The purpose of the gifts is for the suma wherein the joints are fitted together and the supply of love is at the joints. The members according to Paul are supplied by the joints, or better, what happens at the joints. The joints, or in the spaces between the members, is where the love happens and supplies or nourishes the members. That is how it "builds it self up in love". [1] This is not only how we come to know God but is how we come to realize his calling on our lives and our ministry which is expressed out of this relationship.
The community of God expressed in his triune being is expressed in his community of believers. The term "community" is defined in Vanhoozer's Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible as "Scriptural awareness of being participators in a concrete, visible fellowship of disciples in covenant with each other."[2] This covenant is not just with one another. It is primarily with God through Christ, and then enacted with one another in the fellowship of believers. This community of participation God has committed to the body of the flesh and blood here on the earth. As Graham Buxton said in his book The Trinity, Creation and Pastoral Ministry, "In our call to live ethically in the church and in the world, we actually need one another because we are created for relationship and can only realize our full humanity in community with God and with one another".[3] Again Buxton says in his book Dancing in the Dark, that communal life reflects the authentic ministry of the church, and this "communal life" is liken to a beautiful dance.[4]
The analogy of the dance then is more about the movement of the members than about the members, because it is from this interaction between the members that love, i.e. God, appears and is known. It is for a mature, complete, united body that Christ is returning. It is from this oneness of Ephesians that is the answer then of Christ's prayer that we all may be one. This oneness will be the witness to the world. This is the evangelical result of "body ministry" but the purpose is the praise and glory given to the Father in true worship (Ephesians 3:21).
Worship
Much has been said about worship and worshippers. In the Global Dictionary of Theology worship is found under Liturgy and Worship[5]. The reader is left with the feeling that worship is connected directly to the ecclesial gathering. While Vanhoozer in his DTIB connects it to the "public gathering of people to perform religious activities, he does point to the triune God (italics mine) and "each other" as the Christian manifestation.[6] In the Gospel of John 4: 23-24, Christ told the Samaritan woman that the Father is seeking worshippers. We are not often told directly about what God wants. Here it is plainly stated by Christ. Jesus also included the working of the spirit (Holy Spirit) and himself (truth, e.g. John 14:6) as the Trinitarian expression in human worship. How does this work with the idea of perichoresis?
Buxton brings our focus to this point of the triune nature of worship as he says, "The theology of the incarnation reminds us that all humanity has been caught up in Christ's ascended and glorified humanity, so making it possible for us to participate by the Spirit in the Son's perfect communion with his Father.[7] The fact that Christ included the trinity when talking to the Samaritan woman means that the worship that the Father seeks involves humanity in the communal triune nature of God. In fact Jesus used the term "truth" not only meaning Himself but also signifying that there is no other way to worship the Father. If we think of the many ways that mankind has sought to worship God, then this is a tremendous opportunity for humanity.
Mankind as individuals must learn to worship before they can participate in the corporate nature of worship to the Father. We are triune beings (1 Thess. 5:23). According to J. R. Stevens
, "While true worship originates in the human spirit, the soul and body are the channels of expression for that worship. In pure worship, the human spirit dominates the soul and body." [8] While true worship is the workings of the spirit it is done through Christ in us and presented to the Father. This is done most effectively in and through the corporate cooperation. Again Stevens compares corporate worship as to a symphony. " The Greek word symphoneo means "to cry together ... all is harmony and in order."[9] This symphony is directed by the Spirit but is put together in Truth before the Father, so that all is blended into the oneness Christ prayed for in the Gospel of John. The beautiful workings of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are reflected in worship of the community back to God. To Dyrness the whole idea of the Christian life is to enter into this community of worship. The worship does not end with the individual worship. This again is not the American ideal of the individual finally reaching actualization by being able to worship God by himself. To Susan Wood it is "a world in which the interplay of elements mutually inhere and cohere in such a way that each part derives its meaning from the whole at the same time that it contributes to the meaning of the whole."[10] William Dyrness
states, " ...the goal of the Christian life is the practice of corporate worship...."[11]
, "While true worship originates in the human spirit, the soul and body are the channels of expression for that worship. In pure worship, the human spirit dominates the soul and body." [8] While true worship is the workings of the spirit it is done through Christ in us and presented to the Father. This is done most effectively in and through the corporate cooperation. Again Stevens compares corporate worship as to a symphony. " The Greek word symphoneo means "to cry together ... all is harmony and in order."[9] This symphony is directed by the Spirit but is put together in Truth before the Father, so that all is blended into the oneness Christ prayed for in the Gospel of John. The beautiful workings of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are reflected in worship of the community back to God. To Dyrness the whole idea of the Christian life is to enter into this community of worship. The worship does not end with the individual worship. This again is not the American ideal of the individual finally reaching actualization by being able to worship God by himself. To Susan Wood it is "a world in which the interplay of elements mutually inhere and cohere in such a way that each part derives its meaning from the whole at the same time that it contributes to the meaning of the whole."[10] William Dyrness states, " ...the goal of the Christian life is the practice of corporate worship...."[11] Corporate worship can or should not be narrowly defined as only one aspect of the church. This is why the triune being of God is vastly important. It cannot be narrowed down to just the three individually. It is the interworking of the three can create so much more than "eye has seen or ear has heard or even entered into the heart of mankind" (1 Corinthians 2:9). Worship from the communal triune perspective draws in all that has been created. Dyrness again says, "...that all of life in whole and in part...should serve and reflect God's glory. [T]hat it is not hard to see that service and worship are ...two sides of the same reality".[12] Worship then becomes the outgrowth of a life lived with the triune nature being at the core of the individual. This life denies that the Christian is ever "solitary" in that the indwelling of Christ brings him into the Triune fellowship. Beyond this point the Christian is "born" into the corporate body by the same force of "knowing" God. This all happens, as stated before, at the intersection of Fiddes "social spaces". John simply states that if nothing is happening at these "joints" then the person is not "born" of God. He is not, by his own action, a part of the "dance" that is happening, not in the mover but in the movement. The body expresses itself as a communion organism. It is not an organization as much as it is an organism. "The Church is an organism, not an organization. A tree is an organism, but a car is an organization. You bolt a car together; fill it up with gas, and it runs. But it is not a living thing. A tree is alive. You trim it and prune it, and it produces fruit because it is a living thing. I have never seen a car produce fruit. There are churches that are organizations. The people are bolted or glued together. They are held together by various motivations. But the real Body of Jesus Christ is fitted together, and it grows through that which every joint supplies."[13] The movement does not happen because it is scheduled or planned as much as it is the interaction of the organism that is reacting in concert with the Spirit. As an organism we exhibit characteristics of all living things. All living things respond to stimulus. Well-developed organisms have a nervous system to help communicate across the creature. Banks, in his book on Paul's Idea of Community, says that " the body has a common nerve."[14] He goes on to say that we all share in a common life together. We as the body of Christ have interconnectedness, Fiddes calls it 'zone of interconnection'.[15] This allows the members of the body to be aware of one another's needs. As Paul puts it "when one member suffers, all members suffer with it." (1 Corinthians 12:26). This opens the door for new interpretations not only of worship but more effective prayer.
[1] John Stevens, This Week, Volume XIII( Los Angeles, Living Word Publication, 1984) 554.
[2] Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2005) 128. Stanley Grenz.
[3] Graham Buxton, The Trinity, Creation and Pastoral Ministry (Eugene, Wipf & Stock, 2005) 167.
[4] Graham Buxton, Dancing in the Dark: The Privilege of Participating in the Ministry of Christ (Eugene, Wipf & Stock, 2001) 21.
[5] William A. Dyrness, and Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Global Dictionary of Theology, (Downer Grove, IVP Academic, 2008) 279.
[6] Vanhoozer, Jeremy Begbie, 858.
[7] Ibid., 177.
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