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Course 7 · Lesson 5.3

Christ, the Spirit and the body of Christ

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 7 outline

Module 1: The World of the New Testament

  1. Second Temple Judaism in the time of Jesus
  2. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and other movements
  3. Rome, the Herods and the province of Judea
  4. Hopes, protest and revolt in Jewish political life

Module 2: Jesus in History

  1. Sources for Jesus: Christian, Jewish and Roman
  2. The quests for the historical Jesus and their methods
  3. Criteria of authenticity and their limits
  4. Historical results and Christian confession

Module 3: The Gospels as Books

  1. The gospels and ancient biography
  2. Traditions of authorship and the arguments about them
  3. The synoptic problem: the evidence of agreement and difference
  4. Solutions: Markan priority, Q, Matthean priority and others
  5. Four portraits of Jesus: the distinct emphasis of each gospel

Module 4: Acts and the Spread of the Church

  1. Pentecost and the Jerusalem church
  2. The mission to the Gentiles and the council at Jerusalem
  3. Paul in Acts and in his own letters
  4. Acts as history and as theology

Module 5: Pauline Theology

  1. Paul and his letters: occasion, authorship and order
  2. Gospel, faith and righteousness in Romans and Galatians
  3. Christ, the Spirit and the body of Christ
  4. Reading Paul: traditional, new perspective and other approaches

Module 6: Johannine Theology

  1. The Gospel, the three letters and Revelation: authorship questions
  2. Word, light, life and love in the Gospel of John
  3. The signs and the I am sayings
  4. The Spirit, the community and the Johannine letters

Module 7: Hope, Authority and Church Order

  1. The kingdom of God and last things in Jesus and the apostles
  2. Ways of reading New Testament eschatology
  3. What an apostle was and how apostolic authority worked
  4. Offices and order in the first churches
  5. How Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches read the evidence

Module 8: The Testaments Together

  1. Fulfilment and continuity: how the New Testament uses the Old
  2. Law and covenant across the Testaments
  3. Comparing Paul and John: a method
  4. Shared convictions and meaningful differences

All courses

Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 5.3

What you will learn

  • Describe Paul’s teaching about Christ as Lord, Son of God and the new Adam.
  • Explain what Paul means by being in Christ and by life in the Spirit.
  • Explain the image of the church as the body of Christ and the place of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
  • Compare how the churches read Paul on the person of Christ and the nature of the church.

The big idea

Paul’s letters present Jesus as Lord, the Son of God, the one through whom God made and saves the world. Believers are united to him, a union Paul expresses by saying they are in Christ and that they have received the Spirit of God. Together they form the body of Christ, a community with many members and gifts. This teaching is the heart of Paul’s theology: salvation is a new life shared in Christ through the Spirit and lived within a community.

Key terms

Lord (kyrios)
The Greek word for lord or master. The Septuagint uses it for the name of God. Paul applies it to Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:3, Philippians 2:11).
In Christ
A phrase Paul uses dozens of times for the believer’s union with Christ and for life within the community that belongs to him.
Last Adam
Paul’s description of Christ as the head of a new humanity, set against the first Adam who brought sin and death (Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15).
Body of Christ
Paul’s image of the church as a body with Christ as its head and believers as members (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4).
Spirit
The Spirit of God, also called the Spirit of Christ. In Paul the Spirit dwells in believers, assures them of adoption as God’s children and produces fruit in their lives.
Baptism
The rite of entry into the church by water. Paul links it to union with Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:3 to 4).
Church (ekklesia)
A Greek word for an assembly or gathering. Paul uses it for local congregations and for the whole people of God.

Background

Paul’s letters were written within twenty to thirty years of Jesus’ death, yet they already speak of Jesus in exalted terms. Many scholars, such as Larry Hurtado and Richard Bauckham, argue that the earliest Christians, including Paul, worshiped Jesus very early and included him in the identity of the one God of Israel. Others, such as James Dunn, think the language developed more gradually, and debate what exactly Paul meant. All agree that Paul’s letters contain an exalted view of Christ.

The church’s later teaching on the Trinity and the person of Christ rests on the Scriptures, including Paul. The councils of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) used words not found in Paul, yet they claimed to express what Scripture teaches. Whether they did is itself a question among historians and theologians, and Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant churches answer yes.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Christ as Lord and Son

Paul often uses ‘Lord’ of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 8:6 he adapts the Jewish confession of one God (the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4): there is ‘one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.’ In Philippians 2:5 to 11, a passage many think is an early hymn, Christ, being in the form of God, emptied himself, took the form of a servant, was obedient to death on a cross, and was exalted so that every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. The confession echoes Isaiah 45:23, where it is said of God.

Paul calls Jesus God’s Son (Romans 1:3 to 4, Galatians 4:4), says God sent him, and speaks of his death as the supreme act of love (Romans 5:8). He places great weight on the resurrection: if Christ is not raised, faith is vain (1 Corinthians 15:17). Scholars debate whether Paul ever calls Christ ‘God’ directly. Romans 9:5 may do so, depending on punctuation, and Titus 2:13 may, if Pauline.

Step 2: Adam, Christ and the new humanity

In Romans 5:12 to 21 and 1 Corinthians 15:21 to 22, 45 to 49, Paul compares Adam and Christ. Through Adam sin and death entered the world, and through Christ come grace and life. Christ is the head of a new humanity. Believers who are in him share in his death and rising.

Paul describes baptism as the sign of this union: ‘we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life’ (Romans 6:4). The believer’s whole life is lived in Christ, which Paul calls ‘a new creature’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Step 3: The Spirit

For Paul the Spirit is the gift that marks believers. Romans 8 is the great chapter on the Spirit: those who are in Christ are not condemned, the Spirit gives life, believers cry ‘Abba, Father’ and are led by the Spirit as children of God, and the Spirit helps their weakness and prays within them. In Galatians 5:22 and 23 he lists the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace and others. In 1 Corinthians 12 he lists gifts of the Spirit and insists that all come from one Spirit for the common good.

Paul sometimes speaks of the Father, the Son and the Spirit together, as in 2 Corinthians 13:14 (‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all’). These verses are not yet doctrine of the Trinity, but later theology saw in them the ground of that doctrine.

Step 4: The body of Christ

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul answers a divided church by comparing it to a body: many members, one body, each necessary. Romans 12:4 to 5 repeats the picture. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 to 17 he links the body of Christ to the bread of the Lord’s Supper, ‘for we being many are one bread, and one body.’ In 1 Corinthians 11:23 to 26 he passes on the tradition of the Supper from the Lord, and warns against abusing it.

Churches read these texts in different ways. Catholics and Orthodox understand the Eucharist as the real presence of Christ and the church as the body of Christ in a visible, sacramental sense. Many Protestants emphasize the spiritual union of believers with Christ, and hold diverse views of the sacraments. All see in Paul’s image a call to unity, humility and care for the weak.

  1. What do you notice about the words Paul uses for Jesus in Philippians 2:5 to 11?
  2. What does it mean to be ‘in Christ’, and how does Paul describe the change it makes?
  3. How does the image of a body address the problems of a divided church?
  4. How do Paul’s references to the Father, Son and Spirit prepare for later doctrine?
  5. Why does Paul link baptism with death and resurrection?
  6. What do you think of the claim that the earliest Christians already worshiped Jesus?

Examples

A church tempted by status

In Corinth, those with spectacular gifts looked down on others. Paul answers that the weaker members are indispensable, and that love is the greater way (1 Corinthians 12 and 13). A modern congregation can apply this to any division by talent, wealth or influence.

Abba, Father

Paul says the Spirit enables believers to cry ‘Abba, Father’ (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). Abba is an Aramaic word for father. Its use in a Greek letter suggests that the prayer of Jesus was remembered and shared by the first churches.

Eating and drinking

Paul reproves the Corinthians because the rich eat their fill at the community meal while the poor go hungry (1 Corinthians 11:17 to 22). He says this fails to discern the body. Scholars read the phrase as referring to the bread, to the church, or both.

Different perspectives

Catholic view

The Catholic Church teaches that the church is the body of Christ with Christ as head, and that the Eucharist makes the church. The Catechism treats Paul’s texts on the body and the Supper as basic for understanding both the sacrament and the unity of believers.

Orthodox view

The Orthodox Church places great weight on the Spirit and on the church as the body of Christ, a living communion of persons. It reads Paul’s language of being in Christ together with the vision of union with God, and sees the Eucharist as the center of church life.

Protestant view

Protestants emphasize union with Christ by faith, the work of the Spirit in assurance and sanctification, and the priesthood of all believers. Lutheran and Anglican views of the Supper stress the presence of Christ, Reformed views stress his spiritual presence, and Baptist views often treat the Supper as a memorial. Pentecostals stress the gifts of the Spirit.

Scholarly view

Scholars agree that Paul’s letters contain an early, high view of Christ. They debate whether the language implies a divine identity in a strict sense, and how Paul’s thought about the Spirit fits with later Trinitarian doctrine. They also debate the background of the body image in Greek and Jewish thought.

Why it matters

These themes shape Christian worship, prayer and life. They also carry the core of the creeds. Studying them in Paul helps a reader see how the earliest teaching about Jesus, the Spirit and the church rests on the New Testament, and how different churches draw on it.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Paul thought of Jesus as only a great teacher.

Correction: Paul’s letters regularly speak of Jesus as Lord, God’s Son and the one in whom believers live. This is among the earliest evidence for Christian belief.

Misunderstanding: The body of Christ is only a metaphor.

Correction: Interpreters differ on how literally to take the phrase. Some see it as an image, others as a real union expressed in the sacraments. Paul clearly means more than a club of like-minded people.

Misunderstanding: Spiritual gifts are only for ecstatic experiences.

Correction: Paul’s lists include teaching, service, giving, leading and mercy as well as tongues and prophecy (Romans 12:6 to 8, 1 Corinthians 12:8 to 10).

Misunderstanding: Paul taught the doctrine of the Trinity as later councils defined it.

Correction: Paul does not use the later terms, but he joins Father, Son and Spirit in one pattern of salvation. Later doctrine claims to follow the logic of such texts.

Knowledge check

How does Paul speak of Jesus as Lord?

He gives Jesus the title used in the Septuagint for the name of God, includes him in the Jewish confession of one God in 1 Corinthians 8:6, and in Philippians 2 says every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord, echoing a text said of God.

What does ‘in Christ’ mean?

It expresses the believer’s union with Christ, sharing his death and rising, and belonging to the community that is his body. Paul uses it to describe the new life, standing and fellowship that God gives through Christ.

What does Paul teach about the Spirit in Romans 8?

That the Spirit gives life, frees from condemnation, makes believers children of God who cry Abba, assures them, helps their weakness in prayer and is the first fruits of the final redemption. The Spirit is called the Spirit of God and of Christ.

What is the point of the body image in 1 Corinthians 12?

The church has many members with different gifts, all needed and all belonging together. No member can say to another that it has no need of it. The image answers pride and division and calls for mutual care.

How do the traditions differ on the Lord’s Supper?

Catholics and Orthodox teach the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Lutherans teach the real presence in a different way, Reformed Christians teach a spiritual presence, and many Baptists treat it as a memorial. All draw on 1 Corinthians 10 and 11.

Think it through

  1. How does being ‘in Christ’ differ from holding beliefs about Christ?
  2. Which gift of the Spirit do you most undervalue in your own community?
  3. What would it mean for a divided congregation to take the body image seriously?
  4. How do you understand the relation between the Spirit and the ordinary life of a church?

Independent assignment

Reading Philippians 2

In your own notebook, write 300 to 450 words. Read Philippians 2:1 to 11 several times. Describe how Paul uses the story of Christ as an example for the church, and then list the claims about Christ’s identity that the passage makes. Add a paragraph on what a Christian community would look like if it followed this pattern. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study