A Closer Look at 1 Corinthian 12 - The Faithful Church as the Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 (NIV)
"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. 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."

THE DOCTRINE OF THE BODY is one of the most important messages we have to offer the world at this hour. We recognize that this emphasis is one of the things that makes us different from other churches, but we must be obedient to the calling the Lord gave us. Our teachings about the Body are not intended to criticize other churches, or to engage anyone in an argument. Instead, we are simply preaching our message – what we believe is the Holy Spirit’s message for this hour.
Christians hinder their own spiritual development through attitudes of excessive independence and isolation from the Body. This is partly due to our modern culture, which emphasizes individual freedom, personal choice, and privacy. These aspects of our culture are part of a modern, free-market society, but our relationship with Christ is something different, something that requires participation in his Body. A second factor that contributes to a de-emphasis on the Body among evangelical Christians is the way we view evangelism. Christians rely upon famous traveling evangelists (sometimes filling huge stadiums) to convert people (rather than absorbing people into a local church Body). Evangelists – as part of their methodology – push people to the point of “decision,” and necessarily must emphasize the personal, individual aspect of following Christ. PROBLEM: the converts then think of salvation exclusively in these individualistic, personal-choice terms, and the Christians around them do little to correct this imbalance, because they think it was the evangelist’s job to set the person straight. Traveling evangelists themselves dodge this because they are afraid of appearing to endorse any given church, as they depend on financial support and word-of-mouth invitations from people in every church in the area. No one wants to stand out and say, “You have a problem in your spiritual life if you are not properly integrated into the Body of Christ – in fact, you missed the whole point otherwise.”

We are saying that.

An additional obstacle to the development of the BODY is our culture’s widespread acceptance of philosophical relativism. The fact that modern societies allow free speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion (all good things) gives many people the mistaken impression that God takes the exact same approach, and doesn’t care what we believe, what we do, or how we worship. People believe that there are no absolutes. We like it that our society allows so much freedom, but the inability of people to conceive of absolutes – like “God’s will” – keeps them from allowing Christ to be the head of the Body, the one in charge of everything. Without Christ as the Head – not in name only – there is no Body. But now let us turn our attention to the passage.
Of course, laziness and apathy are obstacles to EVERYTHING, including the Body. Just as some people are too lazy to seek the Lord and secure their salvation from Him, many Christians are too lazy to participate serve in the Body. This is due to their spiritual weakness and lack of fellowship with the Lord.

THE WRONG WAY TO READ THIS PASSAGE (1 Cor 12):
- Many mistakenly read the passage above as addressing a problem with the “majority” of the church not tolerating or accepting certain individuals who are different – i.e., as if Paul was worried about the Body rejecting an individual member like an ear or a hand. They then use this passage as an exhortation for us to be more tolerant of people who are different than us, and to place more value on the unique contributions each person can make to our church. This interpretation is basically forcing modern societal values about tolerance and diversity onto the passage. Tolerance, acceptance, and diversity are certainly good things in society, but that is the opposite of the point that Paul is trying to make (explained more below). Certainly the church should be loving and inclusive to new people, but Paul is not addressing here a problem with the “majority.”
- Others mistakenly read this passage, which is included in a larger discussion of spiritual gifts, to emphasize that each person should discover their “own” spiritual gift and value it more, rather than feeling inferior to more visible people (usually leaders) in the church. This simply takes our culture’s emphasis on developing a strong self-esteem and self-confidence and reads it into the Bible. Again, self-esteem and self-confidence can be good things, but that is NOT what the passage is about. Spiritual gifts are gifts from Jesus to the BODY, not to individuals. They are manifested through individuals, but are given to the Body. The wayward ear or eye, which Paul mentions metaphorically, is not struggling with low self-esteem or feelings of inferiority. Rather they are acting like they don’t need the others; they want to operate independently. This is a form of PRIDE on the part of certain individuals, not an inferiority complex. He is not saying, “Discover what you’re good at and insist on doing that thing in the church.” Instead, he is correcting people who think that the thing they are good at is all they really need.

THE RIGHT WAY TO READ THE PASSAGE
Paul is concerned about individual members focusing on their own strength and abilities and shirking the rest of the BODY. The ear should not say that it doesn’t need the Body just because it is different from other parts. The problem is not with the larger Body excluding certain members, but with individual members excluding themselves.

This presents a challenge for each of us. We cannot point fingers at the church and blame the Body for not doing enough to make us feel accepted or special. We have to address wrong attitudes in ourselves – our fleshly tendency to go our own way and ignore the Body. The challenge is to remove our OWN individual attitudes of isolation and self-sufficiency, and to stop blaming everyone else for the fact that we fail to participate and serve in the Body as we should.

ATTRIBUTES OF THE BODY:
1) Every part or organ in a human body shares the same essential life – each depends on the Body for its life. This is why the modern science of organ transplants is so risky – normally, the same essential “life” is in your head, hands, feet, heart, etc. (Paul compares body parts or organs to individual church members). In the Body of Christ, each member shares in the same spiritual life given by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the essential LIFE in this BODY.

2) The same blood flows to and from each member, bringing the nutrients and compounds needed for life (water, oxygen, glucose, salt, etc.), and removing toxins (eventually filtered through the liver, etc.). In the BODY of Christ, the Blood of Jesus circulates bringing every member what he or she needs, and removing the spiritual “toxins” – things that harm us spiritually. When a body part is cut off from circulation of the blood – either through amputation or a tourniquet – that part DIES. A Christian cut off from the Blood of Jesus that circulates inside his Body meets a similar fate – we whither and die spiritually. Similarly, a body drained of its blood DIES, as when someone bleeds to death. A group of Christians that ignores the Blood of Jesus, never mentioning it in their prayers or teachings – will be drained of the very life that makes us the Body of Christ. “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.” (Lev. 17:11); “But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life...” (Deut. 12:23). The life in Jesus’ Blood is the Holy Spirit.

3) The parts of a human body work together in coordinated actions. When we see a person whose arms twitch or flail while he tries to walk or sit, or someone who must drag a leg while walking, we know something is wrong physically. A healthy body has directions from the Head that make each muscle work in tandem to produce a single, unified action, like running, sitting, standing, etc. Even smiling requires the coordination of dozens of muscles in the face! Each one not only does its part, but times and paces itself perfectly to work in coordination with the rest. This is how we should function in the Body of Christ. Christian “movements” are not like this – instead they are merely people rallied around an idea, style, or leader, with each person doing whatever he or she wants. The Holy Spirit does not intend to produce another mere “movement.” He indwells a BODY. The Lord wants a BODY that can ACT according to his directions, to carry out his revealed will. His Body can be recognized by its coordinated actions and responses, where every part has assigned duties and roles, as revealed by the Lord, and all work together to accomplish the same specific goal.

4) In a human body, the head directs everything. All the movements are controlled by the head. The head (or mind) expresses itself completely through the Body. Jesus is the head of the faithful church. His Body is the church where Jesus is directing everything that happens, directing who should be where and what they should do, when things should be done, etc. No member is making the decisions when you really have Jesus’ Body – only Jesus is. This is why we must leave aside our culture’s relativism and resistance to any absolutes. If we view everything as merely competing opinions or viewpoints, Jesus cannot direct our movements. We will never defer to the Body in any matter, and there will be none of the coordinated actions that are signs of belonging to the Body. But outside the Body we will not receive the directions of the Head.

5) In general, the members of a human body need the rest of the body more than the rest of the body needs that member. Your body can survive if it lost an eye, or a finger, or a foot – we have many survivors of amputations in our society – although there is always some loss of functionality. The amputated part, however, is dead without a body. In the Body of Christ, we need to have humility – each of us needs the Body more than the Body needs us. This is Paul’s point. PRIDE is always the biggest obstacle to participation in the Body – we think the church (or even God Himself) really NEEDS us, more than we think we ourselves need the Body. People with this attitude start getting offended at all sorts of little things – especially if they do not receive the attention or position of prominence they seek - and leave. The Body goes on, but the person dies spiritually. We need the Lord more than He needs us.

Therefore, we should think of participation in the Body as a great privilege, not as some “favor” that we’re doing God or His church. It is true that participation in the Body is part of our obedience to the Lord, but our attitude should be one of gratitude, not just “duty.” We really need the Lord and we need the life and blessings we receive in the Body.