1 Corinthians 12:15 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

1 Corinthians 12:15

Comments

The foot maybe feels inferior. ‘I am down here, the hand is up there; the hand can pick things up, and can do all sorts of wonderful things, and carry out skilled work. I just have to plod around. I will exempt myself from the body; I don’t belong.’ That is not true. The foot is just as important, and we don’t have to explain. What can the hand do, unless the body can be mobile and transported around by the feet? One member is very limited without the other. Maybe the hand has brought this about, by rather lording it over the foot. The person who has some conspicuous, visible ability maybe begins to feel superior, and that makes the foot feel bad. That should never happen in the church of Christ, because every part is of equal importance. It is how God has made us, and how God has set us together.A detached part of the body would be a nonsense, an oddity. That detached limb can get no nourishment, no life from the body as a whole; and it is something you just don’t see. And it shouldn’t be in the church of Christ either. It shouldn’t be that an individual person is detached and apart and separate. Limbs are inseparable; each limb contributes. If you feel bad, or you feel glum, or you feel depressed, don’t stay away from church. You draw your life from ministry, from fellowship, from people helping one another. When strong and able, you contribute and you are vital and necessary. ‘A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven’ (John 3:27).

Application

The apostle wonderfully personifies the parts of the body. The very obvious and the most basic application of these words is this: somebody says to himself or herself, ‘I am not like them. They are different.’ It could be that somebody feels that people in his church are different in some way or other; maybe feels that the generality of the church represents – horrible terms – a different social class, or a different ethnic group, or a different level of education, or different personalities. Maybe the generality of members all seem to be glum people, and you are a cheerful person and a witty person, and you feel you are rather different. So you say, ‘I am not like them, therefore I am not really part; I am not really one of that group.’ Is it true? Is it possible? No, it isn’t, because the Holy Spirit has saved you and brought you into the body, and you are a member spiritually, and you ought to be. Everybody should accept you, and you should accept them; and you should work hard at it, and it is your spiritual duty. This is the plan and the intention of God – that we are saved, we have many things in common and many similarities, and we all bear the likeness of Christ; but we also have many differences and different personalities and gifts and so on, and yet we belong together.

Does this apply to us? A believer says, ‘You do not understand Pastor: I am me. I am an individual. I have my own views. I like to propound my own views, whether people agree with me or not. I don't want to work in a team. If I join this department or that department of the work, I want to guarantee that in that department I can actually be an individual and go off by myself and do it my way on my own.’ Well, I may have gifts of initiative and so on: they have got the better of me. I am not obeying the Scripture. ‘And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body’ – this is impossible; it is not how God has made you. It is not what God has designed you for. He has given you only part of the understanding, part of the equipment, and a body is designed to need all its parts. Some of your help God wishes you to derive from others in the spiritual family.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

1 Corinthians 12:15 Commentary and Bible Study