Fifth in a series. Edited for electronic publication.
Years ago, a pastor went to a new congregation, he went knowing the congregation had a terrible reputation for grinding up members and preachers alike. It was a small congregation, and he visited every home in it in about a month. Then he said to himself, “I like every person in this church—it is the corporate personality that I don’t like. It stinks.” Churches, businesses, schools, and nations all have a “corporate personality,” culture or climate. The U.S. Marine Corps boast of its Esprit de Corps, literally, its “corporate spirit.”
The Bible recognizes several important “corporate personalities.” In Genesis 32, when Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, wrestled all night at the brook Jabbok with the angel of the LORD, he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And the angel of the LORD said, “Your name is no longer Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” In the Hebrew Bible, Israel was a man, but Israel the man stood for a people and his sons for Israel’s tribes. Obviously, God cared about Israel. God sent Moses to lead the people out of the slavery of Egypt. He gave the people his law through Moses at Sinai. And he led the people to the borders of the promised land, though he himself did not go in. In Hosea 11:1 God speaks through his prophet and says of his people, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” In Matthew 2:15 the evangelist applies this same text to Jesus! The Messiah stands for God’s people because he is the head! Continue reading
