The church during St. Paul’s time was a living organism that communicated the gospel through relationships; it was not yet an organized religion of shared practices and ideologies.
Paul’s brilliant metaphor for the church is the Body of Christ and at the heart of this body, providing the energy that enlivens the community is “the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).
This Spirit is the energy of the universe, the Ground of all Being, and Union is the concrete work of God in loving us – “You in your togetherness are Christ’s Body” (1 Corinthians 12:27).
For Jesus, such teachings as forgiveness, healing, and justice are clear evidence of such a shared life. They are not some kind of ticket to heaven later, but are the price of peoplehood—the signature of heaven—now.
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.”
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