Chapter 21

1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, thought it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Please note that it is labeled in a Hawaiian dialect... making it ultra cool.
When we think about the context of ‘church’ and of Christianity during ~100 A.D. we see a much different picture than what we have now. Following Jesus with freedom was a new faith at that time because that was when Christianity was ‘invented’. But I find it interesting that the same lifestyle to follow Jesus is not as attractive or unique to our society as it is described in 100 A.D. Perhaps it is due to our North American culture- that a large majority of the population would associate themselves with a church or with Christianity. The line between alternative lifestyle and normal lifestyle has become blurry. I think this is because faith in Jesus is often presented in a washed up way- where people can pick apart the Bible and incorporate only what they ‘feel’ they want to do. This is not living in freedom with Jesus. It may be ‘individual freedom’ as you feel free to do what you want when you want it. But I think the freedom that Jesus longs for us to have in him is the freedom from bondage of sin and thereby giving us the freedom to have communion with God.
On the topic of freedom in the New Testament s it is important to also discuss freedom in the context of Paul’s letter. Perhaps when Paul discusses freedom he is more emphasizing social freedom and an abolishment of racial prejudice rather than specifically looking at bondage of sin. Drane discusses this point using examples from Galatians and Corinthians.
The definition that the Apostles intended for the word ‘church’ to have was probably something like ‘body of Jesus followers’ (maybe someone could help me with the Greek) but our modern noun for church is radically as we usually think of a building. Drane contrasts the different aspects of the ‘body of believers’ from early AD to current 2010. Sitting in pews and listening to one person talk at the front is starkly contrasted with Paul’s call in Corinthians to recognize that ‘All members are indispensible’. If a group of people meets specifically on Sunday to worship God then that is cool but my hope and prayer for that church would be that the COMMUNITY of those people would be established and rooted throughout the week with things like: small group bible studies, prayer meetings, sharing hardships, sharing praise items, eating together, sharing food/clothes/kitchen stuff/money etc... This is what I experienced in my home church in Alberta but upon coming to Wolfville my ‘church’ or rather ‘the body of believers which I belong to’ has been found in the ministry of Inter-Varsity on the Acadia campus. It has been really cool to see the community respond collectively to God. We all still have an individual relationship with God and he is still continually teaching each one different things. But there is also a ‘shared teaching’. When God seeks to stimulate our entire community toward a new idea, most of us start feeling it and we respond to the Spirit accordingly. Cool!
Another interesting point made by Drane, is that Paul clearly outlined God’s authority in the church. He gave salvation, he gave the Spirit, and he established his people ‘church’ and therefore it is obvious that it belongs to him. This ownership then has application: God should guide and determine each move and step of the church through his Holy Spirit. The rigid hierarchy seen in most churches today is quite different than the original model. I don’t want to bash the church organization or those involved. But we can evaluate scripture for what it is, look at the human history of the ‘church’ and it is easy to conclude that we have probably made a few mistakes. This is another example of why we as human beings desperately need Jesus to not only help us but to guide us and be the lamp unto our feet.