The Unity Of The Body Of Christ

No one can travel in two directions at the same time. Choices become important when we face directions. Choosing calls for counsel. Where can we find trusted counsel? To whom can we turn?

In the church there is an opportunity for counsel. Actually, the Greek word for church, ekklesia, means a “called-out people.” Within the body of Christ, there is a bonding not experienced in any other relationship and unmatched in society.

Not everyone who joins the church, however, understands this uniqueness. As a result, the church has suffered divisions such as Paul aimed to correct in this letter to the Corinthians. Paul deplored the way members showed their loyalty to human personalities instead of Christ.

Now in the body of Christ, there is a special unity the apostle helps us to understand. From I Corinthians 12:12-26 Paul teaches THE UNITY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST.

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.

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.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, Because l am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear shall say, Because l am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 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.

22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

23 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.

24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked:

25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Now let me show you the ACTIONS taken to bring unity in the body of Christ as Paul presents them to us.

The first action is:

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.

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.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

That the body is unified in one Spirit is very important to understand. Paul uses the illustration of the physical body to show that the body is one yet made up of many members.

How the body functions is fascinating. According to medical science one tiny cell, hardly visible at conception, when developed to maturity grows to several hundred trillion cells. Science tells us that billions of these cells die every minute and are replaced with others. Marvelous! The normal union of all these cells makes one body. Obviously, in Paul’s day, they did not have such intricate understanding, yet his observation told him how the body functions as one, be it the human body or the church.

The body of Christ is unified by the Spirit. Verse 13 states that all members come the same way. That is so important. There is only one way, not many. Those people who say there are many ways to God are flatly wrong. There is only one Spirit, and by that one Spirit, we are brought into the body. Regardless of background or orientation, Paul states that Jews and Greeks are one in Christ. The bond and the free are one in Christ. It does not make any difference what our background is or what our standing might be in the community, we are one in the body of Christ.

In the church, we become members of the body of Christ. We are baptized by one Spirit into one body. Paul further explains that the body is not one member but many members.

Mrs. Yoder and I have traveled to different parts of the world. We have had the blessing of worshiping with Christian believers in many places. When we worshiped with them, we knew that we were members one of another. Members of the body relate to one another. I have often said, “When you meet a Christian, you know it!” There is something of an immediate bonding, unified by one Spirit. God has been gracious! We who are believers understand this. The body of Christ is unified by one Spirit.

The second action is:

15 If the foot shall say, Because l am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear shall say, Because l am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

Attitudes do not sever the membership or the members from the body. Paul says that the foot cannot say because I am not the hand, I am not of the body. That does not sever it from the body. That does not make the difference. To want to be what it is not, does not change its function or its position. And the ear cannot say because I am not the eye I am not of the body. These two illustrations are Paul’s way to help us understand how God has classified the body: the foot, the hand, the ear, and the eye. The desire to be different does not alter the member.

Paul is getting at a very basic concept in the body of Christ. Certain members at times look at other members in the body of Christ and wish they were different. With a spirit of jealousy, a spirit of envy, they wish they were something else or someone else. That is the point exactly.

Then the apostle brings up another monstrous possibility. Well, it is really an impossibility. He says, what if the whole body was an eye? Can you contemplate what that might mean? The whole body an eye? Then he says where would the hearing be? And if the whole body were hearing, where would the smelling be?

Members are in the body where it has pleased God to place them. Think of your own body. Your hand can do so many different functions. Your eyes are placed in the front of your head. Your ears are placed on the sides of your head. Marvelous, isn’t it? Where would the smelling be if everything were the hearing?

But members are in the body as it pleased God. He speaks about the physical body, and we can make the analogy and carry it across to the body of Christ. The action of God is as it pleased Him.

The evolutionists are puzzled. They cannot answer why we are made like we are? We have two hands, two feet, two ears, two eyes, and one mouth, one nose. Why are we like that? Because God has chosen to place in the body the members where He wants them, where He knows they function best. We are like we are because it pleased God to make us like this.

As the several hundred trillion cells make up one body, so the world’s true believers in Christ make up one body of Christ. This is a marvelous, wonderful analogy that the apostle Paul brings to us. The body is classified by one God. Yes.

The third action is:

21 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.

22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

23 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.

24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having 4

given more abundant honor to that part which lacked:

25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.

No member can disown another. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. No. The head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you. In other words, there has to be harmony. Each is needed in its place.

Even the less visible are important. In fact, some of the most important members of your body you cannot see; your heart, lungs, or stomach. These are important members functioning the way God placed them, but you cannot see them. Each is needed in its place, even the less visible. Our internal organs, which we cannot see, are very important in our lives.

Let us bring that analogy across to the body of Christ. Some people are hardly visible. You hardly know they are there. But they are important because they are prayer warriors. They are people who call on God and can enter, what we call, the throne room of God and meet Him. They are not very visible but very important people.

God has tempered the body together as He has chosen. Think of the Christian people you know and how they relate to one another. In the congregation that is truly a part of the body of Christ, people care for one another. No two members do the same service. Everyone cares for the others in harmony. When one member suffers, all the members suffer with him. When one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with him or her.

When I got my right thumb in a table saw, I almost cut off the end. While I was trying to staunch the flow of blood in my thumb, the end of my index finger hurt almost as much as my thumb. I learned afterward that the nerve from the thumb goes right around and up the index finger to the end. It is still that way. I don’t have feeling in the end of my thumb nor in the end of my finger. So when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. As in our bodies, so in the body of Christ. All share and all care.

With one purpose God has rectified the members in the body. You have your place in the body of Christ. There is only one way to get there and that is to believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him as your personal Saviour. Believe that God raised Him from the dead. Confess Him as Lord and Saviour. Then you will be a part of the body of Christ around the world.

To bring about that unity, God has taken actions.

No matter what our background is!

For He has placed us in the body where it has pleased Him.

To serve God where we are,

To care and share with each other

no matter where or how.