Not an Analogy
By Dennis Peacocke
As Christians, we often have a very difficult time determining when a Scripture is an analogy and when the Bible’s description of something is a literal truth. Throughout history, there have been many serious divisions resulting from this kind of interpretive difficulty—the Lord’s supper is an example. Is the communion bread and the wine a type of the Lord‘s body and blood, or does it actually become the Lord‘s body when people partake of it? This question of literal analogy or literal substance has huge implications, as anyone familiar with church history well knows.
What I’d like us to consider is this: Are those who follow Christ the actual hands and feet of the Lord through which He literally works His will on earth, or are we to see ourselves simply as an undefined, mystical representation of Christ? If we are a mystical representation, then it seems we are off the hook in terms of having the divine responsibility to be His vessels of work. Conversely, if we are, in fact, a literal vehicle through which He expects to do His work, then indeed the scope of our accountability to God as His delivery system of divine intervention on earth increases incredibly. Put another way, if we are His body by analogy alone, we have no responsibility, except to praise Him for that fact. But if we are His tools for work, we are responsible to allow Him to use us to do His work. Believe me, the importance of this is far beyond an academic or theological question.
Some time ago, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to this issue. He reminded me of the Psalm, “God makes a home for the lonely (Psalm 68:6).” I have always loved this scripture, rejoicing in Father’s compassion for the lonely and isolated, and it gave me warm “religious” feelings. But the Spirit pressed the issue in terms of how God actually ministers to the needy and the oppressed. Does he do it magically? Mystically? By analogy? Does He not, in fact, need flesh and blood—real people—among whom to set the lonely? In other words, doesn’t God use real bodies and His real church to do His will? I could cite numerous Scriptures to make my point, but the bottom line is this: The Scripture clearly both exhorts believers and warns them that His work on earth is contingent principally on them actually being His hands and feet to minister to people (Isaiah 58; Matthew 25:33-46).
If, in fact, God will do nothing on the earth except that which He first reveals to His servants, the prophets (Amos 3.7), then what does He actually do to work His will apart from His body, the Church? I claim no special revelation into theological implications of this question but in seeing the little I do, I am sobered.
If the Church is Christ’s instrument of work on the earth, more than simply a people on their way to heaven—this generation of believers is in big trouble. Where are we allowing God to place the homeless and families in significant numbers? Where are we standing for God in majority against evil doors (Psalm 94.16)? Where are we acting as salt and light, powerfully loving our communities with Christ commands and commandments? While it’s heartening to see that more and more believers are waking up and letting Christ use them as His body for Kingdom work, what about the masses of believers who rest in their salvation, content that by believing the right things, they are fulfilling their salvation on earth? God, help us!
In John 1:14, we read, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” God, since He deals in real things and not just in thoughts or ideas, incarnates His life in tangible form. The Gospel of the Kingdom serves as a witness, but a life—Jesus being the supreme and complete example—is the fullest expression of incarnate truth. What the world needs, in my opinion, is not more tracts, Bible verses, or verbal witnesses saying “be ye filled and be warm” (James 2:16). It needs to see more of the body of Christ—the life of Christ Himself—working through His earthly servants. Servants are real, breathing people, not analogies. The body of Christ is not a warm, glowing idea that mystifies us or challenges our ability to conceptualize. It is what He says it is: a real entity composed of particular members. It is no mystery how God sets the solitary into families; He does it through real believers who open real doors into their real lives for real people. And that is…