All One Body

In verse 12, Paul indicates that the church is Christ’s body and that this imagery is instructive as to the nature and function of the church. In verse 13, Paul reminds his readers that individual members are “baptized” into this one body, the body of Christ, the church. Our membership in Christ’s body begins at the time we are saved, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit, who baptizes us into the church by identifying us with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:1-11). What Paul emphasizes about this “Spirit baptism” is the unity that God brings from such great diversity among those united with the church, the body of Christ. In Ephesians 2, Paul indicates that the baptism of the Holy Spirit unites Jews and Greeks, slaves and free. The “one Spirit” of which believers partake unites them.

The members of Christ’s body each have a specific place and function in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit has ordained each member of the body of Christ to serve in a particular way. Our placement in the body of Christ is neither a matter of chance nor a matter of our choice; it is by God’s sovereign will (v 18). If the Corinthians have their way and everyone possesses the same gift, where would the body be (v 19)?

Although there are many different members with different gifts and ministries in the church, there is but one body. The members are many, but the body is one (v 20). In verses 15 and 16, Paul deals with those who seem to suffer from a spiritual inferiority complex. If they cannot be what others think they should be, and what they themselves desperately wish to be, then they will not consider themselves a part of the body. However, what of those who do possess the spiritual gifts that are thought to be most spiritual and most significant? Some who appear to possess the most coveted gifts may begin to disdain those with different gifts. They should not think their gift is to their credit, or that their gift frees them from the interdependence that God designed for His church described by Paul in verse 21. Contrary to a popular misconception at Corinth, the so-called “weaker members” of the body are quite necessary (v 22).

God designed the church as a body with many members and each with its own unique function. Every member of the body has an important role to play in the body. All the members of the body are interdependent, and none can be independent. The purpose for God designing the “body” of Christ in this way is to promote unity, not dissension and divisions (v 25). God has created the “body” with various members, none of which can function without the support of the rest of the body. All the members of the body should thus have the same care for the other members of the body. Whatever affects the body as a whole affects each member of the body. When one member of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it; when one member is honored, all the members should rejoice with it (v26). The church, the body of Christ, is designed in such a way that each member is interdependent upon all the other members. Every member makes a unique and valuable contribution to the whole body, and thus to all the other members.

The way the Corinthians view it, there are very few gifts which really count for anything. Their teaching is that everyone who is spiritual should possess the gifts they value so highly. Paul constantly stresses that the body has many different members, each appointed by God. Now he confronts them with the facts. In each case where Paul asks a question, the form of his question indicates he expects an answer in the negative. Of course, all are not apostles, prophets, or teachers! Yet this is precisely where their teaching and practice ends up (vv 29-30). Everyone is forsaking their gifts and ministry to obtain the “best,” or “most spiritual” gifts, or ministry, as the Corinthian status-seekers perceive them. For the life and health of the entire congregation, the church should covet the better gifts, but these “better gifts” are not those the Corinthians think to be better (v 31). Rather, they seem to be the gifts many of the Corinthians disdain. Paul is not instructing individual Christians to seek after the better gifts, but rather he instructs the whole church to desire those gifts which are most profitable for the church.

There is a far better way to go about the Christian walk and ministry than the Corinthians have been doing it. Paul wants the Corinthians to stop thinking and acting as rugged individualists and to begin to act with a sense of corporate identity and responsibility. In athletic terms, Paul wants the Corinthians to begin to think and behave like a team, rather than like some kind of spiritual “Lone Ranger.” If the Corinthians have their way, the entire body would be only one organ.

Most of the Corinthian church members want to be something they are not. The “foot” wants to be a “hand” (12:15); the “ear” wishes it were an “eye” (12:16). The matter of spiritual gifts and placement in the body of Christ is not a matter over which we have control. Our spiritual gifts, our place of service in the body, and the results of our ministry are all divinely determined (12:4-6). Those who mistake gifts as an evidence of spirituality or of status are wrong, and those who mistake their gift as a symbol of insignificance are just as wrong and demean the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

This is evidenced in the Book of Acts. Where are gifts ever given as a reward for service? Where are particular gifts granted because men sought them? In Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19, the baptism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit were not sought; they came as a surprise to those who are granted them. We see Christians today trying desperately to obtain certain gifts, if they are sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, why must men strive to get them.

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12:22-24 surely come as a surprise to the status-seekers at Corinth. He turns their value system upside-down. The most important gifts, like the most important organs, are those that are not visible or spectacular, those of which we are the least conscious. Those gifts which appear to be powerful and impressive are not as significant as they appear. The most necessary gifts are those that we might least likely desire or appreciate.

Look at Jesus. He was not outwardly impressive. Jesus’ disciples had nothing to brag about either. They were mere Galileans, who were uneducated and untrained. Look at Paul, God did not utilize Paul’s strengths to make him the great apostle he was rather God used his weaknesses. These very weaknesses caused some of the Corinthians to look down upon him.

Just as individual believers think and act competitively, so local churches can fall into the same error. Too many people attend church to have their “needs met.” Too many people leave churches, complaining that the church has not met their needs. The church is to build up itself in love, but the goal of the church is to live out the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, to His glory. We, the church, are the body of Christ. This means we, as the church, are to carry on His ministry in the world today. The church ministers to itself, to build itself up so that it may carry out its mission, and that mission is living out Christ in a fallen world. We have become as preoccupied with the church’s ministry to us as individuals that we have failed to concentrate on the church’s mission to the world, and our obligation to sacrifice ourselves in ministry to and through the church to the world. The question is not, “What is the church doing for me?” The question is, “What can I contribute to the church to participate in its fulfillment of its mission and calling?”

That which results in division in the fallen world in which we live should be the occasion for unity and harmony in the church. We should not all want to look alike or function alike, but each should function as God has made him or her, so that the body is benefited by our presence and ministry. As God made Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female, we need to demonstrate this unity in diversity, because we are one body.

Let us not seek to all be alike, look alike, think alike, and serve alike. Let us be different, as God intended, each contributing our unique gifts and ministries that He has given, to the edification of the church and to the glory of God.