– Saint Peter uses the image of the body to indicate the union of Christ with Christians, emphasizing that the diversity of the members does not prevent the admirable unity of the whole; and the same apostle speaks of Christ prolonged through Christians, who are members of him: Christians form one body in Christ, and are members one of another:
Rom 12,4s : So we, although we are many, form one body in Christ.
– Christians are the body of Christ and each one of its members:
1Cor 12,12-27 : For as the body is one whole with many members, and all the members of the body […] form one body.
Eph 5.29s : No one […] hated his own flesh […] each one feeds it […] because we are members of his body
– And they become part of the mystical body by virtue of baptism:
1Cor 12:13 : By one Spirit we were all baptized to form one body.
– And of the Eucharist:
1Cor 10,16-17 : Since there is only one bread, we, being many, form one body.
– It is real union as is the union of the body with the members:
1Cor 6:15 : Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
1Cor 12,12-13 : For as the body is one with many members, and all the members of the body.
Eph 5:30 : Because we are members of his body.
Col 3:15 : May the peace of Christ triumph in your hearts, to which you were called in order to form one body.
– The body of Christ is the Church, and Christ is the head of this mystical body:
Eph 1:23 : Which is his body, the receptacle of him who fills all things in every respect.
Eph 5:23 : For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Col 1,18.24 : He is the Head of the body, of the Church.
Col 2,19 : They do not remain united to the Head, from which the whole body […] is nourished and grows.
– The whole body receives unity from the head:
Eph 4:11-16 : Let us grow in every way, in Christ the Head.
Col 2,19 : They do not remain united to the Head, from which the whole body […] is nourished and grows.
– In Christ we are members of one another:
Rom 12:4-5 : For we have many members in one body, and each of our members.
– With charisms for the common good:
1Cor 12,17-30 : Now, you are the body of Christ and each one, for his part, is one of its members – the body of Christ is the Church.
Eph 1,22-23 : He constituted supreme head of the Church, which is his body, the receptacle.
Col 1:18 : He is the Head of the Body, of the Church.
– Christ is the head:
Eph 1:22 : And he put all things under his feet, and made him supreme head of the Church.
Eph 4:15-16 : But through the sincere practice of charity, let us grow in every way, in Christ who is the Head.
Col 1:18 : And he is the Head of the body, of the Church.
Col 2,19 : They are not united to the Head, from which the whole body.
– Believers are all one new man:
Eph 2,14-22 : He wanted to make a single new humanity out of the two peoples.
– As you can see, in the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul notably develops the theme of the mystical body. The purpose of the letter is to explain the “mystery” par excellence, or the secret design of God – conceived from all eternity and realized in the Gospel – to save all men, without distinction, uniting them to Christ by a bond so intimate that they may be in him and with him one mystical body. The mystery of incorporation into Christ is:
Conceived by God from all eternity:
Eph 1:3-14 : He has revealed to us the mysterious design of his will, which he had always formed in his benevolence.
The Father has blessed us all in Christ:
Eph 1 : 3: He has blessed us from above with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
We having been chosen in him and predestined to adoptive sonship:
Eph 1 :5 : In his love he predestined us to be adopted as his children by Jesus Christ.
With the intervention of the Son:
Eph 1 :7 : In that Son, through his blood, we have Redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The grace that God has bestowed upon us:
Eph 1,8s : He poured out on us profusely in torrents
of wisdom and prudence.
It is his intention to sum it all up in Christ in the fullness of time:
Eph 1:10 : To carry it out in the fullness of time – the plan to unite all things in Christ.
Consequently, the Jews embrace the faith and then the Gentiles receive the same gifts of the Holy Spirit, realized in the Church:
Eph 1,13s : The Gospel of your salvation in which you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Expressed by the apostle’s request to God to give the faithful, without ceasing, the spirit of wisdom and light, so that they may understand what they owe to Christ, incomparable head of the Church who is their complement:
Eph 1,16-22s : I never cease to give thanks to God for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Jesus broke down the barrier that separated Jews and Gentiles, uniting them in one body:
Eph 2,13-17 : Reconcile them both to God, united in one body by virtue of the cross.
Paul redoubles his prayers, so that God strengthens the “inner man” of the neophytes and makes them appreciate the greatness and depth of this mystery and the incomprehensible love of Christ:
Eph 3:14-19 : Know the love of Christ, which defies all knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God.
– See CHARISMA, CHURCH.
