There are many characteristics of the human body which have a striking parallel in the way the ecclesia of Christ should behave. This means that all the time, if we are alive to the fact, we are living with an exhortation on how to interact with other believers.
The body is not one member, but many (I Cor. 12:14). There are eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, legs for walking. No one part of the body can do it all. Each part needs the others. And the parts differ markedly from each other.
The arms and legs are both limbs but they are significantly different in proportion and ability. The hands with their fingers and feet with their toes are appendages but they are good at different functions. While it is possible to walk on one’s hands and paint with one’s toes, it is incredibly difficult to do so. In like manner, members of the body of Christ differ markedly from one another. What some will do easily, others will find well nigh impossible. No member of the ecclesia can do it all; each member needs the others.
While the body consists of many members, yet there is but one body (v.20). The various parts of the human body work together in the most remarkable unison. This is apparent all day every day. Hands and eyes combine to make a meal; eyes, ears and nose work in unison to take in all aspects of a beautiful setting; arms and legs unite to vacuum a rug or roll a wheelbarrow; eyes and legs work together to move the whole body through an office or a parking lot. The same should be true in the association of believers one with another. If those with various abilities refuse to use them, the whole body may stumble and fall. If, on the other hand, we combine to work together we can accomplish much in the service of our Lord.
Another remarkable feature of the human body is that there is no schism between the parts but a great empathy one toward the other (v.25). In fact, each part has no awareness of itself as an individual and, therefore, no ability to act in its own interests to the exclusion of the rest of the body. If the end of one finger hurts from a sliver, the rest of the body does not ignore the problem. The eyes and the other fingers fully concentrate to help the one part that is hurting.
And there is no jealousy between the various parts. If the legs and lungs do well to win at soccer, the hands clap in exaltation. Why should the hands rejoice? They had little to do with the success, but they rejoice because the other parts achieved a victory. When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it (vs. 25-26). Let us heed the exhortation of our own bodies and strive for the welfare of the body “according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Eph. 4:16).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One