1 Corinthians 12:21-26

1 Corinthians 12:21-26

But the eye is not powerful enough to say to the hand, “I do not have a need of you.”  Or again, the head is not powerful enough to say to the foot, “I do not have a need of you all.”  Rather, how much more are the members of the body that are thought to be weak in the condition of necessity?  And those which we think to be dishonorable parts of the body we set abundant honor upon them?  And our unattractive parts have an excessive loveliness.  And out lovely parts do not have such a need.  But God structured the body after giving abundant honor to the part that lacked in order that a schism should not be in the body but that these members should show the same concern for each other.  And if one member suffers, all members suffer with it.  If one member is being glorified, all members rejoice with it.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought

Paul opens this section with a humorous argument.  He imagines the head or the eye looking at the rest of the body and saying, “I can exist without you.”  Paul’s point is that we are equally incredibly short-sighted.  We cannot know the future!  We cannot even know the present beyond our current reality!  I cannot know what need I will have in the future because of my own short-sightedness.  I don’t even know the protection I might need in the present because of other people’s short-sightedness!  Who am I to say to anyone else, “I don’t need you!”  Paul is making the analogy that when we think we are the be-all-and-end-all to life we live out the wrong perspective.  That’s what we as human beings are really good at doing, though, isn’t it?  Aren’t we all great at making short-sighted decisions based on our current need as we assume that we actually do know everything?  I mourn how often I am like that eye that thinks it can exist without the gifts, protection, and partnership offered by the rest of the body.

Are you ever short-sighted in your judgment?  How hard is it to realize that our perspective is incredibly limited?  Why is this important to consider?

Second Thought:

In the middle of this passage, Paul talks about the members with great honor and the members having less honor.  I’ve often heard this passage explained in this way:

There are parts of our body we clothe because they are less honorable – yet in clothing them we show them honor and raise them up.  The parts that naturally have honor – such as our eyes, ears, mouth, and hands – do not need to be clothed because they are already honorable.

I don’t think this is quite what Paul is actually going for, although I don't think it is entirely wrong, either.  I actually think that Paul is trying to tell us that just as we all feel we have attractive parts and unattractive parts of our body, there are people in the church who feel more or less attractive in a spiritual sense.  But as Paul tells us in the middle of these verses, our unattractive parts have an excessive loveliness.  Each of us is a beautiful creation in God’s eyes.  He formed us.  We might think ourselves ugly and spiritually unattractive, but that’s not how God sees us.  God’s Spirit is within all of us.  God’s Spirit has clothed all of us.  We simply need to learn how to let His Spirit shine through us.  All of us – regardless of how unattractive we think ourselves to be in a spiritual respect – have an excessive spiritual beauty on account of God’s Spirit within us.

Do you see yourself as a spiritually beautiful person?  Why or why not?

Third Thought:

Have you ever had a pain in your body so great that you wanted to remove it?  I remember stubbing my toe so hard a few times that the throbbing caused me to desire my toe to be removed.  I remember having a sinus infection of such magnitude that I really desired to just cut my head off.  Why didn’t I?  Well, in these terms the answer is obvious.  Once the throbbing in my toe stopped, I would need my toe to walk properly again.  With respect to my head, well, it is really tough to continue on living without a head!  Paul tells us that when one suffers we all suffer.  When one rejoices we all rejoice.  We cannot sever ourselves from the rest of the body just because we desire it without major ramifications!  Neither can we be severed from the rest of the body without major ramifications, either!  We are a body.  The proper thing to do when there is something wrong with the body is to nurse the wounded portion back to health, not cut it off completely and remove it!  Yet so often this is what we do with people in our lives.  When someone acts in a way that we don’t like, it is far too easy to simply cut them off and get rid of them.  That is the way the culture around us has taught us to behave.  But it is not the godly witness that Paul gives to us here in this passage.

Have you ever cut off people with whom you used to be friends?  What were the reasons?  Have you ever been able to reconcile with people with whom you had disagreements rather than cutting them off?  What feels better in the long run: cutting people out of your life or reconciliation?  Why is this true?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 12:27-31