1 Corinthians 12:25-28 - The Body of Christ

12:25,26

So, we are to look at ourselves as part of the body, and we all belong to each other, and we function together as a single unit. We are to be concerned for each other, for the body to work well, all parts matter. If one part of your body suffers, so the whole body suffers. We know this to be physically true, it is also true of the church. Conversely, we are to rejoice in the honouring of any part of the body.

We need a body mentality.

12:27

Paul now gives more fundamental information on the church and our part in it. We (plural) are the body of Christ. The church, you and me, is the primary means of God working in the world. Sometimes teaches belittle the church, or stress that God works through other ways. Is the church the only way in which God works in the world? Absolutely not, but it is the primary way. And the church is to be Spirit filled and Spirit led. We are all part of the church, the body of Christ. We should have a security in this, for when we consider ourselves of no account, or when we try to big ourselves up, these are both signs of deep insecurity.

12:28

Then we get a list of various roles within the church. To some extent these can be viewed as being listed in order of authority, but that is not Paul’s purpose here. The unity and interdependence of all these roles is the key point. First, we should note that it is God who places these people in the church. You cannot choose to be an apostle, or a prophet. You cannot choose to have a particular gift (though you can desire a gift, and later we will be encouraged to do so), but it is God who gives the gifts. The role of apostles in today’s church can cause much controversy. There are no apostles like Peter, John etc, Ie there is no one who is a physical witness of the resurrection, who spent time with Jesus while He was here on earth. But apostle is used in at least two senses in the New Testament. The one thing it is not is a status symbol, and sadly that is the way it is sometimes used. Apostle means one who is sent. So what would an apostle today look like? God may give someone a special role in reaching a particular community or sector of society, and a role in establishing God’s work in that area. They would not be doing this because of their own abilities, but because God had given them grace to do this. For instance, the Muslim community is humanly speaking very difficult to break into with the gospel, or a ground-breaking work may be done in the LGBT area. The marks of an apostle in such a situation would be that their message was Christ-centered, their life was Christ-centered, they would be unusually effective, breaking through in situations what were seemingly impossible. They would bring people to Christ in repentance and faith, they may do signs and wonders. They would most probably suffer for the sake of Christ. Now, they would not be the only person involved in this work, there would be many helpers (as Paul, himself, had many helpers).