1 Corinthians 12:12, 13 says...
Today's verses are 1 Corinthians 12:12, 13, which read,
v.12 - For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
Paul is introducing a major illustration to help with the teaching of the spiritual gifts. The main point here with using the word picture of the human body is that the spiritual gifts work together in the scope of the whole church like the parts of your body work together in the scope of your whole physical body.
This illustration can be dived into very deeply because we cherish the members of our physical body. We probably cherish them even more as we start to lose some of them or the use of some of the physical members of our physical bodies. I am reminded daily of what I don't have anymore. What a function that part of the body I don't have anymore served the whole body. Each has a purpose, even the appendix which many thought had no purpose has been found out to be very vital to our gut health and therefore our immune system.
We have a local church and within that body it has many members with various spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit as He wills and discerns. Those members with those various spiritual gifts serve the overall local church in the name of Christ.
v.13 - For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Who are the members of the universal church of Christ? They are those who have been baptized or immersed in a relationship with Christ that are members of universal church of Christ. Those who are not immersed in this relationship with Christ are not members of the church. This membership spans across nationalities and also across any social statuses that we have set up.
The members of the church have drank in the Holy Spirit meaning that the members have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them that has given those various spiritual gifts. Paul is using these terms to qualify that if someone is a member of this church then that member is someone who is immersed in a relationship with the Spirit and filled with Spirit. It is not just someone who comes to church but someone who well defined by the Spirit more than anything else.
Now that we have this definition of a member of the body, Paul can go forward to speak and format his conversation about the different spiritual gifts given to those members in relationship to that one body. The sin of pride causes divisions and factions and the gift of spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit can be used by Satan to elevate ourselves rather than serve the body of Christ in which they are intended.
"Lord, I think we sometimes forget about how connected we are of each other when we gather with one another on a Sunday morning. We see friends and fellow Christians but we don't see arms and legs and ears and eyes of a body that we so much depend on. I am understanding why it hurts so much when a member leaves on good terms or not so good terms. You are the great Physician and Healer so I ask that You replace what was lost so Your body can be whole. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.12 - For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
Paul is introducing a major illustration to help with the teaching of the spiritual gifts. The main point here with using the word picture of the human body is that the spiritual gifts work together in the scope of the whole church like the parts of your body work together in the scope of your whole physical body.
This illustration can be dived into very deeply because we cherish the members of our physical body. We probably cherish them even more as we start to lose some of them or the use of some of the physical members of our physical bodies. I am reminded daily of what I don't have anymore. What a function that part of the body I don't have anymore served the whole body. Each has a purpose, even the appendix which many thought had no purpose has been found out to be very vital to our gut health and therefore our immune system.
We have a local church and within that body it has many members with various spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit as He wills and discerns. Those members with those various spiritual gifts serve the overall local church in the name of Christ.
v.13 - For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Who are the members of the universal church of Christ? They are those who have been baptized or immersed in a relationship with Christ that are members of universal church of Christ. Those who are not immersed in this relationship with Christ are not members of the church. This membership spans across nationalities and also across any social statuses that we have set up.
The members of the church have drank in the Holy Spirit meaning that the members have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them that has given those various spiritual gifts. Paul is using these terms to qualify that if someone is a member of this church then that member is someone who is immersed in a relationship with the Spirit and filled with Spirit. It is not just someone who comes to church but someone who well defined by the Spirit more than anything else.
Now that we have this definition of a member of the body, Paul can go forward to speak and format his conversation about the different spiritual gifts given to those members in relationship to that one body. The sin of pride causes divisions and factions and the gift of spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit can be used by Satan to elevate ourselves rather than serve the body of Christ in which they are intended.
"Lord, I think we sometimes forget about how connected we are of each other when we gather with one another on a Sunday morning. We see friends and fellow Christians but we don't see arms and legs and ears and eyes of a body that we so much depend on. I am understanding why it hurts so much when a member leaves on good terms or not so good terms. You are the great Physician and Healer so I ask that You replace what was lost so Your body can be whole. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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