One Body

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

ONE BODY

1 Cor 12:14-31

 

14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

NIV

This is a whole lot at one time, but we cannot see how to divide this into little sections as it is all one thought. The body of Christ is not made up of individuals living separate lives independent of everyone else. Although it would seem that appears to be the way  life in the church is. Oh sure, we say hello to each other, and we might even socialize with a few of the other members of the church, which really can turn into little cliques. We might even pray for one another on occasion, but to actually say that we are one body that requires the rest of the body in order to function as the part we are would be a bit idealistic. If we were to follow the analogy that Paul is using of the human body and all its parts need all the other parts and serve the body in that each part functions, and follow that to the gifts as Paul did, then each of us does have one gift that should be functioning in the church for the benefit of all the other members. That would mean that no one should think of themselves as not important to the life of the church. That does not mean that every gift is always visible. Paul uses those parts of the body we cover out of modesty as an example of gifts that are not seen but are still needed. But this idea of if one suffers, we all suffer may not be a part of the church today, as in that sense we still live our own independent lives, and sometimes it seems that we are more interested in our own well-being than suffer alongside the one who is hurting. We do wonder just how much equal concern there is in the church today. First of all, it would appear Paul is talking about this one church in Corinth, but could he also be applying this to the church in general, as a few local churches give money to other churches in need. Still, if we take this analogy past the one local church,  but rather looking at how these multi-denominational unagreeable doctrinal positions, especially about the gifts of the Spirit, but not limiting the divisions to just gifts, we would have to say the church is a cripple mess, not functioning anything like one body. But how does this look in a local church? Are we one body? Do we all have gifts that are being used for the common good? On the surface it would appear most local churches function as one, each part doing what is it supposed to do. When this happens the life of a church should flourish, as the body flourishes when all its parts are working properly. However, in our human body, when one part has a great deal of pain, the rest of the body does respond to that pain. This is where we might be lacking in the life of the church. Although it is true that part of the body of Christ will respond to the hurting of one of the parts. Yet the whole of all this is about different gifts that each of us has and how each gift is used to bring honor and good to all the members of the body of Christ. Although we may not have done all the justice we should have to this portion of the letter, we know each one should benefit the others.