For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should 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. And if the ear should 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. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The church at Corinth had a problem. They were so gifted by the Spirit they were fighting over which gift was more impressive and important. That is the argument at Thanksgiving ... who gets to be the turkey? But instead of food, the Corinthian believers were arguing over spiritual gifts. It should be noted that Paul has just told them that everyone has a gift from the Spirit. Every believer in Christ is in the Body of Christ (the Church). And, like all bodies there are many parts. You can’t operate without all parts for the body. You can’t discard your feet because you favor your hands. All parts are necessary. So, too, the spiritual Body. Paul is trying to stop them from being divided. He will eventually state:
1 Corinthians 12:22-25 (ESV)
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
In our society some jobs are elevated to higher status than others. A doctor gets more money and more prestige than the orderly who sets up the operating room. Yet, remove the orderly and the doctor would not do that work. They are too important to the hospital to stoop to that level of work (not true of all doctors, probably, put the point is made). In the Church we have the same mentality developing. The Pastor is so important they can’t be bother with the lessor work. However, take away the nursery worker and find out how hard it is to exegete a Biblical passage with two and three year olds in the audience. The key point of the above verse may be this line:
1 Corinthians 12:18 (ESV)
God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
In society we can work for the jobs we want. In the Body of Christ we are giving the spiritual gifts He desires us to have. We don’t walk around trying to claim a spiritual gift the Spirit did not give us. We have many parts. Not everyone is every part. That doesn’t mean the gift of service is not used in all roles in the church. It doesn’t mean the gift of teaching is only used by the Pastor or Teacher. The gifts can be used multiple ways, but we are given the gifts by the Spirit. The gift of administration can be used by the Pastor, the nursery coordinator, the facility manager, the worship leader and/or the church secretary. Paul wanted them to stop thinking about the earthly functions that were familiar to them and elevate their mindset to the spiritual. In our society we tend to want to bring in the psychology of organizational human governance to run our churches. The world’s model works great for the profit minded world. But God has a different model. There is no elevation of one person over another in function. There is a hierarchy of practice but each part of the Body has been placed into the Body the way God intended and each is to have the same honor for one another.
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