The diversity of body parts is not detrimental to the body as a whole—it’s essential to it. What makes a body a body is the unity of the diversity. The same is true in the church: What makes it the church is the part you play. Your feeling like you have a part to play is not the deciding factor in whether you have a part to play. Whether you feel like it or not, you are essential. Leading up to his body metaphor, Paul spent ample time describing how the Spirit of God has equipped every single believer with distinct gifts (vv. 1–11). Our job is to exercise those gifts that are given to us. And that starts by recognizing that we have something to offer. Do away with envy and jealousy. In gratitude, recognize that the same undeserved grace and the same incalculable power that has gifted the “most impressive” person in the church has gifted you. You matter.

Throughout the New Testament, the biblical authors use a whole host of metaphors to describe the church. The church is a bride, a family, a flock, a kingdom—but no metaphor is employed more frequently than that of a body. Perhaps this is why R.B. Kuiper titled his work on ecclesiology The Glorious Body of Christ. He writes: “The church is glorious because of the resplendent majesty of its Head. It is glorious also because of the beautiful harmony of its members.” Sadly, that harmony is often disrupted by the sin and pride of its members, which is why studying what the church is called to be is a needed discipline. First Corinthians 12:12–31 is a great place to do that, since we find here the most extended treatment of the body metaphor. As we look at this text and the verses that bookend it, we learn vital lessons on how the church is formed and how it is meant to function.

How the Church Is Formed

Paul’s use of the body metaphor is impor­tant in the first place because it tells us how the church is formed. How does the church come together? Just as we don’t assemble our bodies in our mothers’ wombs, neither does the church put itself together. Paul says that it is the Spirit who draws us together: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13).

It is the Spirit who brings us into one body. And it is God who makes us all “to drink of one Spirit”—that is, it is the Spirit of God who provides the nourishment that we need to live as Christians. While the Spirit’s work is invisible to our eyes, God strengthens our faith by giving a visible reminder and confirmation that the Spirit really is at work through baptism. But it’s all about God here, not us. Listen to Martin Luther’s beautiful words about the Spirit’s work:

I believe that I can not, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Ghost has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me by his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith; just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

So it is the Spirit who does the work of forming the church. Interestingly, He includes in the membership of the church people that you and I would easily disregard. Paul says that we are all baptized into one body, whether “Jews or Greeks, slaves or free.” These were the greatest divides in the ancient world, the people who held one another in the greatest disdain. Who are those for you? Whoever they are, it is not beyond the Spirit to bring them into the church with you, or you into the church with them.

Would we choose a diverse congregation like this if it were up to us? Would we want these many different backgrounds and different opinions in the local church if it were up to us? Perhaps we fear that some of these differences would threaten our unity. But maybe the question about our differences is not whether they threaten our unity but whether they threaten our homogeneity. And that’s good if they do. If we formed the church, it would look pathetically bland. Thank God that He forms the church and is pleased to use all of us to make up the intricate tapestry that is His worldwide salvation: a people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation.

The church is not formed by the voluntary association of its members who want to belong to a club where everyone agrees with them. The church is formed by divine decree. The Spirit brings us together and constitutes us as Christ’s body.

How the Church Functions 

But now the question is, How is the church meant to function together?

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