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The Church as The Body of Christ in The Gospel of Matthew1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Extract

Although it is evident to every student of the New Testament that Matthew has a special interest in the Church, the use of the term ‘body of Christ’ to describe the Church has been peculiarly associated with Paul. For this reason it seems well to begin by discussing briefly what Paul meant by the concept of body in order to have a working definition of it. We will then endeavour to ascertain whether this idea is also present in Matthew.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1958

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References

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page 272 note 3 ibid., pp. 81–2, 113.

page 272 note 4 Best is not unmindful of this paradox. See op. cit., pp. 111, 157.

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page 278 note 3 Flew, op. cit., p. 54.

page 278 note 4 Cullmann suggests that this verse has reference to the presence of Christ in the eucharist. See Cullmann, Oscar (translated by Todd, A. S. and Torrance, J. B.), Early Christian Worship, London, 1953, p. 14.Google Scholar

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page 279 note 2 This is comparable to Paul's paradox that die Church is the Body of Christ; yet Christ is the Head and Saviour of the Body.

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page 283 note 1 Bacon, op. cit., p. 406.

page 283 note 2 The interpretation of the parable of the Tares (Matt. 13.36–43) is taken as a product of Matthew or his source, not as an utterance of Jesus. It seems that Matthew identifies the Church with the Kingdom of the Son of Man (13.41) but not with the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church has sinners (18.15–17), and the Kingdom of the Son of Man has stumbling-blocks (13.41), but the Kingdom of Heaven has only the righteous (13.43; 25–34, 4–6)- The Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew is future as well as present and has an eternal reference (25.46) while the Church (28.20) and the Kingdom of the Son of Man (13.41) will end with the parousia.

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