E Pluribus Unum (Jan 30, 2022) 1 Cor 12.12-31a

One thing that I remember from when I was younger was the TV mini series. It was usually just a two-night event that had a special show that was too long to be told in one episode. So, they would split the show and have the first half end in a cliffhanger that would make sure the audience wanted to come back the next night and see the conclusion of this. If the first was really good, I might beg to be allowed to stay up late and watch the next night.

Sometimes, however, the shows would be spread over a longer period of time. They would be telling a longer story with a more complex plot line. These series truly were mini series. They would be there for a short time and then be done. Some of these remain as classics today.

Last week we began what I want to call a mini-series from 1 Corinthians. It is a series that will involve the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit in chapters 12 and 13. It is a series that I believe is important today as we often, at worst, forget about the gifts of the Spirit or, at best, relegate them to “other” churches that we don’t really talk about. This exposition by Paul is one of the longest, if not the longest, arguments that Paul writes about to the churches that are under his care. Last week covered that there are many gifts but one Spirit and that it is the Spirit that gives those gifts. Today we will be looking at another part of the argument.

Paul begins by using a well-known argument: the body and its many parts. This was often used by those in power to help keep those of the lower classes in their places. They were told that the upper classes were more honorable and they were portrayed as the head or the stomach or another part that was given honor. Those of the lower classes were given the less honorable parts such as the feet or the “unmentionables”, the parts that were kept covered because they did not have any honor.

Paul takes this argument and turns it on its head. He says that… “just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”[1]The argument sounds familiar to those listening until the part of being baptized into one body and the listing of Jews and Greeks, slaves or free. Here Paul is telling them that they are all on equal footing. There is to be none of the hierarchy that seems to be pervading the church. There is to be none of the one upmanship that the Corinthians are playing.

Paul continues by saying that the body is not one member only, but made up of many. The parts cannot say to the other parts that they do not belong because they are not another part. If the body were all one part, if there was uniformity and all were one, this would make for one creepy looking body. Paul even says that if all were one part then where would the senses be that make life a full life? God has made the body as God wanted it to be and the members of the body and their functions are what God wants them to be.

But there is another aspect that Paul continues with. He says that one member cannot say to another that there is no need for that member. Each member is a crucial part of the whole. The whole cannot function without each part doing what it is supposed to be doing. In fact, there are members of the body that do not have much honor (in our eyes) but are indispensable. Those are the parts that we cover up to protect them (i.e., the genitals). These parts were considered less than the parts that are more often seen and heard, such as the head, the hands and the feet, but where would the body be if there were not parts to get rid of waste? It is interesting that even today we have the same mindset of the ancients. How many times have we believed that the CEO of a corporation is much more important than the janitor and therefore should be paid more? I remember reading once a dad told his son to never think of his job as more important than another. To bring the point home he said to think about the son not doing his job for a month and a garbage collector not doing theirs for a month. See which one would be missed more. The parts that we think of as less honorable, as not having a large role, are needed as much if not more than those that have the more honor.

God has set up the body so that there is not to be any disagreement between the members. The body is set up so that each part cares for the others. Paul says that “If one part suffers, all suffer together; if one flourishes, all rejoice together.[2]” How many times have you stubbed a toe, smashed a finger, or even gotten a hangnail? The whole body feels it even though it is a “lesser” member of the body. It is because all are connected. My grandfather had a condition that prevented the nerves from telling his legs to move with his body. When you turn, your legs (when told properly) will automatically turn with the body. His did not. Because of this he would fall and hurt himself. The parts were interconnected and if one did not work, then there were problems for the whole body. So it is with the body of Christ as Paul points out. This is not to say that we are to just suffer when there is major suffering and celebrate when there is great rejoicing. We are to live lives that show that we feel the pains and joys as much as the parts of the body feel joy and pain as well.

Paul begins the ending of this section be telling them that they are the body of Christ and each one is member of it. He tells them of gifts that have been given by God to each member with the most important ones first: Apostles, prophets and teachers. After these are gifts in no particular order. But one thing to point out is that the most highly prized of the gifts to the Corinthians seems to have been the gift of tongues. This gift is listed last by Paul to show that it does not have any special significance among all the gifts. Even today there are churches that need to be reminded that the gift of tongues is not the pinnacle of all the gifts and that one is not a “lesser” Christian if one does not have the gift of tongues.

Several rhetorical questions close out the text: “Are all apostles? All prophets? All teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues of ecstasy? Can all interpret them?[3]” The answer to all of these questions is, of course, no. No one has all the gifts that the Spirit has given. Paul never even lists all the gifts that are from the Spirit because they are innumerable. But what he is trying to tell them is that each gift is important to the body, that the body cannot function without each of the gifts being exercised by the members of the body acting as a whole.

Raewynne Whiteley says this is a commentary on this text: “The human body has 206 bones, 639 muscles, and about 6 pounds of skin, along with ligaments, cartilage, veins, arteries, blood, fat, and more. Every time we hear sound; every time we take a step; every time we take a breath, hundreds of different parts work together so that what we experience is a single movement, our mind and bodies working as one unit.” Paul would have agreed and said that this is how the body of Christ is to work as well. That each part works in tandem to make the whole-body work as one unit. And working is what the body is all about. There is not to be any belonging without participating. The gifts that are given are to be used in the church for the glory of God and the bringing of the community together. Whitely says that a body does not work well when one part does not function or do its part. Not only will the function not be filled but the whole of the body will be thrown out of whack. Today’s text tells us that every single person in the church matters: from the ones whose jobs put them front and center to the ones who are not even seen by anyone else. I may have the most profound sermon and deliver it in the grandest style but is does no good if the sound person is not in the back to make sure the system is working properly. This is what Paul is telling us here. This text really preaches itself. It is about the unity of the body and gift that the Spirit brings with the gifts.

But there is something to remember here: again, it is the Spirit that gives the gifts and brings about the unity of the body. We did, and can do, nothing to bring about what the Spirit does. It is only God who does this.

E Pluribus Unum is a Latin phrase that is on our national seal. It means Out of Many, One, what the founders thought of when they brought all the states into one nation. I believe that there is no greater phrase that can exemplify what Paul is saying in this text. There are many members, but one body. Many gifts, but one giver. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print. [3] The Revised English Bible. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print.