's who came out of Egypt under Moses (Acts 7:38). Some forty times the congregation of Israel is called a church in the Septuagint Greek version of the Old Testament, as in Nehemiah 13:1. Then Jesus called His little band of disciples whom He had called out by this same name in Matthew 18:17. In the Millennial Kingdom, yet to come, Christ's redeemed Jewish brethren will be called a church (Heb. 2:12 quoted from Ps. 22:22).
God's called out people in our present dispensation are also called a church, and this church is identified as the Church which is His Body, or as the Body of Christ. Much confusion bas resulted from a failure to keep the Church which is His Body separate and distinct from the other
churches of the Bible. The Body of Christ church is the subject of the Mystery which
was never before made known to the sons of men until it was revealed to Paul by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a the beginning of the introduction of the book. If you want to download a copy (PDF) of the book go
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