Body of Christ

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The body of Christ (σῶμα Χριστοῦ sōma Christou ) is one of the central ideas of the New Testament and ecclesiology . The term describes different aspects.

  • the historical body of Jesus Christ ( corpus Christi historicum ).
  • the eucharistic or sacramental body of Christ ( corpus Christi eucharisticum vel sacramentale ). In Catholicism this is understood to mean the body of Christ present in the Eucharistic forms after the change in Holy Mass , based on Mk 14.22  EU . The Lutheran Christians also use the term “Christ's body” for the Lord's Supper because they hold fast to the real presence despite their rejection of the doctrine of the change . For many other evangelical Christians, such as Reformed , Baptists and Anglicans , on the other hand, the Lord's Supper is only a remembrance meal at which Christ (based on 1 Cor 11 : 23-26  EU ) is present in a spiritual way. In the Catholic Church, in addition to Maundy Thursday , the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on Corpus Christi is celebrated to commemorate the institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist.
  • the mystical body of Christ ( corpus Christi mysticum ): the congregation of the followers of Jesus who form the body of Christ, based on Rom. 12 : 4-6  EU ; 1 Cor 12.12-27  EU . Christians are baptized into one body ( 1 Cor 12:13  EU ). They form a single body ( 1 Cor 10:17  EU ), the church. The members of the body of Christ are connected to one another in the spirit ( Eph 5:30  EU ). Christians are called to form a single body ( Col 3:15  EU ).

The concept of the body of Christ in Romans and 1 Corinthians is rooted in participation in the Lord's Supper founded by Jesus ( 1 Cor 10 : 16f  EU ). This Eucharistic table community constitutes “the functional unity of the organism”, in which a “togetherness shaped by Christ”, similar to baptism, overcomes the differences between the members ( Gal 3:26 ff  EU ). The impulse emanating from the Lord's Supper remains decisive even after the divine service, in the everyday life of Christians.

The “Deutero-Pauline” letters, the Letter to the Colossians and the Letter to the Ephesians , possibly written by students of Paul , see the body of Christ metaphor in a cosmic-mythological understanding. Jesus Christ is the “head”, the Ekklesia is the body that is built up and stabilized from the head ( Eph 4.15f  EU ) and in which eschatological peace can already be experienced ( Col 1.18-20  EU ).

Quotes

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them." ( Mt 18.20  EU )
“So if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the apostle who says to the believers: 'But you are the body of Christ and its members' ( 1 Cor 12:27  EU ). So if you are the body and members of Christ, then your mystery lies on the Lord's table: you receive your mystery. To what you are, you answer Amen. This answer is your signature. You hear: Body of Christ, and answer: Amen. Be a member of the body of Christ that your Amen may be true! […] Understand [the sacrament] and rejoice: [for it symbolizes] unity, truth, reverence and love. One bread: who is this one bread? The many who are one body. [...] Be what you see and receive what you are! "( Augustine )
“God's Son conquered death through his death and his resurrection in the unified human nature and thus redeemed man and transformed him into a new creature (cf. Gal 6:15  EU ; 2 Cor 5:17  EU ). By communicating his spirit, he made his brothers, whom he called together from all peoples, into his body in a mysterious way. In that body, the life of Christ overflows on the believers, who through the sacraments are united in a mysterious and yet real way with Christ, who suffered and is glorified. ”( Second Vatican Council , Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium )

Web links

literature

  • Klaus Hemmerle : Community as an Image of God: Contributions to Ecclesiology. Herder, Freiburg 1996, ISBN 3-451-23895-0 .
  • Stefan Huber: Body of Christ and salvation drama. Cultural theoretical and theological approaches to the church as a community body. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-8364-6470-3 .
  • Matthias Remenyi, Saskia Wendel (ed.): The church as the body of Christ. Validity and limits of a controversial metaphor (= Quaestiones disputatae. Volume 288). Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-451-02288-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alfred Kuen: Congregation according to God's blueprint. Evangelical Society for Germany, Wuppertal 1986, ISBN 3-7256-0020-1 , p. 85; Pope Pius XII : Encyclical Mystici corporis , June 29, 1943.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Roloff : The Church in the New Testament , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1996, pp. 100–110, especially pp. 100f.106.109, quotation p. 101.
  3. ↑ Thomas Söding : Body of Christ. I. Biblical-theological. 2. Deuteropaulines . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 6 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1997, Sp. 771 .
  4. ↑ Sermo 272 - Easter Sermon for the Newly Baptized. University of Würzburg, Center for Augustine Research, accessed on June 23, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium , para. 32 . Vatican website. Retrieved August 4, 2011.