Part 4 - The Application of Faith

Sanctified: In the Body of Christ

A third aspect of the sanctifying work of Christ is the separation of the believer into the body of Christ, the church. (See Part 2: Separated in the Body of Christ). Upon the earth, the collective group of worldwide believers comprises the church. The body of Christ is not necessarily the visible church, but it is all true believers in Jesus Christ who are known to God. Christ is head of his body, the church. The church on earth is also called the temple of God, for the Holy Spirit dwells in it. An important element in being fruitful in the sanctified position one has in Christ is abiding in the body of Christ. It is to recognize that God has placed the believer in the church in a calling to be a functioning member through which the Spirit is to operate.

A holy temple

In writing to the Ephesians, Paul the Apostle says concerning the joining of Jews and gentiles together as one body, "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22). The church is not a completed entity, nor a mature one. It is continuously being built and its members are in the process of growing.

Christianity is not an individual experience. God has called His people to be one in Christ. Individuals are "being joined together," they are being "built together." Together, the church "grows into a holy temple in the Lord." In the church, Christ has placed the believer where He pleases and has given the believer gifts in order to facilitate this growth.

Set apart by Christ: into His body

Paul writes, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' " (1 Cor. 1218-21). Experiential sanctification depends on the interaction of the members of the body. Each member is nourished by the others. No one grows alone. In being nourished and built up, each member in turn can build others up.

Because God's design for growth in Christ, for maturity, and for the creation of a holy "dwelling place of God" involves the working together of the members of the body of Christ, it is into this body that the sanctifying work of Christ has placed the believer. This is one aspect of Christ as the Way. It is in the body of Christ that the way to a sanctified relationship with God is established. Maturity and fruitfulness come through the members of the body working together, with the Holy Spirit operating through the gifts of each member. To be fruitful in this place requires a reckoning by faith in this position and an abiding in it.