1 Corinthians 12:12-31a (NRSV)
Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a on biblegateway.com
Verse 12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. Verse 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Verse 14Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. Verse 15If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. Verse 16And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. Verse 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? Verse 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. Verse 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? Verse 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body. Verse 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." Verse 22On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, Verse 23and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; Verse 24whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, Verse 25that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. Verse 26If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Verse 27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. Verse 28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Verse 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Verse 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Verse 31But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Devotion
My brother was an exemplary farmer. He tended the land, worked hard and respected the danger and power of the machinery that he worked with. But one day, he was in a hurry to dump a load of wheat and get back to the field. He caught his gloved hand in the grain augur. Before he could pull it back, his little finger was mangled. Clutching his bleeding hand to his chest, he drove home and his wife drove him to the hospital. The surgeons sewed the dirtied and bloodied appendage back into one piece. They flooded his body with antibiotics to stave off infection. The finger was saved!
But, after a few weeks, he noticed that he had no feeling and no movement in the finger. The muscles and nerves were so damaged that the finger could no longer do its part. In fact, the finger actually hindered him in his work. He went back to the hospital and had the finger amputated. Using the metaphor that Paul uses in I Corinthians 12, we could say that even though the finger was in some sense a “member” of the body, it was not a partner in the body’s ministry. Is our connection to the body of Christ merely a formal membership, or does the lifeblood of Christ, the crackling energy of the Spirit, flow through and empower us?
Prayer
O God, you have lovingly made us part of the body of Christ. Continue to work in us so that your Christ-bringing Spirit might work through us. Amen.