You Can't Love the Head and Hate the Body

“For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”
Ephesians 5:29-30

There is a phrase that has become common in our day, that people can love Jesus while rejecting the church. That they can appreciate Christ but distance themselves from Christians. It sounds thoughtful, even spiritual on the surface, but it completely misunderstands what Scripture teaches about the relationship between Jesus and His people.

Paul makes it clear that Christ is the head and the church is His body. They are not loosely connected, they are inseparably joined together. The head does not detach from the body, and the body does not exist apart from the head. They are one.

So when Christ loves the church, He is loving His own body. He nourishes it, He cherishes it, He remains committed to it. Not because it is flawless, but because it belongs to Him. And that is where this becomes challenging, because the church is made up of people who are still growing, still maturing, still getting things wrong. It is filled with Peters, not just polished saints, but imperfect followers who sometimes misrepresent the very Christ they love.

And yet, Jesus does not distance Himself from them.

He remains.

You cannot love the head and hate the body.

To reject the church is not a minor preference, it is a theological contradiction. Because the very people you are tempted to distance yourself from are the ones Christ has bound Himself to. He does not separate Himself from His bride, and neither can we.