The Mystical Body of Christ

Paul here is addressing a group of believers who have gone through redemption. I say this with the understanding that the Ephesians were more spiritual than say the Corinthians in their understanding of things spiritual. Paul taught Christ from Genesis forward revealing Him to all; he revealed the hidden things of Christ that Christ had given to him in what he called the Gospel of God’s Grace or my Gospel.

The mystery of God hid in Himself before the beginning of the world, that man would choose to fall into spiritual death and the bestial nature or darkness. Paul by the Spirit preached Christ crucified, resurrected and ascended which is the finished work of the cross that paved the way or opened the door for man to receive redemption bought mans sanctification, justification, and back to righteousness. Now this is being made known for all peoples, that the cross is the, only lawful and legal way, or requirement, for mankind and all of creation to receive redemption. Redemption is the way to mans salvation from the wrath that has been being stored up onto the day of wrath. Or the seven years of the tribulation and Israel’s vexation or Jacobs troubles which will start when the mystical Body of Christ is delivered, as a baby is delivered when it has reached its full development within the womb.

This work frees man to accept Gods offer of redemption made available through Christ Jesus which when received sanctifies man, causing him to be sealed by the Holy Spirit in the process cracks open the seed of God that had been hid in man. The Christ is formed again in the new man or the inner man, the hidden man of the heart and he then grows from glory to glory onto the mature or perfect man, the image of Christ again as at the first. Now this action does not follow the same mod of operation in every one for some will naturally gravitate to the light and that light then opens this seed, in either case when this seed is opened the image of Christ is again revealed or more accurately under goes the incarnation of Christ in the believer which is regeneration of new birth. Or the rebirth of Christ inside of man again as at the first, it has to be as at the first as it can not be birthed a new in any other way. God established the law of the first back in Genesis and all scripture bears this principle or law out.

The hidden inner man is now made alive or quickened again, he is born from above a new creature in Christ, spiritually awake, alive and he enjoined to Christ Jesus as at the first, this then starts the journey of growth from glory to glory. Man then crucifies the deeds of the flesh that once held power over him as sin and death. Christ Jesus by taking mans sin filled flesh (sin ruled) to the tree destroyed the power of Satan and death in mans flesh and stripped him of his right to hold man, governments and the earth in his grip of slavery. Jesus now holds the title deed (scroll) to mankind and the earth until the day set by the Father, at which time the seals will be broken open by Christ Jesus.

Israel and man kind has been redeemed form this reign of terror but they in ignorance to this revealed mystery and God’s word are held in its grip by deception and wickedness of men in lawlessness. Man when he unknowingly does the work of Satan by following the example of unscrupulous men spread a mixed gospel or led people to believe their salvation in based on the Jewish gospel for their salvation; are taking millions to the lake of fire reserved for Satan and his gang.

The goal of this study is as it should be to get people to understand the distortion of the word that we are receiving in this time period by such well meaning men.

Romans 16:25-27 To Him who has it in His power to make you strong, as declared in the Good News which I am spreading, and the proclamation concerning Jesus Christ, in harmony with the unveiling of the Truth which in the periods of past Ages remained unutterable, but has now been brought fully to light, and by the command of the God of the Ages has been made known by the writings of the Prophets among all the Gentiles to win them to obedience to the faith-- to God, the only wise, through Jesus Christ, even to Him be the glory through all the Ages! Amen.

The Body of Christ
Ephesians 5:15-33
Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery*, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (a), submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior of the body**. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it might be holy and without blemish (b). In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband**.

*Debauchery: habitual lewdness, excessive indulgence of lust, corruption of fidelity which leads to a seduction from duty or allegiance.
** The husband is the guardian and protector of the wife as long as she willingly is submitted to him as he is to Christ. As the woman is mans completion we are Christ’s completeness filling up the mystical Body of Christ, the mystery Church, wherein Christ is Lord, its head.
***This whole chapter is revealing the revelation of the mystery (secret) that had been hidden in God, with more importance on the relationship of the mystical Body of Christ (the church, family) and its relationship seen in the union of marriage as our union with Christ. This union Adam had with God in Christ in the beginning as revealed in Genesis chapter 1 through 3.

1Timothy 3:15-16 But, for fear I may be hindered, I now write, so that you may have rules to guide you in dealing with God's household. For this is what the Church of the ever-living God is, and it is the pillar and foundation-stone of the truth, and, beyond controversy, great is the mystery of our religion-- that Christ appeared in human form, and His claims justified by the Spirit, was seen by angels and proclaimed among Gentile nations, was believed on in the world, and received up again into glory.

Paul in his letter here quoted to the Ephesians tells us to praise God with thanksgiving in all things both great and small. He then goes into the relationship of marriage and the church or body of Christ and our being in the same kind of relationship with the risen Lord as members of His Body. He tells us that by our walking in love and obedience to Him we are nourished and cherished by Christ as we do the same to our fellow members of His Body. That Christ has sanctified the Body not only by the blood but also by the washing of the word in a continual manor keeping it holy and without blemish, spot or wrinkle. For this reason we have to be watchful or put another way careful who is in leadership as a steward of the mysteries over us in authority as our pastor and teacher, because the Body of Christ is the pillar and foundation of all truth a direct relationship in the family of God as His ambassadors in this world. We then are the manifestation of Christ that man sees and hears when we are approved by God to be His workman while we are here. We are His dwelling place through whom He works as Jesus did in His earthly ministry to Israel. We are to carry the torch by what ever means that He opens or gives to us when approved and that we walk with our eyes fixed forward to our heavenly calling not as unwise but as wise in wisdom and accurate knowledge.

The Body of Christ
Ephesians 5:15-33
a. Ps. 34:1; Col. 3: 5-14, 15-17; 1 Thes. 5:18; 2 Thes. 1:3-10
b. 1 Cor.15:25, 42-44 (45-50), 51-52; 1 Thes. 4:16

Colossians 4:5-6 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Ephesians 5:15 Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise (foolish or senseless), but as wise.

Romans 12:2 Be not fashioned according to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Colossians 1:9-20 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord to all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory, to all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who made us meet [fit] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love; in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through (in) Him, and to Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.
It was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell; and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.

Luke 12:47 That servant, who knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; (the wise servant has full understanding of the Masters will)

John. 7:16-17 Jesus therefore answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man wills to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God; that no man transgress, and wrong his brother in the matter: because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.

Colossians 3:1-10 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, (to the rudiments of the world) and your life (quickened spiritually) is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Rom. 8:2, 9-11 below)

1Thessalonians 5:16-17 Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.

Acts 2:13-18 Others mocking said, ‘they are filled with new wine.’ Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them, saying, “You men of Judea, and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known to you, and give ear to my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose; seeing it is but the third hour of the day; but this is that which has been spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘It shall be in the last days’, said God, “I will pour of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams: yes and on My servants and on My handmaidens in those days Will I pour My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”

Galatians 5:24-25 They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.

Luke 21:34-36 Take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. Watch every season, making supplication that you may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and stand before the Son of man.

Romans 12:3-5 I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think as to think soberly, according as God has dealt to each man a measure of faith. Even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office (function): so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.
(We are to be in the unity of faith in the knowledge and wisdom of God growing into the mature Body of Christ all in one accord.)

Romans 13:1-5 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Therefore he that resists the power withstands the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not terrors to the good work, but to the evil. Would you have no fear of the power? Do that which is good and you shall have praise from the same: for he is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that does evil. Wherefore we must needs be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

1Corinthians 7:22-24 He that was called in the Lord being a bondservant, is the Lord's freedman: likewise he that was called being free, is Christ's bondservant. You were bought with a price; become not bondservants of men. Let each man, wherein he was called, therein abide with God.

John 8:36 If therefore the Son of God shall makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

1Corinthians 9:20-23 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men that I may by all means save some.
I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof.

John 5:22-23 For neither does the Father Judge any man, but he has given all judgment to the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father that sent him.

1Corinthians 10:22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

2Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.

1Corinthians 11:3-12 I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. Every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonors her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. If a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled. For a man indeed ought not to have his head veiled, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man: for neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man: for this cause ought the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God.

1Corinthians 12:12-14 As the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
The body is not one member, but many.

1Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.

Ephesians 5:30 Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
(Notice that the word “all” does not appear here so not all people are members of the mystical Body of Christ as some teach and want us to believe.)

Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when He came into the world, He said, Sacrifice and offering you would not, But a body did you prepare for me.

Hebrews 10:8-9, 10 Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law), then has He said, “Lo, I am come to do thy will.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
By which will we have been sanctified through (in) the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

1Corinthians 15:38 God gives it a body even as it pleased Him, and to each seed a body of its own.

1Corinthians 15:42-45 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

1Corinthians 15:46-49 Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but rather that which is natural (earthy, carnal); then that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. (righteous, spiritual) As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Matthew 19:28 Jesus said to them, “Verily I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory.”

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness of God our Savior, and His love toward man, appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Matthew 20:28 The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Galatians 1:4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.

2Corinthians 5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

1Peter 1:17-23 If you call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, the blood of Christ: who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of times for your sake, who through Him are believers in God, that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth to unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides.

Revelation 1:5 Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Him that loved us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood.

John 17:19 For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Hebrews 2:11 Both He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

Hebrews 10:10 By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Romans 10:8-10 What sayest it? The word is nigh you, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: because if thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in thy heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved: for with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:17 Belief comes of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

John 15:3 Already you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth: your word is truth. (The Heavenly Father is being addressed here.)

1Peter 1:23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides.

Exodus 21:10 If he take him an wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

Hosea 2:19-20 I will betroth you to me for ever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yehovah.

Matthew 6:24-25 No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you be not anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what shall you put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?

John 12:25 He that loves his life loses it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.

Job 29:11-16 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor that cried the fatherless also, that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: My justice was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet were I to the lame. I was a father to the needy: and the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.

Isaiah 59:16-19 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness, it upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of Yehovah (Yeshua Messiah) from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yehovah drives.

Isaiah 61:8-11 I, Yehovah, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Yehovah has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in Yehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. As the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Yehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Ezekiel 34:27)

John 6:53-58 Jesus therefore said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. The living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eats me, he also shall live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eats this bread shall live for ever. (John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.)


Matthew 11:27-30 Jesus said: “All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come to me, all that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
With this passage of scripture is seen a surrender for service. One of the first things that may come to mind from this is the figure of the “yoke” upon two oxen one old and well trained and used to the yoke and the other a young wild untrained. There is another yoke that we as westerners do not know or know much of and that is a yoke of servitude, as the Romans used in the day of Christ. Yet in both applications we learn the demand that a yoke places on the carrier that is a full surrender of life in its wholeness and entirety. Yet for us to be free means to be unyoked to have a life that would gain the whole world, which the Prophets call vanity. To Christ it means liberation for we have no liberation until we are yielded and under the Masters yoke for it is there that we find rest.
Christ requires or demands a willing surrender. We can take or we can shun the yoke as this is NOT a forced surrender. Christ demands a surrender that is totally a willing or is a free will action on our parts. Many are waiting for something irresistible to happen or something to sweep them off their feet but not so with Christ. He says, “’take” my yoke upon you.’
The idea of the “yoke” is one of service as it suggests that thought. The “yoke” carries two thoughts one of continual service, the other of rest in that service for the Lord said that in the yoke of service we would find rest. This is not a rest from, NO but rather of rest in service. A rest that vanishes all the care and worry of service and the burden no longer irritates and causes one to fret. Our duty is different now God is near and love is everywhere His strength working in us is sufficient our mind is clear and sound.
To take the Lord’s yoke is to learn from Him in His peace even during the trials of His service. For this service is one born in the spirit that makes all His service beautiful for He is our support and unfaltering trust in love as He sustains us.
All this is true as this is a double yoke because we pull with Him and cut a much straighter furrow, because He has already cut the course as He has been tempted in all points as we. He is saying that together we can do this thing and even greater. All is done in partnership with God, there is no strain or stress.

1Timothy 6:6-8, 9 Godliness with contentment is great gain: for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content.
They that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition.

Romans 13:14 Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

Ephesians 1:22-23 He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.

Genesis 2:23-24 The man, Adam said, “this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (This is a great mystery concerning Christ and the church of God.)

1Corinthians 6:15 Know you not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid.

1Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.

Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

Ephesians 2:10-18 We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them. Wherefore remember, that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition [the temple veil and Christ’s flesh], having abolished in the flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that He might create in Himself of the two one new man, so making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: [By putting to death the flesh of man which holds in it’s self the power of the evil one that works in the fallen nature of all flesh of man.] and He came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh: for through (in union with) Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.” This spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 19:34-35 Howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and straightway there came out blood and water. He that has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knows that what he said is true, that you also may believe.

1Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality [1 Thessalonians 4:15, 17; i.e... Enoch and Elijah are types and forerunners].

2Timothy 1:8-11 Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God; who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, has now been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel, (Not the kingdom of heaven gospel that is for Israel only. That Jesus preached during His ministry to Israel only.) whereto I was appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher.

(to light — making visible by the Gospel what was before hidden in God’s purpose.
immortality — Greek, “incorruptibility” of the new life, not merely of the risen body [Alford])

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you.

Romans 8:2 The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:9-11 You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you.

Note to #1 the Lord wants us to have full knowledge of Him and what He has accomplished for us and how we are to live as a witness of Him in the world.

The Mystical Body of Christ
Colossians 1:24-29 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body's sake, which is the church; whereof I was made a minister, [one divinely called to bring a message] according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfill [to bring to fruition, completion, to bring to a finish] the word of God, the mystery which had been hid for ages and generations: but now has it been manifested to His saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect [completed, mature] in Christ; whereto I labor also, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily.
[Gods dealing with the mystical Body of Christ for what ever period of time, this is also called the dispensation of Grace or the Gospel of God’s Grace. This is the Godly wisdom, the knowledge of God and not the intellectualism of the worldly.]
Ephesians 3:2 If so be that you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given me to you ward.
[The difference between Paul’s Gospel is that it is Heavenly and Jesus Christ’s was earthy focused on Israel, [Romans 15:8] He could not tell them about what had not been revealed yet, though He did hint at it from time to time. This takes spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear what He is saying even to Israel.]

Luke 18:31-34 He [Jesus] took to him the twelve, and said to them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets shall be accomplished to the Son of man. He shall be delivered up to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon: and they shall scourge and kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. They [the disciples] understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not the things that were said.

Romans 8:16-18 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Now a note on the meaning and usage of words that are commonly miss used or wrongfully understood because of how they are placed in the sentence structure [as: a noun, adverb, verb or pronoun etc.] especially in the Greek common language.

Thayer's Definition: heir (G4789)
1) a fellow heir, a joint heir
2) one who obtains something assigned to himself with others, a joint participant
Part of Speech: noun masculine

Thayer's Definition: heir (G4682)
1) with
Part of Speech: preposition
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: a primary preposition denoting union

Thayer's Definition: heir (G2818)
1) one who receives by lot, an heir
1a) an heir
1b) in Messianic usage, one who receives his allotted possession by right of sonship
2) one who has acquired or obtained the portion allotted to him
Part of Speech: noun masculine

From Webster's 1812 Dictionary
MYS'TICAL, Obscure; hid; secret.
1. Sacredly obscure or secret; remote from human comprehension.
God hath revealed a way mystical and supernatural.
2. Involving some secret meaning; allegorical; emblematical; as mystic dance; mystic Babylon.
Contrary to popular belief, the Mystical Body is not some “New Age” phenomenon. People are so scared of the word “mystical” that they won’t check it out for themselves.

As I was reading in Philemon, the word “partner” caught my eye. I found the Greek word in the Interlinear Greek English New Testament and looked it up in the Greek Lexicon.
To be a partner of or a partaker in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, to partake of the sufferings of Christ so that we may be partner to or partake of the benefits of His death.

Webster's 1812 Dictionary
PARTNER noun One who partakes or shares with another; a partaker; an associate; as, she is partner of my life, of my joys, of my grief.
Those of the race of Shem were no partners in the unbelieving work of the tower of bable.
[The high priest of Salem, or in Hebrew Yerusalem [Jerusalem] and Melchizedek the king of righteousness]
1. An associate in any business or occupation; a joint owner of stock or capital, employed in commerce, manufactures or other business. Men are sometimes partners in a single voyage or adventure, sometimes in a firm or standing company.
2. One who dances with another, either male or female, as in a contra dance.
3. A husband or wife.
To join; to associate with a partner.

PARTA'KE, partook; pp. partaken. [part and take.]
1. To take a part, portion or share in common with others; to have a share or part; to participate; usually followed by of, sometimes less properly by in. All men partake of the common bounties of Providence. Clodius was at the feast, but could not partake of the enjoyments.
2. To have something of the property, nature, claim or right.
3. To be admitted; not to be excluded.

Thayer's Definition: rudiment
1) any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise, an element, first principal
1a) the letters of the alphabet as the elements of speech, not however the written characters, but the spoken sounds
1b) the elements from which all things have come, the material causes of the universe
1c) the heavenly bodies, either as parts of the heavens or (as others think) because in them the elements of man, life and destiny were supposed to reside
1d) the elements, rudiments, primary and fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline
1d1) i.e. of mathematics, Euclid’s geometry
Part of Speech: noun neuter

Webster's 1812 Dictionary
Rudiment
RU'DIMENT, n. [L. rudimentum. If connected with erudio, it denotes what is taught. But the real origin is not obvious.]
1. A first principle or element; that which is to be first learnt; as the rudiments of learning or science. Articulate sounds are the rudiments of language; letters or characters are the rudiments of written language; the primary rules of any art or science are its rudiments. Hence instruction in the rudiments of any art or science, constitutes the beginning of education in that art or science.
2. The original of any thing in its first form. Thus in botany, the pollen, stamen ovary or seed-bud, is the rudiment of the fruit yet in embryo; and the seed is the rudiment of a new plant.
Rudiment, in natural history, is also an imperfect organ; one which is never fully formed. Thus the flowers in the genus Pentstemon, have four stamens and a rudiment of a fifth, (a simple filament without an anther.)
God beholds the first imperfect rudiments of virtue in the soul.
RU'DIMENT, v.t. to furnish with first principles or rules; to ground; to settle in first principles.

The following is taken from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the whole Bible with some minor editing by this writer.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones, Ephesians 5:30. He assigns this as a reason why Christ nourishes and cherishes his church - because all who belong to it are members of his body, that is, of his mystical body. Or, we are members out of his body: all the grace and glory which the church has are from Christ, as Eve was taken out of the man. But, as one observes, it being the manner of the sacred writings to express a complex body by the enumeration of its several parts, as the heaven and earth for the world, evening and morning for the natural day, so here, by body, flesh, and bones, we are to understand himself, the meaning of the verse being that we are members of Christ. - For this cause (because they are one, as Christ and his church are one) shall a man leave his father and mother; the apostle refers to the words of Adam, when Eve was given to him for a meet help, Genesis 2:24. We are not to understand by this that a man's obligation to other relations is cancelled upon his marriage, but only that this relation is to be preferred to all others, there being a nearer union between these two than between any others, that the man must rather leave any of those than his wife. - And they two shall be one flesh, that is, by virtue of the matrimonial bond. This is a great mystery, Ephesians 5:32. Those words of Adam, just mentioned by the apostle, are spoken literally of marriage; but they have also a hidden mystical sense in them, relating to the union between Christ and his church, of which the conjugal union between Adam and the mother of us all was a type: though not instituted or appointed by God to signify this, yet it was a kind of natural type, as having a resemblance to it: I speak concerning Christ and the church.

After this, the apostle concludes this part of his discourse with a brief summary of the duty of husbands and wives, Ephesians 5:33. “Nevertheless (though there be such a secret mystical sense, yet the plain literal sense concerns you) let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, with such a sincere, peculiar, singular, and prevailing affection as that is which he bears to himself. And the wife sees that she reverence her husband.” Reverence consists of love and esteem, which produce a care to please, and of fear, which awakens a caution lest just offense be given. That the wife thus reverences her husband is the will of God and the law of the relation.

[The union of Christ and His mystical body for some unlearned is a mystery but for those who by free will choice have renounced the things of this present evil world to take on the relationship with Christ becomes plan. For He reveals to them in scripture the deeper things of God and of Himself and the Holy Spirit as He takes us from glory to glory in understanding and friendship as stewards of His secrets onto the perfection of the mature man, His image as seen in Him or through Him. Our renewed fellowship in worship and praise to the Father as we live in His name as a wife does her husbands in marriage and we take upon us His nature and character, now having the mind of Christ set a part from the world awaiting our departure from this evil world. Into the salvation or ascension to glory to for ever be with Him.]

From here now we’ll move on to our being heirs with Christ Jesus to the promises of God that were hid.

All scripture is from the KJV, Weymouth New Testament, American Standard and English Standard Versions of the Bible.