Wrong answer
Paul wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth, Greece, in an attempt to correct some very serious problems. There were doctrinal problems, behavior problems, and especially problems in how they conducted their worship and fellowship, the “breaking of bread”. From the way he addressed them, it appears that the church—at least many in the church—didn’t even perceive them as problems.
Whole books have been written examining the issues Paul discusses in this letter. I won’t try to do that in a short post like this! I’ll stick to just one thing that I was reminded of when rereading the letter.
It’s in chapter 12, where Paul spends considerable time reinforcing one of the key features of the Christian church: We are different from one another, but we all are part of a single body.
For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12*)
We all know this, we teach it, we embrace it. At least in theory. In actual fact, we tend to have problems very similar to Corinth’s. They aren’t Corinthian problems after all, they’re human problems.
Paul goes on to highlight a couple of important implications of this doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ.
Have we seen this happen? A brother or sister concludes they don’t fit, so they just stop coming to the worship service. It might be a matter of language or culture, race or nationality, or it might be difference of opinion about something deemed important. Whatever the cause, Paul says, “Staying away is the wrong answer.”
If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. (verse 15)
Have we seen the reverse happen? The prevailing attitude in the church is that some brother(s) or sister(s) don’t fit. This attitude might be conveyed in subtle or unsubtle ways, but however it is, there is a feeling of relief when the person(s) stop coming. Paul says, “Pushing or nudging someone out is the wrong answer.”
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (verse 21)
In either situation, Paul says, the loss of one member harms the whole body. We need all the members of the body (verses 17-19). So much so that the parts we might think of as weaker are beyond simply good to have around, they are indispensable (verses 22-24). Paul reminds us that this isn’t a human organization, not a social circle, not an exclusive club. It is God who put the parts together to serve His purpose, which is to nurture every single individual (verses 24-26).
Let me hasten to say that my thoughts here weren’t triggered by any specific situation. They came out of reading the apostle’s letter, and thinking about how we can ensure we’re not succumbing to a comfortable but wrong answer. To just drop out. Or to make no effort to express value for the “different” person.
This letter addresses so many problems a church can have. And look what the apostle does about them! Without pushing them away, he firmly but lovingly offers correction, admonishment, solid fundamental teaching. And above all love and genuine caring. His teaching and his example show us the right answer—seldom easy or comfortable, the right answer is to remember and act on the assurance that every one of us is a member of the body. Put there by God, and cherished by the Lord whose body we are.
Love, Paul
(* all scripture quotations from CSB)