I
Corinthians 12: 12-31a
12 For 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. 13 For 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.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of
one member but of many. 15 If 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. 16 And 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. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would
the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell
be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one
of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would
the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21
The 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." 22 On the contrary,
the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23
and 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; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this.
But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior
member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the
members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member
suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice
together with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually
members of it. 28 And 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. 29
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30
Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31
But strive for the greater gifts.
Paul
offers the metaphor of the human body in order to help us grasp how the
diversity and individuality with which the Spirit works in the community of
believers is a benefit to the community.
Among
the beautiful things that God did was to make us in such a way that none of us
is complete alone. No matter how gifted and talented we are, no matter how
saintly we become, we still need each other. In this way, we reflect the image
of God. I realize that the Trinity is a difficult doctrine to understand and
apply to one’s spiritual life. Yet, the Trinity is one way for us to understand
the nature of God. God is one while God is also in relation. God is already in
community, before God created anything else. This shows how much community
means to God. God as Father, Son, and Spirit were in relationship with each
other from eternity. God invites all creation, but especially us as human
beings, into that relationship.
The
teaching of the church concerning the Trinity suggests a relational image of
God. As persons made into the image of God as Father, Son, and Spirit, we also
need relationships with others. We are not complete until we enter into that
kind of relationship. C. S. Lewis wrote in his book, The Great Divorce of a place in which everyone got exactly what
they wanted. They did not have to relate to others. They could live isolated
lives, knowing they would also get want they wanted. He called that place Hell.
We
can forget what matters most to us. I
like the way Stephen Covey talks about this problem. We easily focus upon the trivial and minute
matters of life, the little things that attract our attention, and lose sight
of what matters most. I recall a Seminary professor asking a group of us why we
entered ministry. I was surprised how many said that it was because they wanted
to help people and work with people. After several responses, the professor
said, “You must not understand people very well.” His point was that people
could be difficult. However, even those difficulties are what we need to grow
in our Christian life. We could focus upon the little things that irritate us.
We could also focus upon what matters most.
12 For 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. As a metaphor of how all
this works, a body is one, but also has many members. The members of the body
are many, but are part of one body. Christ is the same way. His point is that
the aim of the Christian is the well-being of the whole body. One meaning of
this description is that the existence of the church involves a repetition of
the Incarnation of the Word of God in the person of Jesus Christ in that area
of the rest of humanity that is distinct from the person of Jesus Christ.[1]
The term “body of Christ” stresses Christ is a body. The “being” of the
Christian community is this “body.” Christ is one in many. Jesus Christ is by
nature body. Such a statement is why Paul will stress the necessity of unity
and plurality in the community. The gifts, services, and workings have a bodily
nature that recognizes the order and freedom needed within the community. The
resurrection of Jesus is what allows Paul to tell the Corinthians they are the
body of Christ in verse 27. The body of Christ as seen in the community points
like an arrow to the unity of humanity in Christ. The exclusiveness of
referring to church as the body of Christ is relative, provisional, and
teleological. To use the language and theology of Karl Barth, the community is
the body of Christ in the election of Jesus Christ from eternity. It became the
body of Christ and individuals members of it due to their election in the death
of Christ on the cross and proclaimed in his resurrection from the dead. The
work of the Holy Spirit is to realize subjectively the election of Jesus Christ
and to reveal and bring it to humanity. The Holy Spirit awakens the poor praise
on earth.[2]
We may also find a kind of representation in a broader sense in any social
group in which individual members have special functions that both single them
out and enable them to contribute to the unit as a whole and to the other
members, this passage being an example. In a working society, the different
members do particular jobs for others, and all the members relate reciprocally
to each other. They are “for” each other and must act in solidarity in this
sense.[3]
13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
in a way that dissolves distinctions of race and class-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we
were all made to drink, maybe referring to baptism again but also a
possible reference to the Lord’s Supper, of
one Spirit. The
Spirit is the means through which the reconciling work of Father and Son find
completion. For Paul, the fellowship of Christians with God and each other
rests on their participation in the one Jesus Christ to whom each of them is
related by faith and baptism.[4]
By the Spirit, we receive baptism through the one Spirit and immediately we
drink of the one Spirit.[5]
Here, Paul describes as a work of the Spirit the incorporating of believers
into the one body of Christ by baptism, by which they also receive sonship.[6]
The Holy Spirit binds believers together in the fellowship of the body of
Christ and thus constitutes the church, as the Spirit is present as its lasting
gift.[7]
Baptism incorporates individuals into the body of Christ and thus relates them
to the unity of the body. Baptism establishes the identity of individual
Christians and integrates them with their separate individual qualities into
the fellowship of the church.[8]
As such, the church becomes a provisional sign of the eschatological fellowship
of a renewed humanity in the future reign of God.[9] The
redemptive work of the Spirit is present in individuals and society.
Individuals receive the gift of the Spirit in baptism, but the gift is not in
isolation. It binds them to fellowship with each other. All of this points us
toward the goal of the work of the Spirit, renewing individual life and
corporate life.[10]
St.
Boniface of Mainz lived in the 700's in Germany. He was archbishop of the area
when he went to the city of Frisia. He thought he went to a meeting to instruct
new converts and confirm them in the faith. Instead, some ruffians showed up
and killed him because he preaching threatened shrines to local gods. They also
thought that he carried a treasure of gold in the large chests he carried with
him. Instead, after they killed him, they found only the books he carried with
him. One well-known quote he made about the church goes like this. “The church
is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses.
Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on her course.”
God
created a system of interdependence. We cannot escape the reality that we
belong to one another and function in unhealthy fashion without each other.
Paul
refers to baptism and the Lord's Supper as signs of our unity. Regardless of
our differences in social standing, wealth, gender, or ethnic background, Christians
are one in their reception of baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both sacraments
remind us that Christian life is about Christ. Here is our unity.
God
has made you for others and others for you and all for his Body collected.
The theme of I Corinthians 12:14-31a continues to develop the
metaphor of the human body for the community of believers.
We could think of other metaphors. The “one-person band” genre is nothing new. The church
is so not like this band. The theme in I Corinthians 12 is that all of us are
in the band, and we all have an instrument to play. The quality of the music
depends on each of us, as individuals, using our gifts for the benefit of the
whole.
Starbucks
puts its employees through rigorous training to ensure that every venti, nonfat,
no-whip, sugar-free Caramel Macchiato is precisely the same as the next. It
wants loyal customers to get the same exact drink at a neighborhood store as
they do at the airport Starbucks as they do at the Starbucks in Manhattan while
traveling for business. I think this is a good image of what Paul writes here.
Many people working toward their common goal, giving people the best cup of
coffee they can, along with the best experience they can.
The metaphor of the body helps explain, by use of analogy, what
Paul has said in 12:4-11, particularly as summarized in verse 4, “there are
varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.” Paul holds together diversity and
unity in his imagery of an individual as part of a collective, working together
for the same purpose. The principles that precede and follow this section
govern the purpose to which Paul is exhorting this community. The purpose of
the body of Christ is to declare the lordship of Christ through the empowerment
of the Spirit (12:3), and to cover all gifts and actions in the “most excellent
way” of love (12:31; 13:13).
Paul, of course, was not the first to use the body metaphor. One
can find it in the works of many different ancient writers. The metaphor of the
“body” that Paul uses in I Corinthians 12:12-26 was a common analogy in ancient
rhetoric. For example, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek historian and
orator, compared the human body to the polis, or commonwealth. He urges that
each part of the commonwealth have respect for the other. Each part is important
and no part can become the whole. He urges that each part needs to behave in
ways that benefit the common good. He uses the image to caution against
inappropriate demands for liberty and for each class to respect the other
class.[11] Of
course, notably, Paul has said in verse 13 that such class distinctions are
gone in Christ. In contrast, the point Dionysius is making is not, however,
that all people (members of the body) have equal value. Rather, his point is
that those parts that have less honor, such as the belly, should not object to
the parts that have greater value, such as the brain, to rule over them. In
other words, his analogy concludes that the plebeian classes in the Greek
commonwealth should have no objection to rule by the Roman Senate. Just as in
antiquity, using the human body to illustrate the unity and diversity of a
group may seem like a common rhetorical trope with little new to say.
Thus, while Paul uses the same “body metaphor” that others did, he
does it to accomplish very different ends. Furthermore, he works with
spiritual, rather than primarily political, connotations. By marking his
explanation with comments about Christ, then God, and finally back to Christ,
he frames the discussion of the body of Christ with those who create, empower,
and sustain this body and its gifts. Paul uses body imagery to affirm both the
diversity and the unity inherent in Christ, without ever wholly subsuming one
aspect within the other. Unlike some other pagan political writers who compared
the parts with the whole in order to repress individual expression and personal
freedoms for the sake of a communal good, Paul celebrates the diverse gifts
present in the body of Christ in general and in this Corinthian church in
particular. Paul is not interested in transforming the wildly, richly diverse
Corinthians into some bland homogeneous conglomerate.
The text establishes the common root out of which all these gifts
and graces grow. In his central portion of chapter 12, Paul develops the body
analogy, delicately balancing the genuine uniqueness of each part against the
organic result these parts produce the miracle of a functioning, unified body.
Paul moves his readers from this general body imagery to their own
body of Christ experience. At this point Paul moves to sketch out
fully the metaphor of the body.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
The one
body into which they received baptism has many members. The following examples of conversations between parts of the body (see
Dionysius, above) demonstrate the foolishness of a body that does not work
together. Employing great humor, Paul demonstrates how, in spite of their
diversity, the members of the church are still one in Christ. 15 If 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. Thus, the
inferior limb grumbles against the more valuable. 16 In addition, 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. We should
not read these references to particular parts of the body to particular
spiritual gifts. The temptation to do so is strong, given that the issue Paul
is addressing in the congregation is that it values some gifts over other
gifts. Yet, his point is general, leaving it open to a variety of applications,
given the context. 17 If the
whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were
hearing, where would the sense of smell be? Each
member has a function that only it can fill. Christ is the whole body. 18 However, as it is, God arranged the members in the
body, each one of them, as he chose. Paul affirms
unity but not uniformity. There must be "higher" and
"lower" gifts. He affirms variety as a God given gift, but
he attributes variations in function and design to God not to any inherent
superiority of one body part over another. Here, feet and hands, eyes and ears
all belong to the body. In projecting that ears and eyes might talk and protest
their membership in the body, Paul intends to show this contentious group (some
who have claimed "I belong to Cephas," or "Apollos,"
or "Paul," 1:12) that in spite of their grumbling they are one in
Christ. Moreover, Paul argues that this unity is not by their design or
volition, but that God has arranged them into this new form. God has ordered
this diverse organism for God's own good purposes. God is sovereign over the
life of the church. 19
If all were a single member, where would the body be? Yet, the superior or
more valuable parts must not look down upon the inferior. 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21
The 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." 22 On the
contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23
and 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; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. Nevertheless, God has so arranged the body, giving the
greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no
dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one
another. The purpose of the design is unity in
common life. Previously Paul has exhorted the church to boast in nothing but
the Lord (1:31), and has demanded that they eat and drink the supper of the
Lord in a "worthy" (read, "unified") manner (11:27ff). Here
he illustrates for them the basis of their unity. God has organized them so.
God designed this composition of members of the body carefully to create no
“dissension.” This reiterates an important theme in Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians. The dissension and strife present in the congregation have him
concerned about their faith, life and worship (4:18-21; 5:6-7; 8:1-13;
10:14–11:1). The humbler parts are indispensable to the rest. The way Paul
develops his point suggests that there are no humble parts. Rather, the congregation
has only God-given functions as Christ blends the whole together. He urges the
celebration of all the gifts. The members need to show the same care for each
other. Paul moves to engage the notion of hierarchical divisions in the church
according to different gifts. Still employing the body metaphor, Paul argues
that contrary to appearances, the members that would appear to be
"weaker" and "less honorable" than others are clothed with
greater honor in the church. Again, Paul attributes this reversal of worldly
expectations to God's design. 26
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member receives honor, all rejoice together with it. What
one part of the body feels all parts will feel when we view each part as
connected to the one Body of Christ. Ultimately, Paul says, regardless of one’s
standing or gifts within the community, the pain of one member of the body will
affect the quality of life and worship of all of the other members of the body.
For example, pain in one’s foot can make the rest of the body feel that pain
and try to compensate or suffer with it. The Christian “body” should act in the
same way, taking on the suffering and joy of the individual members of the body
as “one body.” Thus, if each part fulfills its work,
then the whole body is able to achieve a greater good. Just as the individual
parts of the body do not comprise an entire body without all the other members,
nor are they able to achieve the more holistic purposes that the body can
accomplish, so, too, does the analogy apply to the way God calls believers to
live out their lives in Christ. If we apply the metaphor broadly, we can think
of the social interactions of human society. In a working society, the
different members do particular jobs for others. They are “for” each other and
must act in solidarity, for if one member suffers, all suffer together. The
benefits that the acts of some confer and the harm that the failings of others
cause all affect the society as a whole. The solidarity in good and evil that is
basic to us as social beings has become alien to us in the West due to our
increasing individualism. Yet, the social nature of humanity can open the door
for another important area of Christian theology as it considers the classical
Christian teaching of representation or substitution.[12] 27 Now, you are the body of
Christ and individually members of it. Concisely, Paul now states the lesson he draws from
his metaphor. The declarative mood is important. Paul
does not believe that this church is "becoming" Christ's body. They
are the body of Christ now. It is imperative for Paul that they behave thusly
in their individual and corporate lives. In this sense, Paul's call for unity
sometimes demands the expulsion of members who cannot live out this vision
(e.g., 5:11-13). Unity seeks inclusion of the diversity of God's gifts, but
demands an ethic of personal accountability. In fact, throughout verses 14-27,
Paul is stressing the union of all Christians for fellowship with each other in
the unity of the body of Christ, stressing here that the individual members of
the one body have specific gifts and functions that supplement each other. All
the members are to care equally for each other.[13] 28 Further, God has appointed in the church first
apostles, acknowledging his personal authority in the congregation.
Although Paul mentions apostle as a gift here, it was not on a par with other
gifts. This
ministry, and its successor ministry of the episcopacy, consists of
responsibility for the unity of the community in the faith of the gospel in
spite of all the differences among members and among the gifts conferred on
them by the Spirit.[14] Second prophets, setting the stage for his assertion in Chapter 14 that
they should value the gift of prophecy as more valuable to the health of the
community than the continued expression of unknown tongues, especially if
tongues occurs without the accompanying gift of interpretation. Third God has given teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of
assistance, forms of leadership, and various
kinds of tongues. Paul intends a less vaunted
view of the gift of tongues than some of the Corinthians do by placing it last
in his list. His list here differs from spiritual gift registries elsewhere in
that Paul appears to create his own hierarchy by claiming a "first"
place, a "second" place and a "third." While such
assignments may appear at first to fly in the face of his earlier assertions
that all the diverse gifts are equally from God and thus equal within the
community, in the context of this letter and his developing argument, these
particular designations seem purposefully pointed at the Corinthian situation.
At the close of the text, Paul speaks of the diversity of talents in the church
(apostles, prophets, local teachers as leaders of the house churches,[15] deeds of power,
healing, forms of assistance, leadership, and speaking in tongues). The order
of this list might be to correct an over-emphasis of tongues within the church
(e.g., 13:1, 14:1-25). 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all
work miracles? If God gave each person all these gifts, then that person
would be the body. However, none is self-sufficient. There are
gifts given to people, not offices. 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do
all interpret? The series of rhetorical questions in verses 29-30 reinforce that the
diversity of gifts in this congregation need to receive recognition and receive
celebration rather than become the stimulation for quarrelling. His caution is
that zealousness for spiritual gifts ought not to lead one to parade the gift
of tongues before them all as the superior gift. In
all these gifts, God blesses the church, and their single purpose is to live
out God's unified purpose of God's love in the world. 31 Nevertheless, strive for the greater gifts. Paul
provides an impressive list of spiritual gifts that this congregation knows and
recognizes. The surprise, given what Paul has discussed thus far, is that he
will not lift up one of the gifts already listed as superior. Rather, he will
move them forward to a discussion of a new quality and “gift” that all members
are to possess and exercise toward each other.
I
have used a couple different images of the church here, including a band and
Starbucks, as well as the image of a body, which is what Paul uses in this
passage. My intent is to help us think differently about the church. How do we
relate to each other and how do we present ourselves to the world, as a band, a
Starbucks store, or a body?
First,
true giftedness requires community. Some
of us may be talkers, and others thinkers. Some of us are planners, and others
doers. Some of us find energy while reaching out to the poor and needy, and
others when ministering to the children through Sunday school and our youth
programs. Some are excited about the music and preaching that draw people to us
on a Sunday morning, while others call us to go outside of our walls to love
those who feel shut out.
Second,
spirituality is not individualistic. We
are individuals with unique capacities and gifts. We are part of a community of
believers in whom the same Spirit, Lord, and Father is at work. This mixture of
our individuality and community brings tensions. We might find ourselves
wondering if the community really needs certain types of individuals. We may
view ourselves as in competition with others in terms of influence, power, or
prestige. Some persons may seem more important than others are, stronger than
others are, more “needed” than others are. Such thoughts are the source of much
divisiveness in the church.
What
impresses me is how deeply embedded community appears to be in both the human
and natural world. Even the atom is a community of particles. Each cell is a
community of interacting parts. The human body requires genes and cells, with
interacting electrical charges in the brain (at least I hope they are still
firing, or else I have lost you), to work together for the good of the body. We
do not understand the parts fully until we see how it all comes together in the
body. Each part has its place in the whole.
To
view the church from this perspective is a humbling act. The most gifted in
time, talent, or treasure, still needs other members of the community in order
to grow in their faith, love, and hope. However, this view of the church is
also an encouraging one. Every follower of Christ is important to the pattern
of life the church is weaving.
[1]
Barth, CD I.2 [16.1] 215.
[2]
Barth, CD IV.1 [ 62.2] 662-8.
[3]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
2, 419.
[4]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 15.
[5]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
2, 451.
[6]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 16.
[7]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 134.
[8]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume
3, 459.
[9]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 478.
[10]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 552.
[11] (Ant. Rom.
6.86) "A commonwealth resembles in some measure a human body. For
each of them is composite and consists of many parts; and no one of their parts
either has the same function or performs the same service as the others. 2 If,
now, these parts of the human body should be endowed, each for itself, with
perception and a voice of its own and a sedition should then arise among them,
all of them uniting against the belly alone, and the feet should say that the
whole body rests on them; the hands, that they ply the crafts, secure
provisions, fight with enemies, and contribute many other advantages toward the
common good; the shoulders, that they bear all the burdens; the mouth, that it
speaks; the head, that it sees and hears and, comprehending the other senses,
possesses all those by which the thing is preserved; and then all these should
say to the belly, 'And you, good creature, which of these things do you do?
What return do you make and of what use are you to us? Indeed, you are so far
from doing anything for us or assisting us in accomplishing anything useful for
the common good that you are actually a hindrance and a trouble to us and — a
thing intolerable — compel us to serve you and to bring things to you from
everywhere for the gratification of your desires. 3 Come now, why do we not
assert our liberty and free ourselves from the many troubles we undergo for the
sake of this creature?' If, I say, they should decide upon this course and none
of the parts should any longer perform its office, could the body possibly
exist for any considerable time, and not rather be destroyed within a few days
by the worst of all deaths, starvation No one can deny it. Now consider the
same condition existing in a commonwealth. 4 For this also is composed of many
classes of people not at all resembling one another, every one of which
contributes some particular service to the common good, just as its members do
to the body. For some cultivate the fields, some fight against the enemy
in defense of those fields, others carry on much useful trade by sea,
and still others ply the necessary crafts. If, then, all these different
classes of people should rise against the senate, which is composed of the best
men, and say, 'As for you, senate, what good do you do us, and for what reason
do you presume to rule over others? Not a thing can you name. Well then, shall
we not now at last free ourselves from this tyranny of yours and live without a
leader?' 5 If, I say, they should take this resolution and quit their usual
employments, what will hinder this miserable commonwealth from perishing
miserably by famine, war and every other evil? Learn, therefore, plebeians,
that just as in our bodies the belly thus evilly reviled by the multitude
nourishes the body even while it is itself nourished, and preserves it while it
is preserved itself, and is a kind of feast, as it were, provided by joint
contributions, which as a result of the exchange duly distributes that which is
beneficial to each and all, so in commonwealths the senate, which administers
the affairs of the public and provides what is expedient for everyone,
preserves, guards, and corrects all things. Cease, then, uttering those
invidious remarks about the senate, to the effect that you have been driven out
of your country by it and that because of it you wander about like vagabonds
and beggars. For it neither has done you any harm nor can do you any, but of its
own accord calls you and entreats you, and opening all hearts together with the
gates, is waiting to welcome you."
[12]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
2, 419.
[13]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 292-3, 325, 372, 628.
[14]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 387-8.
[15]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
3, 378.
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