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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Corinthians 12:12 - 12:18
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The body of Christ and its members:
v. 12. For as the body is one and hath many-members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
v. 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
v. 14. For the body is not one member, but many.
v. 15. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
v. 16. And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
v. 17. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
v. 18. But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him.
The fact that the Spirit of God works in the Church through manifold gifts of grace, in various persons, and yet always to the same end, the edification of the entire body as a unit, is here illustrated by reference to the analogy of a body. The unity of the Church is not that of inorganic nature, where many similar or dissimilar bodies are heaped together without organic connection; it is rather the oneness of a living organism, the exercises of whose members are diversified, but yet all serving the one same end, the health and well-being of the entire body: For just as the body of a man is one and he has many members, but all the members of the body, many as they are, are one body, so also is Christ. The oneness of the human body unfolds in a plurality of members, but with all its great variety of parts it is but one single system; just so Christ includes head and heart and all the members of the body in one system, every part and member being necessary for the integrity or completeness of the whole, but the entire body being governed by the one Head, Christ.
The unity of the one great Church system is effected by means of Baptism: For in one Spirit also we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we all of one Spirit were made to drink. Baptism is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; He is the power that influenced our hearts and minds and brought them into the right relation with Christ, added us as members to His body, sealed and attested to us our salvation. The nationality and the social status of the individual person has nothing to do with this process, for the Spirit makes no distinction between Jews and Greeks, between slaves and freemen; they have all received the same identical Spirit, they have all been imbued with the same life of Christ. And, incidentally, we all were made to drink of the same Spirit; He was and is the spiritual refreshment which our souls receive by faith; for the drinking includes all the nourishment of the soul, as it is received for the benefit of the entire body and of all its members.
This idea, that the unity of the bodily organization includes rather than excludes a plurality of membership, is now carried out in detail: For the body also is not one member, but many. To speak of the body as a member is a contradiction in itself: many members, many organs, make up the one body. And yet, no one of these is complete in itself, nor could it exist by itself, just as each one has its own function to exercise, its own work to perform in the body, which could not be accomplished without it. For the foot to argue that it is not a member of the body because it is not the hand would be just as foolish as for the ear to argue that it cannot be a member of the body because it is not the eye. The function of each organ and each member is definitely fixed, and therefore the foot or ear does not sever itself from the body by distinguishing itself from hand or eye; its foolish argument leaves it exactly where it was before. The eye is indeed a nobler member than the ear, just as the hand is a nobler member than the foot, but all the members of the body serve one another mutually. Note: "The obvious duty here inculcated is that of contentment. It is just as unreasonable and absurd for the foot to complain that it is not the hand as for one member of the Church to complain that he is not another; that is, for a teacher to complain that he is not an apostle, or for a deaconess to complain that she is not a presbyter, or for one that had the gift of healing to complain that he had not the gift of tongues. " (Hodge.)
That all the members and organs are to serve the entire body, the whole system, each in its own sphere, the apostle brings out very strongly: If the entire body were eye, where would the hearing be? If the entire body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now, as things are by God's will, He has appointed the members, each single one of them, in the body as He willed. Dissatisfaction with the particular gift of grace, with the particular status in the Church that any person has and occupies, is rebellion against the will of God, against the rule of the Lord of the Church; it is disloyalty toward Him and distrust of His wisdom. God has set things so, it is a matter of His determining will, and the obedient Christian will not be found complaining and objecting.