The "body" metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12
Sheds a lot of light on God's purpose and design for the gifts.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul uses the metaphor of a human body to describe the way the church functions. Just as a body has many parts, each has an essential function, and all play their part to make the body work, so is the church.
In the church, the Holy Spirit has given each believer different gifts and different functions. Just as the body wouldn’t work very well if it was all hands or all eyes, neither does the church. There may be gifts that are more “spectacular” or visible, but each and every gift is necessary. In fact, Paul says:
the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable (v.22); God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it (v.24)
All of the gifts are essential
The metaphor of the body is very instructive. Just as a body with some of its parts removed cannot function very well, and may even die, the church is severely crippled when it limits the gifts to a shortlist of “approved” ones. If God thought that all the gifts listed in the New Testament were necessary for the complete functioning of the church body, why would it be any different today?
Rejecting the gifts removes the need for other believers
A strange mutation has happened in the church as a result of the rejection of the spiritual gifts. They have been replaced with Scripture, and preaching/teaching has become the supreme and almost the only spiritual gift exercised and emphasized in the church.
As a result, church meetings no longer have the mutuality, commonality, and plurality of contributions from all members that we see in the New Testament.
We get a glimpse into a New Testament church meeting in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33:
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
The book of Acts is full of examples of the church praying together (1:14), speaking in tongues together (2:4), eating and worshipping together (2:42-47), and on and on.
I sometimes wonder what the Apostle Paul or any other early Christian would make of our church meetings if they somehow wandered into one. Would they even recognize it as a meeting of the church? Mutuality, commonality, plurality and opportunity of gifts, spontaneity, and freedom for the Spirit to move have totally disappeared. The service is planned down to the last detail. The central piece is the sermon, which occupies the largest chunk of time. One man ascends to a platform and speaks to a passive group of observers. Mutuality is limited to socializing over coffee afterward.
When opportunities for “ministry” are available, they often do not require any spiritual gifting. In many churches, these opportunities include things like cleaning, serving coffee and greeting people, and caring for children during services.
Those who work in these capacities are often called “volunteers”. I think this word is very revealing. In this model, the church is not the body of believers functioning together. It is an organization with its own purposes which volunteers serve, but they themselves are not essential.
In this model, there are very few necessary gifts, of which the primary and supreme one is preaching/teaching. The pastor is the head and heart of the church. Congregants rotate in and out, being welcome but not able to participate spiritually in any meaningful way.
I don’t think what we have now in our churches is anything close to like what God envisioned and planned. And the major reason is that God himself is not welcomed. We are in control, not God. Most pastors would be horrified if demons interrupted the service, such as happened when Jesus was preaching in a synagogue (Luke 4:31-37), or if someone broke out in tongues (Acts 2:4), or if someone suddenly received a prophetic revelation and shared it (1 Corinthians 14:30). And yet all of those are things we should expect if the Spirit of God is present and moving among us.
We certainly have “order”, but I wonder if it is the order of a house where no one lives, rather than the order of a healthy, athletic body with all its parts moving in harmony.
Related: see “Are we building God’s kingdom, or our own?”