1 Corinthians 12:12, commentary and pictures

As one human body with many members, so the church of God is one body made of many members who each have a distinct office and are to live in the relation toward one another that limbs bear to a body. To be joined to Christ is to be united to Him as a limb is united to the body, for Christ is one with the many who make up His people and He and His church cannot be separated. Jesus is the one Head in whom all members center, so connection with Christ carries connection with His church, and all obtain life and nourishment from the same Spirit who animates and unites the whole. By that same Spirit God gives different gifts, talents, offices, and lines of work to different members for the good of all, and unity does not mean uniformity but many different members acting harmoniously as a perfect whole. No member is a complete whole in himself or able to bear the burden alone, so none is to act from independent judgment, say to another I have no need of thee, or divide into factions, but all are to care for one another, supply one another's lack, and work in counsel together under Christ.

Body Figure Explained

The verse sets forth one human body with many members as the figure of the church of God and of the relation its members are to sustain to one another. Christ's people are one body made up of many members whose Head is Jesus Christ, with different roles and gifts but all belonging to the same body. Each member has a distinct office and is to work in harmony with the whole under sanctified intelligence and sanctified direction governing all, so that the church forms one united and well-ordered body. No member is to consider itself self-sufficient or say to another that it has no need of it, and none is to dismiss another because its work differs. The church needs many gifts, and all classes of workers with different gifts and roles are to use their entrusted gifts and labor together without crowding, judging, or measuring and comparing one gift with another.

Those brought together in church capacity are to be united understandingly and intelligently, and the teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 with 13 is to be committed to memory, written in mind and heart, and studied and digested rather than ignored. God Himself arranged the members as He chose and gives honor to those who lack it, so there should be no division but mutual care with the same care one for another. When one member suffers all suffer, and when one is honored all rejoice and are enlightened and rejoice with him. Believers of different backgrounds are brought by the Spirit into this one body, and together they are the body of Christ.

"So also is Christ" means that Christ is one with the many members who make up His people, as one body consists of many members that belong together as one body. Christ and His church are inseparable, as one body with many members that cannot become independent of God or of one another. To believe on Christ is to put on Christ and be united to Him as a limb is united to the body. That union was made possible because Christ clothed His divinity with humanity so that His humanity could touch and uplift humanity while His divine arm grasped the throne of the Infinite, thus linking finite man with the infinite God. Each part must work in harmony with the other parts and with the whole.

Even beautiful, glorious beings depend on God for happiness, light, and intelligence, and the fallen angels lost their high estate through insubordination and desire for independence. In the same way those God has appointed to lead out and bear the responsibilities of His work and the advancement and spread of the truth are the means He has ordained for the help, encouragement, and strength of His people. To neglect or despise them is to reject God's appointed means, and to pass them by thinking light must come through no other channel than directly from God leaves a person liable to deception and to be overthrown. Distinct abilities and work suited to different fields are to be supported rather than pressed into others' methods, as when workers could serve among the French in ways others could not.

The Word of God is one complete body pervaded by one divine life, just as the human body is a complete structure with every part united to and dependent on the others for life. Each book of the Bible is like a member with its own special office, and every portion of Scripture has its use and lesson. Every book is adapted to human beings in every phase of life to secure a special result, so that all parts work together to make the human family complete in Christ.

The same body picture applies to the physical organism and to human powers, for a body is one whole made up of many members and Christ is likewise one with many members. Each part, however small, affects the whole, and misuse of a nerve or muscle reduces the usefulness of the body. Therefore every physical and mental power and affection and every bodily gift and power must be trained, cultivated, preserved, and brought into harmony and used in Christ's service and for God's honor and the uplifting of humanity, rather than using only some parts and leaving service to God deficient. In the perils of the last days every mental and physical power and every talent God gives must be cultivated, because all are essential to make the church a perfect whole, a building that represents the wisdom and character of the great Designer. Talents and powers of mind are God's gifts and must be used in their right relation to each other, for God gives the talents and man makes the character, and man must cultivate the mind as the Lord's garden earnestly in order to form a character after the divine similitude, with the whole person prepared to represent Christ.

The chapter shows how Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth would be fulfilled to the church. It declares that certain gifts of the Spirit have been placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time and to remain until Christ returns. The different members represent Christians, and the gifts God places in the church serve its common life and work. God established these gifts in the church because the church needs them throughout its history, including times of persecution and the perils of the last days.

Christ Head and Life

Jesus Christ is the one Head of the one body, and all members center in Him as members of the same body with different roles, gifts, talents, opportunities and lines of work entrusted to advance God's kingdom. No member is a complete whole in himself, and none is to consider himself self-sufficient, act from independent judgment, do another's work, work contrary to another, dismiss another whose work differs, crowd, judge, or measure one gift by another. Each gains perfection and influence only by faithfully discharging his own duties in God's appointed way as part of the great whole, standing in his appointed station, speaking truth in love, respected, encouraged and sustained without fitful, spasmodic movements. As the usefulness of the human body is increased by harmonious energy and action of every member and by sympathy of every part with the whole under the head as a well-regulated machine, so the church is strengthened by well-regulated action of every part and exercise of every gift for the benefit of the whole, with due respect and recognition owed to fellow workers as owed to God who gave every man his work, without envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting. Connection with Christ therefore involves connection with His church, and with all its working forces the body must become one with the Head in unity of action.

All members obtain nourishment and spiritual life from the same source, and the same Spirit works through them in different ways to produce harmonious action though the gifts differ, animating all and uniting all by surpassing love. Through sanctification of the truth all become members of Christ's body, of His flesh and of His bones, deriving their power to act from Christ as one great organism, one whole body composed of many living, working agencies each with his own part and work given by God to carry forward in harmony for time and eternity. Christ's love and converting power must circulate through every part as blood sustains the organs, as the heart sustains hand and head by sending life-blood, with each member depending on and serving the others by imparting and serving rather than living for self. A soul that refuses to share that love and serve others will perish like a paralyzed member connected only in name, leading to spiritual death. Fidelity to Christ, sympathy for one another, the same care one for another, and humble faith laboring in Christ's lines hold this life together, while working against brethren brings shame to God and walking and working away from Christ finally brings the lowest place.

The church is the Lord's body on earth as His continued incarnation, with Christ Himself as divine Shepherd and great Head and gospel ministers serving under Him as under-shepherds, and the members as the Lord's working agencies partaking of the divine nature, having escaped corruption through lust, holding God's word in purity and following the Bible implicitly. To believe on Christ is to put on Christ and be united to Him as a limb is united to the body. This union was made possible because in Christ's person the human and divine are linked, His divinity clothed with humanity so His humanity could touch and uplift humanity while His divine arm grasped the throne of the Infinite, thus linking finite man with the infinite God.

Believers of different backgrounds belong to one body and are complete only in Christ, made complete as one body in Him and through Him one with the Father, expressed in shared faith and love with words and actions showing they have been with Jesus and learned from Him. Christ lifts people from sin's degradation and gives them place in heaven as fellow workers with God, uplifting His people from the low level to which sin degraded them to where they shall be acknowledged in the heavenly courts as laborers together with God. This oneness calls for developing and supporting gifted workers within their own communities, including Black men and women serving their people and white leaders and colored laborers in the southern work together as members of one body.

Those united to Christ are like branches drawing life from the same vine and root, drawing strength and life from Him while retaining different characteristics and experiences in one harmonious body, and like brothers and sisters of one family as members of one body. True membership means belonging to Jesus the invisible Head through spiritual connection with God, made manifest by bearing fruit as evidence of absolute allegiance to Christ, while faith and love work to unite and harmonize the members. Those whose names are only on the church record without belonging to Jesus are like the fruitless branch of the vine and are taken away. Such union means pure love not as impulse or spasmodic feeling but as divine principle and permanent power imbibed fresh from love flowing from God's heart, quickened, sustained and taught by the Holy Spirit, binding heart to heart so true sons and daughters love God supremely and love one another truly, sincerely, unaffectedly, without partiality and without hypocrisy, respecting and loving one another with pure hearts fervently, with mutual responsibility and natural obligation in which mutual confidence is powerful for good or evil and talents and influence are sanctified for mutual benefit and not perverted to hurt fellow men.

Diverse Gifts United

The same Spirit gives different gifts, talents, opportunities, offices, and lines of work to different members as He wills, and every manifestation is given to profit all and for the good of the whole body. These include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues, with different operations under the same God and the same Spirit bringing harmonious action despite differences. There is therefore to be no haphazard work in ministry or medical missionary lines, but orderly united labor in which workers with different methods and callings exercise each his own gift and individuality in Christian love without refusing fellowship because plans differ. This practice is of vital importance now above all other times, to be kept with sincere love, hatred of evil, cleaving to good, brotherly kindness and preferring one another, since leaving out love produces discord and strife that dishonors God, withholds the power He desires to impart, and prevents glorifying His name before the world and the heavenly universe.

Unity does not mean uniformity but unity in variety, for as the human body has variety from eyes to feet and from head to limbs, so Christ's body is made of many different members. All the members depend upon one another to make a perfect whole, and in all that variety there is harmonious action in conformity to the laws controlling the being. This oneness comes from drinking in of the Spirit, who animates all and unites all by surpassing love, so that diversity of gifts expressed in unity makes a complete whole. Each member has liberty of expression, yet none is to work out a plan of his own invention in raising means, supporting schools, or sustaining the ministry, but all must blend capabilities with those chosen to lead in pledged union in action, united in perfect harmony to the best of ability with unity and love and the glory of God in view. Such unity keeps confusion and diversity from replacing oneness when strange fanaticism and heresies must be met, enabling victory in holding truth as the Bible presents it, with the many manifestations of the Holy Spirit differing in expression but working unto holiness as every soul aims at the perfection of the character of Jesus Christ and no member launches out against another.

This diversity is God's plan to meet the varied makeup, organizations, and minds of people in the world, so the strength of one servant of God is not the strength of another. Each person is to be left free to act out and develop the powers, qualities, and gifts God has given and to cultivate them for greater efficiency, keeping will, identity, and independent natural traits, because those traits give access to a class that others could not touch. No one should govern too much, bend other minds to his own ideas, mold judgment and character to himself, or force others to conform, lest will and identity be destroyed and they be spoiled and fitted poorly for the special work God would have them do. Every man must be left free for God to convict and operate upon his heart and call forth his powers to develop an individual strength and experience for himself, and no one should prescribe another person's work against conviction of duty, though counsel may be offered while each seeks direction from God. Members are to value and encourage one another's gifts, including the least gifted, improve and use them faithfully without overlooking any, and work in unity, since differing traits and gifts can serve God's work together and help shape those they meet.

Every member, including the least gifted and seemingly insignificant, has an appointed place, post of duty, task in the household of faith, and portion of the Lord's work according to ability, and no one can belong to Christ's body and remain inactive or idle. God gives every person work in seeking souls, whether great or small, in business, trades, ministry, or mission, and people differ in abilities and training yet each can have work to do without needing to imitate one of greater gifts or stature, since humble service using one's own capacity is valuable. Though individually distinct, believers are joined through Christ to one another and to God's human and heavenly agencies, each having duty not for selfish interests but so influence strengthens the whole, calling the church to be living and working as an active agency for carrying forward God's plan of redemption. Different lines of work are committed to different men according to their several ability, as illustrated by the many kinds of work in Greater New York, but all work done for the Master connects with the great whole. All are to work together in concert, each controlled by divine power and moved by one Spirit and bound by love, putting forth undivided effort with hearts blended to draw those around them to Christ, moving like well-adjusted machinery where each part is dependent on the other yet stands distinct in action.

Different testimonies and ways of expressing the same truth can form one harmonious whole without identical words or views, just as the distinct Gospel accounts do. As many different stones each with its special light, significance, and message from God were set in one breastplate of the high priest and added to the beauty of the whole, so many minds form one Mind and many styles of building and expression belong to one work. Through the Holy Spirit God gives the same truth to be expressed differently according to the development of each mind, and as sunlight falling on different objects gives a different hue, yet without contradiction. All draw spiritual supplies from the same storehouse and are wholly dependent on God for grace and the Spirit's working, with unity expressed through love, peace, humility, and unselfish service, while treating difference as a virtue or striving for novelty can instead invite error and division.

Mutual Need and Care

No member is a complete whole in himself, and no one is fitted to bear the burden of the work alone, for the deficiency in one person's experience and abilities is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. Men of different minds, gifts, talents, opportunities, and lines of work are joined together so they will counsel with and assist one another, fill appropriate positions, and produce harmonious action from the one source and the same Spirit. Each is to use his own abilities faithfully in his God-given work without despising others or envying greater talents and achievements, and no worker left alone should think his talent is enough to make a complete whole. Unwillingness to link with brethren who do not work in exactly the same line shows need for converting power on heart and character, lest personal peculiarities hinder the salvation of fellow men.

No member is to entertain self-sufficiency or say to another, I have no need of thee, for two members do not act the same part yet all belong to the same body under Jesus Christ as head. Among the members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, since many gifts are called for and each belongs in its proper place. No member should regard another as inferior or unnecessary, but every member should be respected for contributing to the good of the whole, with variety working together in harmony. Recognizing this God-appointed order guards against rivalry, pride, envy, and contempt, and strengthens unity and mutual love.

God arranged the members in the body as He chose and gives honor to those who lack it, so there should be no division but the same care one for another. When one member suffers all members suffer with it, and when one is honored all are honored, enlightened, and rejoice with him. Each one has a distinctive place and part to act, as hand, head, ear, eye, or limbs, blended in harmonious proportions into a symmetrical whole without exalting one above another, and members are not to antagonize one another but to be one. The weak and inexperienced can be strengthened by those with greater hope or experience, yet every member is vital and joined to Christ the living Head, increasing the church's usefulness and influence for good.

Members are to show unceasing tenderness as God shows tenderness to His people, speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren, uniting in service, and jealously guarding one another's interests even though mistakes are made. They should show Christlike sympathy and kindly interest, rejoicing in helping fellow believers, so that mutual care produces fruits of righteousness, makes light shine to others, and benefits the church through sanctifying grace. This unity calls for practical love including hospitality and help for those in need, and for unselfish service with entrusted talents so the whole body may be perfected. The church is to live in the world without belonging to it, as a Christian family prepared for heaven, where each converted member's changed character blesses others while the courage and faith of the whole sustain each member, and even the weakest believer belongs to the body with the privileges of a child of God.

These bonds of mutual obligation cannot be broken even when people ignore them, for each person is a member of a common body and part of a greater whole whose welfare is bound to the welfare of others. Neglecting God's purposes for how people relate harms character and becomes a snare to others, while each person depends on others and has something to receive and impart with responsibility to promote the happiness and welfare of others in God's family. Affections and interests joined as closely as members of one body make separation from those once united in faith feel like a limb torn from the body. Each must fill a proper place according to ability while Christ as source of life and power pervades and sustains the whole, making believers channels of His love in service to one another.

Complementary qualities strengthen shared work, for careful thinkers are needed to check exaggerated action and active workers are needed to make up for those so slow and moderate that precious time is lost. People of different temperaments, tastes, habits, strengths, and weaknesses blend together as one whole, with diverse elements adapted to one another, each doing a special work and filling up one great plan bearing Christ's image. So Luther's courage and energy joined with Melancthon's gentleness, caution, and exactness strengthened their shared work and encouraged Luther. Encouraging church members to work and educating them to bear responsibilities lifts burdens from ministers and adds years to the life of the worker who works with God.

The same principle of unity and interdependence belongs to God's family above, where in the sinless heavenly family every angel served loyally in the position assigned by God and gave glory to Him as the Center of all, each one's work related to the work of the others with none independent. On earth God made provision for reciprocal action and mutual relation of all living beings, arranging that all shall be connected together and the whole to God. In creating Adam and Eve as parents of all, He designed each human being to stand related to the rest as part of the web of humanity, in which no one can be dropped out without affecting the whole and nothing is independent of the rest.

Order Without Independence

No member is to act from independent judgment, do another's work, take in hand and spoil a fellow laborer's different assignment, or work contrary to another, for no one is a complete whole in himself and each gains perfection and influence only by faithfully discharging his own duties in God's appointed way as part of the great whole. In diversity there is unity, with different lines of work, talents, and opportunities assigned to best promote God's glory, yet all obtain nourishment and spiritual life from one source and the same Spirit works through them in different ways to produce harmonious action, united by sympathy for one another, the same care one for another, fidelity to Christ, and humble faith laboring in Christ's lines. Working against brethren brings shame to God, and walking and working away from Christ finally brings the lowest place. Unity is preserved only as the different members perform their several offices, whether preaching the Word, teaching in schools, practicing as a physician, cultivating the soil, following a trade, acting in councils, or going to foreign lands, remaining firmly united with the body of God's commandment-keeping people, doing their best with all tact and strength of mind and heart while keeping themselves clean and unspotted from the world. In every part of the work one part must work as connected with another part, joined together by the golden links of heaven in living faith on the living Word and the living God, with no kings in the midst and no right in any man to forbid a worker to go where he can find a place to work or to refuse support.

Every member must stay united to the body and work in his respective capacity under Christ as Master in heaven, calling no man master and being controlled by the Holy Spirit rather than seeking to be controlled by men. To disconnect from God's appointed agencies and work on an independent line in supposed wisdom is the enemy's delusion, and although a person may flatter himself that he is doing God's work he will not prosper in the end. No one is to live for himself or separate from the body to pursue an independent course, but is to cooperate with others, remain pure, holy, sincere, and likeminded with God, and use God-given abilities where he can serve most effectively in harmony with the body. The members are not independent of one another but must work together in unity and cooperation in the Lord's work.

God has joined together men of different minds so they will counsel with and assist one another, share plans and ideas, receive advice with kindness and love, and let mind blend with mind, since no one man has all wisdom, can mold important interests alone, or can be regarded as the voice for the people. The deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, so no one is fitted to bear the burden alone and no one man's gift alone is sufficient to make a complete whole. A worker left to labor alone is in danger of thinking his talent is enough, while united workers consult together, pray together, and cooperate in labor, and unwillingness to link with brethren who do not work in exactly the same line shows need for converting power on heart and character lest personal peculiarities hinder the salvation of fellow men. Office makes a man a leader, adviser, counselor, and helper in bearing burdens and a leader in offering thanksgiving to God, not one appointed to order and command the Lord's laborers or to control and rule his fellow laborers, for the Lord is over His heritage and position gives no kingly authority. No arbitrary, man-ruling power is ever to come in to take the place and authority of God, no branch of the work is to exercise kingly power over the rest or stand as a kingdom of itself, and unity does not mean consolidation but workers keeping individuality and personal responsibility under Christ's divine leadership while counseling together in harmony with truth. To every man talents are given according to ability with minds of different scope running in different lines, so those in trust must modestly regard others' opinions as worthy of respect and likely to be as correct as their own, remembering God has made other men just as valuable and is willing to teach and guide them, and when linked together each supplies the other's deficiency to become a complete whole able to bear sacred responsibilities.

God has a people whom He is leading, teaching, and guiding so they may teach and lead and guide others, and He has a church on earth to which He has delegated power and expects believers to grow up as a holy temple unto the Lord. All are to be subject to the body of the church, submit to advice, counsel, and reproof, press together, close every door to strife and alienation, and be of one mind and one judgment under God as leader with every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit in organized, well-directed effort, while no erring person may claim practical infallibility, demand all bend to his mind, or maintain his opinion against plain facts, reason, and clearest proof. Regarding individual judgment as supreme is grave peril, and to neglect or despise those appointed to bear responsibilities, to think light must come through no channel but directly from God, or to refuse to yield private judgment and be taught is to reject God's ordained means of help and to stand liable to deception and overthrow. Refusing subjection to the body, moving in independent judgment in self-sufficiency and self-esteem, despising reproof, departing from the faith, and separating from conference organization to show supposed efficiency surely bring disaster and ruin of souls, because Satan becomes leader to tear down what God is building by finite judgments, while evil thinking and evil speaking that cause discord break unity and rob the church of happiness, usefulness, and reformation. This reciprocal dependence binds every church and every conference by a sacred chain, so conferences and sanitariums and all branches are never to stand as an independent whole on a separate basis, but those taking up new work are to receive help and counsel from those of experience in failure and success, with all movements carefully scrutinized and closely knit in harmonious action, and each member humble, distrustful of self, subdued by the Spirit, willing to die to self and give weight to light cherished by others even when it crosses his ideas.

Dividing into factions contradicts the oneness of the one body of many members and weakens witness to the truth. Strife over who shall be greatest is as without reason as strife among members of the body over which shall be greatest, and there is to be no division, contention, jealousy, quarreling, counter-influence, or party spirit of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but one common interest and cooperation with Christ in restoring the moral image of God, with every part controlled by God-given wisdom, drawing together in even cords without friction, each doing the appointed part, staying at post, settling disagreement at once, and being reconciled. Gifts are never to be used to separate believers, no one is to be conscience for others, truth is not to be taught so hearers form separate parties under different heads, and no soul is to fasten itself to a human leader or follow human devising; where contention appears from narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds there must be reformation that calls things by their right names. Union is strength and variance is weakness and sin, and when the whole working agency acts together in sacred duties to strengthen and establish the church it exhibits God's miracle-working power as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

The teaching of the twelfth chapter with the thirteenth should be studied, digested, committed to memory, and written in mind and heart rather than ignored, for those brought together in church capacity are to be united understandingly and intelligently. Its use begins with self-examination and the continuous humbling of self, taking self critically in hand and dealing sternly, decidedly, and bravely with self by closest introspection of temperament, weaknesses, and perverse disposition so as not to dishonor God, instead of criticizing, crowding, judging, or measuring one gift by another. It should have more weight while believers are being tried and tested and seek to be shut in with God so the wicked one has no power over them, and since all who manifest repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ are accepted as members of one body, no bars are to be placed to make a soul lose courage in the warfare against temptation. The verse shows a coupling-pin bond that keeps a person and his work firmly united with God's commandment-keeping people, and preserving that unity is important for the safety and training of those being educated.

Gospel and Medical Work

Christ's work is one whole made up of distinct, connected parts working under the direction of the head, as one body with many members each having its appointed function. The gospel ministry is the head and body, and medical missionary work is joined to it as the hand and arm and right hand, while publications and schools are also members of the one unit, and no branch alone is a perfect whole. Medical missionary work is an important helping part that must work in unity with the ministry of the word and must never be separated from it or made to replace it. Treating either work as unnecessary or allowing one to act independently makes the work unbalanced, brings confusion, leaves parts undone, and neglects fields of service.

The arm must not declare independence from the head and must not be made to become the whole body. The body works the arm and not the arm the body, and to reverse that order turns proper order upside down. Medical missionary work is not to be elevated above the gospel ministry, treated as an independent all-important work, allowed to eclipse the third angel's message and the ministry of the Word, made to absorb all means and agencies, or set to control the ministry. Making medical missionary work the body in place of the arm results in great harm, wastes means, weakens the gospel work, belittles or ignores preaching, and brings confusion, disorganization, and neglected fields.

Neither part is complete without the other, and one agency is not to supersede another. The gospel ministry gives prominence and stability to medical missionary work, while medical missionary work is the gospel in illustration and in practice, demonstrating its practical working. As hands open the way for the body, the right hand opens doors so the body can find entrance, largely preparing the way for the reception of present truth, creating confidence for preaching and church planting. Health reform and medical missionary work connected to the third angel's message as the right arm to the body work effectively in defending the body of truth, and a body without hands is useless and able to accomplish nothing. God works through instruments or second causes, using the gospel ministry, medical missionary work, and publications containing present truth to impress hearts, made effectual by faith as the Holy Spirit sends truth home to those who hear and read with earnest desire to know what is right.

All branches must hold together in unity, proportion, and perfect oneness, every part joined harmoniously with every other part to carry out the plan for advancement. There are to be no walls of partition or territorial lines, and no single branch is to absorb all the working agencies, strength, means, and workers of the cause. Means, workers, tithes, and control are to be kept undivided, with conferences, sanitariums, schools, and publishing houses cooperating, directing means and workers also to new fields and many lands rather than using all strength in one line. A school and a sanitarium can help and strengthen one another while remaining distinct, and the work is not to sway heavily to one line nor be done in one or two lines alone but in every line carried forward symmetrically and harmoniously. No branch is to be treated as more important than the rest, for doing so elevates self and crowds out Christ.

The same oneness requires ministers and physicians to blend in Christian unity as members of one body, with responsibility not altogether on one side. Disrespect by ministers toward physicians over health reform and unjust bearing down by physicians upon ministers create disunion, even where the light against tea, coffee, and flesh meats is decided and rejection of it injures and divides. God's converting power must circulate through all members like the healthful current of blood in the body, and where that circulation exists great changes take place. Every minister of the gospel is to be prepared to do practical medical missionary work to open doors for the entrance of truth, for care for the sick belongs to the gospel ministry and all should share an interest in it. Health reform is the helping hand of the ministry and part of present truth, and both were bound together in Christ, who joined preaching and healing and gave attention to the sick as readily as to proclaiming the gospel, so that one gives completeness to the other.

The spiritual health of the church determines the health of its institutions as arms or branches of that living body. When the church stands in the counsel of God and is healthy, light and a vitalizing, healthful current flow from the church to control and give life to each branch. When the church is sickly, in moral darkness, and without divine favor, a sickly, deathly influence circulates through the whole living body until disease and spiritual death appear everywhere, and the darkness of the church creates darkness and death in its institutions. The work at the center acts as the heart, and vigorous, healthy heartbeats from the center must be felt in all parts, for if the heart is sickly and weak its inefficiency affects all branches. A sound, healthy working power at the center is essential to carry truth to the world and diffuse it through families and communities, requiring wise planning, training of mind, discerning of talents, encouraging gifted persons to labor according to God-given capabilities, educating others by older workers to find their place, and not neglecting home missions and needs at hand for foreign missions.

Living the Oneness

The body being one with many members means every member is to use entrusted gifts in unselfish, active service for the Master in different lines, combining talents with others to prepare a people for Christ's soon coming. No one who belongs to Christ's body can remain inactive, for each has a task in the household of faith and a portion of the Lord's work according to ability, and the whole church is to act in unity as an active agency for carrying forward God's plan of redemption. People differ in abilities and training, but each can have work to do, and no one needs to imitate a person with greater gifts or stature, since humble service using one's own capacity is valuable whether great or small, in business, trades, ministry, or mission, as in the many kinds of work needed in Greater New York. All work done for the Master connects with the great whole, with hearts blended and each controlled by divine power putting forth undivided effort to draw those around to Christ, moving like well-adjusted machinery where each part is dependent on the other yet stands distinct in action, living within the body to encourage the faint-hearted and to correct and reprove those who err.

Living that oneness requires working in harmony with humility, willingness to learn, brotherly kindness, courtesy, meekness, and love, even when judgments or plans differ. Genuine members true to faith and duty do not stand apart in self-confidence to watch for opportunity to criticize and condemn, but speak good words to help and strengthen brethren, jealously guard one another's interests even though mistakes are made, and show Christlike sympathy and kindly interest rejoicing to help fellow believers. Different minds and gifts must be joined together because no one has every ability or enough wisdom to manage the work alone, and talents and influence are to be combined with mutual care so the weak and inexperienced can be strengthened by those with greater hope or experience. Knowledge or ability that can help others should be shared rather than kept as private property, workers should take interest in one another's work, and unity is perfected by loving as Christ loved, binding hearts together, comforting the suffering, and encouraging inexperienced workers to serve.

Church relationship is an obligation and one of the first steps in a life of service, for connection with Christ involves connection with His church, which is organized for service. To be that living, breathing, spiritual body, churches must have life in themselves with order carefully preserved under spiritually-minded men looking after the spiritual good, with one company set to pray with and help the lame and the sick and dependent and others set to work in the various lines needed. Every soul who has received light has a duty to impart truth to those who do not know it, to become more than casually acquainted with neighbors, to give clear, straight testimony, and to labor for souls outside, so neighbors are not left in sins; loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as training, and in a church imbued with the Master's life this leads directly to effort for the world. This oneness forbids criticism, faultfinding, separation, prejudice, speaking evil, and carrying a measuring line to measure others and dictate how things shall go, calling instead for uplifting the cross of Calvary, calling sinners to the Lamb of God, enlarging the circle of believers with sanctified zeal for saving perishing souls under the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Membership alone does not make a Christian or secure salvation; members must remain faithful representatives of Christ under sanctified direction, working together with Him as a harmonious body under governing intelligence. The church is to live in the world without belonging to it, as a Christian family being prepared for membership in heaven, where each converted member's changed character blesses others and the courage and faith of the whole body strengthen each member, and even the weakest believer belongs with the privileges of a child of God and can become strong in humble dependence. Members should put the church's good before self-interest and yield individual judgment to the judgment of the church body, living in peace and harmony as an undivided body. Spiritual peace and harmony bring health just as harmonious action of bodily parts promotes physical health, through belief of the truth in Christ under the Holy Spirit, and there is to be no party strife, no schism, and no partition walls between man and man, but meekness, lowliness, goodness, patience and love binding man to God and laying each under obligation to work for fellow men.

Distinct work suited to different fields should be supported rather than pressed into others' methods, for the work need not bear one person's stamp for its workers to be in harmony with the body. The Bourdeaus could serve among the French in ways American ministers could not, and the French brethren should have joined efforts rather than holding back for fear of being out of harmony. Believers of different backgrounds belong to one body and are complete only in Christ, who lifts people from sin's degradation to be fellow workers with God with a place in heaven, and this calls for developing and supporting gifted workers within their own communities, including Black men and women serving their people.

Union with the body requires overcoming selfishness and love of riches, for those in whom truth is carrying on its purifying work cannot stay separate in selfishness and love of the world but must let love of truth predominate, keep affections on the heavenly attraction, let heavenly treasure increase in value as the earthly decreases, and impart freely of substance to aid the cause of truth, refusing to live only for self. When a shepherd fails to lead and labor and his influence discourages believers so they do not feel free to act, the body suffers loss and the cause languishes, for health depends on members working together.

Reciprocal dependence binds every church and every conference by a sacred chain, with different offices, gifts and operations given by the same Spirit and the same God, the manifestation of the Spirit given to each to profit all, including wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. God's order is perfect unity and love in which no haphazard work is done but orderly, united labor joins different workers with different methods and callings in Christian love without refusing fellowship because plans differ, each exercising gift and individuality, building one another up in the most holy faith and seeking the Holy Spirit so light is reflected in clear, bright rays. God's law of cooperation joins all converted agencies with the divine cooperating with the human, bringing the power of the future world into the present with reciprocal influence and no kingly power of one man controlling the whole, to reveal Christ and the cross to a world perishing in sin; leaving out sincere love, hatred of evil, cleaving to good, brotherly kindness and preferring one another produces discord and strife that dishonors God, withholds desired power, and prevents glorifying His name before the world and the heavenly universe, while evil thinking and evil speaking that cause separation rob happiness and usefulness and hinder reformation, and separating from conference organization to show supposed efficiency is entirely opposed to this order.

When the whole working agency acts together in sacred duties to strengthen and establish the church, each doing the appointed part and staying at post with no counter-influence, settling disagreement at once and being reconciled, it exhibits God's miracle-working power as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. Union is strength and variance is weakness and sin, and unity in Christ through belief of the truth under the Holy Spirit carries to the world a convincing testimony that followers are taught by Him.