Church as Body
By Dr Quek Tze-Ming
In Romans, Paul doesn’t use the normal word for “church” (ekklesia) to describe the church(es) in Rome until the final chapter in Rom 16, where he greets the various house gatherings of Christians. That’s curious, when compared with many of his previous letters, where that word appears early on in the opening salutations (1 Thess 1:1: “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians …”; cf. 2 Thess 1:1; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:2; Phlm 2). Does the non-appearance of “church” at the opening of Romans reveal Paul’s worry that Christian groups in Rome – with their various disagreements as implied in Rom 9-11; 14-15 – are not yet one united Church in Rome?
If so, that makes one image that Paul does use to exhort the believers in Rome even more telling:
Rom 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Paul uses this Body of Christ image to show that believers have responsibilities to and for one another. If believers are “individually members one of another,” it means that there is a relationship from which there is no exit plan. This is not an easy thing for believers, both then and now, to hear. What if another believer has caused me pain? What if another believer keeps making claims over my time and my emotions that I’m not willing to give? What if I have no hobbies, interests, or political inclinations in common with this other person in my AG? Paul says through this image that believers have no easy option of walking away from each other. In a body, the hand or the ear cannot self-amputate and decide to go it alone. Believers have to be able to respond to the needs and claims of the other. Response-able. Responsible.
As Paul goes on to say, believers are responsible to contribute to the whole Body through the spiritual gifts they have received (12:6-8): prophecy, service (ministry), teaching, exhorting, giving, leading, doing acts of mercy. These gifts are given by God not for the recipient to receive the fullest exaltation, but for the recipient to live out his or her responsibility to the fullest capacity.
Twice when talking about believers’ mutual obligations, Paul makes remarks about those who think too highly of themselves:
Rom 12:3 … I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, …
Rom 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
These comments make more sense to us now, having learned in Romans 14 about how some of those who might think themselves “strong” are riding roughshod over the convictions and beliefs of those who are “weak in faith.” They thought so much of their own “rightness” and freedom that it seems they have forgotten their responsibility to pursue whatever makes for peace and mutual upbuilding (Rom 14:19).
This is NOT the way, if the Christians in Rome are to be one Body of Christ, under His Lordship; if they can properly be called “Church.” In the church, believers cannot walk away from each other, believers cannot think ourselves more or better than others.
As members (and hopefully, future members) of Zion Bishan Bible-Presbyterian CHURCH, how are we exercising our mutual responsibilities of love to each other? How are we using, to the fullest capacity, what God has gifted each of us for mutual upbuilding?
In this season when our church is budgeting for our various ministries (gift of service!), I would like to suggest that one way is to: Participate fully in the Ministry-Behind-the-Money presentations on Sunday 16 November. Learn about the various areas and ways of ministry in our church, and what it takes to run and support them. Pray for them. See if God is putting in your heart a response that will see you serving the other members of our body, one church.
