The Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:12 – The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

¹⁴ Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

²² In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. ²³ And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, ²⁴ while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. ²⁵ This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. (NLT)

Today we have one of my favorite passages in the New Testament – the Body of Christ.  What a wonderful analogy for the Church.  Paul gives a list of body parts, telling the divided Corinthian church that just as they need every part of their bodies to be whole and complete, they need one another for the Church – the Body of Christ at work in the world – to be complete.  Just as we cannot divide our bodies and continue to function, the Church cannot be divided and function.

Think of your own church and all of its many functions: children’s ministries; youth ministries; teaching ministries; mission ministries; outreach ministries; and many more.  Just as one part of our body is really nothing in and of itself, the Church cannot function with just one ministry.

I use Church with a big ‘C’ because the Church – the Body of Christ – is really more than any one local church.  A local church may have great local missions, while another church has great foreign missions.  Another may have great youth ministry.  Paul was writing to one local church, but in reality all local churches are connected through the mystical union of the Holy Spirit.  Can one local church be all things to all people?  I am proud of the work that my own church takes part in, but there are people we cannot reach with what we do.  Another church across town may reach a demographic that my church could never reach.  These churches are all part of the Body.  The Body is not one ministry.  The Body is not one church.  To use a phrase in a different context, for Christ’s sake we must work together! 

For too long, Christians have divided themselves for a multitude of reasons.  Just as there are different gifts within a local church, there are different gifts in different churches.  

Today, thank God for your local church, but let us also thank God for the Church.   As you drive past various churches, offer a prayer for the work of that church.  Celebrate the people that are reached with the message of God’s grace in various churches.  We need one another.  Let us not be divided, but united through the Holy Spirit. 

Posted by Ramón Torres