“That There Should Be No Schism in The Body”

That there should be no schism in the body — how great the ideal which is expressed here. Another translation renders it “that there may be no discord in the body”. How rarely is this aim fully achieved! But if you study the context of this quotation from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians you will perceive many important principles as to how this can be accomplished, because Paul is describing what we must do so there is no discord in the body.

He begins in verse 12 by portraying the body as the unity of many parts making it one. He goes on to show that each part has its function and no one part can dominate or do without another part, and concludes (v. 19) and “if they were all one member, where were the body” which the RSV renders “if all were a single organ where would the body be?” To use a simple illustration, God desires our ecclesias to work together like an orchestra; to be made up of many instruments and yet to all play together so that a beautiful harmonious sound is produced. How ugly the orchestra would sound if it were composed entirely of drums or trumpets or any one instrument! Indeed it is essential that every part acknowledges its dependence upon other parts, and thus Paul proceeds to observe that the other parts of the body which “seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honourable we invest with greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty which our more presentable parts do not require. God has so adjusted the body giving the greater honour to the inferior part that there may be no discord in the body…” (RSV v. 22-25). It is the failure to give greater honour to those parts which appear to be the weaker, and from a human point of view perhaps dispensable, should the need arise, that is the cause of discord. It is when certain instruments wish to continuously play a dominating role so that the smaller and less obvious instruments appear to contribute nothing at all that the music loses its balance.

The cause of this can be two-fold. It can be an unbalanced attitude on the part of those who apparently are dominating in the ecclesial “music”, and it can be laziness on the part of those who are lacking in zeal and vision to play the part they are fitted to play in the ecclesia according to the talents which God has given them. As we look around our ecclesial sphere today, we must be frank and admit there is much discord. And as we consider the lesson which is portrayed to us by Paul in this letter to Corinthians, the real reasons for this discord can be clearly perceived.

What do we see? On the one hand feverish activity in the Lord’s service that emphasises certain patterns of belief and practice. On the other hand, apparent apathy, inactivity and a failure to realise what it means to be called to the service of the Almighty. And then, in between, a large group, confused and distressed by the imbalance of the music around them, not knowing what to do to bring about harmony.

Quite a number have spoken about the need for harmony and unity in the body. They have clear-cut ideas as to how this should be accom­plished, but the impression is clearly given that the unity envisaged would leave the dominating parts playing an even more dominating role. Would it not be a tragedy if the apparently less essential parts gave up the struggle to have their sound heard. This would not be in the inter­ests of harmony because the overall music would be harsher and less balanced than ever.

It is in this climate of thought that this new magazine goes forward to its readers, it goes forward with a desperate sense of urgency and appeals to the hearts and minds of all readers to weigh its words carefully, to ponder their own response to the call of the Almighty that we should not be found lacking when the Master returns. There is another illustration which will aptly illustrate the situation and make our points even clearer. Our aim is to build up the body of Christ, to become a building “fitly framed together”. Recently, in the world, we have seen what happened when a building, or rather, in this case a bridge, was not fitly framed together. We refer to the tragedy of the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne. What has the subsequent Enquiry revealed? It has shown there was nothing wrong with the steel. Again, there was nothing wrong with the bolts, or the welding, or any of the other struc­tural parts. Each part could look at itself, as it were, and say, “there’s nothing wrong with me, I am doing my part.” One expert has suggested that the fault lay in that it was not fitly framed together, and because a bolt-hole was 2 inches out of place, the whole structure came crashing down. What an insignificant little thing! Perhaps there were faults in the design, perhaps there were not sufficient margins of safety for human error, but the fact remains that that which appeared to be insignificant, or we could say “less honourable” because its framing together was not attended to with sufficient care, mightily affected the whole structure. Can we not see a telling lesson for us. The mighty weight and impressiveness of great girders of steel, the concrete weighing hundreds of tons, all foundered because insufficient attention had been paid to an apparently insignificant part. The steel makers were able to say, perhaps with some pride, they were not to blame, they had made top-grade steel. Similarly, the bolt makers, and the concrete suppliers. They could all say they had made an unblemished product.

What a lesson there is here! We are all parts of the Ecclesial building. We may feel we are a very strong part of the building, even a bulwark — a mighty concrete pillar. If we are strong it is so very easy to feel proud of being strong. Perhaps we are trying to be overstrong in an effort to make up for the parts we imagine to be weak, for it is possible for the “concrete” to be too heavy, for the emphasis to be too much in the one place and to straighten out errors by clumsy means in too great haste. All these illustrations offer lessons for us to meditate about. We can be so consumed with zeal, and perhaps pride, about the part we are doing that we fail to consider the whole and particularly the framing together, and so the whole edifice comes crashing to the ground.

It is being said by increasing numbers of brethren and sisters that we are heading for division. It could well be said that we have a division already — such is the discord in some parts of the body. How saddening it all is, but as we have seen, the lessons of scripture point to the cause and cure. As we reflect on this, let us not concentrate our thinking on where the blame lies in other people, rather let us first cast the beam out of our own eye. Finally, we must all bear in mind the true import of Paul’s words (2 Cor. 5:10) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done.,. ” Later translations, such as R.S.V., all translate — the things “done in the body”. A minor amendment we might think, but the context implies that the body is the body of Christ. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these… ” the words of the Master, echo in our minds. This is a call to heart-searching, to a re-examination of motives and integrity of purpose, a fresh appreciation of the causes of discord and a determination to do our part in the curing thereof.