Body of Christ
The body of Christ is one of the central ideas of the New Testament. The term refers to different aspects.
- The historical body of Christ ( Corpus Christi historicum ). This is the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth.
- The eucharistic or sacramental body of Christ ( Corpus Christi Eucharisticum vel sacramental ). In Catholicism, here is the understood after the consecration in the Holy Mass in the appearances of bread and wine Christ present, based on Mk 14.22 EU ( the Holy of Holies ). The Lutheran Christians use the term " body of Christ " for the gift of the Lord's Supper, because they hold despite the rejection of the doctrine of conversion in the Real Presence. For many other evangelical Christians, about Reformed, Baptists and Anglicans, communion, however, is only a Erinnerungsmahl in which Christ (based on 1 Cor 11:23-26 EU) is present in a spiritual way.
- The mystical body of Christ ( Corpus Christi mysticum ): the community of followers of Jesus who make up the body of Christ, based on (Rom 12:4-6 EU; 1 Cor 12:12-27 EU). Christians are baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13 EU). They form one body (1 Cor 10:17 EU ), the Church. The members of the body are connected to each other in the Spirit ( Eph 5.30 EU). Christians are called to form one body (Col 3,15 EU).
The Body of Christ called the universal Christian church, what Jesus Christ is set as the main ( Eph 4:12-16 EU, EU Col. 1:18 ). Jesus Christ gave himself on the cross for His church.