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1 Corinthians 12:12–27 (ESV)
Dionysius was a Greek historian. He wrote in the generation right before Christ’s birth. In his most famous work, he’s writing to Greeks to give the history of the Romans, wanting them to appreciate the significance of the Romans.
Dionysius would have written this about a century before Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. It was a famous speech recorded in different works.
In Book VI of his work, he writes about one of the plebeian (working class) revolts. The patricians (nobles, ruling class) of Rome were noblemen in the Senate and Consul. The lower classes had no representation, so occasionally the laws were oppressive for the lower classes. In the early 400s BC they staged what was essentially a strike. Many in the lower classes left their jobs and services and gathered outside the city. They waited on the Senate to deal with them and possibly start a war.
The Senate sent envoys to appeal to the plebeians. One of these envoys gave a speech that won over the hearts of the plebeians.
Here’s an excerpt of that speech by the envoy Menenius Agrippa:
Antiquitates Romanae 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. 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. 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. 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?' 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."1
The people were compelled. And with some negotiating and changes made to how Rome was ruled, assurances given by the Senate, the opposition ended.
Paul is adopting a similar metaphor, maybe even being inspired by the Greek historian as he writes to these Greek Corinthians. Except his point isn’t to get a lower class of people to accept the helpful place of a higher class of people. Paul is using a similar analogy to show in a much more profound way how God has organized the church.
The church is the body of Christ. With Christ as the head and all those who are born-again being the members of that body.
This is true of the church universal and it’s true of a local church.
Series: This morning we continue our series on the church. We’re looking at aspects of the church we don’t often think about—maybe have never thought about.
What we find in this study is that the church has a depth and spiritual nature that makes it unlike any other organization or institution in human history. It is not “ONE OF MANY” such things in history. It is “ONE OF ONE.” There is nothing else like it.
There are aspects of the church that connect with aspects of other institutions. So, pastors read books by business leaders to become better leaders. We read books by doctors and psychiatrists to help us in our counseling. But these are superficial similarities.
In its entirety, the church of Jesus Christ is unlike anything else in all human history.
The church possesses a glory and permanence and divinity that nothing else can claim. The Roman Empire endured for centuries and influenced many.
But that’s nothing compared to the church whose first member was Eve in the Garden and which shall endure long after the sun and moon and stars fall from the sky.
Sermon: This morning we’ll focus on the church as the body of Christ.
All Christians are “one body”:
Our passage starts with the word “for,” which tells us that Paul’s word about the church as a body is connected to what he’s just been saying. In this case, it’s connected to the first part of 1 Cor. 12. 1 Cor. 12:1 is important, since it gives the overall topic. Then in 1 Cor. 12:3 is the powerful reminder that “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” Then in 1 Cor 12:4–11 we get a summary of various spiritual gifts given to the church. The emphasis here is on “varieties” of gifts which are all given by “the same God who empowers them all in everyone” (1 Cor 12:4–6). This “variety” of gift is to be used “for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7).
Then we get to our passage: Read 1 Cor. 12:12–13.
The point here is that this variety of gifts does not just have one source (“the same God who empowers them all”) or one purpose (“the common good”). Now we learn that this variety of gifting has an organic unity just like in a human body.
All Christians with all their variety of gifts are connected together, just like a human body has “many members” but is “one body.”
“Member” here just means “parts,” we’re all “parts of the body.”
This becoming parts of the body is not just an organizational or functional idea. It’s a deeply spiritual one.
When you’re a part of an organization or a member of an organization, you can also stop being a part of that organization. I was ONCE A MEMBER OF…
But when you become a member of the body of Christ it’s a different thing.
He tells us in 1 Cor. 12:13 that it’s a work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes us from being outside of the body of Christ to being a member of the body of Christ.
Paul uses baptism language to teach this.
1 Corinthians 12:13 (ESV)
We don’t want to be confused and assume this is the same Spirit baptism as described in Luke-Acts. These are two different works of the Spirit.
In Luke-Acts, Christ is the baptizer, and he baptizes us with the Holy Spirit to experience more of God—more assurance, more love, more power in the Spirit, more ability to evangelize.
The result of that Spirit baptism is a new experience of the Holy Spirit. This happens to many Christians, and it’s potentially available to all Christians. But not all experience this Spirit baptism.
But here in 1 Cor. 12:13, the Spirit is the baptizer. He does the work. The result of this work of the Spirit is that we are brought “into” (Grk eis) the body of Christ.
That happens at conversion—always and for every Christian. There’s no such thing as a Christian who is not a member of the body of Christ, and there’s no such thing as a Christian who hasn’t experienced this work of the Spirit in 1 Cor. 12:13.
That’s why he says it’s true whether “Jews or Greeks, slaves of free” (1 Cor 12:13). He could have added any number of different types of people. But the point is, whatever their sex or ethnicity or economic status or age, if someone is a Christian, he’s a part of the body of Christ.
And then he speaks to our experiences in the Spirit: “all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13). Whatever experiences of the Spirit we’ve had, they’re all from the same Holy Spirit.
It’s the “one Spirit” who brings us into the “one body.” But why “the body of Christ”? Why is this the image Paul uses?
One answer might be that authors for centuries had been using the human body to talk about how many parts can work together in a unity. Political bodies and how citizens and leaders make up the “body” of the society was an image in various writings.
But something else was true of Paul that made this idea of “the body of Christ” very personal.
When he was converted Jesus spoke to him. It’s recorded in Acts 9.
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” (Acts 9:1–6)
Paul had been persecuting Christians, men and women throughout Israel and Judea who believed in Jesus. But Jesus here is saying, when you persecute Christians “you are persecuting me.”
Christians being united with Christ is all wrapped up in those ideas. God would help Paul to unravel them into more detail later. But it’s all right there.
For us to be the body of Christ with Christ as our head means what happens to us happens to Christ and what happens to Christ happens to us.
This is true of us not because we “joined” something. It happens to us when we’re converted. When we are born-again by the Spirit of God, we’re also brought into the body of Christ by the same Spirit of God.
Church membership is making true in the practical, physical realm, what is true spiritually and permanently.
There are no amputations of members of the body of Christ! Once a member, always a member!
Now he develops this body metaphor significantly. His accent here is not the “one body” but how one human body is made up of “many” parts.
1 Corinthians 12:14–26 (ESV)
Paul makes many points in this passage that have to do with Christians being the “many parts” in the “one body” of Christ.
1 Cor. 12:15–16: No second-class “members”: Foot compared to the hand, ear compared to the eye.
1 Cor. 12:17: All the parts are necessary: If “whole body were an eye”? There’s the practical, “where would the hearing be?” But then there’s the grotesque. We wouldn’t be excellent at seeing, we’d be a freak show.
1 Cor. 12:18: God’s perfect design: “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.” “Arrange” is “put, set, appoint” (Grk. tithēmī).
1 Cor. 12:21: All are needed: Eye to the hand can’t say, “I have no need of you.”
1 Cor. 12:22: The weak are not forgotten but receive extra care: Some parts that seem to be “weaker are indispensable”—like eyes.
1 Cor. 12:22–23: Some parts that seem “less honorable we bestow the greater honor”—our private parts we work hard to cover and clothe as well as we can. “Greater honor” here means more attention, more care, more protection.
Paul’s point is that this happens in the church. We don’t give less attention to those in need, we actually give more attention. This is God’s design.
That’s why Christians historically have been the ones to care for the poor, the disabled, the very little, and the very old. We don’t evaluate people based on some wicked scale of efficiency—deciding someone isn’t worth the resources they need, because it’ll take from others in the society.
Now, this doesn’t mean we extend life at any cost and under any condition. At some point it is a person’s time, and we need to let them go.
But Paul’s point is an important one. In the church we actually “bestow the greater honor” on those a culture would label as “less honorable.”
1 Cor. 12:24: And then another statement about God’s sovereign orchestration of the church: “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it.” (1 Cor 12:24). “Composed” is a verb that has to do with mixing things together in just the write way to create something beautiful. A musical “composer” mixes together all the notes from all the instruments to create a beautiful piece of music. A chemist mixes together all the chemicals to create just the right compound to serve as the needed medicine for a specific condition.
In our case it’s God who is “composing” the body in just the right way so that people’s needs are provided for and spiritual fruitfulness can happen.
Paul isn’t really concerned about the human body in this reflection. He’s talking about the church. The point is that in the church body there is a diversity of parts—all perfectly designed by God, all working together, all needing each other, all taking care of each other.
Nobody has everything, but everybody has something.
— Andrew Wilson, 1 Corinthians for You2
The point of this interconnectedness? That’s what we get in 1 Cor. 12:24b–26. “No division” (Grk schism).
And “the same care for one another” (1 Cor 12:25). Even “suffering” together.
But that makes sense to us, doesn’t it? Some of us recently have experienced broken bones in our ankles and shins. Those broken bones didn’t impact your hands or your eyesight. But your whole body is suffering through those bone breaks, isn’t it?
The interconnectedness and interdependence are true in various ways.
True spiritually: What he’s saying is true regardless of whether we feel it or not.
True practically: Powerful when the members of a church body take seriously this interdependence and interconnectedness.
True emotionally: We feel the heartaches of others in the church.
Now he says something hinted at several times but hasn’t stated explicitly:
1 Corinthians 12:27–31 (ESV)
Now he brings together everything he’s said. He states clearly what he’s been hinting at.
First is a clear statement about Christ and the church—1 Cor. 12:27.
And then he presses this out in the area of spiritual gifts, something he hasn’t mentioned since 1 Cor. 12:11. But remember, it’s what the whole passage is about (1 Cor 12:1).
In some ways we should already be able to guess what he’s about to say in 1 Cor. 12:28–30.
God “has appointed” (Grk. tithēmī) “in the church” various spiritual gifts. This is the same verb as used in 1 Cor. 12:18. Just as “God arranged the parts in the body, each one of them, as he chose” (1 Cor 12:18), so it’s also true that “God has arranged in the church body” spiritual gifts, “as he chose.”
He starts with gifted people—apostles, prophets, teachers (1 Cor 12:28).
Then it’s special abilities—miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues (1 Cor 12:28), “interpreting” (1 Cor 12:30).
All of these are divinely given and divinely spread throughout the church.
This is not a statement that each local church will have every New Testament gift. Each church will have the gifts it needs to follow Christ and glorify Christ in their context.
But within the whole church of each generation, all the gifts will be present. Spread throughout the whole body of Christ.
Within each church there might not be apostles and prophets, but in the whole of Christ’s church in each generation there will be apostles and prophets doing their work.
In the very beginnings of a church plant, you might not have anyone gifted in certain miraculous gifts. And yet, God answers individual prayers. No one with the gift of healing might be there. But God will answer prayers for healing even in the smallest of churches and newest of church plants!
The point is to build in each church and in the whole church a sense of our interconnectedness and interdependence. We need each other to flourish in this generation!!
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Cor 12:27)
That truth should give each of us:
CONFIDENCE: God has “arranged” (v. 18), “composed” (v. 24), “appointed” (v. 28) each of us with specific gifts. Each of us! No exceptions!
HUMILITY: God hasn’t given any of us ALL the gifts or the ONLY IMPORTANT gifts.
EAGERNESS: When God’s people gather together and work together and live life together, it is full of God’s Spirit and gifted people. God’s going to do something amazing!
Now, how do you get in on it?
We can’t control the workings of God’s Spirit.
But the invitation he offers to the world is this:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Rom 10:9–10)
If you respond to that universal offer in true faith, you are a member of the body of Christ. And once a member of the body of Christ, always a member of the body of Christ. When the sun and moon and stars fall from the sky, you will be there standing with Christ’s church, awesome as an army with banners.
And yes, as a spiritual member of the body of Christ, you should join a local church, a local expression of the body of Christ.
Enter as a gifted member of Christ’s church, eager to serve others and be served by others.
Here are some other recent messages.
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