There are six main symbols depicting Christ and the Church.
A. The Head and the Body.
Rom 12:4 For just as there are in the one human body many parts, and these parts have not all the same function;
Rom 12:5 so collectively we form one body in Christ, while individually we are linked to one another as its members.
1Co 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? No, indeed.
1Co 12:12 For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all its parts, many as they are, constitute but one body, so it is with the Church of Christ.
1Co 12:13 For, in fact, in one Spirit all of us--whether we are Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free men--were baptized to form but one body; and we were all nourished by that one Spirit.
1Co 12:27 As for you, you are the body of Christ, and individually you are members of it.
1Co 12:28 And by God's appointment there are in the Church--first Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly teachers. Then come miraculous powers, and then ability to cure diseases or render loving service, or powers of organization, or varieties of the gift of 'tongues.'
Col 1:18 Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.
Note from these verses:
1. The Church as His Body is to be subject to the Head, even Christ.
2. It is to experience unity with The Head.
3. Work in glad service for the Head.
4. Take direction from the Head.
B. The Bridegroom and the bride.
2Co 11:2 I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy. For I have betrothed you to Christ to present you to Him like a faithful bride to her one husband.
Eph 5:25 Married men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up to death for her;
Eph 5:26 in order to make her holy, cleansing her with the baptismal water by the word,
Eph 5:27 that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle or any other defect, but to be holy and unblemished.
Eph 5:28 So too married men ought to love their wives as much as they love themselves. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Eph 5:29 For never yet has a man hated his own body. On the contrary he feeds and cherishes it, just as Christ feeds and cherishes the Church;
Eph 5:30 because we are, as it were, parts of His Body.
Eph 5:31 "FOR THIS REASON A MAN IS TO LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER AND BE UNITED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BE AS ONE."
Eph 5:32 That is a great truth hitherto kept secret: I mean the truth concerning Christ and the Church.
Rev 21:9 Then there came one of the seven angels who were carrying the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues. "Come with me," he said, "and I will show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife."
Rev 21:10 So in the Spirit he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God,
Ephesian 3:14-21
C. The Vine and the Branches.
Joh 15:1 "I am the Vine--the True Vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me--if it bears no fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Already you are cleansed--through the teaching which I have given you.
Joh 15:4 Continue in me, and let me continue in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself--that is, if it does not continue in the vine--so neither can you if you do not continue in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who continues in me and in whom I continue bears abundant fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If any one does not continue in me, he is like the unfruitful branch which is at once thrown away and then withers up. Such branches they gather up and throw into the fire and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 "If you continue in me and my sayings continue in you, ask what you will and it shall be done for you.
Joh 15:8 By this is God glorified--by your bearing abundant fruit and thus being true disciples of mine.
Joh 15:9 As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you: continue in my love.
Joh 15:10 If you obey my commands, you will continue in my love, as I have obeyed my Father's commands and continue in His love.
Joh 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you in order that I may have joy in you, and that your joy may become perfect.
Note here.
1. Christ is the True Vine that is the branches the fruit He is everything.v.1
2. The Father is tending this vine.
3. Unfruitful branches are removed. v.2
4. The fruitful branches are pruned for He wants More fruit.v.3.
5. We have been cleansed by His Word. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. The spoken word is the instrument appointed by God for the cleansing of the soul. The word tells us what to do in order that we may be cleansed from sin.v.3
6. V.4 Continue in me, and let me continue in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself--that is, if it does not continue in the vine--so neither can you if you do not continue in me.
True fruitfulness is the result of union with Christ.
Continue in Me [Abide in me] The former of these is an exhortation to continue in the exercise of faith and love upon Christ, holding to him the head, cleaving to him with full purpose of heart, and so deriving life, grace, strength, and nourishment from him; the latter is a promise encouraging to the former; for as Christ is formed in the hearts of his people, he continues there as the living principle of all grace.j. Gill
7. Abundant fruitfulness is the outcome of continuing to be attached and allowing His word to Work in us.v. 5
8. Unfruitful branches are cut off and burned in the fire.v.6
Adam Clark comments “If a man abide not in me - Our Lord in the plainest manner intimates that a person may as truly be united to him as the branch is to the tree that produces it, and yet be afterwards cut off and cast into the fire; because he has not brought forth fruit to the glory of his God. No man can cut off a branch from a tree to which that branch was never united: it is absurd, and contrary to the letter and spirit of the metaphor, to talk of being seemingly in Christ - because this means nothing. If there was only a seeming union, there could be only a seeming excision: so the matter is just where it began; nothing is done on either side, and nothing said to any purpose.
He is cast forth - Observe, that person who abides not in Christ, in a believing loving, obedient spirit, is -
1. Cut off from Jesus, having no longer any right or title to him or to his salvation.
2. He is withered - deprived of all the influences of God’s grace and Spirit; loses all his heavenly unction; becomes indifferent, cold, and dead to every holy and spiritual word and work.
3. He is gathered - becomes (through the judgment of God) again united with backsliders like himself and other workers of iniquity; and, being abandoned to his own heart and Satan, he is,
4. Cast into the fire - separated from God’s people, from God himself, and from the glory of his power. And,
5. He is burned - is eternally tormented with the devil and his angels, and with all those who have lived and died in their iniquity. Reader! pray God that this may never be thy portion.”
D. The Shepherd and the Sheep.
Joh 10:11 "I am the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his very life for the sheep.
Heb 13:20 Now may God who gives peace, and brought Jesus, our Lord, up again from among the dead--even Him who, by virtue of the blood of the eternal Covenant, is the great Shepherd of the sheep--
1Pe 5:2 Be shepherds of God's flock which is among you. Exercise the oversight not reluctantly but eagerly, in accordance with the will of God; not for base gain but with cheerful minds;
1Pe 5:3 not lording it over your Churches but proving yourselves patterns for the flock to imitate.
1Pe 5:4 And then, when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the never-withering wreath of glory.
Thus to His church, Christ is the Good Shepherd (because of what He accomplished in the past, namely Justification - see Ps.22
In the Present He is the Great Shepherd because of what He accomplishes - SANCTIFICATION.- see Ps 23
He is the Chief Shepherd because of what He will accomplish in the near future - namely - the Glorification of the Church see Ps 24
E. The High Priest of a Kingdom of priests.
1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
1Pe 2:10 you who then were not a people, but now the people of God,
Rev 5:10 And You made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign over the earth.
Heb_4:14 Since then we have a Great High Priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
The priest of the OT was to offer animal sacrifices. Note these New Testament sacrifices:
1. His body as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1
2. The Sacrifice of Praise 1 Peter 2 :5;9; Heb 13:15
3. Doing Good Heb 13:16
4. The Sacrifice of Substance. Hebrews 13:16F. The Cornerstone and the Living Stones.
Eph 2:19 Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,
Eph 2:20 and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Eph 2:21 in whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord;
Eph 2:22 in whom you also are built together for a dwelling place of God through the Spirit.
Notes from this Scripture.
1. The Family or Household of God was compared to a Holy City, or a Dwelling place of God such as the Temple.v.19, 22.
2. Strangers and foreigners have no rights there of ownership or covenantal blessings. They are outsiders or sojourners.v.19
3. The Apostles and prophets are the Foundation. It was the teaching of theses Apostles and prophets in general, upon which the Church was built. Not Peter as the Vicar of Christ or vice - regent as the Roman Catholic church proclaims.
Learn here from A. Barnes:
(1) That no reliance is to be placed on human philosophy as a basis of religious doctrine.
(2) that the traditions of people have no authority in the church, and constitute no part of the foundation.
(3) that nothing is to be regarded as a fundamental part of the Christian system, or as binding on the conscience, which cannot be found in the “prophets and apostles;” that is, as it means here, in the Holy Scriptures. No decrees of councils; no ordinances of synods; no “standard” of doctrines; no creed or confession, is to be urged as authority in forming the opinions of people. They may be valuable for some purposes, but not for this; they may be referred to as interesting parts of history, but not to form the faith of Christians; they may be used in the church to express its belief, but not to form it. What is based on the authority of apostles and prophets is true, and always true, and only true; what may be found elsewhere, may be valuable and true, or not, but, at any rate, is not to be used to control the faith of people.
4. Jesus Christ , Himself , is the Chief Cornerstone.
- see Isa_28:16; Rom_9:33, . The cornerstone is the most important in the building.
(1) because the edifice rests mainly on the cornerstones. If they are small, and unstable, and settle down, the whole building is insecure; and hence care is taken to place a large stone firmly at each corner of an edifice.
(2) because it occupies a conspicuous and honourable place. If documents or valuable articles are deposited at the foundation of a building it is within the cornerstone. The Lord Jesus is called the “cornerstone,” because the whole edifice rests on him, or he occupies a place relatively as important as the cornerstone of an edifice. Were it not for him, the edifice could not be sustained for a moment. Neither prophets nor apostles alone could sustain it; see the notes at 1Co_3:11; compare 1Pe_2:6.
1Pe 2:4 For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God;
1Pe 2:5 you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. .
1Pe 2:6 Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture: "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner Stone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him shall never be ashamed."
1. Jesus Christ is that living stone to whom we are drawn.
v.4 For having been drawn to Him, a living Stone, indeed rejected by men, but elect, precious with God;
For having been drawn to Him : In laying of Blocks in the foundation, the Cornerstone is laid first and then all the other stones are aligned to the cornerstone. They are drawn to it or slid into place so as to fit and butt up to it for strength.
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| No solid Cornerstone |
Christ is the living stone. He is living and breathing and thus able to pass on life to us as we are connected and aligned to Him and His teaching. Thayer says It means “metaphorically to be in full vigour 5a) to be fresh, strong, efficient 5b) as adjective active, powerful, efficacious. Wow what a Cornerstone.
1Pe 2:5 you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. .
You also, are lively stones,.(living stones) J. Gill... Saints likewise are compared to stones; they lie in the same quarry, and are the same by nature as the rest of mankind, till dug out and separated from thence by the powerful and efficacious grace of God, when they are hewn, and made fit for the spiritual building; where both for their ornament, beauty, and strength, which they receive from Christ, they are compared to stones, and are lasting and durable, and will never perish, nor be removed out of the building: and because of that life which they derive from him, and have in him, they are called "lively", or "living stones"; the spirit of life having entered into them, a principle of life being implanted in them, and coming to Christ, the living stone, they live upon him, and he lives in them.
1Pet 2:6 "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner Stone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him shall never be ashamed."
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