A Christian cannot be autonomous; it is as impossible as an arm or leg independent of a body.
The community, the church, is the living organism that is the incarnation of the Gospel. If Christ’s universal message does not take form in a concrete group of people, it is an unbelievable message.
Believers exist as parts of the whole Body of Christ, and its very existence is the state of love, as Paul fondly calls it. “Without love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2) implies that we are inside another Being. Without the church, the community, the incarnation of love, I am nothing.
Paul sees what we eventually call the “communion of saints” as alive, real, and operative in this world. “Salvation” is something we participate in right here and now. No individual is adequate for the task, but still, many who go to church are in it as individuals
When Paul addresses his letters to “the saints,” he is not speaking of the later Roman idea of canonized saints. He is speaking of the people who make up the living communities who participate in the shared life of love in the world.
Individuals are not made heroes, but as members of the Body they “shine like stars” as “perfect children of God among a deceitful and underhanded brood” (Philippians 2:15). Following directly from Jesus, communities are the “leaven” by which God eventually changes the whole world.
Romans 12:4-5 “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other… “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.”
