One

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

ONE

1 Cor 12:12-13

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

NIV

There is a further discussion regarding us all being one body, but we should stop here for a moment and just ponder on this introduction of sorts to the rest of Paul’s warning about too much individualism or being too proud regarding our works. Every single believer is a part of the body of Christ and which part of the body of Christ is more important than any other? It would seem the truth of the matter is, there is not any part that has a more important role than any other. All of us were baptized by the one Spirit into one body. It does not matter our background, whether we were born into a Christian home, or came out of a horrific sinful life. It does not matter if we went to the best seminary or college or we have no degrees. It does not matter if we have great wealth or whether we are simply just getting by. It does not matter what manner of speech we use, or what accent we have, or country we were born in, or our heritage. The fact is that we all have been baptized by one Spirit and therefore we are all part of the body of Christ. Paul will talk more about how no one part should be proud of its role, as each is dependent on the other parts to function at all. This whole issue of titles in the church is sort of counterproductive to being one body and drinking from the same Spirit. It is possible these various titles could be acceptable if they are simply an acknowledgment of the particular part of the body they function. However, the danger is in these parts, or title holders, becoming prideful, thinking more of themselves than they should. The point here is that we are all the same in Christ, although we all have are a different part, that means we all, not just some, but all of us believers have a role to fill within the body of Christ. This also means no one can just sit and soak, so to speak, being an anonymous, none involved member in the church, which makes up the body of Christ. Looking at a body that has one part non-functional, say like a leg or a foot, we would see, what appears in some sense, a crippled or handicapped person. The Church cannot function as it was designed if it is crippled, the body of Christ needs all parts working at full capacity, serving each other, in order to be what God intended it to be, one.