The Members of the Church

THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH* THE word" church" does not always convey the same meaning in Sacred Scripture. At times it is applied to the people of Israel wandering through the desert/ at other times to a Christian society of domestic characteristics~ or, of greater extension, to that of a city 8 or a region.4 The term is also applied to the society of all the children of God redeemed by Jesus Christ and established on the foundation composed of the apostles.5 Frequently in the Sacred Books allusion is made to the reality signified by "church" through the use of a considerable number of metaphors: flock,6 vineyard ,• house of God,S heavenly Jerusalem,9 spouse.10 We cannot make an indifferent attribution of all these names to the Church without falling into complete theological nominalism. Yet this is a matter of metaphor, and metaphors necessarily have a partial content: 11 each metaphor sets in relief a particular detail about the true Church. Among such metaphors is that of body, possibly the most frequently employed by St. Paul. Men united with Christ constitute a body of which He is the head and we, the members. With this we are already interpreting the terms in the title of this article. Speaking of the members of the Church is the same as speaking about parts of the Church by reason of its existence as a body. And since the Church is a mystical and social body, to give an adequate answer to any question about members of the Church, it will be necessary to speak about *Translated by C. F. Lehner, 0. P. 1 Acta 7:88. • John 10:9 sq. 2 Rom. 16:4-5. 7 John 15: 1-6. 3 Acta 8: I. 8 I Peter 2: 5; I Tim. 8: 15. • Acta 9: 81; I Cor. 16:19. 9 Gal. 4:26-81. 5 Acta 20: 28; I Cor. 12:28. 10 Ephes. 5:25-27. 11 SU1nma Theol. Ia, q. 88, a. 8; Ilia, q. 8, a. 1, ad 2um. 78 THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH 79 those who belong to it inasmuch as it is a mystical body as well a social body. A further determination is also necessary. The expression "mystical body," which nowadays entails the twofold characteristic of being mystical and social, that is, vital and intimate on the one hand, and external and visible on the other, has had another meaning when applied to the Church of Peter in the patristic and theological tradition. Again when speaking about the members, one must determine the meaning which "body " has with regard to both attribution and predication. First of all, here on earth during the centuries preceding the coming of Jesus Christ, the mystical body was a reality having only an intimate and recondite character. Even now it continues to be this reality in a way which transcends the earth. It is the body made up of all those who are in vital union with Christ through the grace which comes from Him and through Him without the mediation of an institutional organism. This body had on the earth, and today has beyond this earth, broader limits than those which we shall presently indicate for the Church of Peter. Secondly, the mystical body is circumscribed in both space and time-the space being that of earth and the time extending from Jesus Christ until the end of the world. In addition to being intimate and recondite, or supernaturally alive, it is also social. Thus, to belong to it, one needs something besides union with Christ through grace. To attain social incorporation in Christ, one needs the mediation of the ecclesiastical society; therefore, no one can be a member in this second sense of mystical body without being also a member of the society in which this mystical body is, as it were, incarnate. From what has been said it should be clear that the problem of membership in the Church, or in the mystical body of Christ, has two distinct perspectives which permit of their own proper solutions. The Members of the Church in the First Sense. To make a proper confrontation and resolution...