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The "Body" in 1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 12 is a very brilliant chapter in the Bible. It reveals the relationship which exists between the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ. Our becoming one body in Christ is dependent upon the Holy Spirit. What joins us together is the Holy Spirit and what we receive inwardly from the Lord is also the Holy Spirit.

Let me use an illustration here. In foreign countries people use cement blocks in the building of their houses. On the outside these blocks look like the bricks in China, but they are hollow on the inside. Now when the construction workers build walls in other lands they fill the blocks with cement and also pave them together on the outside with more cement. The nature of the blocks’ exterior and that of their interior are therefore precisely the same. Even so is it with the body of Christ and its members: we as the members of Christ’s body—were baptized together into one body by one Spirit and were all made to drink of one Spirit (v.13). What is outside and what is inside are the same. And thus did we become one body with its many members.

Hence, that which unites us is exactly the same as that which we receive from the Lord. Spiritual fellowship is based on the same principle as spiritual life. We can therefore say that the body of Christ is one because it has the same nature as its life. And its life is the life of the Holy Spirit whose nature is one. The oneness of the body comes from the oneness of the Holy Spirit. Let us understand that members come out of the body. Though many are the members, the body is one (v.12). In short, the origin of the members is the body. It is the body which produces many members and it is the Holy Spirit that joins them into one body. It can be likened to a wall that is made up of many bricks, and in turn its many bricks form the one wall. Oneness constitutes more than there being one mind: it signifies the possession of one nature. Having therefore drunk of the Holy Spirit and been baptized in the Holy Spirit—such constitutes the oneness of the saints. We as members come out of the body and, again, we return to the body. Looking backward, a person can see one body; looking forward, he can likewise see one body. And because we as members are one, we can be coordinated.

Due to this oneness, there is body consciousness. The movement of the Holy Spirit is in the body. The Holy Spirit is not just the power of individuals; He is even more so the power of the body that comprises those individuals. Body ministry is the manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. Before God an individual is like a two-dimensional plane; the body, however, is like a three-dimensional cube. Today the age of independent work is past. The gospel needs to be preached by the church as a body, but so must matters which come before it be dealt with by the church as a body. In the past, individuals may have worked effectively, but now all needs to be done in and through the body. As we touch the body, the far greater power of the Holy Spirit will be manifested. Many times matters cannot be solved by just one or two brothers. Many of God’s people think the power of the Holy Spirit is given merely to individuals: brethren, they believe, can simply bring home as it were a power package of the Holy Spirit and gradually use it. But we ought to know that the power of the Holy Spirit resides in the body.

We believers too frequently consider ourselves as members first and only secondarily do we view ourselves as a body of members that came into being through baptism. The fact of the matter is that we begin as the body. Whether or not we like it, we each are members of the body. If we as believers stand on the ground of the individual, we shall lose the powerful corporate effect of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The body proceeds from oneness and returns to that oneness. How we need to readjust our understanding of truth here. Today if all Christians were to stand on the ground of the body, everything could be resolved easily. But when they do not stand on this ground, they create many problems—problems which emanate from a spirit of individualism. In the body there is the corporate life. Whatever rebels against the body as well as against the Head does not belong to this corporate life.

Let us acknowledge where the riches of the Lord are to be found: they are in the body. For example, with the body comes God’s light. As a matter of fact, the body is a "storehouse" of light; therefore light is fullest in the body. Yet so, too, is it with all the other riches. Hence, what one cannot obtain in himself can be secured in the body. As an individual member, each believer has his specific function. But that which one member lacks is found in the body’s other members. Indeed, their functions become the possession of the individual members. Thus there is mutual help to be found in the body.