1 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse 12, we read,
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. 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. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, Because
I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? 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? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members,
every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if
they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they
many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet,
I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble or weak are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
For our comely parts have no need, but God had tempered the
body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which
lacked. That there should be no schism
in the body, but that the members should have the same care one
for another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ,
and members in particular. And God hath sent some in the
church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities
of tongues, Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? But covet earnestly the best
gifts, and yet show unto you a more excellent way." Now, of
course, we've been talking about the theme of the book 1 Corinthians
being the unity of the body. And that is very plainly set
forth in this particular chapter, perhaps more clearly than any
other place in the book. And of course, as Paul speaks
about the gifts that are given to the body, most times, People
get hung up on the gifts. They think that the gifts are
the important thing that Paul is talking about here. He is
not talking about the gifts per se. Now the gifts are important
because they are what they are. They are the gifts of God. God
has given them to His people. But the important matter here
in this chapter is not, He is not instructing us about the
gifts and what they are. and how they are to be used,
but he is instructing us primarily on the fact that the gifts are
given for the benefit of the body. That's the whole real emphasis
of what he's saying here, is not to single out these gifts.
Now I know that a lot of people spend a lot of time worrying
about what these gifts are and how they work and all of that
kind of stuff, and I'm not saying there's not some benefit to be
derived, in looking at that. But if you miss the point of
what the gifts are given to the church for, then there is no
way under the sun you can ever understand how the gifts are
to be played out, how they are to be useful, and what they are
to be used for. And so he says here, the body
is one. Now that is the most important
thing, is that we realize that the body is one. That is, he
is using the illustration of a natural body. He's talking
about the hands and the feet and the eyes and the ears and
all of those different parts of the body. And we all can clearly
understand that a body is a body. It's not parts. You know, if
you see body parts laying around somewhere, you know that that
person is probably not in very good shape. I mean, you know,
somebody's arms laying over there and their legs over there. They
are in trouble. But the body is one. It is put
together and the members of the body are each individual parts
and we all go together to make up the body and we all function
together as the body or else we are dead. I mean we are in
a mess. We are not a functioning body. So as the body is one and has
many members, and all the members of that one body being many are
one body, then he says, so also is Christ. Now this is the important
matter here, is that we are not just part of an organization. Now you know a lot of people
think of the church as an organization. And there's an element and an
understanding we have of the church in an organized sense,
not a very great one, but nonetheless to some extent. But the church
is not an organization like a club or some civic organization that
people might come together. The church is never presented
in the Scripture in any light such as that. But the cohesiveness
of the church is the fact that we're all one in Christ and we're
all part of Christ. And so that as the Lord prayed
in His prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John, He said, Father,
that they might be one even as we are one. Now again, I think
sometimes people read more into that than what he's saying. They're
saying that, I've actually heard men try to go off on the tangent
that we become as deity because we become as one with the Lord.
That's not what he's saying. But he's saying that we all might
be one. In other words, that the brethren
might consider our unity and love one for the other, even
as the Father and the Son are one. Now, we can't ever be one
with the Father and the Son in that respect, because He's the
Son, He's the Father, He's the Holy Ghost, He is God. We'll never be that. But by the
grace of God, He has given us the benefit and the privilege
of being one with Him in the relationship of brethren, one
to the other, and our relationship to Him as He is our greater brother. And so also is Christ. So that's
how the body is. The cohesiveness of the body
is not what we know. You know, doctrine is an important
thing. But we can all come together
and agree 100% on this doctrine and that doctrine. We can go
down the list, and we can check them off, and we can say, Brother,
we're all in agreement on that, and we still might not be one
in Christ. Because to be one in Christ,
while it might include being in agreement on doctrinal matters,
it's more important than that. There's something beyond that.
And that's what he's saying here. So also is Christ. This body
is Christ. We are Christ. We're held together
by our love for Jesus Christ and His love for us. For by one
Spirit are we all baptized into one body, not different ones. I've got this spirit and you've
got that spirit. No, it's the same spirit. By
one spirit, we're baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles. It doesn't make any difference
what our religious background might have been or whatever.
It is our heritage. That doesn't make any difference.
And there couldn't be any more different groups of people than
Jews and Gentiles, could there? Because, I mean, that was the
demarcation. I mean, the Jews didn't have anything to do with
the Gentiles. The Gentiles didn't have anything to do with the
Jews. But he said it doesn't make any difference. Even if
we're Jews or Gentiles, we're still baptized into one body
whether we be bond or free. It doesn't make any difference
if a man's a slave or if he's a slave owner. It doesn't make
any difference. We're all bound together in the
same Spirit. We have been all made to drink
into one Spirit. That is, we are all one in that
way. For the body is not one member,
but many. And so while we understand the
unity of the body as being one, yet as he has already said, there
are diversities in this body. We are not all the exact same
thing. We're not parts of one another
like cookies cut out with the same cookie cutter. But we are
all from the same lump of dough. And some, you know, have one
shape and some have another shape, but it's all the same dough.
It's the same. It comes from the same source.
So, the body is not one member, but many. There is diversity
in the body. And if the foot shall say, because
I am not the hand, I am not the body, is it therefore not of
the body? Now, this is an important thing, most especially if we
are thinking about the Lord giving various gifts to the people of
God, which the Scripture says that He gives gifts to every
man to profit the whole body. So no man can say, well, I don't
have any gifts. Not unless he denies what the
Scripture says. The Lord gives to every person
in the body a function. There is a function. Now, I don't
know what all those functions are, and it's not for me to say
what your function is any more than you say what my function
is. It is important that we understand that whatever the function that
the Lord has given each one of us in the body, it's all a part
of the function of the body. And so that there's no place
for me to say, well, because you're not a hand, you're not
of the body, any more than there is for you to say, well, I'm
not the head, or I'm not the ears, or I'm not the mouth, so
I'm not part of the body. See, that doesn't make any difference.
The diversity that the Lord made is how the Lord made it. And
we're to understand that no part of the body is more important
than the other parts of the body. Now, I know that's not the way
that it's mostly thought of today, because usually what is considered
is that those teaching gifts or preaching or whatever you
want to call it, why those gifts are more important. And if I'm not one of them, if
I don't have that gift, then I'm not really of the body. I
mean, I might have some little lesser place, but I'm not really
of any value. No, that's not what he's saying.
That's what he's saying. The very thing he's saying is
not. If the ears shall say, because I'm not the eye, I'm not of the
body, is it therefore not of the body? Of course not. It just
performs a different function. It has a different role. It is
not all the same thing. If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now hath God set the members,
every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. Now that is the thing that makes
this important. And it makes it, you know, an
awful thing if we should get to looking at the members of
the body and determining who's important and who's not. Whether
we're doing that looking at ourselves or looking at someone else. Because
why? Because it pleased the Lord to
put the members of the body in the body as it pleased Him. If it pleased Him, shouldn't
it please us? I mean, shouldn't we be happy
that that's the way it is and not be saying, oh, well, if I
can't be the arm, I don't want to be part of the body. No, we
are what we are. And the Lord is able to use us
as He sees fit. But if they were all one member,
where were the body? If we were all the leg, It would
be a funny thing to see a leg walking down the road, wouldn't
it? That would be pretty silly. I don't know why this came into
my mind. the leg thing. Somebody somewhere
has made a sculpture of a leg lamp. I don't know if you remember
in that movie, in one of those movies, the Christmas Story,
I believe it was, where the guy gets the lamp and it's like a
leg. And anyway, somebody's made a
sculpture of that and put it somewhere and there's a big outcry.
A bunch of people don't like it and all of this kind of thing.
But it is kind of foolish, isn't it, just to have a leg Sticking
up there because you think, well, here's the leg, well, where's
the rest of the person, you know? So, but that's kind of a picture
of what he's saying here. Now, if we're all one member,
where were the body? A body has many different parts. The hand can't do what the ear
does. Have you ever tried to see through
your finger? Huh? Well, what have you ever seen
through your finger? Nothing. But then what have you ever picked
up with your eyes? So I mean, you know, that's the
beauty of that which the Lord has designed. And the eye cannot
say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head
to the feet, I have no need of you. So a man can't say, well,
because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, neither can
I turn around and say, well, because you're not the foot,
you're not of any use to me. because there is a use to the
body of all the parts of the body. They much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. Now
your little toe, I mean if somebody came to you and said they were
going to cut some part of your body off, which part would it be? Maybe
you might pick your little toe or you might pick the bottom
part of your ear off or whatever. Well, you might get by without
that. It's not that you're going to
wither on the vine without that, but your body's not going to
be whole without that. You're going to miss that toe.
You're going to miss that ear. because of the fact that that
makes the body what it is. But there are parts of the body
that insofar as men would judge might not be as necessary as
others. We might not know what the necessity
of that part of the body is. And this is where people get
into a bad state. They say, well, I don't really
ever have anything to say And so I'm not really that important. Well, wait a minute. Because
somebody doesn't have something to say, or whether they do have
something to say, that has nothing to do with the value of that
part of the body to the body. But every part is equally as
important, and those parts which seem to be the weakest are actually
the ones we ought to bestow the more abundant honor upon. Because
you know there are certain parts of the body that are going to
have honor, just naturally so, but we are not going to give
them any honor. But to the uncomely parts, those
parts that are weaker, the weaker brethren, the brethren who feel
themselves to be unable to do anything of any value to the
body. They are the ones upon whom the
greater honor is bestowed. We are to each esteem the other
better than ourselves. For we bestow upon these more
abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. That is, they appear to be greater
because of the fact that we bestow more abundant honor to them.
For our comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the
body together, having given more abundant honor, to the part that
lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that
the members should have the same care one for the other. You know,
we're not to be, oh, we really pat you on the back because you've
got this great gift and you're performing this function. And
so we're considering you more highly. And whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it. Now, that's what Paul
says, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, if we are to bear one another's
burdens, if one member suffers, then all the members suffer with
it. And in order to fulfill the law of Christ, that must be carried
out. That's why it is that we are
bearing one another's burdens. or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with
it. You know, if there is any honor to be had, it's the honor
for the whole church, not some place of jealousy that a man
might look at some honor that's bestowed upon another and say,
oh, well, you know, he just thinks he's something. Well, maybe he
does. And if he does, that's his fault,
because if he understands these things are right, he'd know that
whatever he has is the gift of God. So, one member be honored,
all the members rejoice with it. Now, ye are the body of Christ
and members in particular. So he comes back to that. He
wants to remind us of that. We are members in particular. of the body of Christ. We do
have a particular role, but we are still the body of Christ,
members in particular, but yet the body of Christ. And in thinking
of this, the matter of the body of Christ, now this is of course
a mystical sort of a consideration, but it is still nonetheless true.
When the Lord Jesus Christ left the earth, He left us with His
Spirit. He said, I will send you another
Comforter that He might be in our midst. But there is no other
visible representation that the Lord left on the earth of Himself
other than the body of Christ, which is the church of God, we
are the representatives of Christ. Paul said, you know, we're ambassadors
for Christ. That is, we've been given this
role. The Lord has called us to be
the representatives of Christ in the earth. We're members of
His body. And so if anybody's going to
see Christ, how are they going to see Him? They're not going
to climb up into heaven or have some mystical vision. They're
going to see Christ as He shows Himself through His people. And
that's what it is to be part of the body of Christ. So you
are the body of Christ and members in particular. And God has set
some in the church. Now, keep the context of what
he's saying because when he gets to verse 31, distinction here. And God has
set some in the church, first apostles. Now this is not an
order of importance, but it is simply an order of how the Lord
has set these things forth, because He gave the apostles to the church
and gave them for the purpose of establishing the church. And
God has set some in the church, first apostles, Secondarily,
prophets. Thirdly, teachers. After that,
miracles, gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities
of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles? Now if you listen to some that
teach about these things in the present day, you would come to
the conclusion that Paul, he got this wrong. Because they
say, well, you ought to be doing all these things. Well, no. I mean, the Lord gives these
gifts. Now, I'm not sure, and because
of the fact that He sets these forth, does it mean that from
time immemorial all of these gifts will always be operable
in every age to all churches? They may be. But keep in mind
what they are. They're gifts. They're not things
you can purchase. They're not things that you can
influence, but they're those things that God gives. And so if He's pleased to give
these things, who are we to say we don't want them? Or if He's
not pleased to give it, who are we to say, well, you left us
out? You know, whatever He sees fit to do is how He'll do it.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Do all have
the gift of healing? Or do all speak with tongues?
Do all interpret? Now, listen to what he says.
He says, "...but covet earnestly the best gifts." Now, I believe
that the context demands that we look at that more as a question,
more so than him saying, you ought to covet earnestly the
best gifts. Now, there's certainly nothing
wrong with that if that is indeed what he's saying, but I believe
context, if you read the chapter and you read this, what is coming
out as he goes into the thirteenth chapter, I think this is what
he's saying. But why do you covet the best gifts? Why do you covet
gifts thinking that some are better than others? What did
he just get through saying? They're all the same. that make
a difference what the gift is. Why would you consider them as
being one gift better than another? He says, because I'm going to
show you a better way. I'm going to show you something
that's better than coveting gifts. And he goes in, and I'm going
to read the first verse. He says, Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal, although I have the gift of prophecy.
Now, prophecy was right up there, wasn't it? Or if I have to understand
mysteries and knowledge, then I could do all these things.
But if I don't have love, what is it that profited me at all?
So why would you covet these gifts, he said? I mean, that's
what I believe he's saying, is why are you even concerned about
the gifts? Sure, God gives gifts, but why
would you be centering your thoughts on that? Here's the better way.
If you want that which is really beneficial, desire that the Lord
might give you love one for the other, because you see, that
is better than all gifts. Because if you have gifts, you
can speak with the tongues of angels. You lift it up to some
heavenly place. What good is it if you don't
love one another, if you don't help one another, if you don't
strengthen one another, if you don't build one another up in
the most holy faith, if you don't desire to come together as one
in Christ for the exaltation of His name? This is the purpose
of the gifts. And this is the purpose that
Paul would teach. concerning the giving of the
gifts for the benefit of the body is that we might be strong
together, built up in the most holy faith. Somebody have a question
or a comment about that? Well, I think it's more of a
play on words. I think what he's saying to them,
why do you consider these gifts to be better than others? In
other words, why are you coveting the best gifts? Because he says,
if you had the best... I mean, men think of these things
that way, yes. I mean, it's just natural for
me to think, well, the gift of prophecy, that's a great gift. You know, if you could prophesy
things or if you could perform some miracle, boy, that would
really be something. But what is that? What would it make any difference
if I could do all these things, as he goes on contextually into
the thirteenth chapter, if I could do all those things, but I didn't
have the one thing that would be needful? I mean, to me, I've
looked at that many times. Of course, I've looked at it
in time. Well, we ought to be coveting the best gift. I don't
think he's saying you ought to be doing this. He's saying, why
are you doing this? Why do that in that way? But in a measure, I guess in
the sense in which he sets forth You know, He gave first the apostles.
You could say there's a sense in which that is a greater gift,
I suppose. apart from charity, there are
those that are more beneficial in the body. In some ways than
others, that's correct, yes. Yeah, and that's probably true. But I think the context of what
he's saying is getting their mind off of what's the great
gift. What is the great gift? Well,
it would be to love one another. That would be the great gift.