1 Corinthians 6:14-17
“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are the Anointed’s (Christ’s) members?… ‘For the two,’ he says, ‘will become one flesh.’ And the one joined to the Lord is one spirit.” (DBH)
As we continue to examine the quantum sayings of the Apostle Paul, we will begin to notice a recurring pattern of equating what happens to Christ with what happens to us. Quite often, Paul refers to something that is true of Christ as a way of illustrating what is true of all of us. This inseparable Oneness with Christ is quite shocking when you start to notice how often Paul mentions it.
But what we should try to keep in mind is how this teaching of our shared Oneness with Christ wasn’t seen as scandalous by the earliest Christians. It was a foundational truth that all followers of Christ embraced without question. Later, some Christian leaders would attempt to downplay our essential connection with Christ, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is central to Paul’s theology.
As we shall see when we explore the quantum sayings of Paul in his letter to the Galatians – one of the earliest Christian writings we have – this idea that all of us are one in Christ was already a well-established doctrine.
In this passage, what we need to pay attention to is Paul’s assertion that our Oneness with Christ is not merely a spiritual metaphor. Because when he says that “…your bodies are the Anointed’s members…”, he’s talking about our physical bodies. In other words, our very flesh and blood – our mortal bodies – are One with Christ.
It’s not that our bodies contain the spirit of Christ, or that Christ animates our bodies. It’s that our bodies are Christ, and to emphasize the physical Oneness between our bodies and the Christ, Paul quotes the passage from Genesis where Adam and Eve are said to become “one flesh,” as proof that our connection is physical.
Think of it this way: When Adam and Eve became “one flesh,” it wasn’t a spiritual metaphor. It was a physical union of their bodies engaged in sexual intercourse. You can’t get more literal than that.
So, when Paul dares to suggest that your body and mine are the same as Christ’s physical body, and that this Oneness with Christ is equal to the physical (sexual) union of a husband and wife, he’s trying to say something quite scandalous: Your body is Christ’s body.
This means that your union with the Divine is both physical and spiritual. It is not a metaphor. It is not a concept. It is as real as the skin on your bones.
And, as if that weren’t scandalous enough, Paul ends by saying, “And the one joined to the Lord is one spirit,” which means that we are not separate spirits united with the one, Christ; we are all one Spirit united in the one, Christ. Your spirit is my spirit, and all spirits are the Christ, which is one spirit.
Some mystics have expressed this idea of our Oneness with the Divine by saying “all fire is the same fire.” Meaning, if you start with a single fire, you can light a million candles, but there is nothing about the candle flame that distinguishes it from the original fire. Every flame is the same flame. Every expression of the Christ is the same Christ. And, according to the Apostle Paul, in this passage, every spirit is the same spirit.
We are all One.
**
My new book, The Quantum Gospel of Philip and the Valentinian Christ, is available now on Amazon.
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, Coast To Coast with George Noory, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In