And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
The ear saying it is not of the body because it is not the eye does not make it so, for difference of gift, role, or function never removes a member's belonging to the body. God Himself places each member and dispenses different gifts to different members as it pleases Him, all by the same Spirit for the good of the whole body. Each has a distinct office essential to completeness, and no one is complete alone, for what is lacking in one is supplied by another. The church is therefore one body with many members set in place by God and centered in Christ the Head, its living members joined and dependent, suffering together and honored together. So there is to be no division or strife over who is greatest, and no self-sufficiency, rivalry, envy, or contempt among members, but tenderness, sympathy, and mutual care.
Figure of Ear and Eye
The ear's saying that because it is not the eye it is not of the body does not make it so, for difference of gift, role, office, work or function never removes a member's belonging to the body. God sets varied gifts and functions in place as He pleases, and the body needs its many members to be complete, so no single member or kind of work can fulfill every function. Each has a distinct office essential to the completeness of the whole, and their differences enable them to supply what another lacks and to work together in harmony. Therefore no member is to be self-sufficient, to judge another's gift, to measure one gift against another, or to consider another inferior, unnecessary, weak or little, but each is to be respected for its contribution, with the church caring for the interests of its members and fostering mutual love, service and care without division.
The human body from head to feet, from eyes to feet, holds variety of members with different offices yet all belong, depend on one another to make a perfect whole, and work together in harmonious action in conformity to the laws controlling the being. Life opposes uniformity, and as members of Christ's body all center in the Head while having different gifts by the same Spirit, with the strength of one servant not the strength of another. This is God's economy to meet varied organizations, make-up and minds in the world, so each person is to cultivate the gifts, powers and qualities given as endowment, act them out, develop individual strength and experience for a special work, and become a more efficient laborer in his own appointed station and place. Will, identity and independent natural traits are to be kept rather than governed and managed completely by others, for those traits give access to a class others could not touch, and no human hands are to force other minds to bend, mold judgment and character to another pattern, or destroy what fits one for God's purpose, but every person must be left free for God to convict the heart and call forth his powers. The church is like a well-regulated machine formed by the union of all its members working under the head, where each part is to be respected, encouraged, sustained and recognized, and its usefulness is increased by harmonious energy and action on the part of every member and by the sympathy of every part with the whole, through speaking the truth in love for the benefit of the whole. This forbids envy and evil thinking, evil speaking and evil acting, and forbids fitful, spasmodic movements, while the more fully believers drink in of the Spirit the more they are animated and united by His surpassing love. Every mental and physical power is a God-given talent essential to the church, and amid the perils of the last days all powers must be cultivated and used in right relation to each other so as to make a perfect whole that represents the wisdom and character of God, for God gives the talents and powers of the mind but man makes the character by earnestly cultivating the mind as the Lord's garden in order to form a character after the divine similitude.
The verse belongs to a formal declaration that certain gifts of the Spirit, including prophecy, miracles, healing, teaching, helps and leadership, were placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. It shows how Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth was to be fulfilled to the church until Christ returns.
The figure of the members composing the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another, and those brought together in church capacity will be united understandingly and intelligently. The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 should be committed to memory, written in the mind and heart, studied and digested and not ignored, and should have more weight when believers are being tried and tested. So kept, it shuts believers in with God so the wicked one has no power over them, while the one grand necessity is for church members to walk humbly with God in the path of obedience.
As the outward body and tabernacle of flesh is a complete structure where every part is united to the others and dependent on them for life, with each member having its special office and connected with the others to form a complete whole, so the Word of God is a complete body pervaded by one divine life. Every book and every portion of Scripture has its use and some lesson to be learned, adapted to human beings in every phase of life to secure a special result and to make the human family complete in Christ, and no part can be dismissed as disconnected odds and ends.
Gifts Appointed by God
The ear is still of the body though it is not the eye, for difference of gift, work, or place never removes belonging, and no member is to feel cast out because his part differs from another's. God Himself dispenses the gifts as it pleases Him, giving one gift to one person and another to another, all by the same Spirit and all for the good of the whole body. The strength of one servant is not the strength of another, and this diversity is in the divine economy to meet the varied organizations, make-up, and minds of people in the world. These gifts are to be actively used together under Jesus Christ as Head, not to glorify their possessor or exalt man but to honor the Redeemer, represent truth, help one another fulfill duty, and complete the work given. Because all center in the Head yet operate differently, there is to be no self-sufficiency, no saying to another that there is no need of him, no crowding, no judging, no measuring of one gift by another, and no carnal emulation, pride, envy, or contempt.
Each person is to cultivate, act out, and develop the powers, qualities, and endowment given him, keeping will and identity and becoming a more efficient laborer in his own place while united with fellow laborers. No human hand is to force other minds to bend to its own ideas, destroy their will, identity, and independent natural traits, or mold judgment and character to another pattern, for those traits give access to a class others could not touch. Every person must be left free for God to convict the heart, call forth powers, and develop individual strength and experience for a special work, without being governed and managed completely by others.
Each member has a distinct office, and every one is essential to the completeness of the body, so that no single member or single kind of work can fulfill every function. No one is complete alone and no one is qualified to bear the burden of the work alone, for members have different minds, experience, talents, and abilities and are associated together to counsel with and assist one another. Deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, and this mutual supply enables harmonious working together. No member should consider another inferior or unnecessary, but each should be respected for his contribution, with room made for the contributions of others. This relation requires uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, having strong unchristlike traits softened, subdued, and purified, and uniting with one another in order to be one with Christ in God.
Service like that of the hand or the foot is lowly yet important, and even the smallest gifts are needed, valued, encouraged, and used in unity. No worker is to be counted out for supposed weakness or littleness, and no work is to be despised as small, for the Lord has many workers and many kinds of work, some great and some small, all to unite to make a perfect whole. The weakest saint who believes in Christ is still a member of His body, and living in humble dependence on God he can become strong, with the privileges of a child of God, sustained by the courage and faith of others. Being unsuited to one kind of work does not make a person faithless or unwilling, for God does not expect everyone to be fitted for every role, and each has distinct qualities and value. Worth is not decided by greatness but by the love with which the work is done and the motive underlying the action. Those who feel themselves least, yet work and pray and share what they have received, receive more as they impart, gaining strength from the Source of all strength rather than by seeking to be the head, and becoming burden-bearers joined to Christ as the living Head and made alive by His Spirit.
Every member of the church has an appointed work to do, with different lines committed to different people according to their several ability, and no one can belong to the body while remaining inactive, for none is a drone. All work done for the Master is connected with the great whole, and all are to work together in concert, each controlled by divine power, putting forth undivided effort with blended hearts like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other yet distinct in action, to draw those around them to Christ. Each is to use entrusted time, means, influence, and talents in Christ's service, and no worker should reject or oppose a fellow worker for serving in a different way, since diverse gifts are all needed to bring people in. Every soul who has received light has a duty to impart it, to become acquainted with neighbors, labor for souls, invite them to eternal life, and do what he can with true, earnest goodness to those around him, with no liberty to cease patient, prayerful labor while any are out of safety. The church should make room for each added member to take part according to ability and to serve willingly in whatever way is needed, so no one is left idle. Highest usefulness lies not so much in possessing talents as in using them through the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit, performing duties with exactitude, improving endowments to be and do good, setting a Christlike example, and trading upon them under Christ as Master-worker, for failure to put them to best use robs and dishonors God.
Church United Under Christ
The church is one body with many members placed in it by God and centered in Christ the living Head, and difference of role or gift never removes belonging. All brought together in church capacity, whether many or few, are hand, head, ear, eye and limbs of Christ's body, mutually joined, mutually dependent, and controlled by the Holy Spirit to preserve unity. If one member suffers all suffer with it, and if one is honored all are honored and rejoice together, for Christ is the head and life of each particular member. Grace is given to each according to the measure of the gift of Christ for perfecting the saints into unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of Christ. No member can say of another that it does not belong or is not needed, and splitting into factions fails to witness to the power of the truth, which must be read alongside the call to love.
No believer remains outside the body because of weakness, inexperience or littleness, for union is strength and every talent has its place under the Holy Spirit. Each is only one member and never an independent whole, whether preaching, teaching, practicing medicine, cultivating soil, following a trade, acting in councils or going to foreign lands, and each is to look to the Lord as companion, counselor, guide, helper and friend. Members are organized into a society of believers to combine and diffuse influence and work as Christ worked, in love, meekness, lowliness, courtesy and respect, bound in covenant love and harmony. In that fellowship each enjoys the assistance of all the graces, talents, gifts and abilities of the others and the working of God upon them, so what is lacking in one is more abundantly displayed in another and all are benefited and improved by the refining transforming influence of varied capabilities. The weak and inexperienced, though least, is strengthened by the hopeful and mature, shines as a stone in the building, is united to Christ the living Head and through Christ identified with all excellencies of Christ's character, while discipline guards the rights of all, increases mutual dependence, and moves the whole body in sound thorough harmonious action rather than by one man's mind and judgment alone.
Simple organization and church order with delegated power are ordained for the unity and perfection of the church, and God has a church on earth to which He has delegated power and which He expects to grow up as a holy temple to the Lord. No member can disconnect from the agencies God has appointed and work on an independent line in supposed wisdom and still succeed, for wanting to separate is a delusion of the enemy that ends without prosperity. The body must press together of one mind and one judgment with God as leader, following His footsteps, with Christian united to Christian and church to church so human instrumentality cooperates with the divine and every agency is subordinate to the Holy Spirit in organized well-directed effort to give the world the glad tidings of grace. No one may regard individual judgment as supreme, live in independence, despise those appointed to bear leadership, or suppose light must come directly from God through no other channel, lest he be deceived and overthrown by Satan's studied effort to separate him from channels of light through whom God has wrought to build up and extend the work. Those holding office stand as leaders, advisers, counselors, helpers in burdens and leaders in thanksgiving, not appointed to order, command, control or rule fellow laborers, but to treat co-workers with the consideration they would wish were positions reversed, while the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people if they will be led instead of assuming powers not given.
Self-sufficiency and self-esteem lie at the foundation of trials and discords, and men who rise against reproof, despise counsel, depart from the faith and follow independent judgment bring disaster and ruin of souls while Satan becomes their leader to tear down what God builds, with all works at last bearing the test of judgment. Believers are branches of the living vine, brothers and sisters of one family, branches of one root, and individual parts of one mighty whole with Christ as Center, Head, Teacher, Ruler, strength and righteousness, bound to God by golden cords of love because the Captain of salvation died to make men one with Him and with each other. That membership requires putting away lying and speaking truth with one another, keeping friendship true and untainted without partiality and without hypocrisy through unity by the truth in Jesus, and loving God supremely and one another truly, sincerely and unaffectedly with pure hearts fervently by a divine principle of pure love drawn from God's heart rather than impulse or spasmodic feeling, with heart bound to heart and taught by the Holy Spirit. There is to be no party strife, schism, partition walls or shade of strife, for the well-being of each is the happiness of the whole, talents when sanctified are to be exercised for one another's benefit rather than perverted to hurt and injure, influence always tends to good or evil, and oneness lays each under obligation to work for fellow men, shun political entanglements and worldly questions, uplift the Saviour, and let Christ train His subjects in meekness, lowliness, goodness, patience and love as channels of God's love to bless others.
The perfection of the church does not depend on each member being fashioned exactly alike, for each is to take a proper place, stand in his lot, and do appointed work according to ability given. As the ear remains of the body though it is not the eye, no worker can make himself a distinct whole apart from brethren because his work differs from theirs, and the perfection of the whole depends on the perfection of individual members in union together. God requires uniting and cooperating with brethren under His control, and refusing to cooperate while carrying out one's own plans and ideas brings failure and ruin upon oneself.
Medical Work Joined Together
Medical missionary work is the arm, the hand, the working hand, the helping hand, and the right hand to the body, not the head and not the whole body, while the gospel ministry is the head and the body and publications containing present truth are also God's appointed instruments, and one member is not to supersede another. The body needs both head and arms to do active, aggressive work, and Christ joined both branches in all His labors, with the ministry as the head and the medical missionary work as the arm, so the arm remains only a part of the great whole, must not separate from the ministry, must not say to the head that it has no need of it, and must not become the body itself, for making it the body in place of the arm results in great harm. It is to be done but not made the principal and all-important line; it is to be combined with giving the warning message and instructing the churches and helping the needy, and even when unworthy ones are connected with the ministry, no one can ignore the ministry without ignoring God. Though the right hand is a leading member and may open doors for the body, its work is to help the other members, it must be joined to the ministry rather than treated as all-important while other essential work is neglected, and neither part of the work is complete without this union because medical missionary work is bound up with the gospel ministry as the gospel in illustration.
Each part must occupy its appointed place in proper proportion under Christ's direction and stay joined in inseparable union, and making medical work the body, the center, or all and in all misapplies strength and resources and leaves other essential work neglected. Each part is to consider its relation to the whole and to the other parts, to be controlled and guided by the wisdom God gives, and to use its varied gifts in humility of mind before God to bless humanity as His helping hand, forbidding jealousy and party divisions of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, requiring harmony in every action, with all drawing together in even cords without friction while wearing the yoke of Christ. The ministry of the Word holds the first place among human agencies and the medical missionary work is the hand and arm joined to the body under the direction of the head, begun as a benevolent work in connection with the gospel ministry and not as the whole work itself. No branch separated from the others can be a perfect whole, for the parts are interdependent and every part is needed for the body to be whole, so health work belongs together with the wider gospel work and must work in unity with the ministry of the word rather than acting independently or taking the ministry's place.
To disparage the ministry and try to conduct medical missionary work independently is to separate the arms from the body, producing hands and arms, flying arms, dispensing means without the direction of the head. That unbalanced, disproportionate work unsettles minds, brings confusion, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, takes the place of the whole body and leaves the ministry no standing room, becomes a strange medley of disorganized atoms that consumes but does not produce, saps life and force from the ministry, and places men where they will scoff at Bible truth. Since about 1893 ambition and selfishness have treated the medical missionary work as the body in place of the hands and arms, making it a great and increasing barrier to the true and regular work, drawing means into itself, and the physicians in the Sanitarium under Dr. J. H. Kellogg do a strange work in this reversal. Ministers and physicians are members of one body in which true converting power must circulate like the healthful current of blood, producing unity and great changes, so disunion between them is displeasing to God and the fault is not altogether on one side: ministers who are disrespectful on health reform and take a position against the light given against tea, Java coffee, and flesh meats injure themselves and work up division, while physicians who feel injured and bear down on ministers as a body in an unjustifiable manner are also wrong, and a different understanding is needed between them.
The right hand opens doors so the body may find entrance and largely prepares the way for the reception of present truth by breaking down prejudice so truth can go with power. A body without hands is useless, and without the helping hands the body can do nothing, so honor given to the body must also be given to the helping hands, and a body that treats the right hand indifferently and refuses its aid is able to accomplish nothing. The gospel ministry is needed to give prominence and stability to the medical missionary work, and the medical missionary work is needed to demonstrate the practical working of the gospel, with neither undertaking to compass the whole field alone and neither exalted above the other, that the Lord's work may be carried forward symmetrically and harmoniously in every line, with a worldwide message, means wisely used, and planting in many places, so that every part of the large vineyard produces fruit. In large cities the two must go hand in hand, and their union opens doors for the entrance of truth and reveals God's salvation, with every minister prepared to do medical missionary work, since reluctance toward health reform comes from unwillingness to deny self and breaks God's order for united work.
Cooperation Without Division
No single person with gifts alone is qualified to bear the burden of the work or to carry a series of meetings through to perfection, for men of different minds, experience, temperaments, talents and abilities are joined together as members of the body to counsel with and assist one another. Deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, so each worker must understand his relation to fellow workers, keep the mind open to counsel, cherish confidence in the wisdom of brethren, and blend mind with mind in planning and carrying the work forward. One man's mind and judgment must not mold and direct important interests or be regarded as the voice for the people, and those in responsible positions must modestly regard the opinions of others as worthy of respect and likely to be as correct as their own. Varied gifts and different agencies are essential so the work is built up strong and symmetrical and made complete under divine direction rather than fashioned after one man's special ideas, with those of careful thought checking exaggerated action and those too slow and moderate in coming to conclusions being corrected lest precious time be lost. Those advanced in experience and knowledge are to yoke up with brethren, esteem them, trust responsibilities to them, work by their side, instruct them kindly, and give them chance to learn and impart what they receive, while those deficient in some lines are not to be ignored, criticized, or made a subject of remark but helped and perfected through sharing the work. Even those without ability to open the Scriptures still have a place to do good service in secular lines rather than being made errand boys or left only to sit and hear another preach, and training church members to bear responsibilities lifts burdens from ministers and adds years to the worker's life. The instruction in Corinthians and Ephesians about relation to one another as members of the body is to be carefully studied, meaning uniting human weakness to divine strength, dying to self and living to Christ, having strong unchristlike traits of character softened, subdued and purified, and uniting with one another in order to be one with Christ in God.
Workers are to do the work given them and fill an appropriate place while supplying one another's deficiencies, respecting different assignments rather than interfering with or taking over one another's work. Different lines of work are no reason to refuse cooperation, and unity allows workers to consult, pray, and labor together rather than working in isolation or dictating how everyone else must serve. Individuality and liberty of expression are to be preserved, for God gives diverse gifts by the same Spirit as His plan to meet the varied make-up and minds of people in the world, so the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. Forcing other minds to bend to one's own ideas and destroying their will, identity, and independent natural traits is forbidden, because those traits give access to a class others could not touch. Every person must be left free for God to convict the heart, call forth powers, and develop individual strength and experience for a special work, without human hands molding judgment and character to another pattern and spoiling him for what God wants him to do. Different minds, methods, figures, and ways of presenting truth are fitting for different places, experienced workers should help and patiently teach those with less experience with love rather than harsh criticism, and unity does not require everyone to think alike or agree with one person on everything.
There is to be no division or contention among members about who shall be greatest, just as there is no reason for strife among members of the body about which shall be greatest, but one common interest and cooperation in restoring in man the moral image of God. Ministers given different gifts are still members of the same body and their gifts must never be used to separate believers from one another, form separate parties under different heads of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, set one minister as conscience for other men, or attempt to gain an experience for them. Contention and party spirit deny the unity of the body, believers who split into factions fail to bear witness to the power of the truth, and all dissension comes from narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Each part is to consider its relation to the whole and to the other parts, to be controlled and guided by wisdom given from God, to give room to fellow laborers, to wear the yoke of Christ, and to use varied gifts in humility of mind to bless humanity as His helping hand. As the heart sustains the hand and head by sending blood, love must be shared throughout the body, with harmony in every action, no jealousy, no friction, no quarreling, no measuring of brethren by personal ideas, and no refusal to impart to others. Highest usefulness lies not so much in possessing talents as in using them through the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit, performing duties with exactitude, improving endowments to be and do good, setting a Christlike example, trading upon God-given talents under Christ as Master-worker, and working out one's own salvation and that of family and associates according to daily gained knowledge of righteousness.
Every branch, institution, and conference belongs to one unit, one body with no walls of partition, no division, and no territorial lines between its different branches. The publishing houses giving truth to the world, the sanitariums restoring the sick to health and relieving suffering, and the schools training children and youth for God are all members of that body and parts of one great plan, with medical work as the right hand to open doors for the entrance of truth and no line to be pushed forward to the hindrance of another. In every part of the work one part must work as connected with another part, and that with another part, joined together by golden links, and the different branches and lines of service, including those in Sydney, must be managed by experienced people and joined so they form a harmonious whole requiring more than two or three minds. No branch is to think itself vastly more important than other branches, the publishing institution is not to be a kingdom of itself, and the principles that govern general affairs are to be maintained in the management of publishing and sanitarium work. There are to be no kings in the midst at all, no kingly power of one man controlling the whole or perpetuated from former centralization, and no man has the right to put out his hand and say another worker cannot go somewhere or will not be supported if he goes.
Humility in Mutual Care
The ear is still of the body though it is not the eye, and difference of gift or work never removes belonging, for God appoints varied gifts and functions and the body needs its many members joined under Christ the Head. Therefore among members there is to be no self-sufficiency, no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, since many gifts are called for yet all are members of one body actively used together. Distinct functions enable members to supply what others lack and to work together in harmony, with each respected for its contribution and none considered inferior or unnecessary. Recognizing this order guards against rivalry, pride, envy, contempt, despising another's gifts, carnal emulation, and fitful, spasmodic movements, and it forbids evil thinking, evil speaking, and evil acting. Each worker has an appointed station with its own office and place, to be respected, encouraged, and sustained with due recognition, speaking the truth in love for the benefit of the whole, so that harmonious energy increases the usefulness of the body.
The verse calls for continual humbling of individual self, beginning with self-examination and taking self critically in hand. Each person must deny self and take up and bear his own cross of self-denial, self-humiliation, and self-sacrifice, not lay his cross on another to carry. Instead of criticizing one another and placing bars that keep any repentant soul from courage in the warfare against temptation, each is to deal sternly with self, examining peculiar temperament and weaknesses of character with closest introspection and dealing decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition so God is not dishonored.
It reveals unceasing tenderness toward God's people and His desire that they show the same tenderness to one another, not standing apart in self-confidence watching to criticize and condemn. When they come together for counsel they must speak good words to help and strengthen one another, uniting in service as genuine Christians true to faith and duty and jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made. Those united to Christ should show sympathy and kindly interest, rejoice in helping fellow workers, and thereby strengthen the church, for when one member suffers all suffer with it and when one is honored all rejoice with him. All brought together in church capacity, many or few, constitute members with distinctive places as hand, head, ear, eye, or limbs, not to antagonize one another but to be one, with Christlikeness blending every virtue in harmonious proportion into a symmetrical whole. Union is strength, with all united in love, meekness, and lowliness of mind, combining and diffusing influence, enjoying the assistance of one another's graces, talents, gifts, and abilities, so what is lacking in one is more abundantly displayed in another.
Simple organization and church order are ordained for unity and perfection, and every laborer belongs to the body, so one who holds office stands as leader, adviser, counselor, and helper in carrying burdens and leader in thanksgiving, but is not appointed to order and command laborers or to control and rule fellow workers. Those carrying responsibilities must treat fellow laborers with the same consideration they would wish were positions reversed, for the Lord is over His heritage and will lead His people if they will be led instead of assuming powers not given. No one man is the whole body and no one has all wisdom, so one mind and judgment must not mold and direct important interests or be regarded as the voice for the people, and those in responsible positions, especially conference presidents, must modestly regard others' opinions as worthy of respect and likely as correct as their own. Selfish striving for mastery and the chief place is condemned, whether in head physicians placing themselves first, refusing to treat associates as equals and counselors, and seeking only inexperienced learners who obey without question, or in gospel laborers picking and choosing fellow workers by hereditary and cultivated traits. Love of supremacy, desire for mastery, and high opinion of self are forbidden, and those deciding important questions need new conversion from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and habits of selfishness, close self-examination unto freedom from selfishness, and a clean unselfish character wrought by studying Christ's life. When those in trust practice the meekness and lowliness of Christ instead of dictating and controlling consciences, members have the precious freedom of the liberty of the children of God to act out the grace bestowed upon them.
Each member is entrusted with blessing and comforting those of like precious faith, looking up and believing, being a light by example, and responding to the gift of a precious life to save with cheerful service. The efficiency of the Lord's work on earth depends on those made stewards of means being true and not robbing God, with assurance of His help in faithfulness. Union with the body means overcoming love of riches, keeping affections on heavenly treasure, freely imparting substance to aid the cause of truth instead of shrinking from duty, and refusing to live only for self. All converted agencies sanctified through truth are to organize and combine in one with united plans, the divine cooperating with the human, under the law of cooperation in one great work of reciprocal influence with no kingly power of one man controlling the whole, becoming vast agencies to reveal Christ and the cross. Health reform and medical missionary work belong to this oneness as the right arm to the body, serving efficiently in defense of the body of truth, and workers together, as in a publishing institution, form a body through which the Spirit must circulate as blood circulates, requiring true conversion, no half-way work, crucifixion of self, and unity in repentance.
The ear saying it is not of the body because it is not the eye does not make it so, for difference of gift, role, or function never removes a member's belonging to the body. God Himself places each member and dispenses different gifts to different members as it pleases Him, all by the same Spirit for the good of the whole body. Each has a distinct office essential to completeness, and no one is complete alone, for what is lacking in one is supplied by another. The church is therefore one body with many members set in place by God and centered in Christ the Head, its living members joined and dependent, suffering together and honored together. So there is to be no division or strife over who is greatest, and no self-sufficiency, rivalry, envy, or contempt among members, but tenderness, sympathy, and mutual care.
Figure of Ear and Eye
The ear's saying that because it is not the eye it is not of the body does not make it so, for difference of gift, role, office, work or function never removes a member's belonging to the body. God sets varied gifts and functions in place as He pleases, and the body needs its many members to be complete, so no single member or kind of work can fulfill every function. Each has a distinct office essential to the completeness of the whole, and their differences enable them to supply what another lacks and to work together in harmony. Therefore no member is to be self-sufficient, to judge another's gift, to measure one gift against another, or to consider another inferior, unnecessary, weak or little, but each is to be respected for its contribution, with the church caring for the interests of its members and fostering mutual love, service and care without division.
The human body from head to feet, from eyes to feet, holds variety of members with different offices yet all belong, depend on one another to make a perfect whole, and work together in harmonious action in conformity to the laws controlling the being. Life opposes uniformity, and as members of Christ's body all center in the Head while having different gifts by the same Spirit, with the strength of one servant not the strength of another. This is God's economy to meet varied organizations, make-up and minds in the world, so each person is to cultivate the gifts, powers and qualities given as endowment, act them out, develop individual strength and experience for a special work, and become a more efficient laborer in his own appointed station and place. Will, identity and independent natural traits are to be kept rather than governed and managed completely by others, for those traits give access to a class others could not touch, and no human hands are to force other minds to bend, mold judgment and character to another pattern, or destroy what fits one for God's purpose, but every person must be left free for God to convict the heart and call forth his powers. The church is like a well-regulated machine formed by the union of all its members working under the head, where each part is to be respected, encouraged, sustained and recognized, and its usefulness is increased by harmonious energy and action on the part of every member and by the sympathy of every part with the whole, through speaking the truth in love for the benefit of the whole. This forbids envy and evil thinking, evil speaking and evil acting, and forbids fitful, spasmodic movements, while the more fully believers drink in of the Spirit the more they are animated and united by His surpassing love. Every mental and physical power is a God-given talent essential to the church, and amid the perils of the last days all powers must be cultivated and used in right relation to each other so as to make a perfect whole that represents the wisdom and character of God, for God gives the talents and powers of the mind but man makes the character by earnestly cultivating the mind as the Lord's garden in order to form a character after the divine similitude.
The verse belongs to a formal declaration that certain gifts of the Spirit, including prophecy, miracles, healing, teaching, helps and leadership, were placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. It shows how Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth was to be fulfilled to the church until Christ returns.
The figure of the members composing the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another, and those brought together in church capacity will be united understandingly and intelligently. The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 should be committed to memory, written in the mind and heart, studied and digested and not ignored, and should have more weight when believers are being tried and tested. So kept, it shuts believers in with God so the wicked one has no power over them, while the one grand necessity is for church members to walk humbly with God in the path of obedience.
As the outward body and tabernacle of flesh is a complete structure where every part is united to the others and dependent on them for life, with each member having its special office and connected with the others to form a complete whole, so the Word of God is a complete body pervaded by one divine life. Every book and every portion of Scripture has its use and some lesson to be learned, adapted to human beings in every phase of life to secure a special result and to make the human family complete in Christ, and no part can be dismissed as disconnected odds and ends.
Gifts Appointed by God
The ear is still of the body though it is not the eye, for difference of gift, work, or place never removes belonging, and no member is to feel cast out because his part differs from another's. God Himself dispenses the gifts as it pleases Him, giving one gift to one person and another to another, all by the same Spirit and all for the good of the whole body. The strength of one servant is not the strength of another, and this diversity is in the divine economy to meet the varied organizations, make-up, and minds of people in the world. These gifts are to be actively used together under Jesus Christ as Head, not to glorify their possessor or exalt man but to honor the Redeemer, represent truth, help one another fulfill duty, and complete the work given. Because all center in the Head yet operate differently, there is to be no self-sufficiency, no saying to another that there is no need of him, no crowding, no judging, no measuring of one gift by another, and no carnal emulation, pride, envy, or contempt.
Each person is to cultivate, act out, and develop the powers, qualities, and endowment given him, keeping will and identity and becoming a more efficient laborer in his own place while united with fellow laborers. No human hand is to force other minds to bend to its own ideas, destroy their will, identity, and independent natural traits, or mold judgment and character to another pattern, for those traits give access to a class others could not touch. Every person must be left free for God to convict the heart, call forth powers, and develop individual strength and experience for a special work, without being governed and managed completely by others.
Each member has a distinct office, and every one is essential to the completeness of the body, so that no single member or single kind of work can fulfill every function. No one is complete alone and no one is qualified to bear the burden of the work alone, for members have different minds, experience, talents, and abilities and are associated together to counsel with and assist one another. Deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, and this mutual supply enables harmonious working together. No member should consider another inferior or unnecessary, but each should be respected for his contribution, with room made for the contributions of others. This relation requires uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, having strong unchristlike traits softened, subdued, and purified, and uniting with one another in order to be one with Christ in God.
Service like that of the hand or the foot is lowly yet important, and even the smallest gifts are needed, valued, encouraged, and used in unity. No worker is to be counted out for supposed weakness or littleness, and no work is to be despised as small, for the Lord has many workers and many kinds of work, some great and some small, all to unite to make a perfect whole. The weakest saint who believes in Christ is still a member of His body, and living in humble dependence on God he can become strong, with the privileges of a child of God, sustained by the courage and faith of others. Being unsuited to one kind of work does not make a person faithless or unwilling, for God does not expect everyone to be fitted for every role, and each has distinct qualities and value. Worth is not decided by greatness but by the love with which the work is done and the motive underlying the action. Those who feel themselves least, yet work and pray and share what they have received, receive more as they impart, gaining strength from the Source of all strength rather than by seeking to be the head, and becoming burden-bearers joined to Christ as the living Head and made alive by His Spirit.
Every member of the church has an appointed work to do, with different lines committed to different people according to their several ability, and no one can belong to the body while remaining inactive, for none is a drone. All work done for the Master is connected with the great whole, and all are to work together in concert, each controlled by divine power, putting forth undivided effort with blended hearts like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other yet distinct in action, to draw those around them to Christ. Each is to use entrusted time, means, influence, and talents in Christ's service, and no worker should reject or oppose a fellow worker for serving in a different way, since diverse gifts are all needed to bring people in. Every soul who has received light has a duty to impart it, to become acquainted with neighbors, labor for souls, invite them to eternal life, and do what he can with true, earnest goodness to those around him, with no liberty to cease patient, prayerful labor while any are out of safety. The church should make room for each added member to take part according to ability and to serve willingly in whatever way is needed, so no one is left idle. Highest usefulness lies not so much in possessing talents as in using them through the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit, performing duties with exactitude, improving endowments to be and do good, setting a Christlike example, and trading upon them under Christ as Master-worker, for failure to put them to best use robs and dishonors God.
Church United Under Christ
The church is one body with many members placed in it by God and centered in Christ the living Head, and difference of role or gift never removes belonging. All brought together in church capacity, whether many or few, are hand, head, ear, eye and limbs of Christ's body, mutually joined, mutually dependent, and controlled by the Holy Spirit to preserve unity. If one member suffers all suffer with it, and if one is honored all are honored and rejoice together, for Christ is the head and life of each particular member. Grace is given to each according to the measure of the gift of Christ for perfecting the saints into unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of Christ. No member can say of another that it does not belong or is not needed, and splitting into factions fails to witness to the power of the truth, which must be read alongside the call to love.
No believer remains outside the body because of weakness, inexperience or littleness, for union is strength and every talent has its place under the Holy Spirit. Each is only one member and never an independent whole, whether preaching, teaching, practicing medicine, cultivating soil, following a trade, acting in councils or going to foreign lands, and each is to look to the Lord as companion, counselor, guide, helper and friend. Members are organized into a society of believers to combine and diffuse influence and work as Christ worked, in love, meekness, lowliness, courtesy and respect, bound in covenant love and harmony. In that fellowship each enjoys the assistance of all the graces, talents, gifts and abilities of the others and the working of God upon them, so what is lacking in one is more abundantly displayed in another and all are benefited and improved by the refining transforming influence of varied capabilities. The weak and inexperienced, though least, is strengthened by the hopeful and mature, shines as a stone in the building, is united to Christ the living Head and through Christ identified with all excellencies of Christ's character, while discipline guards the rights of all, increases mutual dependence, and moves the whole body in sound thorough harmonious action rather than by one man's mind and judgment alone.
Simple organization and church order with delegated power are ordained for the unity and perfection of the church, and God has a church on earth to which He has delegated power and which He expects to grow up as a holy temple to the Lord. No member can disconnect from the agencies God has appointed and work on an independent line in supposed wisdom and still succeed, for wanting to separate is a delusion of the enemy that ends without prosperity. The body must press together of one mind and one judgment with God as leader, following His footsteps, with Christian united to Christian and church to church so human instrumentality cooperates with the divine and every agency is subordinate to the Holy Spirit in organized well-directed effort to give the world the glad tidings of grace. No one may regard individual judgment as supreme, live in independence, despise those appointed to bear leadership, or suppose light must come directly from God through no other channel, lest he be deceived and overthrown by Satan's studied effort to separate him from channels of light through whom God has wrought to build up and extend the work. Those holding office stand as leaders, advisers, counselors, helpers in burdens and leaders in thanksgiving, not appointed to order, command, control or rule fellow laborers, but to treat co-workers with the consideration they would wish were positions reversed, while the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people if they will be led instead of assuming powers not given.
Self-sufficiency and self-esteem lie at the foundation of trials and discords, and men who rise against reproof, despise counsel, depart from the faith and follow independent judgment bring disaster and ruin of souls while Satan becomes their leader to tear down what God builds, with all works at last bearing the test of judgment. Believers are branches of the living vine, brothers and sisters of one family, branches of one root, and individual parts of one mighty whole with Christ as Center, Head, Teacher, Ruler, strength and righteousness, bound to God by golden cords of love because the Captain of salvation died to make men one with Him and with each other. That membership requires putting away lying and speaking truth with one another, keeping friendship true and untainted without partiality and without hypocrisy through unity by the truth in Jesus, and loving God supremely and one another truly, sincerely and unaffectedly with pure hearts fervently by a divine principle of pure love drawn from God's heart rather than impulse or spasmodic feeling, with heart bound to heart and taught by the Holy Spirit. There is to be no party strife, schism, partition walls or shade of strife, for the well-being of each is the happiness of the whole, talents when sanctified are to be exercised for one another's benefit rather than perverted to hurt and injure, influence always tends to good or evil, and oneness lays each under obligation to work for fellow men, shun political entanglements and worldly questions, uplift the Saviour, and let Christ train His subjects in meekness, lowliness, goodness, patience and love as channels of God's love to bless others.
The perfection of the church does not depend on each member being fashioned exactly alike, for each is to take a proper place, stand in his lot, and do appointed work according to ability given. As the ear remains of the body though it is not the eye, no worker can make himself a distinct whole apart from brethren because his work differs from theirs, and the perfection of the whole depends on the perfection of individual members in union together. God requires uniting and cooperating with brethren under His control, and refusing to cooperate while carrying out one's own plans and ideas brings failure and ruin upon oneself.
Medical Work Joined Together
Medical missionary work is the arm, the hand, the working hand, the helping hand, and the right hand to the body, not the head and not the whole body, while the gospel ministry is the head and the body and publications containing present truth are also God's appointed instruments, and one member is not to supersede another. The body needs both head and arms to do active, aggressive work, and Christ joined both branches in all His labors, with the ministry as the head and the medical missionary work as the arm, so the arm remains only a part of the great whole, must not separate from the ministry, must not say to the head that it has no need of it, and must not become the body itself, for making it the body in place of the arm results in great harm. It is to be done but not made the principal and all-important line; it is to be combined with giving the warning message and instructing the churches and helping the needy, and even when unworthy ones are connected with the ministry, no one can ignore the ministry without ignoring God. Though the right hand is a leading member and may open doors for the body, its work is to help the other members, it must be joined to the ministry rather than treated as all-important while other essential work is neglected, and neither part of the work is complete without this union because medical missionary work is bound up with the gospel ministry as the gospel in illustration.
Each part must occupy its appointed place in proper proportion under Christ's direction and stay joined in inseparable union, and making medical work the body, the center, or all and in all misapplies strength and resources and leaves other essential work neglected. Each part is to consider its relation to the whole and to the other parts, to be controlled and guided by the wisdom God gives, and to use its varied gifts in humility of mind before God to bless humanity as His helping hand, forbidding jealousy and party divisions of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, requiring harmony in every action, with all drawing together in even cords without friction while wearing the yoke of Christ. The ministry of the Word holds the first place among human agencies and the medical missionary work is the hand and arm joined to the body under the direction of the head, begun as a benevolent work in connection with the gospel ministry and not as the whole work itself. No branch separated from the others can be a perfect whole, for the parts are interdependent and every part is needed for the body to be whole, so health work belongs together with the wider gospel work and must work in unity with the ministry of the word rather than acting independently or taking the ministry's place.
To disparage the ministry and try to conduct medical missionary work independently is to separate the arms from the body, producing hands and arms, flying arms, dispensing means without the direction of the head. That unbalanced, disproportionate work unsettles minds, brings confusion, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, takes the place of the whole body and leaves the ministry no standing room, becomes a strange medley of disorganized atoms that consumes but does not produce, saps life and force from the ministry, and places men where they will scoff at Bible truth. Since about 1893 ambition and selfishness have treated the medical missionary work as the body in place of the hands and arms, making it a great and increasing barrier to the true and regular work, drawing means into itself, and the physicians in the Sanitarium under Dr. J. H. Kellogg do a strange work in this reversal. Ministers and physicians are members of one body in which true converting power must circulate like the healthful current of blood, producing unity and great changes, so disunion between them is displeasing to God and the fault is not altogether on one side: ministers who are disrespectful on health reform and take a position against the light given against tea, Java coffee, and flesh meats injure themselves and work up division, while physicians who feel injured and bear down on ministers as a body in an unjustifiable manner are also wrong, and a different understanding is needed between them.
The right hand opens doors so the body may find entrance and largely prepares the way for the reception of present truth by breaking down prejudice so truth can go with power. A body without hands is useless, and without the helping hands the body can do nothing, so honor given to the body must also be given to the helping hands, and a body that treats the right hand indifferently and refuses its aid is able to accomplish nothing. The gospel ministry is needed to give prominence and stability to the medical missionary work, and the medical missionary work is needed to demonstrate the practical working of the gospel, with neither undertaking to compass the whole field alone and neither exalted above the other, that the Lord's work may be carried forward symmetrically and harmoniously in every line, with a worldwide message, means wisely used, and planting in many places, so that every part of the large vineyard produces fruit. In large cities the two must go hand in hand, and their union opens doors for the entrance of truth and reveals God's salvation, with every minister prepared to do medical missionary work, since reluctance toward health reform comes from unwillingness to deny self and breaks God's order for united work.
Cooperation Without Division
No single person with gifts alone is qualified to bear the burden of the work or to carry a series of meetings through to perfection, for men of different minds, experience, temperaments, talents and abilities are joined together as members of the body to counsel with and assist one another. Deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another, so each worker must understand his relation to fellow workers, keep the mind open to counsel, cherish confidence in the wisdom of brethren, and blend mind with mind in planning and carrying the work forward. One man's mind and judgment must not mold and direct important interests or be regarded as the voice for the people, and those in responsible positions must modestly regard the opinions of others as worthy of respect and likely to be as correct as their own. Varied gifts and different agencies are essential so the work is built up strong and symmetrical and made complete under divine direction rather than fashioned after one man's special ideas, with those of careful thought checking exaggerated action and those too slow and moderate in coming to conclusions being corrected lest precious time be lost. Those advanced in experience and knowledge are to yoke up with brethren, esteem them, trust responsibilities to them, work by their side, instruct them kindly, and give them chance to learn and impart what they receive, while those deficient in some lines are not to be ignored, criticized, or made a subject of remark but helped and perfected through sharing the work. Even those without ability to open the Scriptures still have a place to do good service in secular lines rather than being made errand boys or left only to sit and hear another preach, and training church members to bear responsibilities lifts burdens from ministers and adds years to the worker's life. The instruction in Corinthians and Ephesians about relation to one another as members of the body is to be carefully studied, meaning uniting human weakness to divine strength, dying to self and living to Christ, having strong unchristlike traits of character softened, subdued and purified, and uniting with one another in order to be one with Christ in God.
Workers are to do the work given them and fill an appropriate place while supplying one another's deficiencies, respecting different assignments rather than interfering with or taking over one another's work. Different lines of work are no reason to refuse cooperation, and unity allows workers to consult, pray, and labor together rather than working in isolation or dictating how everyone else must serve. Individuality and liberty of expression are to be preserved, for God gives diverse gifts by the same Spirit as His plan to meet the varied make-up and minds of people in the world, so the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. Forcing other minds to bend to one's own ideas and destroying their will, identity, and independent natural traits is forbidden, because those traits give access to a class others could not touch. Every person must be left free for God to convict the heart, call forth powers, and develop individual strength and experience for a special work, without human hands molding judgment and character to another pattern and spoiling him for what God wants him to do. Different minds, methods, figures, and ways of presenting truth are fitting for different places, experienced workers should help and patiently teach those with less experience with love rather than harsh criticism, and unity does not require everyone to think alike or agree with one person on everything.
There is to be no division or contention among members about who shall be greatest, just as there is no reason for strife among members of the body about which shall be greatest, but one common interest and cooperation in restoring in man the moral image of God. Ministers given different gifts are still members of the same body and their gifts must never be used to separate believers from one another, form separate parties under different heads of Paul or Apollos or Cephas, set one minister as conscience for other men, or attempt to gain an experience for them. Contention and party spirit deny the unity of the body, believers who split into factions fail to bear witness to the power of the truth, and all dissension comes from narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Each part is to consider its relation to the whole and to the other parts, to be controlled and guided by wisdom given from God, to give room to fellow laborers, to wear the yoke of Christ, and to use varied gifts in humility of mind to bless humanity as His helping hand. As the heart sustains the hand and head by sending blood, love must be shared throughout the body, with harmony in every action, no jealousy, no friction, no quarreling, no measuring of brethren by personal ideas, and no refusal to impart to others. Highest usefulness lies not so much in possessing talents as in using them through the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit, performing duties with exactitude, improving endowments to be and do good, setting a Christlike example, trading upon God-given talents under Christ as Master-worker, and working out one's own salvation and that of family and associates according to daily gained knowledge of righteousness.
Every branch, institution, and conference belongs to one unit, one body with no walls of partition, no division, and no territorial lines between its different branches. The publishing houses giving truth to the world, the sanitariums restoring the sick to health and relieving suffering, and the schools training children and youth for God are all members of that body and parts of one great plan, with medical work as the right hand to open doors for the entrance of truth and no line to be pushed forward to the hindrance of another. In every part of the work one part must work as connected with another part, and that with another part, joined together by golden links, and the different branches and lines of service, including those in Sydney, must be managed by experienced people and joined so they form a harmonious whole requiring more than two or three minds. No branch is to think itself vastly more important than other branches, the publishing institution is not to be a kingdom of itself, and the principles that govern general affairs are to be maintained in the management of publishing and sanitarium work. There are to be no kings in the midst at all, no kingly power of one man controlling the whole or perpetuated from former centralization, and no man has the right to put out his hand and say another worker cannot go somewhere or will not be supported if he goes.
Humility in Mutual Care
The ear is still of the body though it is not the eye, and difference of gift or work never removes belonging, for God appoints varied gifts and functions and the body needs its many members joined under Christ the Head. Therefore among members there is to be no self-sufficiency, no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, since many gifts are called for yet all are members of one body actively used together. Distinct functions enable members to supply what others lack and to work together in harmony, with each respected for its contribution and none considered inferior or unnecessary. Recognizing this order guards against rivalry, pride, envy, contempt, despising another's gifts, carnal emulation, and fitful, spasmodic movements, and it forbids evil thinking, evil speaking, and evil acting. Each worker has an appointed station with its own office and place, to be respected, encouraged, and sustained with due recognition, speaking the truth in love for the benefit of the whole, so that harmonious energy increases the usefulness of the body.
The verse calls for continual humbling of individual self, beginning with self-examination and taking self critically in hand. Each person must deny self and take up and bear his own cross of self-denial, self-humiliation, and self-sacrifice, not lay his cross on another to carry. Instead of criticizing one another and placing bars that keep any repentant soul from courage in the warfare against temptation, each is to deal sternly with self, examining peculiar temperament and weaknesses of character with closest introspection and dealing decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition so God is not dishonored.
It reveals unceasing tenderness toward God's people and His desire that they show the same tenderness to one another, not standing apart in self-confidence watching to criticize and condemn. When they come together for counsel they must speak good words to help and strengthen one another, uniting in service as genuine Christians true to faith and duty and jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made. Those united to Christ should show sympathy and kindly interest, rejoice in helping fellow workers, and thereby strengthen the church, for when one member suffers all suffer with it and when one is honored all rejoice with him. All brought together in church capacity, many or few, constitute members with distinctive places as hand, head, ear, eye, or limbs, not to antagonize one another but to be one, with Christlikeness blending every virtue in harmonious proportion into a symmetrical whole. Union is strength, with all united in love, meekness, and lowliness of mind, combining and diffusing influence, enjoying the assistance of one another's graces, talents, gifts, and abilities, so what is lacking in one is more abundantly displayed in another.
Simple organization and church order are ordained for unity and perfection, and every laborer belongs to the body, so one who holds office stands as leader, adviser, counselor, and helper in carrying burdens and leader in thanksgiving, but is not appointed to order and command laborers or to control and rule fellow workers. Those carrying responsibilities must treat fellow laborers with the same consideration they would wish were positions reversed, for the Lord is over His heritage and will lead His people if they will be led instead of assuming powers not given. No one man is the whole body and no one has all wisdom, so one mind and judgment must not mold and direct important interests or be regarded as the voice for the people, and those in responsible positions, especially conference presidents, must modestly regard others' opinions as worthy of respect and likely as correct as their own. Selfish striving for mastery and the chief place is condemned, whether in head physicians placing themselves first, refusing to treat associates as equals and counselors, and seeking only inexperienced learners who obey without question, or in gospel laborers picking and choosing fellow workers by hereditary and cultivated traits. Love of supremacy, desire for mastery, and high opinion of self are forbidden, and those deciding important questions need new conversion from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and habits of selfishness, close self-examination unto freedom from selfishness, and a clean unselfish character wrought by studying Christ's life. When those in trust practice the meekness and lowliness of Christ instead of dictating and controlling consciences, members have the precious freedom of the liberty of the children of God to act out the grace bestowed upon them.
Each member is entrusted with blessing and comforting those of like precious faith, looking up and believing, being a light by example, and responding to the gift of a precious life to save with cheerful service. The efficiency of the Lord's work on earth depends on those made stewards of means being true and not robbing God, with assurance of His help in faithfulness. Union with the body means overcoming love of riches, keeping affections on heavenly treasure, freely imparting substance to aid the cause of truth instead of shrinking from duty, and refusing to live only for self. All converted agencies sanctified through truth are to organize and combine in one with united plans, the divine cooperating with the human, under the law of cooperation in one great work of reciprocal influence with no kingly power of one man controlling the whole, becoming vast agencies to reveal Christ and the cross. Health reform and medical missionary work belong to this oneness as the right arm to the body, serving efficiently in defense of the body of truth, and workers together, as in a publishing institution, form a body through which the Spirit must circulate as blood circulates, requiring true conversion, no half-way work, crucifixion of self, and unity in repentance.