(12)  For, as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. (13) For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.  (14)  For, in fact the body is not one member but many. 

(27)  Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually

First Corinthians was written by the Apostle Paul – this was an occasional letter – in response to reports he received that there was trouble in the Christian Church established in Corinth.  In the verses we look at today, Paul compares the church of Christ to the human body – one body may have many members; eyes, ears, hand, foot, etc. but many members of the same body make but one body.  “So also is Christ.”  The Christian Church has one head and one body;  all Jews and Gentiles, slave and free become members by baptism but it is by the Spirit –  drinking into the one Spirit – that makes us true members of Christ’s body.  Baptism is the outward rite and baptism by the Spirit is the internal rite.

There is a distinction of members in the body and it is the same with the body of Christ.  Members have different uses and accordingly, different gifts.  God has set the members as it pleases Him.  Paul tells us that there is no cause for envy of others and nothing to quarrel over as to the distribution of gifts for we must keep in mind always the sovereignty of God.   We are in some degree mutually dependent and should therefore be mutually caring for each other.  Just as with the members of our natural body, the pain of one part affects the whole and the pleasure of one part impacts the whole, so should the members of the body of Christ be honored with their fellow Christians and suffer with them also.

In verse 27, the Apostle Paul sums up his argument:  Every Christian is a member of the body of Christ, not the whole body.  Christians have a relationship to each other, a mutual dependence and should have a mutual bond of care and concern.