“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”
Psalm 56:8
Christian preachers and evangelists often focus exclusively on a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ without any mention of integration or communal belonging to the Body of Christ. The Bible reveals the two as indivisible. They are intricately woven together to form a vibrant and legitimate expression of faith. While a personal response to the Good News is essential, the nature of our relationship with God is never expressed as private in Scripture. Instead, as Ephesians 2:10 reveals, saints are redeemed into “His workmanship,” as a dynamic and supernatural integration into Christ’s Body & Bride, with each member contributing by doing their part (Eph 4:16).
While a personal relationship with Christ Jesus is most certainly a part of the Christian faith, the personal aspect is never revealed as private. Throughout the Old Testament, the entire narrative is communal in nature. Even so, psalms, like 56:8, convey a profoundly intimate and personal relationship with God, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” At the same time, there is always an implicit or explicit desire for praise and worship as community (Ps 22:22) to draw the nations into relationship with God Almighty (Ps 57:9).
Throughout the New Testament, passages like Luke 12:7, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows,” underscore the intimacy and depth of this connection. While John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life,” we should recall that Jesus’ invitation into everlasting life is to join Him in the Father’s heavenly family as a member of God’s household. The Bible intentionally uses overt Jewish marriage language. Being redeemed into God’s family most certainly isn’t the nuclear family of today with our own rooms, Wifi, microwave meals, headphones, electronic devices, disconnectedness, and everyone doing their own thing.
Galatians 2:20 expresses the personal aspect of faith, stating, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” That’s not the full context of the verse. While there certainly is a profound union with Christ that emphasizes the transformative power of salvation, the verse continues “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” The life we now live in our physical bodies is as devoted members of His Body & Bride. The obvious sins of the flesh are those of the autonomous, private, and independent nature highlighted in Galatians 5:19-21. They are contrasted with the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22-23) always on display in Gospel community.
A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is never revealed in Scripture as an isolated or private experience. Rather, it is always intimately connected to membership within the Body of Christ, the community of believers. 1 Corinthians 12:27 affirms this communal identity, by declaring, “Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” Believers are likened to various parts of a body, each essential for the functioning and vitality of the whole. The Apostle Paul follows this up in 1 Cor 14:26 with, “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.”
Ephesians chapter 2 paints the stark contrast of who we were: dead in our trespasses and sins, living according to the ways of the world, pursuing fleshly desires, disobedient, and children of wrath - VS -who Christ has made us to be: alive, glorifying Christ, and integrated into His Body to do the good works God prepared beforehand as our new way of life. As followers of Christ, it is crucial to embrace both the personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the communal identity as members of the Body of Christ. While the personal dimension entails individual faith, repentance, and intimacy with God, the communal dimension emphasizes fellowship, accountability, and mutual edification within the Christian community in order to accomplish the mission of God.
The personal and communal aspects of faith are not mutually exclusive but gloriously intertwined to reflect the richness and diversity of God's redemptive plan in Christ Jesus. As believers, let us “make every effort” to cultivate a deepening intimacy with Christ while actively participating in and contributing to the vibrant life of the Christian community, thereby embodying the unity and love the Word of God reveals as essential to the Body of Christ (John 13:35) that is simultaneously our testimony of God’s extravagant love for all humanity (John 17:23).
Through this biblical approach, we honor Christ’s mandate to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39), recognizing that our love for God is intricately connected to our love for one another within the Body of Christ and for our brothers and sisters still stuck in their sin.
Blessings and love,
Kevin M. Kelley
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