The Spiritual “Body of Christ”
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Acts 28

The Apostle Paul was given two separate successive ministries representing two separate dispensations. A dispensation is an age in which people’s relationship with ‘the applicable words of the Lord in their day’ changed from that of the previous dispensation. Thus, the Apostle Paul often uses the words; “But now….”

  • Paul’s 1st calling and ministry was During the Acts period when the conversion of the Jews was God’s the primary objective because Israel had been called to ultimately… bless the Gentiles.
  • Paul’s 2nd ministry began immediately After the Acts period ended, after “the fall of Israel,” due to her repeated unbelief, was sealed with Paul’s judicial declaration of Acts 28:26-28 [below] as he quoted Israel’s prophecy. With that, Paul set Israel and her calling aside, POSTONED during today’s age of “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:1-11) which concerns the Gentile “Body of Christ.”

Paul quoted and fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy of Isaiah 6:9-10, when he judicially declared;

“Saying, Go unto this people [Israel], and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28 Be it known therefore unto you [Israel], that The Salvation Of God Is Sent Unto The Gentiles, and that They Will Hear [Heed] It.” Acts 28:26-28 (KJV)

So, with “the fall of Israel,” she never could fulfill her calling to go to the Gentiles with the kingdom gospel, and they will not until the Millennial kingdom on earth. Meanwhile, God sent Paul, in his 2nd ministry, directly to the Gentiles to establish the heaven-bound “church, which is His body” to be the counterpart to Christ as “the Head” of Christ’s “One body” (Eph. 4:5). Israel is yet “betrothed” to the Lord (cf. Hosea).

With his two ministries Paul wrote two distinct sets of 7 epistles, 7 Pre Acts and 7 Post Acts 28. Paul’s epistles must be carefully rightly divided and studied in their chronological order, not in the order in which they appear in the Bible. With his latter ministry Paul received the added understanding of “the revelation of the mystery [secret],” which was God’s formerly secreted plan from “before the world began” (Rom. 16:25) in accord with His ultimate purpose unto eternity.

Paul’s 1st ministry seen during The Acts period, was a continuation of Lukes Gospel. Paul continued the offer of Jesus’ gospel of “thy kingdom come” to Israel … “on earth.” Paul offered salvation to the “unsaved” of “the Jews first.” As seen during Paul’s Acts ministry, and upon the rejection of the gospel by the Jews in a city, Paul would then go to the Gentiles of that city to make the Jews “jealous” (cf. Rom. 11:11). Consequently, some Gentiles of that day were “grafted in,” during Acts, to be being saved as a sort of 2nd class of kingdom believers. They were limit to “the court of the Gentiles” and in other ways also.

Paul served in his 1st ministry preaching the kingdom “hope of Israel” as late as Acts 28:20, just 6 verses before “the fall of Israel” was sealed in v28. With Paul’s words of Acts 28:26-28, he set Israel aside in favor of a new and greater calling and blessing for “ye Gentiles” (Eph. 3:1) … with ‘the Gentiles’ consisting of ALL believers of ALL races which includes the unbelieving Jews (cf. Eph. 3:1-11; Col. 3:11).

Paul’s 2nd ministry, after the end of the Acts period, was to the “saved” Jews and Gentiles, to offer a greater awakening unto a HEAVENLY calling and hope. Paul’s 1st ministry and gospel had concerned the calling and hope of an earthly kingdom for Israel. But that all changed with “the fall of Israel” in Acts 28:26-28.

The work of Paul’s 2nd ministry was, and continues to be, “for the perfecting (readjusting) of ‘the saints’ (the saved believers), for the edifying (building up) of “the Body of Christ” (cf. Eph 4:12). This was in accord with newly added revelation that Paul had received … “the revelation of the mystery.” As a result Paul had to adjust his doctrine and then preach a readjusted gospel to those whom he had previously led to salvation during the Acts period. He stopped preaching the calling and hope of an earthly kingdom gospel that was for Israel began preaching the heavenly calling and heavenly hope of the gospel to the Gentile “Body of Christ” which is destined to dwell eternally in “the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3-4). This necessitated his 2nd set of seven epistles.

Historically, during the Reformation period of the 1500-1700s truth emerged distinguishing those who professed a salvation based solely upon faith in Christ, as opposed to those of the Traditional Liturgical Church of the day, expressly the Roman Church, that required conformance to its rites, rituals, and laws.

Today there are those of the spiritual (thus INVISIBLE) “church, which is His body” of souls saved based solely upon faith in Christ. Yet many of the believing saved remain within man’s Traditional VISIBLE churches of Christendom that contradict Paul’s Post-Acts truths for today age of the Mystery of “His Body.”

Many, such as myself, are outside of, separated from, and have no part in any of the ‘organized religious organizations of man.’ Many today have come to see Paul’s revelation knowledge and understanding as written in Paul’s Post-Acts epistles. Christ is edifying His ‘chosen,’ invisible, heavenly “Body.” His Gentile “body” of Eph 3:1-11 is most often ‘called out’ from among those saved believers in the institutional churches. Even today learn more about the invisible “Body of Christ” but mainly from Paul’s ‘prison epistles’ of Ephesians and Colossians, that were written soon after the Acts period ended.

So, in his very first Post-Acts ‘prison epistle’ to the Ephesians, Paul as “the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13) addressed Two Groups, “the saints,” and “the faithful” (cf. Eph. 1:1). Thereby Paul was addressing all the genuine believers in Christ regardless of their maturity “in Christ.” Therein Paul expounded upon “The Revelation Of The Mystery,” That “Had Been Kept Secret Since The World Began,” which he had first mentioned in his Romans 16:25 Post-Script, The prison epistles concern the added revelation for our present-day Gentile dispensational age of “the church, which is His body” … “the Body of Christ.”

Paul sums up his second ministry in his Post-Acts prison epistles to the saved “saints, … and the faithful” of Ephesus as follows:

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with All Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places In Christ:” Ephesians 1:2-3 (KJV)

“17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you (saints) the spirit of wisdom and Revelation In The Knowledge of Him: the Eyes Of Your Understanding Being Enlightened, that ye may Know what is The Hope Of His Calling, and what is The Riches Of The Glory Of His Inheritance (At His Own Right Hand In The Heavenlies)” Eph. 1:17-20 (KJV)

We note in Ephesians 1:1 (above), while Paul is writing to both “the saints,” and “the faithful,” he is addressing them as the Two Classes of saved believers at Ephesus.

  • A ‘saint’ is one who today is saved and is immediately ‘sanctified,’ i.e. ‘set apart unto the Lord;’ even while not yet having much understanding of “the hope of his calling” and the riches included.
  • By contrast “the faithful” are a class of believers who after being saved, went on to study Paul’s words of revelation and thereby became intelligized as to “the hope of their calling in Christ, one which leads to the “far above” calling of “the heavenly places in Christ” (verse 3, 17-20 below).

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL spiritual [invisible] blessings In Heavenly Places In Christ: Ephesians 1:3 (KJV)
20 Which he [God] wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him At His Own Right Hand In The Heavenly Places, Ephesians 1:20 (KJV)

The words “your understanding being enlightened” (in Eph. 1:17-18 above) speak of ‘your understanding being illuminated, instructed, informed, or furnished with a clear view.’ Thus there seems to be something to be further understood by “the saints,” to know about God’s calling Beyond Salvation In Christ. Ones salvation in Christ concerns “everlasting life,” but the hope and inheritance that is glorious goes Beyond the EARTHLY hope of kingdom come On Earth that was previously preached “to the Jew first” during the Acts period. Paul is now addressing The Hope Of Heaven.

Biblical ‘workmen,’ those who labor in “the study of the word of truth” and its doctrine for today, have uncovered hidden treasures of truth which illuminate our understanding and confirm the Pauline “revelation of the Mystery [of God’s secret plan]” that was first mentioned in Romans 16:25.

God’s Spiritual Invisible Church that is Bound for “The Heavenly Places In Christ.”

  • Most all of Christendom’s churches at large today still promote and participate in the irrelevant, suspended rites, rituals, ordinances, and doctrines that belong to ‘the kingdom hope of Israel.’
  • But according to the renewed understanding of Paul’s Prison Epistles, today’s Gentile “church, which is His body” (Eph. 1:22b-23a) is free of such religious externalities. “His body” today is entirely Spiritual and invisible. It is Called Out of and Separated From the doctrines, ordinances, and traditions of the Earthly Institutions (Col 2:14); now holding doctrine with a Heavenly Hope in view. Thus today we are to be “Looking for that blessed hope, to “Appear with Christ in [heaven’s] glory” (cf. Col. 3:4, Titus 2:13)

Sadly, today most of the saved ‘saints’ are being deceived with information that Applies Only To Israel’s Earthly Kingdom Gospel program, instead of being rightly concerned with the knowledge of Paul’s advanced Post-Acts gospel for the called-out “Body of Christ.” That information is found primarily in Paul’s ‘prison epistles’ to the Ephesians and the Colossians.

The chosen “Body of Christ” has doctrinal attributes that are entirely spiritual (invisible). Some examples are noted below with reference text. Look up and study the Bible text for yourself.

  • This “One Body” (Eph. 4:4) is a spiritual, invisible, body, whose “Head” is Christ (Eph 1:22-23, Col 1:18), and whose members were “chosen” by God “before the foundation of the world” (cf. Eph. 1:4)
  • Our Membership is invisible to the world; only God knows who we are. Members are spiritually (dry) baptized into Christ’s body (cf. Rom. 6:3), not into a denomination. Therefore we identify with Christ and not with a denomination or earthly named assembly (Eph 4:5).
  • This “One Body” was chosen in Christ before the overthrow (katabole) of the world. That katabole occurred sometime between Gen 1:1 and 1:2,
  • We who are “in Christ” are not of this world (Col 3:10, 11). We are in Christ and Christ is in us: to become the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. (Eph 1:23) Our affection (bent) is on things above [heavenly], not on things on the earth. (Col 3:2)
  • Our blessings are spiritual in “heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph 1:3) Our circumcision is of the heart. Our circumcision is made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. (Col 2:11)
  •   Our enemies are spiritual, invisible. (Eph 6:12). Our armour is spiritual, invisible). (Eph 6:11-17).
  •   Our weapons are spiritual: the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph 6:17) and prayer (Eph 6:18).
  •   We worship in Spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24) We worship always, 24/7. (Eph 6:18)
  •   Our position is spiritual. (Eph 2: 6, Col 3:1) We are spiritually ‘sealed’ with the Spirit. (Eph 1:13)
  •   We have no ordinances. (Col 2:14, 20)
  •   There are no covenants with this Body; as evidenced by these expressions in Ephesians 1:

o    according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,

o    according to the riches of His grace,

o    according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself,

o    according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will

o    Nothing is done ‘according to a covenant.’

  •   The called-out, which is “His body,” are invisibly “hid with Christ in God.” (Col 3:3)
  •   Only when Christ shall appear, then shall we appear with him in [heaven’s] glory – only then will this “Body of Christ” be seen. (Col 3:4)
  •   Our current position is with Christ “far above all [angelic] principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Eph 1:21).

The ultimate purpose of this Post-Acts “Body of Christ” is to make known unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Eph 3:10-11)

  • Portions adapted from articles by Alan Naas