Paul proceeded to elaborate his analogy.
12:15-16 Perhaps Paul chose the feet, hands, ears, and eyes as examples because of their prominence in the body. Even though they are prominent and important they cannot stand alone. They need each other.
". . . Chrysostom remarks that the foot contrasts itself with the hand rather than with the ear, because we do not envy those who are very much higher than ourselves so much as those who have got a little above us . . ."286
12:17 Different functions as well as different members are necessary in the body (cf. v. 4). Paul's point was not the inferiority of some members but the need for all members.
12:18 Paul again stressed God's sovereignty in placing each member in the body as He has chosen in this verse. We need to discover how God has gifted us and to become as effective as possible where He has placed us. We should concentrate on using the abilities we have received rather than longing to be different or insisting on doing things that God has not gifted us to do (cf. 7:26-27).
"Whenever we begin to think about our own importance in the Christian Church, the possibility of really Christian work is gone."287
12:19 If all the members of the human body were the same, it would not be able to function as a body. It would be incapable of getting anything accomplished. For example, if all had the gift of tongues, the gift that the Corinthians valued so highly, the body would not function.
12:20 This is not the case in the human body, however. It has a variety of members, but it is one unified organism.
12:21 It is interesting that Paul used the head and the feet as examples, the top of the body and the bottom. He was reminding those who felt superior that those whom they regarded as inferior were also necessary (cf. 11:17-34). Too often because we differ fromeach other we also differ witheach other.
12:22 Rather than regarding themselves as superior, the "haves"in the church needed to remember that the "have nots"were important for the effective operation of the whole organism. Even the little toe, or the pancreas, plays a crucial role in the physical body.
12:23-24a When dealing with our human bodies we bestow more honor on our less honorable parts by covering them up. This makes our unseemly members more seemly. Paul may have been referring to the sexual organs.288On the other hand, the more honorable parts, such as our face, do not require special covering. The point is that we take special pains to honor our less esteemed physical members, and we should do the same in the church rather than neglecting or despising them. When is the last time your church gave public recognition to the nursery workers or the clean up crew?
12:24b-25 God has constructed bodies, both human and spiritual, so the different members can care for one another. He does not ignore any member but makes provision for each one. We do not always see this in the human body, but it is true. Likewise God's honoring the less prominent members in the church may not be apparent now, but it will be at the judgment seat of Christ if not before then.
God does not want dissension (Gr. schisma) in His body. There was some in the Corinthian church (1:10; 11:18). Rather (strong contrast in the Greek, alla) the members should have anxious care for one another. Paul illustrated this attitude with what follows.
12:26 The suffering of one means the suffering of all, and the well-being of one means the well-being of all.
"Plato had pointed out that we do not say, My finger has a pain,' we say, I have a pain.'"289
In view of this we can and should honestly rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15).
Paul's preceding comments about the body (vv. 12-26) are applicable to both the physical body and the spiritual body of Christ. However, he was speaking about the human body primarily, as an illustration of the spiritual body.
