ONE BODY MANY PARTS: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-27

Maintaining focus and harmony in a church setting has never been easy. It is not easy today, and has not been easy in the past Churches. The Apostle Paul must have been thinking about unity and the sense of purpose in the church when he was inspired to write the message: One body many parts 1 Corinthians 12:12 – 27. Let us remember that the Church of the Apostles of Jesus Christ even as it was established in North Africa, Europe and the Middle East eventually disintegrated into multiple organizations – in Rome, Eastern Europe, Damascus, and Cairo – which is evidence that even in that perfect organization created by God, there is need for unity and a sense of purpose.

In his letter, Paul was writing to the Corinthians. Corinth was a city in Greece. As the reader maybe aware, Paul served a large area. Since he could not be everywhere at the same time, it was only logical that he would use the available technology of the day to communicate with Churches – so he wrote letters and sent them by ship – in much the same way he could have used mobile phones or computers to communicate had he been alive today.

There was a church in place and not just any other organization, but one formed by God through apostles commissioned by Jesus Christ. There was a multiplicity of gifts with servants including evangelists, pastors, prophets and teachers – their leaders were known as apostles. The church was rich in terms of gifts and talents. However, even in that church guidance was needed from the Apostle Paul to keep the church in the right direction. There could have been conflicts, wrong attitudes, all manner of superiority and inferiority complexes and any other challenges in interpersonal relations.

The vision of a united church working together as one body has not been easy to achieve. It was a problem for the apostles of Jesus Christ, in the sixth covenant and has even affected the seventh covenant in the past years. In the end there was the church in Rome, Alexandria, Greece, and Syria among others. The united church that the apostle Paul and others had struggled to build was forgotten. All too often someone finds reason to part  ways – even if it meant forming a separate organization. The end result is that whatever plans God seeks to put in place through a united organization are slowed down by the enemy.

In a church setting, even out of personal greed someone may opt to divide the organization and form a separate one – without caring about the others. He or she may be okay, but there are others in the same organization who a young in their spiritual journeys and would be better of benefiting the rest of the congregation. That is how the evil one works and it is wise for all to take care.

From Paul’s teachings, it is clear that a church even at the lowest or smallest unit should be united working together as one body.

And like any other body, it functions properly if it is united. The different parts all play a role in the success of the body. If the whole body was an eye (seers or prophets), who would do the rest of the work? Let us take an army at war for on example – for the kingdom of God also finds itself in a different kind of wars. It has eyes in the form of military intelligence. There are also other eyes by the name or rangers or scouts who do surveillance on the ground. Some are called spotters who identify targets at a distance. These eyes are not doing any more work that is more important than the artillery gunners that destroy the targets using big guns or the air force who can be called to assist in the same.

The same army has to have teachers, doctors, accountants, cooks, cleaners, guard, mechanics, even religious leaders: priests, reverends, and Muslim sheiks in many cases.

Is the same with any congregation. Different people will do different things – some may seem not to be senior or important, but without them, people cannot move forward. If believers remain united and focus on the well being of the entire organization or body, then much would be achieved.

For easy reference the chapter is pasted below in its scriptural form.

12 There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14 So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.

¹⁵ Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear ,how could it smell? ¹⁸ God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. ¹⁹ If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.

²¹ The eye can’t 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, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. ²³ The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they  are treated with special care. ²⁴ The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. ²⁵ In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.

²⁷ You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it