The Body of Christ

I Corinthians 12: 12 – 31a (January 24, 2010)

1) The Text

12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

2) The Context

In the previous passage, Paul has told the Christians at Corinth that spiritual gifts come through the Holy Spirit and are given by him, as he chooses, for the benefit of the whole community. Now he turns to the nature of the Church – using the analogy of the human body. Whatever our ethnic or social origins, “we were all baptized into one body” (v. 13), into the risen glorified body of Christ, and empowered by the same Holy Spirit acting in the Church. V. 14 is key: the body needs various members; so too the Church needs various spiritual gifts, each making its own contribution. In vv. 15-20, Paul makes the point that all members contribute in various ways to the welfare of the whole. Diversity is rooted in, and contributes to, unity. In vv. 21-25, he says that each member needs every other member, whether he or she be strong or weak (v. 22). Vv. 23-25 say that the instinct of modesty reveals part of God’s plan, e.g. by respecting our “less respectable members”, we make them equally respectable. This applies in the community as it does in the body. In this way, the community is peaceable, without “dissension”; each cares for others. When one suffers the whole community does (v. 26).

In vv. 27-28, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that they are both one body and individually its members. Three groups with God-given and -appointed spiritual gifts are especially important: “apostles” chosen to continue spreading the good news; “prophets”, those with new insights into God’s plan; and those who teach the faith. He then lists some other gifts: some help the poor and needy; others are leaders, managers, in church affairs. The questions in vv. 29-30 must surely be answered no. Perhaps v. 31a suggests that all seek to grow in the use of the gifts, great or small, given to them.

3) Interpretation

Christ is a body with many members. We are often more familiar with the later use of the image in Colossians and Ephesians where Christ is the head and the church is the rest of the body. That is not what Paul is saying here. Here he states that Christ is the body.

In 12:13 Paul goes some way towards explaining what he means. By baptism (read: by faith) we entered Christ's body. So his body is like his risen life reaching out in communication. It is like a sphere of influence and life. The end of 12:13 uses an alternative image: we drink of the one Spirit. Behind this is the same idea: the Spirit is the active influence which brings Christ to us and us to Christ.

Paul challenges us to see ourselves as the embodiment of Christ in the world, not primarily as individuals but as local communities, yet belonging also to a larger whole. Our sense of identity lies not in the role we play, nor the status, nor the reward our role brings, but in the sense of oneness with the life of Christ which is the life of God - and ultimately the life of all that is. We are not asked as individuals to be Christ or Christs, let alone saviours of the world, although many suffer from this misconception and the burn out it produces. We are asked to be members of a body, of Christ, and to play our part - not more, not less.

Being a member of the body of Christ means an absolute, out-and-out conjoining of one with the other, a sister or brother in Christ. To exist in division, to see only difference and not the unity we are able to profess because of Christ, to demand conformity without celebration of difference, is to entertain the notion of dismemberment. We will find ourselves cut off from the very source of our life, our existence, and in a way, our ability to be most fully who we are.

Once again, we are reminded of our interconnectedness as a community of Christ. It is tempting to spiritualize Paul's words in this passage, but the call is to a far-reaching communal ethic and a need that transcends any and all differences that we try to put in place. While our tendency is to elevate certain spiritual gifts over others, Paul's words here are a deliberate claim of evenhandedness, even giftedness, when it comes to how and in what ways God chooses to work in and through our calls to faithful living.

4) Thought Exercise

To what extent are we able to live out fully our callings when we are not able to rely on and give support to others to live out theirs?

Is it not true that who we are called to be necessitates our fellow members of the body of Christ to embrace and embody their callings?