1 Corinthians 12:12, “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, or one body, so also is Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”
Ephesians 5:29-30 KJV
For no man ever yet hates his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church: [30] For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Normally when teachers comment on 1 Corinthians 12 there trying to explain that each person Christian has different ministry gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 certainly makes that clear, but that is not the starting place from which we are to understand what these verses are saying to us. The Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, is first and foremost talking about our union with Christ. The Church is first and foremost a living organism because of our union with Jesus. Of course, the Church has an institutional and organizational aspect to it, for any organism without structure is just a useless blob. My body is a living organism that gives expression to my life, but there is structure to my body. If I didn’t have skin, all the inside part would just fall out in one big pile. The problem is, too often, we’ve identified Christianity and the Church organizationally or institutionally without first understanding the Church, and the Christian is a living organism in union with the resurrected Jesus. We are the body of Christ on the earth through which His life gives expression. You can’t separate the body from the person of Christ. The members of my body are not attachments to me. They are part of me. My hand doesn’t have a separate identity from my person. It is an expression of my person. In other words, I don’t have hands who work for me; I work through my hands. I don’t have feet to walk for me; I walk through my feet. I don’t have lips that speak for me; I speak through my lips. I don’t have a mind that thinks for me; I think through my mind. I don’t have ears that hear from me; I hear through my ears, and I don’t have a heart that loves for me; I love through my heart.
This is how it is for each Christian in Christ. We get to wake up every morning and say, “Lord, these are your hands to work with; these are your feet to walk with; these are your lips to speak with; these are your ears to hear with; these are your eyes to see with; this is your mind the think with, and this is your heart to love with. Have a nice day, Jesus.” This is so much more exciting than trying to live for Christ. We are the body of Christ through which He lives by the illimitable resources of heaven.
To understand this is then to understand what 1 Corinthians 12 is trying to say about the different members of the body of Christ and their unique ministry gifts. It Doesn’t matter if you are a toe because it’s the toe of Jesus. It doesn’t matter if your ministry gift is service, and therefore, you are the hands because you are the hands of Jesus. It doesn’t matter if your ministry gift involves things like speaking because it is simply the lips of Jesus, etc., etc.
When you understand that you are the body of Christ, no matter which unique express member of that body you are in terms of ministry, then you won’t compare yourself to others, or in any way feel inferior. So many Christians compare themselves to others and get into jealousy and competition when the truth is, it is all Jesus. Jesus is not less important if He is washing dishes through you in the ministry gift of serving, or if He’s speaking through your lips to thousands of people. It’s the same Jesus, and everything Jesus does has the same significance and carries the same degree of glory.