"The Body Is One" (I Corinthians 12:12-31)

"The Body Is One" from I Corinthians 12:12-31 was preached by Dr. Mark McElreath at the City Baptist Church of Atlanta on August 9, 2026.

Find out more about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta at www.citybaptistchurch.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the City Pulpit. Bible messages from the pulpit ministry of the City Baptist Church in Atlanta. Please take your Bibles with me. Let's go to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians will be in chapter 12, and we're working our way passage by passage, piece by piece, through this book of the Bible, 1 Corinthians. And Paul is writing this church that he knows and he loves. And previously we looked at this first portion of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and he opens the chapter saying, concerning spiritual gifts. And we spoke about some things about spiritual gifts that Paul brings out here. Every person giving at least one spiritual gift. That spiritual gift to be used within the church, and of course, that spiritual gift to be used under the control of the Holy Spirit. And then we'll continue picking up in verse 12. Let's begin reading, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 12. The Bible says, 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. 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. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. If they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. Verse twenty one says, 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. They much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble or necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts had more abundant comliness. For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God had set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Would you mark this phrase in verse number 12? And we'll take this for the theme of the Bible message this morning. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 12. These words, the body is one. The body is one. Paul follows this discourse on spiritual gifts, and now he's going to show us some principles on the function of the body. And when he's speaking of the body here, he's speaking of the church body. We are the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, and there is a way which God has designed this group of believers to function together. And if they're not functioning together, what do we have? If we don't have function, we have dysfunction. Just the same is true in each of your bodies. All right? I have some things in my body. They don't work quite right. They don't quite work the way they used to. I'm not going to tell you how old I'm going to be. I just found somebody today though who has the same birthday that I do. He's a little younger than I am. But the older I get, there are things that don't function the way they should. There's a little more dysfunction in the body. God help us, though, the longer the City Baptist Church goes, it keeps functioning the right way, and there's no dysfunction. John Phillips, who's a commentator, he said, as the Lord puts the body together, he also keeps it going. He says, although we all come and go, the body itself continues on. Isn't that an incredible thing? The last 2,000 years has always been the body of Christ, has always been the church. Some coming, some going, but the Lord sustaining it all the way through over the last 2,000 years. And it will continue. It will continue after you're gone, it will continue after I'm gone. And we find some key teaching here on this in these passages. Would you make note of a few things? Write these down as we look at them this morning. Would you write down number one, first of all? Number one, we find there is a principle of unity, a principle of unity. Let's begin back in verse 12 where we started. He says, For as the body is one and hath many members. Now he's speaking here of this physical picture. We all have a body, and there are different parts that make up the body. There's bones and ligaments and muscles and organs and all of these things go in to make the body. This is the physical picture, and every one of them needs to work together in unity. And then he says at verse 12, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. He's saying, just as your body has many parts and they're all working together, so also is Christ, meaning the body of Christ. He's speaking of the church. Those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ is a personal Savior, we've been saved, baptized, we're part of this church. There is a unity that is expected of the parts of the body if everything is going to work together properly. We find in Colossians chapter 1, verse 18, Paul says, and he, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. And so, if the body is going to function properly, we all have to function under the head properly. Sadly, there are some neurological diseases where the brain does not speak to the other parts of the body properly. And what happens? There's dysfunction in the body. Well, if we as the members, if we as the parts are not answering to the head, Colossians 1.18, he is the head of the body, the Lord Jesus Christ, there's going to be dysfunction. I'm not going to ask you to raise hands, but have you ever been in a church where there was dysfunction? You ever been among a body of believers where there was no one answering to the Lord Jesus Christ, every man doing that which is right in his own mind? It was dysfunction, wasn't it? And yet here we find every part needs to work together in unity. That's a picture there, but also we find in this principle of unity, it shows us the power. Look at verse 13. He says, For by one what? What's that next word? Did you read it out loud? Spirit. Now, this word spirit is capitalized, meaning this is not just speaking of emotion, this is not just speaking of feeling, it is speaking of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He says, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. He's speaking here of something called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, some people get really spooky when you start talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Here's what it is, very simply. When you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're baptized into the Holy Spirit. Last week we baptized four people. They were in water baptism. After they accepted Christ as their Savior, they were baptized. They went down into the water, they came up out of the water, and every part of them got wet. They were immersed. You know what happens when you get saved? You're baptized by the Holy Spirit. You're immersed in the Holy Spirit. You get all the Holy Spirit you're going to get when you get saved. Some people talk about a second blessing, or some people talk about things like that. Look, when you got saved, you got all the Holy Spirit you're going to get. Here's the question, though. Does the Holy Spirit have all of you that he should get? You see, we have all the Holy Spirit we're going to get, but we can impede him, we can hold him back, we can not listen to him, we can stifle his work in our lives. But you've got all the Holy Spirit you're going to get. He says here in verse 13, by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. And then he says, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, he says, whatever the ethnicity, that doesn't matter. Whether you were an Old Testament Jew coming to Christ, whether you were a Gentile, a pagan, you're going to get the Holy Spirit when you get saved. He says, whether bond or free. Not just speaking of ethnically, he's speaking socially. Many people believe in the Roman Empire as much as half of the citizens could have been slaves. And many of them came to know Christ as their Savior. And he says, even you, though socially they would look down upon you, you get all the Holy Spirit that the bond is going to get. You get all the Holy Spirit the free is going to get. And then he says, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. You see, this speaks of the power. How is this going to happen? How are we going to have the true picture of unity? It's only going to come as the Holy Spirit rules and reigns in each and every one of our hearts. And we listen to him and we obey him and we obey the head. That's how we're going to have unity. We have this picture here, we have this power here. Look down with me at verse number 18, because when we think of this principle of unity, we also have a pleasing here. Verse 18 says, But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. You know what this is saying? That each of us have been put in our place in the body at the pleasure of the Lord. He made you and He made me to fit in the body of Christ just the way He did, because that's the way He wanted to do it. You say, Pastor, I don't, you know, I'm gifted in a certain way, but you know, I wish I wish I could do what so-and-so could do. I wish I had the gift that they had. And yet the Lord says, in verse 18, it pleased me to make you just the way I made you. You may say, Well, I wish I could get up and do that, or I wish I had the ability to be involved in that. And yet God has given you a gift. We saw earlier in the chapter, everyone given a gift, given severally as he will. God dispersed those gifts, and God made you the way he made you to fit just the way he wanted you to fit within that body. That's a beautiful picture there, that it pleased him to do that. In fact, it says in Revelation 4.11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are in word created. You know what's included in that? We're included in that. That all things were created, and also the church is included in that. The Lord knew exactly how the city Baptist Church needed to be put together. The Lord knew exactly how your piece needed to fit in this puzzle. And he made you just the way he did. Now, sometimes we can, and we'll find this a little later, but sometimes we can get out of sorts, and our piece doesn't quite fit the way it's supposed to fit. But that's not God's fault, that's our fault. And we have to work on that. Go back with me as we think about this unity. Look at verse 14, because here's what he says. And then he has these interesting if statements. He says, if the foot shall say, in verse 15, because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, therefore not of the body. He says, the foot says, Well, I'm the foot, and I just get walked around on all day. Wish I was the hand. Well, does that mean the foot doesn't have a place, or does that mean the hand doesn't have a place? No, I was looking up some interesting things on the body. The hand, the two hands make up a quarter of the bones in all the body. That's pretty amazing. In fact, there are 25, or the fingers will flex 25 million times in a lifetime. Each fingerprint unique. I can remember watching a video and it talked about they're making these AI robots and things such as this. You know what they have the hardest time with? The hands. The same hand that needs to be able to carry, you know, a 50-pound bag of cement, they also need to figure out how they can pick up an egg without crushing it, right? And yet, how did God make it? God made the hand just the way it needed to be. God made the hand just calibrated just the way it should. And you might be a hand in the church, or you might be a foot in the church. You know, the foot's a pretty amazing thing. The average person will walk 65,000 miles in their life. Sometimes I feel like I walked at, you know, in a few days, but you know what we find? God made it just the way it needed to, and made it specially created just the way it should be. Look at verse 16. It says, and if the ear shall say, Well, because I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body. Is it therefore not of the body? The eye is an amazing thing. 137 million light-sensitive receptor cells. The optical nerve speaks to the brain, and the brain speaks back to the optical nerve at 300 miles an hour. It takes about 0.002 seconds for them to talk back and forth. I talked to a biomedical student down here on campus. He came to one of our events, and he said, For three years I've been studying the human eye. He was an atheist. He was an atheist when he came to Georgia Tech, and he said, I've been studying the human eye for three years as a biomedical student. And he said, After three years, I believe there's probably a creator. I met him, we had had a meal and we had talked and we kind of lost contact. And a year later we literally walked up to each other on campus, saw each other, and called each other by name, shocked we saw each other. Campus of 53,000 students. And we began talking again. He said, Yeah, I'm still studying the human eye. And he said, I've continued studying the human eye, and I'm at the point where I believe there is a God. He went from atheist to there is a creator, and then another year he went to there is a God. He said, I'm just, I'm just unsure that Jesus Christ is God. We had a long conversation on that. But what am I saying? God made the human eye just the way it needed to be to fit in the body just the way it needed to be. The eye, the ear, he made every part. And just because one part doesn't look like the other part, or one part doesn't function the way the other part does, doesn't mean it doesn't have a place. It just means God made it that way. And I'm telling you, God made you the way he made you to fit within the body, just the way he wanted you to fit. Look at verse 17 in our passage. He says, if the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? He says, Oh, you want to be an eye, but I need some ears. He says here in verse 17, if the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? He says, Some of you all want to be ears. I've met some people that have just wanted to be ears. They want to hear all the gossip going on, right? They just want to be the ears. But he says, I need some noses. I need the smelling. I need the part that I made you to be. Look at verse 18. But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? It wouldn't be a body if it was all eye. It wouldn't be a body if it was all ear. It needs every part. And he says, Now are the many members but one body. So we find the principle here of unity. He says in Romans chapter 12, verse 4, for as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ. Make note of a second thing, not only the principle of unity, but we find the principle of care, the principle of care in the body. Verse 21 says this, 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 thee. He says in verse 22, Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. They are more sensitive. And it seems like, why in the world were we given that? It's feeble and it's small, it seems insignificant, yet God says, I put those seemingly insignificant parts, those seemingly feeble parts, they are necessary parts. He goes on to say in verse 23, 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 comliness. These are the parts of the body, there are parts of the body that we display. We see the hands, we see the face, and depending on what kind of shoes you're wearing, you may see some feet. But there are parts we conceal because they should be concealed. In fact, there are parts of our body God conceals. Those are called the vital organs. We see the ear, but we don't see the stomach. We see the nose, but we don't see the liver. But look, you and I can live without an ear. You and I could live without a nose, but you're not going to go very long without a liver. You're not going to go very long without a stomach. You say, Pastor, what do you mean? I mean there are some parts, they're unseen, and yet they're incredibly vital. You know there are people in this church, they do things that you don't see. There are things functioning behind the scenes. You know what? A lot of times people are made that way to wear it. They like it just like that. And you know what it takes the attitude of realizing that I'm not going to get a lot of applause for this, but I know the Lord sees, and this is what the Lord has given me to do, and I'm happy to do it. I'm thankful. Many of you serve, and no one else sees what you do. I think you're a part of these seemingly uncomely parts, and yet they have more abundant comliness. You know why? Because, oh, we can champion the nose and champion the eye and champion the ear, but nobody sees all the parts that are concealed. Nobody sees the vital organs because that's what the Lord has, that's the place he's put you in, that's where he wants you serving. And that's a wonderful place to be. Those vital things. Look down with me a little further. He says in verse 24, he says, For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body together. This word tempered means he has mixed it or blended it together. One of my daughters just has started making bread. And uh bread, you've got to be careful with it, because you add a little too much of this or too much of that, or it doesn't sit out long enough, or you cook a little too long, it doesn't come together. She's been working on bread. And you know what she does? She tempers all the ingredients together. What does that mean? The certain things go in at a certain time and in a certain way and in certain amounts. Right? You can't put the same amount of baking soda as you put flour in, right? Only what needs to go in in the amount that needs to go in. Well, what has God done? You realize God has put just the amount of whatever it is he's given you into this mixture and added it all together? What if we looked at the City Baptist Church as an ingredient list or as a recipe? And you're on that list, and I'm on that list. And he says, here's how much I want. Now, I hope if he's told you to put a cup in, you're not just putting a teaspoon in, okay? Because it ain't gonna not gonna work, right? He's asking you to put in, he's asking you to put in a half pound, but you're putting in a thimbleful, okay? That it's not gonna work. But there is an ingredient list, and he has tempered us, he's put us all together, he's mixed us all together. Some people may look at this church and they'd say, I can't tell what connects you all. I can't tell what's brought you all together. And we'll say, the Lord knew exactly what ingredients the City Baptist Church needed. And he put us all on that list, and he put us all there to play our part so we could bake that loaf of bread and it comes out just right. That's what he's saying here. He tempered it all together. He says in verse 24, God had tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. Verse 25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. No schism in the body. He spoke of this earlier in 1 Corinthians. In fact, would you look back with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 1? He really opened the book talking about this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul opened in verse number 10. Here's what he said. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. He says, No divisions among you, same mind, same judgment. He said earlier in verse 10, you're speaking the same thing, right? Look down at verse 13. He says, Is Christ divided? And he's saying, you know, some would say, I'm a Paul, I'm of Apollos, and there was kind of these divisions within the church. Well, I follow this person, I follow this person, I follow this person. He says, Let's just all follow Christ. But he's saying here that there be no schism in the body back in our passage in verse 25, but that they but that the members should have the same care one for another. You know what he's saying? If the ear hurts, the whole body hurts. Look, you go out, you get up at night with the lights out, you're trying to keep everybody asleep, and you step on a lego, your foot doesn't just hurt, your whole body hurts. You crumple up and fall into the floor. No, I'm just kidding. But you know, look, if you've ever stepped on a lego in the middle of the night, you know exactly what I'm saying. Look what he says in verse 26: where the one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. You've been cutting cutting things on the cutting board and you slice your finger? Oh. The whole rest of you feels it too, doesn't it? One member suffers, all the members suffer with it. That's the care one for another. He's talking about in verse 25. He says in verse 26, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Can you believe that person got that job? I'm not going to go congratulate them. What kind of spirit is that? Can you believe they get to do this? Can you believe they get to go there? Can you believe they got that? Can you believe this happened? One be honored? We all rejoice with them. You know why? Because when one of us is honored, one of us is lifted up, it lifts everybody up. We are one body. We rejoice when God honors you. We rejoice with you when you rejoice. We cry with you when you cry. We feel the pain when you feel pain. We're all together in this. We're not all jockey for some position in this church. We're all one body. He says, one member suffers, all the members suffer with it in verse 26. One member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. He says in verse 27, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. It reminds me of the idea of irreducible complexity. Irreducible complexity is the biological argument that certain biological systems have multiple parts that must all work together. Remove one part and the system stops working. That's irreducible complexity. It's one argument that's used to refute evolution and that's used to argue for creation. But also, I think there's an irreducible complexity within the church. All parts have got to be working together at the same time. And if one little key part's not working, look, we go out and cut the grass. If one part, you know, if one little part, let's say the pull chain on that lawnmower snaps, you're not cranking the lawnmower. The engine could be right, the oil could be in there, the fuel could be in there, the the uh everything could be firing just the way it's supposed to. But that one pull chain doesn't work, you're not gonna get it cranked. That's irreducible complexity. If every part is not functioning the way it's supposed to, it's not gonna work. We find here he says, and these are members in particular. But then he gives us a third thing. Would you make note of it here at the end of the passage? Not just the principle of unity and the principle of care, but there's a principle of order that's given here. A principle of order. Look at me at verse 28. He says, and God hath set some in the church. Now, we need to make note of that first part that God hath set things in the church. There is an order that God has placed in the church. And he really lays it out. He says, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that, miracles, gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. We looked at some of these gifts, were mentioned previously in chapter 12. I won't reiterate that, but we do find here he speaks first of all of apostles. And there were apostles in the New Testament church. It were those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ and were sent by the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright? When John, the last apostle, died, the gift of apostleship died with him. Alright? No one here today is an apostle. If someone tells you they're an apostle, they're not an apostle, they've never seen the risen Christ, and they were not directly sent by him. Alright? So that gift of apostleship died off, but it was needful in the first century church to help establish the early church. And then he says, secondarily, prophets. Prophets were needed in the early church because the Bible had not been fully written yet. You have the Bible just in its infancy. New Testament is just beginning to be written, the gospel's really more an oral tradition and just beginning to be pinned. And so you need people within the church that are speaking the truth. Today we have the completed Word of God. And so the office of the prophet in that way is not in function today. He then says, thirdly, teachers. Now, if ever teaching need to be done in the church, it is needed today. This is a very key functioning work office, not really office, but a place in the church where people are teaching the word of God. And of course, that was going on in the New Testament church. Then we find miracles. This is we find miracles, and we also find the gifts of healings. We talked a little bit about this last time we were together, but these are sign gifts that were used to validate the truth in the early church. And I mentioned this last time, I'll mention it this time. There are no, there's no one, I believe, with the gift of healings today. Now there is divine healing. We've prayed for people in this place to be healed, and God has healed them of certain maladies. But there's no one walking around today with the gift of healings. Alright? If they were, I said this last time, they need to walk into Emory Midtown and empty the place out. Alright? This is anyone telling you they have the gift of healings today, usually there's a surcharge that comes before that before they'll heal you, and that should be a red flag. So, no gift of healings today. Then we find helps. Now, if we look deep at this word helps in the Greek, here's what it means: help. Okay. There's not a that that's just what it means, okay? The gift of helps means people that help. Uh we need help. And if you have the gift of helps, come help, okay? It just means those specifically we believe it means working with and helping those who are downtrodden or downcast or lowly. It is really the desire and the ability to help, and I think that could take many different forms. And then governments, this is basically the ability to lead and organize within the church. And then last on the list, which we need to make note of that, it is last on the list, diversities of tongues. Diversities of tongues was a valid gift in the early church, but is no longer needed today. Now, when tongues was used, it was an actual language. It was not gibberish, it was not ecstatic utterances, it was an actual glossa, an actual language that was being spoken that is not in use today. We don't need people speaking in tongues. We have the completed word of God. Ephesians chapter 4 speaks of this. In fact, I'll read chapter 4 and verse number 11. Ephesians 4 and verse 11, Paul writing here. Here's what he says. Not that I speak in respect of one. I'm sorry, that's Philippians. Ephesians 4 and verse 11. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. He says, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Here's another list that's given to us. Ephesians written maybe five to seven years after 1 Corinthians, and the church has matured. More of the Bible has been written down. Now that gift of prophecy and that gift of verses of tongues, and of course interpretation of tongues, is no longer needed today. Look back with me at our passage and let's see how Paul ends it. Here's what he says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 29. Are all apostles? The question is, I mean, the answer is no. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles? No. Have all the gifts of healing? No. And do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. It's seven rhetorical questions. All the answer is no. Here's the point. No one's been given all the gifts, and no one can function in all the gifts. By the way, this is another thing on tongues, which we'll get to in chapter 14 as well. But even when tongues were in use, everyone didn't have the gift of tongues. So anyone telling you that if you're filled with the Spirit, you'll speak in tongues, even when tongues was a gift, that was not the case. They're lying to you. So you have been given a gift. Use that gift. Everybody can't teach. Everybody doesn't have every gift. Here's what he says: but covet earnestly the best gifts, yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Here's what he's doing. He's leading us into chapter 13, which Lord willing will cover when we come back together next time. A more excellent way. You know what that is? The way of charity. The way of God-empowered, Christ-filling love is what it is. He says, some people they just want the gifts because they want the gift of government so they can be the one in charge. They want the gift of tongues so that they can say, I have some utterance that you don't know about, or I want the gift of a word of knowledge so I can say things that you didn't previously know. I have some hidden knowledge. He says, no. Here's what empowers all of it, and here's what should be the base of all of it. We'll get to chapter 13, but it is all based in love. Not a love for one another, but the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which constraineth us and then empowers the work. So there is a principle of unity here. Every part working together to do its part. There's a principle of care, each part looking out for and caring for the other. Understanding where they're supposed to be in the body. And then there's the principle of order here. That we're not all doing the same thing. We're not all having the same gifts, but we are energized by this more excellent way, the way of charity, which is the way of love. Thank you for listening to the City Pulpit. For more information about the City Baptist Church of Atlanta, please visit www.mycitybaptist.com.