Article of Faith: The body of Christ (1), By Femi Aribisala

All humanity belongs either to the first Adam or to the last Adam.

Sometime in 2016, I received a phone call from a representative of the Igbo community in Lagos. He said they were having a general meeting and had decided to honour me with an award for being a good friend of the Igbos.

But, according to the precepts of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, I do not receive honour from men. (John 5:41). So, I humbly declined the honour.

Today, there are no ethnic distinctions or discriminations in my fellowship, Healing Wings. There is no difference between Hausas, Yorubas, Igbo, Tivs, and other ethnic groups? Everyone testifies that we are all one family. We learnt this at the feet of that man from Galilee, Jesus Christ.

When He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.” (Hebrews 10:5).

What is the body that God prepared for Jesus?

That body is special and unique. It is referred to in the scriptures as the “Body of Christ.” (Romans 7:4).

The Chosen People

In the Old Testament, God chose Israel to be His special nation, but Israel was not referred to as God’s body. God told Israel:

“If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6).

God wanted to use Israel as a priesthood to reveal Himself to other nations of the world. However, Israel failed in this assignment. Israel became proud of its special relationship with God and, instead of declaring God to others, it sinned against God and despised the non-Jewish or Gentile nations.

The Gentiles returned the disfavour. They also hated the Jews with passion. This hatred persists today in antisemitism. Its biggest manifestation was the killing of six million Jews in Hitler’s Germany.

But God had a plan.

“Known to God from eternity are all His works.” (Acts 15:18).

God raised a man from Galilee called Jonah. He was a Jewish prophet from the town called Gath-hepher near Nazareth in Galilee. God told him to go and minister salvation to Nineveh, a Gentile town that was an archenemy of the Jews.

Jonah refused because, as a Jew, he hated the Gentile Ninevites and did not want them to be saved. Instead of going to Nineveh, he got on a boat heading for Tarshish, in the opposite direction. But God waylaid Jonah. He was thrown overboard into the sea during a storm and swallowed by a great fish.

He spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. When God asked the fish to vomit him back on land, Jonah had no choice but to obey God. He went to Nineveh and preached, not the salvation, but the destruction of the city. But to his surprise and annoyance, the Ninevites repented, and God forgave and did not destroy them.

Jonah was so upset by the salvation of Nineveh that he wanted to commit suicide.

Jonah’s job was to reconcile both the Jews and Gentiles to God so they would be one body. For this act, Jonah was banished by his people in Israel. He was disqualified as one of their prophets. Although he was from Galilee, someone would later say:

“Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” (John 7:52).

Jonah was from Galilee, but his Jewish people disqualified him because he went to preach the gospel of salvation to Nineveh.

Jesus of Galilee

In the fullness of time, God sent another prophet from Galilee, first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. The objective remained the same: to reconcile and unify both groups in one body, under the canopy of God.

This prophet was Jesus of Nazareth. Like Jonah, Jesus spent three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. Unlike Jonah, He willingly reconciled both Jews and Gentiles to God in one body, through the blood of His cross.

He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:14-18).

On the occasion of His resurrection from the dead, Jesus instructed His disciples to preach the gospel to all nations, including both Jews and Gentiles.

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Matthew 16:15-16).

He appeared to Peter, told him to eat unclean animals, and then made him understand that the Gentiles are cleansed. He then sent him to minister salvation to Cornelius, a Gentile Roman, who then received the Holy Spirit.

In so doing, Peter received a query from his Jewish compatriots, who did not want Gentiles to be saved. But he told them it was God who gave them His Spirit.

Then, Jesus called Paul as a minister to the Gentiles. He said to him:

“I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:17-18).

Some Jews still insisted that Gentile Christians must become Jews to be saved. These Judaisers insisted that Gentiles must be circumcised according to the law of Moses. But the matter was finally put to rest at the Jerusalem Council, where it was resolved that:

“It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15-16).

That is how God created the Body of Christ, a universal church comprising both Jews and Gentiles. So, today:

“(Believers) are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

The First and Last Adam

In all creation, God created only two men: the first Adam and the last Adam. The first man, or the first Adam, was Adam. The last man, or the last Adam, is Jesus.

Jesus is called the last Adam because:

“Adam was a type of Him (Jesus) who was to come.” (Romans 5:14).

NKJV

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” (1 Corinthians 15:47-49).

Today, all humanity belongs either to the first Adam or to the last Adam.

“And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.’” (1 Corinthians 15:45).

God Himself as the Last Adam

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4).

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

The Old Creation

There are only two creations: the old creation and the new creation. The old creation refers to Adam, who was made in the image and likeness of God:

God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26).

But when Adam sinned, the children he gave birth to were no longer in the image and likeness of God, but in the image and likeness of Adam:

“Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:3).

The New Creation

The new creation refers to Jesus. He is called:

“The Beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev3:14).

Jesus is the new creation because He is:

“The firstborn from the dead. (Revelations 1:5).

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:15-17). CONTINUED.

[email protected]; www.femiaribisala.com