When we say the “body of Christ,” we tend to hear the words in our own ear as if we are saying something figurative, but actually the body of Christ is tangible and real.For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
—I Corinthians 12:12
The Spirit of God filled the body of Christ when Jesus was on earth, because when Jesus was on earth, the body of Jesus was the body of Christ.
But as he died, he released his spirit. See John 19:30.
That spirit filled and unified the believers. See Acts 2:4.
Thus does Christ continue—practically uninterrupted. The one true Spirit of God still fills the “body” of Christ, a body that now consists of all the followers of Jesus, a body that covers far more earthly territory than Jesus’ own travels ever could. In the way that this body continues, it could truly be said that while Jesus ascended to heaven, Christ remained behind.
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