The Church: The House of God and the Body of Christ

Privileges in the Church have never been greater than they are now in 1994. Also evident failure surely has never been more manifest. Understanding about the Church as the body of Christ and as the house of God would have prevented some failure, therefore, we write the following: Judgment and discipline are connected with the house of God and not with the body of Christ.
“The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory... hath put all things under His [Christ's] feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. 1:17, 22,23. "For through Him [Christ] we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Eph. 2:18, 19.
The Church as the body of Christ has Christ as its head and is the fullness of Him who is over all things. Each member of the body is linked to the head and to one another by the indwelling Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12, 13). God has set the members in their place and function in the body as it has pleased Him, tempering them together into one whole (1 Cor. 12:18, 24). The Church as the body of Christ is the object of His love and care and He is the Savior of it, laboring that He may present it to Himself a glorious Church, holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-30).
On the other hand, the Church as the house of God is the place where God dwells among His people, a place of individual and collective responsibility where holiness is to be maintained and failure is judged. "Ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph. 2:22. "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 1 Tim. 3:15. "Judgment must begin at the house of God." 1 Peter 4:17.
When the Church is viewed as His body, it is relationship to Christ which is paramount. When it is the Church as the house of God, it is relationship to God. Privileges and responsibilities result from these relationships. As members of the body of Christ, I believe we are the most privileged people who have ever lived, particularly in view of the nearness of the Lord's coming. But with this privilege comes our responsibility to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [we] are called.”
Not only is there privilege and responsibility in the body, but in the house of God too, because we are builded together for an habitation of God by the Spirit! God by the Spirit dwells both in His house collectively and in us individually.