1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Commentary

This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson in some ways turns its hearers’ attention away from the well-being of all people toward the well-being of Christ’s Body, the Church. Yet while it to some extent focuses on inward rather than outward matters, Paul does not ignore the “common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Rather, he implies that the Church works most effectively for the wellness of all people when it is healthy.

In the verses 1-11 that precede this Lesson the apostle points to, among other things, the startling variety of the gifts with which the Triune God graces God’s dearly beloved people. He ends them by asserting in verse 11, God “distributes [those gifts] to each one, just as he determines.”

Now Paul begins this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson by squarely placing those gifts within the context of Christ’s Church. In verse 12 he writes, “Just as a body [soma*], though one, has many parts [polla mele], but all its many parts form one body, so it is [houtos kai] with Christ.” In other words, just like human bodies have many parts, Christ’s Body that is his Church also has many “parts.” But in both instances, no matter how many body parts there are, they together comprise only one body.

Verse 13 serves as a kind of “appetizer” of some of the more radical assertions Paul makes later in this Lesson. There, after all, he professes, “We were all baptized [ebaptisthemen] by [en] one Spirit [Pneumati] so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink [epotisthemen].”

Clearly one of these assertions is easier to interpret than the other. Paul professes that Jesus’ friends were baptized “in,” but more literally “by” one Spirit. The same Spirit baptized each of us by graciously “moving into,” that is, taking up residence in and empowering us to respond to God’s amazing grace with our obedient faith. That one Spirit and baptism create one Body.

Yet what Paul means by asserting that each of us was not only baptized by the Spirit, but also given the Spirit to epotisthemen (“drink”) is less clear. The Message links that drinking to the way that the Spirit refreshes and sustains God’s adopted children. But the Greek verb epotisthemen can also mean something like “irrigate.” That leaves open the possibility that the apostle means that the Spirit “waters” our parched souls so that we can continue to respond to God’s grace with our faithful obedience.

In verses 12-14 Paul emphasizes God’s role not just in equipping God’s people with spiritual gifts but also in uniting us into the one Body that is the Church. God graciously turns all our various diversities, including our spiritual gifts, ethnicities and socio-economic statuses, into one gifted and united whole.

This profession sets the stage for what may seem like verses’ 15-31’s fairly tame assertions that actually have some real “teeth.” They begin with Paul’s insistence that those whom God gifts don’t get to choose whether or not to use those gifts for the benefit of all kinds of people.

Verses 15 and 16’s assertions follow a similar pattern: “If the foot [or ear] should say, ‘Because I am not a hand [or eye], I do not belong to the body [ek tou somatos],’ it would not for that reason [ou para touto] stop being part of [ek tou] of the body.” People may think of eyes or hands as being more spectacular parts of our bodies than, say, our chins or noses. Yet Paul reminds us chins and noses are just as much a part of our bodies as eyes and hands.

In fact, if a body were made up of only “glamorous” eyes or ears, it would be unable to function. As the apostle continues in verses 18ff., “God has placed [etheto] the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted [ethelesen] them to be.” No body part may think either too highly or lowly of itself. After all, as The Message paraphrases verse 18: “God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.”

Our place in Christ’s Body that is the Church is reserved and secured. No matter how God chose to graciously gift us, we don’t really get to choose whether to consider ourselves part of the Church. Since God has gifted Christians, we have responsibilities to use those gifts to bless our neighbor.

As a result, we might argue, those whom God gifts don’t get the option of being “spiritual but not really religious.” Of course, we might argue whether 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a implies we must be active parts of local manifestations of that Body. Yet no matter where we land on that issue, it’s hard to argue that Paul’s default position is that gifted Christians are active members of local parts of the Church of Jesus Christ.

If in verses 15-20 Paul argues against a kind of “opt out clause” for spiritually gifted Christians, in verses 21-31a he argues against a kind of “shut out clause” of the same people. Christians don’t get to choose which spiritual gifts and spiritually gifted people are part of Christ’s Body. The apostle insists those God gifts God also incorporates into the Church. He leaves little room for any kind of exclusion of spiritually gifted people from the Church of Jesus Christ.

Throughout verses 21-26 we see some of Paul’s literary craftsmanship on display. He, after all, doesn’t make clear to which body he’s referring – the human body or Christ’s body. In fact, we might argue that the apostle is actually referring to both bodies. So this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson is more than just a basic human anatomy lesson. It’s also a lesson in the “anatomy” of the Body of Christ.

Paul at least suggests that it’s no less absurd for a body part to claim it doesn’t need another body part as it is for variously gifted parts of Christ’s Body to claim we don’t need each other. In fact, Paul adds in verses 22-23, rather than denigrating different parts of the body, we view and treat each with the proper respect that each deserves as God’s image-bearer.

He summons Jesus’ friends to view those parts of that seem to be “weaker” [asthenestera] as “indispensable” [anankaia]. What’s more, the apostle invites us to treat those parts we assume are “less honorable” [atimotera] with “special honor” [timen perissoteran], and those that are “unpresentable” [aschemona] with “special modesty” [euschemosynen perissoteran].”

Paul continues to offer parallel anatomy lessons in verses 24-26. While he continues to refuse to explicitly identify the body of which he speaks, these verses continue to reflect his special concern for those parts of the body that others might be tempted to hide, denigrate or simply ignore.

“God has put the body together,” the apostle writes in verses 24ff., “giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it [hysteroumeno], so that there should be no division [schisma] in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern [merimnosen] for each other. If one part suffers [paschei], every part suffers with [sympaschei] with it; if one part is honored [doxazetai], every part rejoices with [synchairei] it.”

Here, before Paul goes on to elucidate the functions of some Christ’s Body’s parts, he again emphasizes their unity. While spiritual gifts may and, in fact, do radically differ, they combine to make not disparate entities, but one whole. So just as when someone’s back hurts, their feet and hands may “suffer” with it, so when one spiritually gifted person hurts, all the other members of Christ’s Body hurt with her.

What’s more, perhaps even more challengingly, when one member of the Church is honored, all other Christians share his joy. Paul insists that the Spirit unites Jesus’ friends in both the things that pain us and the things that delight us. We feel what our fellow Christians feel.

The apostle basically closes this Epistolary Lesson by focusing on the body of Christ rather than the body of humans. “You are,” he writes in verse 27, “the body of Christ [soma Christou], and each one of you is part of it.” Those body parts include “apostles … prophets … [and] teachers.”

But then Paul takes what seems like an odd turn. He, after all, goes on to note God has appointed [etheto] not just spiritually gifted people, but also “miracles [dynameis] … gifts of healing [charismata iamaton] … helping [antilempseis] … guidance [kyberneseis] and … different kinds of tongues [glosson].”

While this list largely parallels verses 8-10’s, it speaks not of people whom God has gifted to do miracles, but the actual gifts of miracles themselves. (Interestingly, older NIV translations “iron out” some of that mystery by speaking of “workers of miracles,” etc. But the Greek doesn’t justify that insertion). It’s not clear why Paul makes that shift from gifted people to gifts. But it may be enough to reason that he wants to be very clear about from where things like miracles come. They come not from various miracle workers, but from God himself.

In verse 31a Paul calls his Corinthians readers to “eagerly desire [zeloute] the greater [meizona] gifts [charismata].” Preachers might note a couple of things about that summons. The apostle doesn’t identify which gifts are “greater.” The Greek word can mean not just greater but also larger or even wider. But verse 31’s ambiguity might leave open the possibility that the apostle is at least alluding to the even greater gift that is love (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:13). If the Lord tarries, we plan to turn our attention to that next week.

*I have here and elsewhere added in brackets the Greek words for the English words the NIV translation uses.

Illustration

In his book Beyond Words, Frederick Buechner writes about “miracles” that Paul mentions throughout 1 Corinthians 12. He notes, “A cancer inexplicably cured. A voice in a dream. A statue that weeps. A miracle is an event that strengthens faith.

It is possible to look at most miracles and find a rational explanation in terms of natural cause and effect. It is possible to look at Rembrandt’s Supper at Emmaus and find a rational explanation in terms of paint and canvas. Faith in God is less apt to proceed from miracles than miracles from faith in God.”