Unified and Diversified
12: 12-19
Unified and diversified DIG: In what ways are the various members of the Church dependent on one another? In what ways have you and your local congregation functioned like a human body – with each part depending on each other? How did that serve to bring unity? Paul warns against any part of the body considering itself less important or more important than the others. What kind of parallel behavior in the Church does this warn you about? Believers are to honor one another as parts of the same Body. In light of this, how does ADONAI want you to treat other members of your local congregation?
REFLECT: Why should we resist the temptation to compete with, or compare ourselves with other believers (Second Corinthians 10:12)? In what ways do petty arguments and divisions in the Church tarnish the message of the Good News? How can believers in Messiah learn to appreciate the differences of others in the Church instead of allowing them to divide the congregation? What threatens the unity where you worship? What steps can you take to promote peace and harmony there? In what ways can you honor someone in your congregation this week who may feel unappreciated or insignificant?
All believers are baptized by one Spirit, into one Body, one time, at the moment of salvation.
There is simply no such thing today as a believer who has not been baptized by the Spirit.
The Corinthians’ misuse of spiritual gifts was one of many reflections of their carnal worldliness, and was closely related to their divisiveness, which Paul now continues to rebuke. While illustrating the diversity of spiritual gifts (to see link click Cj – The Varieties of Spiritual Gifts), Paul repeatedly stresses their One source and purpose in ADONAI, revealing the Ruach Ha’Kodesh’s work and power for the common good of the Church (see Ci – The Source and Purpose of Spiritual Gifts). These unifying realities lead the apostle’s thought to a general discussion of the oneness of the Body of believers.
In these verses Paul explains and illustrates the nature and importance of the unity of the Church itself, and then again the importance of diversity as the key factor in that unity. The diversity of the invisible, universal Church made up of believers all over the world, is the God-ordained means of bringing the fellowship to oneness. But unless each diverse member recognizes and accepts his or her part in the whole Body, diversity will divide rather than unite, destroy rather than build up, and bring discord rather than harmony. In verse 12 Paul gives an illustration of unity, and in verse 13 he explains its origin.376
Unified in one Body: For just as the body is one but has many parts; and all the parts of the body, though many, constitute one body, and so it is with the Messiah (12:12). Once again (10:17) Paul uses the human body to picture the unity and interdependence of the members of the Body of Messiah, the Church. The human body has many parts, even though there is only one body. Each part has a different function, but they all work together to make the body function as a unit. This is the key way the Church ought to function.
Baptized by One Spirit: For it was by one Spirit that we were all baptized (Greek: baptidzo, meaning to dip or immerse, often used of a piece of cloth being immersed into dye) into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and we were all given the one Spirit to drink (12:13). In order to stress how wide a diversity is actually incorporated into that one Body, Paul picks out two of the most obvious social distinction in ancient society: Jews and Gentiles, and slave and free people. If these sorts of people can come together into one Body, then anything that divides us as human beings – such as social status, economic level, ethnic distinction – should play no role in dividing the Church.377
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for the many blessings that You bestow on those who love and follow You as their Lord and Savior. You not only rescue us from sin’s awful punishment of death (Romans 6:23), but by so graciously indwelling each believer and giving them Messiah’s righteousness (Second Corinthians 5:21), thereby opening heaven’s door for all who love You. And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua (Ephesians 2:6). How fantastic that You not only forgive our sins (First John 1:9), but you raised the bar of love even higher by both the Ruach Ha’Kodesh living in us and by Yeshua preparing an eternal home for us in heaven. Thank You for being such a gracious and loving Heavenly Father. I can’t wait for the joy of praising You for all eternity! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
Your baptism is a physical picture of a spiritual truth. It represents what happened the moment God brought you into His family. Baptism doesn’t make you a member of God’s family; only faith in Yeshua Messiah does that. Baptism shows you are a part of God’s family. Like a wedding ring, it is a visible reminder of an inward commitment made in your heart. It is an act of initiation, not something you put off until you are spiritually mature. The only biblical condition is that you believe.378
Despite their old sin nature (see the commentary on Romans Bm – The Consequences of Adam) all of the Corinthian believers had been baptized into one Body. There is simply no such thing today as a believer who has not been baptized by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. As Paul told the believers in Rome: Anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of Messiah doesn’t belong to Him (Romans 8:9). However, the modern charismatic movement says that is not enough. Their belief that Spirit “baptism” as “evidenced” by the speaking in tongues (see Dm – Tongues are a Sign), is a second work of grace, the next crucial step after salvation. Unfortunately, this has become the cardinal doctrine of the charismatic movement. However, the Bible teaches that there is no special blessing of the Spirit that only some believers receive; there is no imagined spiritual elite who have what the rest of us do not.
The real “evidence” of the Spirit’s baptism at conversion is the witness of the Spirit from within (see the commentary on Romans Ci – The Leading of the Ruach). It is not speaking in tongues. All of the believers in the Corinthian congregation had been baptized by the Spirit, but not all of them spoke in tongues (12:30). The “evidence” of the Spirit’s filling are power of witnessing (Acts 1:8), joyfulness and submission (Eph 5:19-20), the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-26) and a growing understanding of the Word (Jn 16:12-15).379
All believers receive the Spirit and His blessings. The number of times Paul stresses the universal gift of the Spirit to all believers hints that some in Corinth may have claimed a “greater measure of the Spirit” than others. To summarize, we either have the Spirit or we do not, and if we have received Messiah as our Lord and Savior, then we have been baptized into the Body of Messiah, or as Paul puts it here, we were all given the one Spirit to drink.380
After salvation, there are two distinct ministries of the Ruach:
First, YHVH seals us with His Ruach (Ephesians 1:13-14; Second Corinthians 1:21-22), and baptized (in the Greek aorist tense, pointing to a past completed action) in, by, and with the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5, 11:16), into the Body of Messiah (Galatians 3:27; First Corinthians 12:13) at the moment of salvation. Nowhere does the Scripture command us to seek this baptism, since we have already experienced it, and it need not be repeated. Hence, there is only one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). It is something that we don’t cooperate in with God, it is His sovereign act.
Secondly, there is the filling of the Ruach. You are sanctified, this is something that you cooperate with God and is ongoing. This speaks of your daily walk with the Lord. Through filling, God pours out His love through your life to others and sets you apart for His holy use. In the Scriptures to be filled is used to mean to be controlled by, or be under the influence of something or someone else. To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, is to be controlled or strongly influenced by the Spirit. Don’t get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled (in the Greek imperfect tense, pointing to continuous action) with the Ruach (Ephesians 5:18). As drunkenness affects behavior for evil, being filled with the Ruach affects a person for good. As a drunken person is under the control of wine, so a Ruach filled person is under the control of the Ruach. This does not make you a robot, without your own will. Rather, you freely comply with the Ruach and His purposes and His Word. That is what it means to be “spiritual.”
The filling of the Ruach is commanded by God: keep on being filled with the Ruach, literally, stay filled (Ephesians 5:18). As imperfect humans, we are leaky vessels of clay, and we need to be constantly refilled. This was true even for the apostles (Acts 2:4, 4:8 and 31, 9:17, 13:9). This continuous condition of being filled with the Ruach is dependent on our submission to the Spirit. You may wonder, can a believer resist the Ruach and still be a believer? Yes, people can resist the filling of the Ruach. Therefore, the challenge we have as believers is to be controlled by the Ruach and not our flesh. This is why we have believers at so many different levels of relationship with Yeshua. Some have a closer walk with the Ruach than others. Some believers have love, joy, and peace while others are depressed and anxious.381
Diversified in one Body: The most important characteristic of the Body is unity; but diversity is essential for that unity. The Church is one Body, indeed the body is not one part but many. Unfortunately, many of the Corinthian believers were unhappy with their gifts. They wanted the showy ones, like speaking in tongues, instead of being glad for, and faithfully using, the many diverse gifts that the Ruach had given them. Envy is a sure sign of worldliness, and it seems that everyone wanted a gift that someone else had. Paul’s somewhat humorous analogy extends the illustration of the human body. If the foot says, “I’m not a hand, so I’m not part of the body,” that doesn’t make it stop being part of the body. And if the ear says, “I’m not an eye, so I’m not part of the body,” that doesn’t make it stop being part of the body. Continuing with his analogy, Paul reminds us that a body could not possibly function if it were all the same part. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If it were all hearing, how could it smell (12:14-17)? No matter how important any one part may be, there can be no body formed from it alone. That would be a monster, not a body.
Gifted by one Lord: Discontentment with their spiritual gifts, however, was much worse than the lack of common sense. By wanting gifts they did not have, the Corinthian believers questioned God’s wisdom and goodness by implying He had made a mistake. They also opened themselves up to fleshly and pagan counterfeits (see Ce – The Pagan Background of Counterfeit Spiritual Gifts). Their primary problem was not intellectual, but spiritual. As Creator and Lord, God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as he wanted them (12:18). ADONAI has created us, re-created us, and placed each of us in His Body exactly where He wants us to be, and equipped us to do exactly what He wants us to do. However, because of the discontentment and disobedience of the Corinthian believers, they were also unproductive. They did not use the gifts they had, and, in light of Paul’s repeated emphasis in 12:4-11 that every believer is gifted, apparently some thought they didn’t have a gift at all. In any case, their gifts were not being used or were being misused.
Now if they were all just one part, where would the body be (12:19)? Paul expands on his point in verse 17. A body that had only one part would not be a body. A Messianic congregation or church whose members all had the same gift and same ministry would not really work. It is foolish and immature not to be content with or use what the Lord has given us. Diversity does not suggest inferiority. We are not perfect, but His gifts to us are perfect and the ministry in which He has called us to use them is perfect. His design for the Church is perfect and His gifting of the Church is equally perfect.382
As believers, we share one Lord, one Body, one Father, one Spirit, one purpose, one hope, one faith, one baptism, and one love. We share the same salvation, the same life, and the same future – factors far more important than any differences we could count. For unity’s sake we must never let differences divide us.383
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