Body. Soma, sarx. The body with its parts is a comprehensive, dynamic, articulated biblical symbol in the NT of which there are many challenges.[1] Other than its explicit reference to the church (Rom 12:5; 1Co 12:12, 27; Eph 4:12), other uses are clearly for the intention of contrasting the Old Testament promise to the New Testament fulfillments in Christ. In Colossians 2:17: “Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
That the “body” is the substantiation, the fulfillment, of the OT promises of Christ.
σῶμα sōma, from G4982; the body (as a sound whole), used in a very wide application, literally or figuratively:—bodily, body, slave.
Other than in the literal and physiological sense, soma is used by implication as the connective center of one of its parts by way of synecdoche, where the part is used to refer to the whole (pars pro toto). The great example of this is the phrase “the body of Christ” as the Church.
The use of sarx, in the KJV “flesh,” identifies more with the particular mortal aspect of man’s existence.
Found in about 150 places in the NT, the theological use of soma is unique to Pauline theology. One common source explains soma in six conventional senses: the physical body of Christ, the Eucharistic use, the community of believers… and so on.[2] “’Body of Christ’ is represented by the Passover meal, a ‘body’ about to be broken on the cross.” Also, “’body’ symbolizes the totality of the people of God in Rom 12:4ff, 1 Co 10:17;” “’sinful body’ symbolizes the finite, fallen aspect of the nature of humankind in Rom 6:6; 7:24; 8:10ff; Phil 3;21; Col 2;11.”[3]
However, the soma of the “Passover meal,” the body on the cross, broken on the cross, the people of God, and “fallen aspect” are all its significations why do little to bring out the transcendent aspect of this “body.” The duty and challenge of Bible teaching are to consistently reapply the higher symbols of Christ to the lower ones of His parts instead of breaking the chain and descending into generic religious prosaisms such as these. The other interpretation that awaits them is informed by the prophetic centrality of “body.”
For example, the only thing that Paul calls “great mystery” (mega mysthrion, Eph 5:30-32) involves the application of the body symbol of Christ to the church.
Ephesians 5:30-32 (KJV) For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
“Mystery” pertains to those prophetic truths once hidden but now at least partially revealed (Mt 13:11; Mr 4:11; Lu 8:10; Ro 11:25; 16:25; 1Co 2:7; 4:1; 13:2; 14:2; 15:51; Eph 1:9; 3:3–4,9; 5:32; 6:19; Col 1:26–27; 2:2; 4:3; 2Th 2:7; 1Ti 3:9,16; Re 1:20; 10:7; 17:5,7). “For we are members of his body (soma), of his flesh (sarx), and of his bones, osteon. It was long ago prophesied by the type of a man leaving the carnal formative principle from which he came and joined to a new spiritual one, his wife as one flesh. The “Great mystery” is not a hidden meaning, but one that was once hidden and now revealed by the Church and Christ. In effect, the fulfillment of a typical prophetic symbol.
Paul never says explicitly how the specific symbols of “flesh” and “bones” of Christ’s body are represented in the greater church symbol, but they are clearly implied to be operational and actively used in His teaching elsewhere. It is clear that this teaching must apply to the functions of the vocational offices of the church as a whole and to individual gifts of the believer, but can we not infer Paul having even greater use for them for higher things, not merely as common parts of a whole?
For example, the marriage relationship here, compared to Christ and the church, is made pure by “the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26). Does “word” have a higher assignation than a general conception of “the Word of God?” If it is quintessentially the prophetic scriptures, then just as the husband loves his wife, giving himself for her (v. 25), Christ prophetically determined to enter the world and by prophecy gave Himself in love for the church. Thus, the “Word of God” is not a symbol of itself, but signifies the historical movement of God in history whereby He miraculously proves to the world His existence and faithfulness. “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself” (Eph 5:28). This then is not primarily an exhortation on marriage, but the love of Christ of the church through and by the witness of the Prophetic Word. Thus if Christ represents the Word of God, the believer represents this Word of God loved, believed and communicated, not a general conception of the body Christ. If Christ has a body now, the church is that which is symbolically His body, not its own body. If Christ has a spirit, we all partake of that same spirit (1 Co 12:13). This is a “great mystery,” its fulfillment and implications clearly set forth, but its particulars still awaiting learning and spiritual advancement.
We can conclude by this that any particular body part is an aspect of the righteous and true word of Christ, that prophetic word that signifies the people of God, Christ’s body of Scripture, and the spirit of Christ which loves such truth. The “head” is the upper extremity, the part of the PW that stands to display the personhood of the PW, which is Messiah, denoting His resolve, promises, reason, perception, and understanding of hard, mysterious things. Its mouth is the letter of the PW. The eyes are its ability to penetrate into and clarify mysteries and see into the future or into souls. The heart of his body is that part of the PW that represents his entire inner being and in which reason, emotion, will, volition, and moral preference resides to find, contemplate, judge, love and explain that revelation. Hands are that part of the body that is capable of imparting the wisdom of the PW.
We can take “body” and al lits parts to mirror the logos and all its parts.
Of the Memra (logos), or “Word” from John 1, which theologians typically give six attributes: the individual yet the same as God, the instrument of creation, the instrument of salvation, the visible presence of God, the covenant maker, and the revealer of God. It occurs to us that, again, these attributes perfectly represent the Prophetic Word of demonstration: 1. The individual who is God is the fulfillment of a human Messiah in history. 2. The instillment of creation is prophecy, “let there be light, and there was light.” 3. The instrument of salvation is the only specific scriptural material that can be concluded as specialized for the engendering of a particular kind of biblical faith to salvation. 4. The visible presence of God, which is in informational, written form existing objectively in the world. 5. The covenant maker, where “covenant” is an agreement between two parties that each will do as they have (prophetically) promised. And 6. The revealer of God, the only means by which God can be positively known as real, sovereign, and faithful.
In this way, the “body” a whole is one disarticulated of its parts if those parts are not of a prophetic function and do not connect to a special prophetic body. While “body” in the NT is the symbol first of Christ’s body and the Church, that body then signifies nothing less ultimately than the prophetic scriptures of Him. All lower symbols, of that body’s parts (feet, head, hands) and their states (revealed mysteries, full of light, love of Truth), describe that Word’s functions and application as Messiah’s people as that body acts in the world to love it, bring it out, distribute it, teach it and make it honorable.
[1] See The Body of Christ in Evangelical Theology by F. Leron Shults: The “body of Christ has not functioned as a crucial material concept for evangelical ecclesiology. When biblical images of the church are examined by evangelical scholars, the body of Christ is almost always listed but does not serve a vibrant or integrative function.” (Shults 2002).
[2] (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia 1979)
[3] (Renn 2005)
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