What is the body of Christ according to Paul's teaching?
According to Paul, the body of Christ is one organism with many members, Christ as its head in heaven and believers as His body on earth. A person becomes a member not by signing up or a preacher's baptism, but by believing the gospel; at that moment the Holy Spirit immediately brings one in, by one Spirit.
Les teaches that in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul uses the human body as an example. Just as the human body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are still one body, so also is Christ. Christ is the head of the body, which is composed of many members. Les explains that some ridicule the idea of the body of Christ as an invisible entity, but Scripture teaches it, especially in Paul's writing: believers now become members of the body of Christ, of which He is the head in heaven, while we are the body still here on earth. How did we become members? Not by signing up, and no preacher baptized us into it. First we had to believe the gospel, and the Holy Spirit automatically, immediately, the moment we believe—by one Spirit.
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What does Scripture teach about the body of Christ?
Contrary to those who ridicule the body of Christ as an invisible entity, Scripture, especially Paul's writings, teaches that believers are members of the body of Christ, with Christ as head in heaven and believers as the body still on earth.