The mystery of Godliness is that we as sons/daughters become the manifestation of God. In Jesus we have been made one with God, not notionally or poetically but one in spirit and in truth. We are bone of Jesus' bone and flesh of His flesh. This is us as the Bride of Christ. We came out of His second Adam side at the resurrection and we are the manifestation of Jesus by the Spirit.

This is what it means to be part of the body of Christ. It is real, spiritual, physical and your new covenant state of being. In Jesus we are woven into the human race. In Jesus we and the trinity are woven together. This is what it means to be whole, to be sons and to be the church Jesus builds without human hands.

The manifestation of Jesus as you and I is direct. You are the expression of Him. This is why we are in the Spirit and not in the law. Jesus does not express Himself indirectly through a number of qualities as some believe, like the fruits of the Spirit. His is not a diluted law-setup. He expresses Himself as you. As such you are the fruit of the Spirit and these fruit are aspects of your sonship.

This is the meaning of Christ come in your flesh. So mysterious and real is this fact that the Enemy pits every power to dilute and negate it with religious motions, stances, rites, observances and even humbugs. 'Humbug' has a special appeal to the religious mind. It always has. The more effete and convoluted the humbug the more it is valued by certain addicts of religion who seize upon some rite or behavior and invest it with all kinds of magical qualities - all of which could be gained freely and without effort by short circuiting this usage and allowing ourselves to be absorbed in the simple efficacy of Christ our life.

Professor T F Torrance wrote, "One cannot pass without interruption from Christ to the Church. The Cross stands between. In being the Body of Christ, the Church meets her Lord; she does not prolong Him, but she expresses Him here and now. She does not replace Him, but makes Him visible, demonstrates Him without being confounded with Him." We are the Body because we have eaten Him. He has entered our spirit and soul by the Spirit and manifested as us - as our being. Any notion of the boy that comes by attachment to the law is a mummy and a corpse. Your glory is Christ as you, Christ your life, Christ making you the glorious Bride.

This is not some program of works. Nor is it a more subtle version of the law. It is you and all of us melded with the Holy Family and the Holy Family woven into our being - personally and as the community of Jesus.

You are the expression of Christ. As the Body we are the manifestation of His person in fullness and variety. This is Christ come in the flesh as you and all of us. It is the new creation advancing in the world. You are already delivered from this body of death. Live in your fullness of life.