“I don’t need you!”

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body… . The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” —1 Corinthians 12:15, 21

Throughout 1 Corinthians, Paul repeatedly asks the church to embrace unity and to reject disunity. In chapter 12, the “spiritual gifts” chapter, Paul gives examples of the diversity that makes for healthy unity within the church.

Paul’s diversity-in-unity theme begins with the members of the Trinity. Paul says, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (12:4-6). Unity and diversity exist within the members of the Trinity and in the unique roles of each—God the Father is at work everywhere, Jesus the Lord is to be emulated as servant, and the Spirit of God distributes diverse gifts to whom He chooses “for the common good” (12:7).

Paul uses the metaphor of the human body to describe what unity and diversity is to look like in the church. He says, “a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts forms one body, so it is with Christ” (12:12). The metaphor is easy enough to understand and it makes explicit what is clearly evident—the human body is a complex system of many essential parts, and the church is diverse in its members and yet unified in Christ. But Paul then describes what happens when parts of the body try to function independently and fail to “seek the good of others” (10:24).

“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (12:21). “I don’t need you!” is the outburst of an independent child or an angry teen toward her parent. It might be spoken by a co-worker to a micro-managing boss. It may even be the language of an elder frustrated and afraid by an increasing loss of the ability to care for himself.

In the church, when one member or a group tells another that they are not needed, over time the message may become, “You do not ‘… belong to the body, …’” (12:15). Belonging is essential to human flourishing; not belonging in a church body means its members are leaving.

In the church of Corinth, it may be that “the haves” didn’t feel they needed the “have nots.” Paul disagrees. He writes, “God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (12:24-27).

Consider

Diversity in unity is everywhere around us in nature and in life. In chapter 12, there is a diversity of spiritual gifts distributed by the one and same Spirit and there is a diversity among the church’s members but one church under Christ. Where else do you see diversity in unity in our world today? Where do you see diversity that has caused disunity?

When have you encountered the message “I don’t need you” or “You don’t belong”? What was the result? How have you extended the invitation to belong to others in your spheres? Tell one another stories of these encounters and pray for healing and hope.

Three in One, we worship you. Lead us in the path of unity for Christ’s sake. Amen.