In the language of Scripture, somewhat more is meant than the mere animal life, when speaking of the body. The whole church of Christ is his body. And the Holy Ghost, by his servant the apostle Paul, saith, "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." (1 Corinthians 15:44) So that the term is variously used.
But I should not have thought it necessary on this account to have made any pause at the word body, it not been in reference to a subject of an infinitely higher nature; I mean, in relation to the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. The wonderful condescension of the Son of God in taking upon him our nature, and assuming a body, such as ours, in all points like as we are, yet without sin; makes it a most interesting subject, and comes home recommended to our tenderest affections, that it is impossible ever to pass by it, or to regard it with coolness and indifference. I would beg the reader's indulgence for a few moments on the occasion.
The Scripture account of this mysterious work is not more marvellous than it is endearing. It became necessary, it seems, in the accomplishment of redemption, that the great and almighty Author of it should be man, yea, perfect man, as well as perfect God. The relation which God the Holy Ghost hath given, concerning the Son of God becoming incarnate, is said to the church in so many sweet and blessed words, that the soul of the believer, methinks, would chime upon them for ever. "Wherefore (he saith) in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Hence, therefore, the Son of God passed by the nature of angels, for an angel's nature would not have suited his purpose, nor ours. He was to be in all points like those he redeemed, sin only excepted; and, therefore, a body he assumes for the accomplishment of this great end. (See Heb ii throughout, but particularly Hebrews 2:14-18.)
This, therefore, being determined on in the council of peace, that He who undertook to redeem our nature, should partake of the same nature as those he redeemed; the next enquiry is, What saith the Scripture concerning the Son of God resuming our nature, and how was it wrought?
The Scriptures, with matchless grace and condescension, have shewn this, and in a way, considering the dulness of our faculties in apprehension, so plain and circumstantial, that under the blessed Spirit teaching, the humblest follower of the Lord, taught by the Holy Ghost, can clearly apprehend the wonderful subject. Under the spirit of prophecy, Jesus declared, ages before his incarnation, JEHOVAH had provided a body for his assumption. "Sacrifice and offering (said the Lord,) thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me." (See Psalms 40:6 with Hebrews 10:5, etc.) But how was the Son of God to assume this body? The Holy Ghost takes up the blessed subject, and by his servant the Evangelist Luke, records the whole particular's of a conference which took place between an angel and a Virgin Called Mary, whose womb, by his miraculous impregnation, and without the intervention of a human father, was to bring forth this glorious Holy One, as the great Saviour of his people. The Holy Ghost (said the angel to Mary,)"shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God." I beg the reader to turn to the wonderful account, and read the whole. (Luke 1:26-53) And I would farther beg him to turn to the Scriptures of the prophets, who, with one voice, pointed to this great event in all their ministrations, (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2) And when the reader hath gone over all these Scriptures of the Old Testament, I request him to finish the enquiry in reading the history of the facts themselves, as they are recorded in the New, and bless God for his grace and condescension in bringing the church acquainted with such an event, in the interest of which our present and everlasting happiness is so intimately concerned.
In speaking, therefore, or having a right conception of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ; this is the point of view in which the Scriptures of God teach us to regard that holy body. The Son of God as God, assuming this holy thing, so expressly called by the angel, underived from our fallen nature, and as to any shadow of imperfection, unconnected with it; becomes a suited Saviour for all the purposes of redemption, and being by this sacred and mysterious union, God and man in one person, formed one Christ: he, and he only, becomes the proper Redeemer and Mediator, the God-man Christ Jesus. And hence the plain and obvious meaning of all these Scriptures. God in Christ. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the GODHEAD bodily." (2 Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; John 1:14) and John 17:1-26 throughout.
I must not enlarge. Neither ought I to dismiss the subject without first adding, to what I have said, one observation more; that by virtue of this union of our nature with the Son of God, his church is brought into an intimate union and oneness with him. And while we are taught to behold Christ as taking upon him our nature, we are no less taught, to consider every regenerated believer as a "member of his body, his flesh, and his bones." (Ephesians 5:23-33.) And it is a matter of holy joy and rapture, never to be lost sight of by the humblest and poorest of his redeemed people, that the hand of God the Father is in all these glorious concerns, "who gave his dear Son to be the Head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:22-23)
See Mary