When Paul was using the metaphor of the body to speak to the church (1 Cor 12) he did so for two primary reasons. First, the body is a unified whole. Likewise, the church is to be unified in its mission, purposes, ministries, and activities.
Second, the body is not only unified, it is made up of many parts. Think about the parts noted in 1 Cor. 12: 12-26: the foot, the hand, the ear, the eye, the nose.
Each of these parts is supposed to function. The foot is to walk. The hand is to grasp and hold. The ear is to hear. The eye is to see. The nose is to smell.
We who are church members are all supposed to function in the church. The concept of an inactive church member is an oxymoron. Biblically, no such church member really exists.
Such is the reason we are exhorted to know our gifts and abilities, so we can use them best, to serve the church for the Glory of God! The fact that there is so much diversity in our churches is our strength. Everyone has a function. Everyone should be functioning. Everyone should have a role.
Thomas S. Rainer in: I am a Church Member
If you are not sure of your Spiritual gifts…….ask your Pastor about how you can find out what they are.
You are the body of Christ; each and everyone of you is a vital member. 1 Cor 12:27 The Voice
The church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities, but the body of Christ, in which all members however different…..must share the common life, complementing and helping one another precisely by those differences. C.S. Lewis
