TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

The true church of Jesus Christ should never be understood as a mere organization; rather, it functions as a living organism, a single body.

Consider a tree as an illustration. The same life found in its roots also flows through the trunk, the branches, the stems, the leaves, and the fruit, with one continuous sap running through every part. Jesus used a similar picture when describing the believer’s relationship to him, instructing his followers to remain in him just as a branch stays connected to the vine, since the life within the roots is the same life running through the entire vine.

In the same way, the human body operates as one life expressed through many different limbs, each assigned its own function, yet all working together as a single, growing body, a picture Jesus used to describe how the church operates as well.

For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.

Romans 12:4-5