2. The Common Life Of Christians (12:3–8)
2. The Common Life Of Christians (12:3–8)
Diversity, not uniformity, is the mark of God’s handiwork. It is so in nature; it is equally so in grace, and nowhere more so than in the Christian community. Here are many men and women with the most diverse kinds of parentage, environment, temperament and capacity. Not only so, but since they became Christians they have been endowed by God with a wide variety of spiritual gifts as well. Yet because and by means of that diversity, all can co-operate for the good of the whole. Whatever form of service is to be rendered in the church, let it be rendered heartily and faithfully by those divinely qualified to render it, whether it be prophesying, teaching, admonishing, administering, making material gifts, sick-visiting, or the performance of any other ministry.
To illustrate what he means, Paul uses the figure of a human body, as he had already done in 1 Corinthians 12:12–27. Each part of the body has its own distinctive work to do, yet in a healthy body all the parts function harmoniously and interdependently for the good of the whole body. So should it be in the church, which is the body of Christ.
3. By the grace given to me. That is, the ‘grace’ or spiritual gift of apostleship (cf. 1:5; 15:15). According to verse 6, each member of the church has received a special ‘grace’ in this sense, which is to be exercised for the good of all.
The measure of faith. ‘Faith’ here has a rather different sense from that which it bears in the earlier part of the letter; here it denotes the spiritual power given to each Christian for the discharge of his or her special responsibility (cf. verse 6, ‘in proportion to our faith’).
5. One body in Christ. Compare 1 Corinthians 12:27, ‘you are the body of Christ.’ In 1 Corinthians and Romans the human body is used as an illustration of the corporate life of Christians, but in Colossians and Ephesians the idea is carried farther. In these later documents emphasis is laid on the relation which the church, as the body, bears to Christ as the head. In them there is no possibility of an ordinary member of the church being compared to the head, or to part of the head (as is done in 1 Cor. 12:16–17, 21); in them, too, the body ceases to be used as a mere simile and becomes rather the most effective term which the apostle can find to express the vital bond which unites the life of believers with the risen life of Christ.1
8. In liberality. NEB, ‘with all your heart.’
He who gives aid. Greek ho proïstamenos, understood in a similar sense to the related noun prostatis, ‘helper’, in 16:2. NEB ‘if you are a leader’ understands the participle in the sense which it bears in 1 Thessalonians 5:12 (‘those who … are over you’).
He who does acts of mercy. NEB, ‘if you are helping others in distress.’