OUR PERSONAL ‘ONE-ON-ONE’ REALATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Rom 12:4  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

 

Does each member as individuals in the body have a person one on one relationship with God that no one else will have since it seems that we are all individuals?

 

My understanding is that the essence of what you state in your question is certainly true, i.e. that as the individual members of the body of Christ that we are each of us clearly does have a personal one on one relationship with God. This is not only evident by the fact that we are individuals, but also by the fact, for example, that the Holy Ghost indwells each of us individually and works individually with us in connection with our “godly edifying” and the like. We are also addressed individually in connection with our “godly edifying,” with things God says to us being fitting to and applicable to where we are in the progress of our edification. And as such we are each individually responsible and accountable to God for His grace given to each of us in this respect, as well as others, and in view of it will be personally/individually accountable to Him at the judgment seat of Christ.

 

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

1Co 12:19  And if they were all one member, where were the body?

1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body.

 

At the same time, however, there is the need for us to realize, understand, appreciate, and function in accordance with the fact, that though we are the individual members of the body of Christ that we are, being members of the body we are designed to function as “members one of another.” And we are designed to function that way, and are expected to function that way, regardless of where each of us is with respect to our individual edification. Our individual living union relationship with God is designed to function within the framework of the collective living union relationship that we have with God as the members of the body of Christ that we are in this dispensation of grace. And since God is the one who designed the body to function as such; and since it is “the body of Christ”; though God Himself indeed deals with us as individuals and we each have such a personal relationship with Him, God does not deal with any of us contrary to the design and function of the body, nor is His relationship with any of us any more personal or important for one than it is for another. The reality of this, along with the issues that comprise it so that we understand it, appreciate it, and it can effectually work within us so that we function in accordance with it, are dealt with by God in the doctrine about the body in such places as Romans 12:3ff and I Corinthians 12.

 

Keith Blades

Enjoy The Bible Ministries