<p>4:16 <i>By him all the parts of the body fit and are knit together, with every joint supplying something according to its unique purpose, thus making the body grow as it builds up itself in love</i>- Each member of the body contributes to the overall strength and health of the body. As noted on :6 and :7, there is great emphasis on the fact that each and every believer is unique and has a role to play in the overall strengthening of others- and not just those with more visible gifts or higher profile roles. No member can say they do not need the others; the problem with 'out of church Christians' is that they are tempted to forget that they too have something to contribute. The body &ldquo;makes increase of itself&rdquo; and builds itself up in love, strengthened by the nourishment mediated by the other members (Eph. 4:16). There <i>is</i> therefore strength and power from outside of ourselves within the body of Christ. Tragically, the body of believers is perceived by many sinners to be judgmental, shaming, not understanding etc., when the idea of association with the Lord's body is that we are built up and also contribute towards the building up of others. We enter the body in order that we may contribute, and not simply to take, or because we see baptism as the seal of our doctrinal assent to a set of propositions.</p><p>The builder of God&rsquo;s house is ultimately God, the builder of all (Heb. 11:10). We are God&rsquo;s building (1 Cor. 2:9). But we are also Christ&rsquo;s building, in that God has delegated this work to Him. And yet we build each other up (Rom. 14:19; 15:2), Paul was a master-builder (1 Cor. 3:10), and the body builds itself up (Eph. 4:16). As God has delegated the building to Christ, so He has delegated it to us. The Ephesians were built up on the foundations of the apostles&rsquo; work- not that they are the foundation, for no other foundation can there be except Christ (Eph. 2:20 cp. 1 Cor. 3:11). The building up of those early brethren was on account of the work of the apostles. They were the foundation, they were &lsquo;Christ&rsquo; to those brethren and converts. Hence they are called the foundation, whereas Christ is the only foundation. This is how far His work has been delegated to us. Without the work of the apostles, if they had been lazy or spiritually selfish, there would have been no Ephesus ecclesia, nor spirituality within it. Quite simply, we <i>are</i> a function of the efforts our brethren and sisters make to build us up. See on Col. 2:19.</p><p>The various parts of the one body <i>supply</i> strength to the rest of us. But the very same Greek word rendered &ldquo;supply&rdquo; occurs in the Phil. 1:19, about the <i>supply</i> of the spirit of Jesus Christ. How does He <i>supply</i> our need and strengthen us? Through the very human members of the one body. Which is why we so desperately need them, and to walk away from them, reasoning that they &lsquo;give nothing&rsquo;, is in a sense to turn away from the supply of the spirit of Jesus.</p><p>Cyprian taught that &quot;Whatever and whatsoever kind of man he is, he is not a Christian who is not in Christ's church... he cannot have God for his Father who has not the church for his mother&quot;. And Church membership depended upon &quot;submission to the bishop... rebellion against him is rebellion against God... the schismatic, however correct his doctrine or virtuous his life, renounces Christ and bears arms against the church&quot;. Individual spirituality and correctness of faith meant nothing; obedience to the leaders was paramount. Cyprian even went so far as to say that &quot;the church is founded on the bishops... held together by the glue of the mutual cohesion of the bishops&quot;. This is a glaring contradiction with the Biblical emphasis upon Christ as the only foundation (1 Cor. 3:11), and the body being held together on account of being &quot;in Him&quot;, compacted and built up by what &quot;every joint supplies&quot; (Eph. 4:16). This shift from the internal, the spiritual, to the external and visible, the perception of Christianity as a human organization we belong to, has been seen in the lives of many individual Christians, churches, denominations, groups etc. over time. The warning is for us to remain disciples of the Lord Jesus, following Him as it were around Galilee, focused upon Him alone, and finding the unity with others doing the same which will naturally follow.</p><p>&ldquo;The whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work&quot; (Ephesians 4:16 NIV). In the context, Paul is demonstrating the necessity of Jew and Gentile to work together in the ecclesia; they couldn't just run parallel ecclesial lives, even though there seems to have been temporary concessions to their humanity at the beginning. The newly baptized, Old Testament-ignorant Gentiles had something to contribute to the Bible-saturated Jewish believers; and, of course, vice versa.</p>