UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL (1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-26)
Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. Green said “I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees, leaves - without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority.”
Blue interrupted: “Consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity.”
Yellow chuckled: “I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile.”
Orange started next to blow her trumpet: “I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and pawpaws. When I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you.”
Red shouted out: “I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood - life’s blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood….I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy.”
Purple spoke with great pomp: “I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom.”
Finally, Indigo spoke, “Without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace.”
Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening - thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort. Rain began to speak: “You foolish colors. Don’t you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me. From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace.” (Abridged)
According to Unger’s dictionary, Corinth is Greece’s most splendid commercial city. Its strategic situation just south of the narrow isthmus connecting central Greece with the Peloponnesus made it the mecca of trade between the East and the West. The city derived rich income from the transport of cargoes across the narrow isthmus. The city of Corinth is divided along racial, social and economic lines, affecting the church and influencing its dynamics. Jews and Gentiles, masters and slaves, rich and poor are represented.
How can a church rally her members to emphasize spiritual and godly service and bypass physical and cultural distinctions? What do they need to adopt and affirm in order for the church to flourish and grow?
The Flock is One
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Cor 12:12-13)
This is as good a story on the plight of the church and the lack of workers as any: This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
The church is a family, not individuals; an organism and not an organization; a body and not the building. Her members are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28), and the sum is greater than the parts.
The word “body” (soma) occurs 18 times in chapter 12 alone and 47 times in the book. The word “unit” (v 12) is an awkward translation of the Greek for “one,” which occurs 13 times in the chapter. The Lord’s purpose for the church is for her unity, as witnessed by Jesus’ High Priestly prayer for the church before his crucifixion. Six times He prayed for them to be united as one (John 17:11, 21, 21, 22, 22, 23).
To be one means unity not uniformity; to be unanimous, not to be in union; to have harmony, not hostility; to be in accord and not in discord; to agree to disagree; to emphasize similarities and not differences.
A key saying for unity is ““In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” When I was invited to be an adjunct faculty in a seminary, I said that my theological views might be different from the school’s position. The academic dean replied, “It’s OK, Victor, as long we do not attack each other.”
We can defend one’s position but not demean the person, argue one’s point but not attack the person, call others no names but brother, that’s the spirit of unity.
The word “parts” occurs 17 times in the chapter. The body is singular but her members are plural, just as a family is one but her members are more than one. In fact, experts believe a one-child policy makes spoilt brats of their kids. These little emperors have not learned to share – toys, love and money. The family’s schedule and universe revolves around the doted child. Just before turning teen, I was still sharing a big bed with my brother and sister. Of course, all of us want to sleep inside, nearest the wall instead of the aisle. To wake the sleepyheads for school, my grandmother would grab the nearest legs and literally pull us out of bed.
The word “all” occurs 16 times in chapter 12. The mission and the ministry of the church are more important than its members and their division. Our source is in Christ and our unity is in the Spirit (v 13). There is one Body even though we have many believers, one Baptizer even though we are baptized at different times and one Birth even though we have many babies.
The Functions are Different
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (1 Cor 12:14-21)
None of the parts of the body is useless or worthless, including the appendix, which I had removed due appendicitis. My only disappointment is my doctor left an upside down scar – a frown - instead of a smiley face on my waist.
For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function, surgeons removed them routinely, and people live fine without them. And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn’t removed in time. In 2005, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC.
Surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School assert that the function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food. But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix’s job is to reboot the digestive system in that case. The appendix “acts as a good safe house for bacteria,” said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Cultivating good germs is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person’s gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn’t as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy. In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said.
(“Scientists: Appendix Protects Good Germs” Press Enterprise, 10/6/07)
Every one has a job to do, a role to play and a task at hand.
Paul seems to begin with the weaker members, weaker as in less conspicuous, clumsily placed. The Greek for “foot” (pous, as in podiatry) occurs 96 times in Bible but the hand 172 times, almost doubling foot. In Arab countries and in Thailand, it is considered extremely offensive to show someone the sole of your foot, because the feet are the least respected parts of the body. Due to their bottom position and limited function, feet, especially the sole, are exposed to a variety of potential infections and injuries. Most people wear basic footwear to prevent injuries.
In daily tasks we celebrate the hand more than the feet, but none can do without the other. The hand holds things and goes online, but the foot plays soccer and travel places. The hand drives the car but the foot presses the brakes.
In sports, most of the injuries are with foot pain, lower leg & ankle, knee pain
and thigh pain. Due weakness in the knees and legs, I protect my foot gingerly, wearing socks during late fall, winter and early spring when the room temperature drops below 75 degrees. My feet turn colder faster than my hands. I wear socks but never gloves. At one time, there was no nail left to my left leg’s last toe, but it resurfaced with water exercise.
The “ear” word occurs 37 times but the “eye” 101 times in the New Testament. The nose is the most underrated member of the body; Greek for “smell” occurs just once in the Bible!
A body with identical parts ceases to be a body. If the parts do not cooperate the body is no longer a body but a corpse. All parts are defined by their function. Any part not playing their part would result in the loss of coordination, health and function. Problems plague the body when a part overcompensates for another’s dysfunction.
The Feelings are Mutual
22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (1 Cor 12:12-26)
Earlier this summer, a study published in the American Sociological Review (“Social Isolation in America”) found Americans have fewer friends than they did 20 years ago, and that the number of those without a friend had more than doubled. Researchers at the University of Arizona and Duke University concluded we’re more isolated and lonely than we used to be.
Tom Rath, a numbers man for the Gallup polling group, drew on more than 5 million interviews to write his book, “Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without.” He found little has changed, and “Gallup studies show it’s not a bleak picture at all. Unless you have at least three or four people in either sphere of life, work and home, that is, you can have problems. Evidence shows having three or four friends at work makes a real difference. It’s better than going out and buying something, or reading a self-help book.” Susanne Alexander, an author, relationship coach and marriage educator, says, “Minus friends, however, we’re not happy campers. We can shut down emotionally. Problems can last longer, and solutions can be harder to reach. You’re unable to move ahead.” (“Friends make one rich” Press Enterprise, 8/28/06)
Rath’s new book,
The insignificant parts are not weaker, but they merely “seem/think” (vv 22, 23) weaker (seem/think are the same in Greek – dokeo or think). Paul uses the word “seem/think” twice – same word in Greek (vv 22, 23) to make the Corinthians understand that their thinking is mere opinion, perception, value judgment, not discernment, observation, or true worth. Note that Paul refuses to call any part “strong” or “stronger,” inferior or superior, greater or lesser. In fact, he did not call them weaker (v 22) but “strength-less,” or without strength in Greek. Besides “weak,” this word is also translated as the “sick” (Matt 25:39), the “cripple” (Acts 4:9) and the “powerless” (Rom 5:6). He did this not to call them names, but to expose the normal body parts’ disregard, disrespect and discrimination toward weaker body parts.
In the survival of the fittest, there is no place for the weak, but God placed the weaker parts in the body so that other parts can minister to them. The presence of weaker parts completes the church and gives her balance. They are “indispensable” (1 Cor 12:22), which occurs eights times in the Bible, usually for a less dramatic translation, such as four times for “necessary” (2 Cor 9:5, Phil 1:24, 2:25, Heb 8:3) and once for “close” (Acts 10:24), “had to” (Acts 13:46) and “must” (Titus 3:14).
Paul uses three words to compare “weaker” members – “less honorable,” “unpresentable” (v 23) and “parts that lacked.” “Less honorable” is a-timos – no honor; “a-“ is a negation and “timos” is from “tim-e,” the first syllable for Timothy – honoring God. “Unpresentable” is “a-skemon,” as in no “skemon,” the latter translated as “form” (1 Cor 7:31) or “appearance” (Phil 2:8). “Parts that lacked” (hustereo) is from the root word “hupo,” meaning “under,” “beneath” and “below.” Their contrast is with “honor” and “special modesty.” “Honor” is “tim-e” and “special modesty” is “eu-shemosune” or “good (eu)” “appearance/form,” from the previous word. Paul interestingly uses three “perissoteros,” translated as “treated/treatment” to emphasize the care and concern for the weaker parts; the word occurs six other times in NIV, translated as “most” (Mark 12:40, Luke 20:47) twice, and once for “more” (Matt 11:9), “much more” (Luke 12:48), “excessive” (2 Cor 2:7) and “freely” (2 Cor 10:8).
Parts are incomplete and incompetent without partners. Going solo, none is stronger and all is weakened, if not destabilized and damaged.
Paul next uses three “sun” prefix to knit the passage together. God’s purpose is to “combine” (v 23) or “sugkerannumi,” from sun (joint) and kerannumi, translated as “full strength” (Rev 14:10) and “mix” (Rev 18:6, 18:6), so that negatively - there is no division in the body. The other translation for “division” is “tear” (Matt 9:16, Mark 2:21). Positively, they are to have equal concern for each other. The more pressing translation for “concern” (1 Cor 7:32, 33, 34, 34) is “worry” (Matt 6:25, 6:27, 6:28, 6:31, 6:34, 10:19, Luke 10:41, 12:11, 12:22, 12:25, 12:26), interest
(Phil 2:20) and anxious (Phil 4:6), which is a deeper and wiser, knowing that problems touch and involve both sides.
The second “sun” - “equal concern” is “sum-pascho” or joint passion (as in suffering, i.e. Passion for Christ). Rejoice (v 26) is the third word, along with verse 23’s “combine” and verse 25’s “equal concern.” It means sug-chairo, joined (in) joy, translated as “shared the joy” (Luke 1:58) and “rejoice” (Luke 15:6, 15:9,
1 Cor 13:6, Phil 2:17, 2:18).
Conclusion: Are you concern for others in the body? Has knowing Christ and others make you gentler, meeker and simpler? Are you active or passive and progressing or regressing in service?
Questions:
1. In your church, is the diversity based on ethnicity/nationality, socio-economic status and education/income/occupational status? Do you think a diverse church can stay united? What was the church in Corinth like (1 Cor 1:10)?
2. Paul uses the analogy of the body to describe the church. Examine how this analogy helps us understand church life.
3. Why do we need the body parts with their different functions?
4. Do you see you need brothers and sisters in the Lord (v 27)? Describe some needs.
5. Who are the “seemingly weak” brothers and sisters in your church? Why are they perceived as weak?
6. How can we treat the less honorable brothers and sisters with special honor? Give a concrete example in your church.
7. What is God’s role in unifying the church (vv 18-20, 24-25)?
8. Share an example when your body parts are (1) not coordinated in their functions, (2) hurting one another, and (3) supporting one another. Apply the analogy to your church.
