The Ministry of Christ as HEAD
August 3, 2016, by Valerie Jacobsen
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What if the word “head” in Ephesians 5 is used in a sense which matches its context perfectly and which coordinates perfectly with the specific commandments given to husbands there? What if the Apostle does not intend, what if our Lord does not intend, for us to import a foreign concept for “head” and then use that foreign concept to go beyond our bounds and presume to write our own commandments for a husband’s ministry?
I have supplied this note to show what the Church has said regarding Christ’s ministry as “head of the church, his body.” I have been careful not to cherry-pick my quotes, but only to discover what the church has understood of Christ as Her Head. Therefore, this note is mostly selections from the Bible, from the Westminster Standards, and from church history. I have added a few comments of my own and some emphases through bold type or italics wherever I thought it would be helpful for me as I use this note for my reference.
I believe that these quotes suggest that the head-body metaphor in Ephesians 5 could be purely a reference to union, which to my mind fits the context of Ephesians 5 and I Corinthians 11 far better than either ‘source’ (the egalitarian preference) or ‘authority over’ (the complementarian preference).
Ephesians 5--
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
I Corinthians 11
3 But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.... [In the eternal trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal in power and authority, equally God. Their oneness as one God, and their three-ness as three Persons are equally ultimate, there is not a greater God with authority over two lesser gods. Also, apart from Christ’s humiliation in his earthly ministry, there is just one divine will which is always and equally shared by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus, ‘head’ here cannot here mean a rule-making, decision-making position of authority to ‘boss’ and direct in the Trinity, or that the Father imposes a will which is foreign to Christ upon him to obey as subordinate. The heresy of Eternal Subordination of the Son, or Subordinationism won’t lead to a proper interpretation of this verse.]
7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
NOTE WELL: I am not asking any of the following authors for their private opinions on the structure of marriage or male-female “roles”. Generally speaking, I know what positions they took or tended to take. I am asking them only to help me understand what they conceived when they saw these words: “Christ is the head of the church, his body”.
Westminster Confession of the Faith
Chapter 8 - Of Christ the Mediator
"1. It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of his church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom he did from all eternity give a people, to be his seed, and to be by him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified....
Chapter 25 Of the Church
1. The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
. . . . .
6. There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof.
Chapter 26 Of the Communion of Saints
1. All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by his Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with him in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.
Chapter 30 Of Church Censures
1. The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of his church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate. [My understanding here and from other places is that they conceived of ‘King’ and ‘Head’ as describing two aspects of Christ’s ministry, not as synonymous.]
Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 52. How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?
A. Christ was exalted in his resurrection, in that, not having seen corruption in death (of which it was not possible for him to be held), and having the very same body in which he suffered, with the essential properties thereof (but without mortality, and other common infirmities belonging to this life), really united to his soul, he rose again from the dead the third day by his own power; whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead: all which he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their justification, quickening in grace, support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.
Q. 53. How was Christ exalted in his ascension?
A. Christ was exalted in his ascension, in that having after his resurrection often appeared unto and conversed with his apostles, speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and giving them commission to preach the gospel to all nations, forty days after his resurrection, he, in our nature, and as our head, triumphing over enemies, visibly went up into the highest heavens, there to receive gifts for men, to raise up our affections thither, and to prepare a place for us, where himself is, and shall continue till his second coming at the end of the world.
Q. 64. What is the invisible church?
A. The invisible church is the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one under Christ the head.
Q. 66. What is that union which the elect have with Christ?
A. The union which the elect have with Christ is the work of God's grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically, yet really and inseparably, joined to Christ as their head and husband; which is done in their effectual calling.
Q. 83. What is the communion in glory with Christ which the members of the invisible church enjoy in this life?
A. The members of the invisible church have communicated to them in this life the firstfruits of glory with Christ, as they are members of him their head, and so in him are interested in that glory which he is fully possessed of; and, as an earnest thereof, enjoy the sense of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and hope of glory; as, on the contrary, sense of God's revenging wrath, horror of conscience, and a fearful expectation of judgment, are to the wicked the beginning of their torments which they shall endure after death.
Q. 87. What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?
A. We are to believe that at the last day there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust: when they that are then found alive shall in a moment be changed; and the selfsame bodies of the dead which were laid in the grave, being then again united to their souls forever, shall be raised up by the power of Christ. The bodies of the just, by the Spirit of Christ, and by virtue of his resurrection as their head, shall be raised in power, spiritual, incorruptible, and made like to his glorious body; and the bodies of the wicked shall be raised up in dishonor by him, as an offended judge.
I believe that Ephesians 5 is not teaching husbands to model the totality of all Christ’s ministry to the church, that husbands don’t have all the power of Christ, that they don’t have the offices of priest, prophet, and king, but only the ministry of head, and the ministry of love, which does not call husbands to be like Christ in his deity (which would be contra the first commandment), or in his eternity glory (while they are still mortal men), but in Christ’s ordinary humanity, when he took an ordinary human body down an ordinary road carrying a very heavy Cross, to die for his Bride. This is the exact reference.
Additional sources
For the following sources, I think it’s worth considering how unsuitable it would be, in these cases, to substitute “rule-maker” for head, and how these theologians are so clearly failing to reference a comprehensive regulatory power in their statements.
And, please note, I have only spent a few days on this project. I was just asking some old friends for their thoughts on a subject of interest to me. I am not claiming that this is an exhaustive representation of Christian history.
Augustine
"The first is about the Lord and His body, and it is this, that, knowing as we do that the head and the body—that is, Christ and His Church—are sometimes indicated to us under one person (for it is not in vain that it is said to believers, 'Ye then are Abraham's seed,' when there is but one seed of Abraham, and that is Christ), we need not be in a difficulty when a transition is made from the head to the body or from the body to the head, and yet no change made in the person spoken of. For a single person is represented as saying, 'He has decked me as a bridegroom with ornaments, and adorned me as a bride with jewels;' and yet it is, of course, a matter for interpretation which of these two refers to the head and which to the body, that is, which to Christ and which to the Church."
-- Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, ch 31
John Calvin
"The adoption was put in Abraham's hands. Nevertheless, because many of his descendants were cut off as rotten members, we must, in order that election may be effectual and truly enduring, ascend to the Head, in whom the Heavenly Father has gathered his elect together, and has joined them to himself by an indissoluble bond. So, indeed, God's generous favor, which he has denied to others, has been displayed in the adoption of the race of Abraham; yet in the members of Christ a far more excellent power of grace appears, for, engrafted to their Head, they are never cut off from salvation. -- Calvin, Institutes, III.xxi.7.
John Owen
"They, then, are the body. What part is Christ? He is the head... This relation of head and members, I say, between Christ and his, holds out the union that is between them, which consists in their being so. As the head and the members make one body, so Christ and his members make one mystical Christ. Whence, then, is it that the head and members have this their union, whereby they become one body? Wherein doth it consist? Is it that from the head the members do receive their influences of life, sense, and guidance, as the saints do from Christ...? Our union with Christ cannot consist in the communication of any thing to us as members, from him the head; but it must be in that which constitutes him and us in the relation of head and members. He is our head antecedently in order of nature to any communication of grace from him as a head, and yet not antecedently to our union with him.... If a man could be imagined so big and tall as that his feet should stand upon the earth, and his head reach the starry heavens, yet, having but one soul, he is still but one man. As, then, one living soul makes the natural head and members to be one, one body; so one quickening Spirit, dwelling in Christ and his members, gives them their union, and makes them one Christ, one body...
"Of husband and wife. The union that is between them sets out the union betwixt Christ and his saints. There is not any one more frequent illustration of it in the Scripture, the Holy Ghost pursuing the allusion in all the most considerable concernments of it, and holding it out as the most solemn representation of the union that is between Christ and his church.... The transition is eminent from the conjugal relation that is between man and wife unto Christ and his church. What the apostle had spoken of the one, he would have understood of the other. Wherein consists, then, the union between man and wife, which is chosen by God himself to represent the union between Christ and his church? The Holy Ghost informs us, Gen. ii. 24, “They shall be no more twain, but one flesh.” This is their union, — they shall be no more twain, but (in all mutual care, respect, tenderness, and love) one flesh. The rise of this you have, verse 23, because of the bone and flesh of Adam was Eve his helper made. Hence are they said to be “one flesh".... As they are one flesh, so these are one spirit; and as they are one flesh, because the one was made out of the other, so these are one spirit, because the Spirit which is in Christ, by dwelling in them, makes them his members, which is their union."
--John Owen, Doctrine of the Saints' Perseverance Explained and Confirmed
[Owen does use ‘head’ as a synonym for authority in other contexts.]
John Flavel
"First, Thou in me: This is a glorious ineffable union, and is fundamental to the other two. The Father is not only in Christ, in respect of dear affections, as one dear friend is in another, who is as his own soul; nor only essentially, in respect of the identity and sameness of nature and attributes, in which respect Christ is the express image of his person, Heb. 1:8. But he is in Christ also as Mediator, by communicating the fulness of the Godhead, which dwells in him as God-man, in a transcendent and singular manner, so as it never dwelt, nor call dwell in any other, Col. 2:9.
"Secondly, I in them. There is the mystical union betwixt Christ and the saints, q. d. Thou and I are one essentially, they and I are one mystically: and thou and I are one by communication at the Godhead, and singular fulness of the Spirit to me as Mediator; and they and I are one, by my communication of the Spirit to them in measure.
"Thirdly, From hence results a third union betwixt believers themselves; that they may be made perfect in one; the same Spirit dwelling in them all, and equally uniting them all to me, as living members to their Head of influence, there must needs be a dear and intimate union betwixt themselves, as fellow-members of the same body.
"Now my business, at this time, lying in the second branch, namely the union betwixt Christ and believers, I shall gather up the substance of it into this doctrinal proposition, to which I shall apply this discourse.
“Doct. That there is a strict and dear union betwixt Christ and all true believers.
"The scriptures have borrowed from the book at nature four elegant and lively metaphors, to help the nature of this mystical union with Christ into our understandings; namely, that of pieces of timber united by glue, that of a graff taking hold of its stock, and making one tree; that of the husband and wife, by the marriage-covenant, becoming one flesh; and that of the members and head animated by one soul, and so becoming one natural body. Every one of these is more lively and full than the other: and what is defective in one, is supplied in the other; but yet neither any of these singly, or all at them jointly, can give us a full and complete account of this mystery."
-- John Flavel, Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
Jonathan Edwards
"It is certain that there is some union or relation that the people of Christ stand in to him, that is expressed in Scripture, from time to time, by being in Christ, and is represented frequently by those metaphors of being members of Christ, or being united to him as members to the head, and branches to the stock, and is compared to a marriage union between husband and wife. I do not now pretend to determine of what sort this union is; nor is it necessary to my present purpose to enter into any manner of disputes about it. If any are disgusted at the word union, as obscure and unintelligible, the word relation equally serves my purpose. I do not now desire to determine any more about it, than all, of all sorts, will readily allow, viz. that there is a peculiar relation between true Christians and Christ, which there is not between him and others; and which is signified by those metaphorical expressions in Scripture, of being in Christ, being members of Christ, &c.
“This relation or union to Christ, whereby Christians are said to be in Christ, (whatever it be,) is the ground of their right to his benefits. This needs no proof; the reason of the thing, at first blush, demonstrates it. It is exceeding evident also by Scripture, 1 John v.12. “He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son, hath not life.” 1 Cor. i.30. “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us–righteousness.” First we must be in him, and then he will be made righteousness or justification to us. Eph. i.6. “Who hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Our being in him is the ground or our being accepted. So it is in those unions to which the Holy Ghost has thought fit to compare this. The union of the members of the body with the head, is the ground of their partaking of the life of the head; it is the union of the branches to the stock, which is the ground of their partaking of the sap and life of the stock; it is the relation of the wife to the husband, that is the ground of her joint interest in his estate; they are looked upon, in several respects, as one in law. So there is a legal union between Christ and true Christians; so that (as all except Socinians allow) one, in some respects, is accepted for the other by the Supreme Judge.”
George Whitefield
"Although believers by nature, are far from God, and children of wrath, even as others, yet it is amazing to think how nigh they are brought to him again by the blood of Jesus Christ. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of any man living, fully to conceive, the nearness and dearness of that relation, in which they stand to their common head. He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Behold, says the blessed Jesus in the days of his flesh, 'my mother and my brethren.' And again after his resurrection, 'go tell my brethren.' Nay sometimes he is pleased to term believers his friends. 'Henceforth call I you no longer servants, but friends.' 'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.' And what is a friend? Why there is a friend that is nearer than a brother, nay as near as one's own soul. And 'thy friend, (says God in the book of Deuteronomy) which is as thy own soul.' Kind and endearing applications these, that undoubtedly bespeak a very near and ineffably intimate union between the Lord Jesus and the true living members of his mystical body! But, methinks, the words of our text point out to us a relation, which not only comprehends, but in respect to nearness and dearness , exceeds all other relations whatsoever. I mean that of a Husband, 'For thy Maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called.'"
-- George Whitefield, Selected Sermons of George Whitefield
Samuel Hopkins
"This union between Christ and believers in him, is represented by a variety of similitudes in scripture. It is represented by a building composed of stones, all resting on a chief corner stone, which bears up the whole. By the natural body, consisting of head and members, all united to the head; the life and every function of the body, and each of the members depending upon their union with the head, and being derived from that: It is compared to the union of the food and drink, to the stomach and body, being taken into that, and digested, and thereby spreading life and spirit through the whole, for its constant support. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.' It is illustrated by the union of the branch with the vine, by which the former derives life, sap and nourishment from the latter. 'I am the vine, ye are the branches.'
To mention no more, it is frequently represented by the union between the husband and the wife, which is a voluntary or a moral union, and by which the wife shares in the dignity, goods and possessions of her husband, and receives protection and support from him. The church is therefore called 'the bride, the Lamb’s wife.' Believers, by their union to Christ, receive the benefit of his sufferings and obedience, and are made rich, partaking in all his fulness; and become joint heirs with him of eternal inheritance.The union between Christ and believers is a moral and spiritual union: In this respect, 'He who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit.' It is an imperfect union in the beginning of it: It is therefore a growing union, until it shall be made perfect; it being a lasting union, which shall continue forever. And when this becomes perfect, which it will not, in its most complete state, till the resurrection, there will be a full and perfect participation of redemption by Christ; and that prayer of Christ will then be completely answered. 'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word: That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. That the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them.'"
--Samuel Hopkins, System of Doctrines, Contained in Divine Relation, Explained and Defended
Charles Hodge
The analogy which the Apostle traces out in Ephesians v. 22-33, between the conjugal relation and the union between Christ and his Church, brings out the Scriptural doctrine of marriage more clearly than perhaps any other passage in the Bible. No analogy is expected to answer in all respects, and no illustration borrowed from earthly relations can bring out all the fulness of the things of God. The relation, therefore, between a husband and his wife, is only an adumbration of the relation of Christ to his Church. Still there is an analogy between the two, (1.) As the Apostle teaches, the love of Christ to his Church is peculiar and exclusive. It is such as He has for no other class or body of rational creatures in the universe. So the love of the husband for his wife is peculiar and exclusive. It is such as he has for no other object; a love in which no one can participate. (2.) Christ’s love for his Church is self-sacrificing. He gave himself for it. He purchased the Church with his blood. So the husband should, and when true, does, in all things sacrifice himself for his wife. (3.) Christ and his Church are one; one in the sense that the Church is his body. So the husband and wife are in such a sense one, that a man in loving his wife loves himself. (4.) Christ’s life is communicated to the Church. As the life of the head is communicated to the members of the human body; and the life of the vine to the branches, so there is, in a mysterious sense, a community of life between Christ and his Church. In like manner, in a sense no less truly mysterious, there is a community of life between husband and wife."
-- Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology
Charles Spurgeon
The third metaphor which the Savior deigns to give of this union is that of the husband and the wife. 'For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church.' Here you have a union, not only of life, but also of love. It is worthy of notice that the two words, 'live,' and, 'love,' should be so like each other. In spiritual things, the two things are not only similar, they are exactly alike! Love is the life and life is always first sent—and chiefly sent in the form of love....
"All human imagery fails to set forth the union between Christ and His people, but the figure in our text is that of the head and the member. The Apostle says of Christ that ‘we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.’ Christ is the Head and we are members of His body. Wonderful union, this! In the first metaphor, the foundation and the stone, we had the idea of rest. In the second, the vine and the branches, the idea of life. The union of the husband and wife gave us the thought of love. Now, here, we have the suggestion of identity. There are two lives in the husband and the wife, but there is only one life in the head and the body—and in this respect this metaphor brings out the true relation of Christ to His people more clearly than any other!
"There is a wonderful union between the head and the members of the body. It is a union of life and a union of the body which always continues. The husband may have to travel miles away from the wife, but it can never be that the head can travel away from the body. If I were to hear of any man whose head was six inches, or even an inch away from his body, I would say that he was dead! There must be perpetual union between the head and the members, or else death follows—and the death, mark you, not only of the body, but of the head as well. They are dead when they are divided. How glorious is this thought when we apply it to the Lord and His redeemed people! Their union is everlasting! They would die if separated from Him and even He would cease to be did He lose them, for, somehow or other, they are so joined that He will not be without them—He cannot be without them, for that were for the Head of the Church to be divided from the members of His mystical body!"
-- Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon
"The head and members are of one nature, and not like that monstrous image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. The head was of fine gold, but the belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet, part of iron and part of clay. Christ’s mystical body is no absurd combination of opposites; the members were mortal, and therefore Jesus died; the glorified head is immortal, and therefore the body is immortal too, for thus the record stands, 'Because I live, ye shall live also.' As is our loving Head, such is the body, and every member in particular. A chosen Head and chosen members; an accepted Head, and accepted members; a living Head, and living members. If the head be pure gold, all the parts of the body are of pure gold also. Thus is there a double union of nature as a basis for the closest communion. Pause here, devout reader, and see if thou canst without ecstatic amazement, contemplate the infinite condescension of the Son of God in thus exalting thy wretchedness into blessed union with his glory. Thou art so mean that in remembrance of thy mortality, thou mayest say to corruption, 'Thou art my father,' and to the worm, 'Thou art my sister'; and yet in Christ thou art so honoured that thou canst say to the Almighty, 'Abba, Father,' and to the Incarnate God, 'Thou art my brother and my husband.' Surely if relationships to ancient and noble families make men think highly of themselves, we have whereof to glory over the heads of them all. Let the poorest and most despised believer lay hold upon this privilege; let not a senseless indolence make him negligent to trace his pedigree, and let him suffer no foolish attachment to present vanities to occupy his thoughts to the exclusion of this glorious, this heavenly honour of union with Christ."
-- Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, December 6
Abraham Kuyper
(See how he distinguishes between head, lord, and king as different concepts.)
"Head, Lord and King are but three rays of the selfsame glory. Head points to the inner relationship and sodality [brotherhood] of your life, existence and inner being, with the life, existence and being of your Savior, Lord expresses that Christ owns you, that you are his property, that you belong to him, that he has redeemed you from the power of Satan, and that he has bought you with his blood. And only in this two-fold relation, because he is your Head and Lord, he is also your King, who has taken you up into his Kingdom, incorporated you with his people, made you sharer in his lot, and rules you by his royal law of life. You are his subject, but only because thereby you are a member of the body of which he is the head."
-- Abraham Kuyper, To Be Near Unto God
Abraham Kuyper
"And now the second point which should be carefully considered. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out for the first time and once for all, and he has been in the church ever since, never to leave her again, but to dwell in and with her forever more. But . . . and this is all too frequently forgotten. What is in the church is therefore by no means yet present in everyone that is counted in the church. The true church of the living God is the body of Christ, the mystical body of which he is the Head; and in this mystical body the Holy Spirit dwells, first in the Head, and from this Head, along all articulations, tissues and veins inspires every one who as a living member has been incorporated in this Body, and lives in connection with this Body. It is not an individual here and an individual there, who each by himself receives the Holy Ghost, and who now by uniting together constitute the Body of Christ. A body does not originate in such a way, that first there are the members, and that afterward these individual members are joined together into a body. The body is conceived and born with the crust and with the beginnings in it of every member that later on is to come out from it. Even the beard, which only covers the chin in later years, is not brought to it from without, but grows from a germ which the infant at birth brought with it. And in this body is the life. Not in one member by itself. An amputated leg is dead. Even an arm that is still joined to the body can be rendered as good as dead, and only becomes alive again when from the body the blood flows into it.
"And so it is with the Body of the Lord, which is the Congregation of the Saints. The head of that Body can not be touched. Christ is in glory. The Holy Spirit never departs from Him. And while Christ as the Head is inseparable from that Body, the Holy Spirit, the life of the Church, is always insured and guaranteed in that Sacred Head. However nearly life may be extinct at a given moment in the members of the Body, it flows with irresistible pressure from the Head to the members again. And even presently exercises that wonderfully assimilating power again which shows itself so gloriously in every reveille. Of course, this Body is not identical with the visible church. But the visible church also is not alive save by the Holy Ghost, who, flowing out from the Head of the invisible Body of the Lord, keeps the church alive so long as she does not cut the vital connection with the invisible Body.
"And this is the effect of this indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the church that he who is connected with this church in an organic, spiritual way, knows and tastes a fellowship with the Triune Being, such as is not possible outside of it. There is, indeed, a certain sense of the existence of God among the unconverted. Also a certain feeling of dependence upon a higher Power. The voice of conscience is also heard in their hearts. When advanced in years, they frequently think of what is to come after death. But not with all. Far from it. It can not be denied that the number of those who have no more concern about God than about their sin and about their future after death is steadily on the increase."
-- Abraham Kuyper, To be Near unto God
Abraham Kuyper
"First, the elect must constitute one body. Second, they were not so constituted during the days of the Old Covenant, of John the Baptist, and of Christ while on earth. Third, this body did not exist until Christ ascended to heaven and, sitting at the right hand of God, bestowed upon this body its unity, in that God gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church—Ephes. iv. 12. Lastly, Christ as the glorified Head, having formed His spiritual body by the vital union of the elect, on the day of Pentecost poured out His Holy Spirit into the whole body, never more to let Him depart from it. That these conclusions contain nothing but what the Church of all ages has confessed appears from the fact that the Reformed churches have always maintained: First, that our communion with the Holy Spirit depends upon our mystic union with the body of which Christ is the Head, which is the underlying thought of the Lord’s Supper. Second, that the elect form one body under Christ their Head. Third, that this body began to exist when it received its Head; and that, according to Ephes. i. 22. Christ was given to be the Head after His resurrection and ascension."
-- Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit
Louis Berkhof
"THE UNION OF LIFE IDEALLY ESTABLISHED IN THE COUNSEL OF REDEMPTION. In the case of the first Adam there was not only a federal, but also a natural and organic union between him and his descendants. There was the tie of a common life between him and all his progeny, and this made it possible that the blessings of the covenant of works, if these had eventuated, could have been passed on to the whole organism of mankind in an organic way. A somewhat similar situation obtained in the case of the last Adam as the representative Head of the covenant of redemption. Like the first Adam, He did not represent a conglomeration of disjointed individuals, but a body of men and women who were to derive their life from Him, to be united by spiritual ties, and thus to form a spiritual organism. Ideally this body, which is the Church, was already formed in the covenant of redemption, and formed in union with Christ, and this union made it possible that all the blessings merited by Christ could be passed on to those whom He represented in an organic way. They were conceived of as a glorious body, a new humanity, sharing the life of Jesus Christ. It was in virtue of that union, as it was realized in the course of history, that Christ could say: 'Behold, I and the children whom God hath given me,' Heb. 2:13.
"THE UNION OF LIFE OBJECTIVELY REALIZED IN CHRIST. In virtue of the legal or representative union established in the covenant of redemption Christ became incarnate as the substitute for His people, to merit all the blessings of salvation for them. Since His children were sharers in flesh and blood, 'He also in like manner partook of the same; that through death He might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage,' Heb. 2:14,15. He could merit salvation for them just because He already stood in relation to them as their Surety and Mediator, their Head and Substitute. The whole Church was included in Him as her Head. In an objective sense she was crucified with Christ, she died with Him, she arose in Him from the dead, and was made to sit with Him in the heavenly places. All the blessings of saving grace lie ready for the Church in Christ; man can add nothing to them; and they now only await their subjective application by the operation of the Holy Spirit, which is also merited by Christ and is sure of progressive realization in the course of history.
"THE UNION OF LIFE SUBJECTIVELY REALIZED BY THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. The work of Christ was not finished when He had merited salvation for His people and had obtained actual possession of the blessings of salvation. In the counsel of redemption He took it upon Himself to put all His people in possession of all these blessings, and He does this through the operation of the Holy Spirit, who takes all things out of Christ, and gives them unto us. We should not conceive of the subjective realization of the mystical union in the Church atomistically, as if it were effected by bringing now this and then that individual sinner to Christ. It should be seen from the point of view of Christ. Objectively, the whole Church is in Him, and is born out of Him as the Head. It is not a mechanism, in which the parts precede the whole, but an organism, in which the whole is prior to the parts. The parts come forth out of Christ through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and then continue in living relationship with Him. Jesus calls attention to this organic relationship when He says: 'I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing,' John 15:5. In view of what was said, it is quite evident that it is not correct to say that the mystical union is the fruit of man's believing acceptance of Christ, as if faith were not one of the blessings of the covenant which flow unto us from the fulness of Christ, but a condition which man must meet partly or wholly in his own strength, in order to enter into living relationship with Jesus Christ. Faith is first of all a gift of God, and as such a part of the treasures that are hidden in Christ. It enables us to appropriate on our part what is given unto us in Christ, and to enter ever-increasingly into conscious enjoyment of the blessed union with Christ, which is the source of all our spiritual riches.
This union may be defined as that intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and His people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and salvation. That it is a very intimate union appears abundantly from the figures that are used in Scripture to describe it. It is a union as of the vine and the branches, John 15:5, as of a foundation and the building that is reared on it, I Pet. 2:4,5, as of husband and wife, Eph. 5:23-32, and as of the head and the members of the body, Eph. 4:15,16. And even these figures fail to give full expression to the reality. It is a union that passes understanding. Says Dr. Hodge: 'The technical designation of this union in theological language is "mystical," because it so far transcends all the analogies of earthly relationships, in the intimacy of its connection, in the transforming power of its influence, and in the excellence of its consequences.' If the discussion of this aspect of the mystical union is taken up first of all in the ordo salutis, it should be borne in mind (a) that it would seem to be desirable to consider it in connection with what precedes it, ideally in the counsel of redemption, and objectively in the work of Christ; and (b) that the order is logical rather than chronological. Since the believer is 'a new creature' (II Cor. 5:17), or is 'justified' (Acts 13:39) only in Christ, union with Him logically precedes both regeneration and justification by faith, while yet, chronologically, the moment when we are united with Christ is also the moment of our regeneration and justification."
--Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology
James Montgomery
Union of faith, and hope, and love,
Union of heart, and soul, and mind,
Affections fix'd on things above,
As one on earth, God's children bind.
Stones, built on Christ, the corner stone,
A spiritual temple, lo! they rise,
While sweet ascends, before the throne,
Praise in perpetual sacrifice.
Branches in Christ, the one true Vine,
Nourish'd by Him alone they thrive;
From Him the leaf, the fruit, the wine,
Each in its season, all derive.
Members of Christ, the Church's head,
Who lives Himself through every limb,
To sin, the world, and Satan dead,
Their life in God is hid with Him.
Thus young and old, thus great and small,
O might their multitude increase!--
Who Christ their Lord and Master call,
Whate'er their lot--in Him have peace.
--James Montgomery, Symbols of Christian Fellowship, 1853