Apostles & Prophets: Their Roles in the Past, the Present, and the Last DaysSample

A Stunning Revelation for the Body of Christ

According to John 3:34, when Jesus Himself walked the earth, the Father gave Him the Spirit without measure. But Paul stated in Colossians 1:18 and 19 that now, since Christ “…is the head of the body, the church…it pleased the Father that in him [and in all His Body] should all fulness dwell.”

The words “in Him” certainly refer to Jesus Himself, but the subject Paul is discussing in these verses is the Church, the Body of Christ. These verses remarkably mean that as God was pleased to give Jesus the Spirit without measure, now the Father is pleased for “all fullness” to “dwell” inside the Church, the Body of Christ — Head to toe.

These three words “all fulness dwell” unequivocally mean:

1.God’s Spirit has settled into the Church (the Body of Christ).

2.He is pleased to permanently dwell there.

3.His plan is to fill it to the maximum with the life of Christ.

This stunning revelation is confirmed in Colossians 2:9 and 10, where Paul added, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him….” Paul declared here that as the Father was pleased to give the Spirit to Jesus without measure, the Father is now pleased to give that same fullness to Christ’s whole Body, the Church.

Individually, every believer carries the Spirit within, but when all the members of the Church are joined to become a larger body, all those various portions of Christ are divinely connected. United, we experience a fullness we cannot know apart from each other. God’s long-term plan is for each member to be divinely joined to others and to function as the real, living Body of Christ in the earth with His heart, His pulse, and His hands and feet in order to touch others and carry the Gospel where it needs to go.

But to bring this plan out of the “mystical realm” into reality, something else that’s divine must occur. This God-breathed plan requires the help of the Christ-given fivefold ministry gifts who are anointed to do their respective parts in assembling and building the Body of Christ so that this Body can house the fullness of the Spirit — the fullness of Christ Himself.

Questions to Discuss:

What are the newest insights you have received concerning the importance of the fivefold ministry gifts? Can you see why it’s so important to understand and receive of each gift in order that the Body of Christ be built up and assembled?