The Amputated
Member...
Attention all non-Catholics
who "claim" to follow the teaching of Holy Scripture!
Have you
ever read 1Corinthians 12:1-31 before?
Have you understood the
message written therein?
(1) "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not
want you to be uninformed.
(2) You know
that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however
you may have been moved.
(3) Therefore I want you
to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says
"Jesus be cursed!"
and no one can say
"Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
(4) Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
(5) and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
(6) and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who
inspires them all in every one.
(7) To each is
given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
(8) To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,
and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same
Spirit,
(9) to another faith by the same
Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
(10)
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the
ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
(11)
All these are inspired by one and
the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he
wills.
(12) For just as the body is
one and has many members, and all the members of the
body, though many, are one body, so it is
with Christ.
(13) For by one spirit
we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks,
slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
(14)
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
(15)
If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to
the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
(16)
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to
the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
(17)
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole
body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
(18)
But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body,
each one of them, as he chose.
(19) If all were a
single organ, where would the body be?
(20) As it
is, there are many parts, yet one body.
(21)
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."
(22) On
the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are
indispensable,
(23) and those parts of the body
which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our
unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
(24)
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so
composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior
part,
(25) that there be no discord
in the body, but that the members may have the same care
for one another.
(26) If one member suffers, all
suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice
together.
(27) Now you are the body
of Christ and individually members of it.
(28)
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets,
third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers,
administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
(29)
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work
miracles?
(30) Do all possess gifts of healing? Do
all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
(31) But earnestly
desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent
way."
1Corinthians 12:1-31
"...and he has
put all things under his feet and has made him the head
over all things for the church, which is his body, the
fulness of him who fills all in all."
Ephesians 1:22-23
Elucidation:
1. There is but one Body
of Christ (vs 12).
2. The Body
of Christ is the Church which He founded, Ephesians
1:22-23
3. Therefore the
Church which Jesus Christ founded IS Christ.
4. Therefore those who reject His Church, reject Him.
Matthew 12:30
5. Since there is but one
Christ with one Body, so there must
be but one
Church. Psalms 127:1, Matthew 16:18
6. The Body (Church) consists of not one member, but many (vs 14).
7. The many members of the one
(Church) Body are all part of the same Body but each with his own
function (vs's 15-20).
8. The Body of Christ cannot
be separated from His Head.
9. Since the Body
consists of members, individual members of the Body can be separated
from the Head.
10. GOD has said that there must be no
discord within the Body (vs 25).
11. However, there
was great discord within the one Body, and it was a
clear violation of verse 25.
12. It is called the Protestant Revolt.
13. Leaders and members of the Protestant
Revolt Amputated themselves
from the one Body (Church)
(vs 21).
14. Each member of the Body has his own
function, by analogy, an eye, ear, hand, foot (vs's 15-18).
15.
Can a hand live by itself, disconnected (Amputated)
from the Body, or can an eye, an ear, or a foot?
16.
What happens to a member which is Amputated
from the Body?
17. The soul does not go with the Amputated member, and
thus the member dies.
"For
as in one body we have many members,
and all the members do not have the same function so we, though many, are one
body in Christ, and individually members one of another."
Romans 12:4-5
These verses clearly do not leave room for Amputated members.
"Because there is one bread,
we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
1Corinthians 10:17
Show me where Amputated
members partake of the "one bread"?
Here
is a very interesting observation from Saint Augustine
(354-430)...
"What the soul is to man's body, the
Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church. The Holy
Spirit does in the whole Church what the soul does in all members of
one body. But see what you must beware of, see what you must take note
of, see what you must fear. It happens that in the human body, or
rather, off the body, some member, whether hand, finger, or foot, may
be cut away. And if a member be cut off, does the soul go with it? When
the member was in the body, it lived; and off, its life is lost. So
too, a Christian man is Catholic while he lives in the body; cut off,
he is made a heretic; the Spirit does not follow an amputated
member."
Sermons, 267, 4, 391-430 A.D.
Elucidation:
1. The Holy Spirit is the Soul of the Body
of Christ which is the one Church.
2. The Holy Spirit does in
the whole Church what the soul
does in all members of the one Body.
3. When a member
of the Body is Amputated,
the soul does not go with it*, and thus
the member dies.
4. The Amputated
member, when cut off from the Body of Christ, is made a heretic.
5.
The Holy Spirit does not follow an Amputated member (heretic).
6.
Therefore the Holy Spirit,
not following an Amputated
member, is only guiding the one
Church which Jesus Christ founded.
*Unlike
the body which has many parts and can be divided, the soul has
no parts and thus cannot be divided.
Now for all of those who think that all
they need is a one on one relationship with Jesus Christ, the
Head of His Church, and have Amputated
themselves from His Body, they had better heed the teaching of Holy
Scripture, as shown very clearly above. A hand
detached from the body has no life and cannot exist for very long on
its own. How could a hand alone, divorced from the body, be in any way
attached to the head? Nowhere in Scripture is it said that parts of the
one Body may separate themselves into individual Amputated members.
However,
Holy Scripture clearly does say that unfruitful members can be Amputated by GOD.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the
vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he
takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes,
that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word
which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As
the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you
are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that
bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch
and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the
fire and burned."
John 15:1-6
Clearly,
those who have Amputated
themselves from the Body, are not bearing fruit for the Head or the
Body.
"He
who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me
scatters", is what the Head has
said, Matthew 12:30
With more than 35,000 Protestant
sects in the world today, are those who are doing the
scattering bearing fruit for the Vine?
Are they still
attached to the one Vine? Aren't they the dissenters and
dividers spoken of in 1Corinthians 1:10 and 11:18-19?
Aren't
they the ones who violated Hebrews 13:17?
"Obey
your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render
an account of your souls: that they may do this with joy and not with
grief. For this is not expedient for you."
Haven't
they illegally Amputated
themselves from the vine, or have they been Amputated by
the vinedresser?
To the contrary, the Body of Christ
is commanded by GOD to be one...
Jesus
said, "I do not pray for these only,
but also for those who believe in me through their word they
may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me."
John 17:20-21
"May
the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant
you to live in such harmony with one another,
in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you
may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 15: 5-6
"I appeal
to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all
of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you
be united in the same mind and the same judgment."
1Corinthians 1:10
For, in the first place, when
you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you;
and I partly believe it, for there must be
factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be
recognized." 1Corinthians 11:18-19
All
who are not joined to the one Body and one Church of Jesus Christ are
in violation of those verses, and of others .
United
in the same mind? United in the same judgment? No dissensions? No
divisions? No factions?
You certainly cannot say any of these
things about Protestantism
with its 35,000+ denominations can you?
It
is interesting that there must be factions
(Amputated members) so
that the true members of the Body of Christ are made manifest.
Those
who have the truth shine like beacons
among
the heretical Amputated
members.
They are those who fit this verse, "You are the lightof
the world", Matthew 5:14
"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the
gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I
may hear of you that you stand firm in one
spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,"
Philippians 1:27
In verse after verse in the New Testament, it is stressed
that it is only the one true Church:
1. Which has the final authority on earth, and not any
other outside of it, Isaiah 22:21,
Matthew 9:8, 18:15-18, Luke 10:19, John 20:21-23
2. Which is
the Pillar and Foundation of Truth, and none other, 1Timothy
3:15
3. Which alone is guided by the Holy
Spirit, John 14:15-17, 16:12-16, Acts 15:28
"He who is not
with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."
Matthew 12:30
What with the undeniable evidence of
35,000+ Protestant sects* in the world today, just who is doing the
scattering?
*World Christianity Encyclopedia, a
Protestant publication.
Copyright �
Written by Bob Stanley, January
30, 2003
Updated April 15, 2003
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