If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
If the whole body were only an eye there would be no hearing, and if the whole were only hearing there would be no smelling, showing that a body cannot be made of one kind of member alone. Each part from head to feet has its own appointed place and work, and every part is indispensable to the completeness and usefulness of the whole. God Himself sets the members in place and gives one gift to one person and another gift to another for the good of the whole, with all gifts worked by the same Spirit under Jesus Christ as Head. No member is self-sufficient and none can work alone on an independent line, so what is lacking in one is supplied by another and no one may say to another that he has no need of him. The members are to act together in harmony under Christ, sharing one another's suffering and honor, with the ministry of the Word as the body itself and medical missionary work as its helping hand and arm, neither complete without the other.
The Body's Picture
The two questions show what would be missing if the whole were only one thing, for if all were eye there would be no hearing, and if all were hearing there would be no smelling, so a body cannot be made of a single kind of member and sameness of function would leave necessary functions absent. Different gifts are therefore needed in the one body of Christ, with each member holding a distinct place assigned by God, and the differences enable the members to work together as one instead of causing division. No member is to be treated as unnecessary or inferior, and one gift is not to be measured against another, since variety makes the whole more useful and harmonious.
The eye, the ear, smelling and the other senses are not the whole body, and the parts from head to feet are not interchangeable, for each has its own appointed station, office and place, and every part is indispensable to the completeness and usefulness of the whole. As a well-regulated machine working under the head, the body is increased in usefulness by harmonious energy and action of every member and by the sympathy of every part with the whole, with each part respected, encouraged and sustained, each working for the benefit of the whole and speaking the truth in love without fitful, spasmodic movements. Those brought together in church capacity are thus to be united understandingly and intelligently in humble obedience, each filling a different place, with every worker acting under the supervision of God who has given to every man his work, leaving no room for envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting. The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 is to be committed to memory and written in mind and heart, to be studied and digested rather than ignored. Christians as members of one body are complete in Christ, mutually dependent so that each affects the welfare of others and each is to contribute to the good of the whole.
The same picture describes the Word of God as a complete body pervaded by one divine life, just as the outward human form is a complete structure with every part united to and dependent upon the other for life. Each member has its special office and is connected with the other to form a complete whole, so every portion of Scripture and every book has its use and is adapted to the human being in every phase of life to secure a special result. That result is to make the human family complete in Christ.
Harmonious action of all parts promotes physical health, and in the same way spiritual peace and harmony bring health to the church, with each part depending on the other part. God provided for reciprocal action and mutual relation of all living beings, arranging that all shall be connected together and the whole to God, so that no one can be dropped out without affecting the whole and nothing is independent of the rest. 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. Separating affections and faith from close companions can therefore feel like tearing away parts of one's body.
Diversity by God's Design
God Himself sets the members in the body as He chooses and gives gifts as it pleases Him, one gift to one person and another gift to another for the good of the whole body. All these different gifts are worked by the same Spirit, and all the members center in Jesus Christ as Head. Because two members do not act the same part, no member is self-sufficient and no member is to say to another, I have no need of thee, with no crowding out, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another. If every member were an eye there would be no hearing, and if all were hearing there would be no smelling, so no single member or role can make up the whole and each is needed for the completeness of the body.
This diversity is God's plan and economy to meet the varied makeup, organization, and minds of people in the world, so the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. Each person is to cultivate and use the powers and qualities God has given as endowment, to act out those powers and develop an individual strength for a special work, rather than have will and identity suppressed. No one's gifts are to be forced into another's pattern, made to bear one person's stamp, or made to conform to another's ideas, and no one is to be expected to use talents God has not given, but workers are to make room for one another's distinct contributions. Those who lead must therefore not govern too much, as with children, lest they confuse minds, destroy will and identity, and give no opportunity for God-given powers to develop. There is danger in seeking to make other minds bend to one's own ideas and in destroying their independent natural traits that would give them access to a class others could not touch, while overlooking that one may have peculiarities just as objectionable and even more decided, so every person must be left free for God to convict and operate upon the heart that he may obtain an experience for himself founded in God. Great caution is needed lest efforts to mold minds and work judgment and character after human ideas interfere when God is moving upon that mind to call forth its powers, for man's hand and man's training and discipline may spoil him for the work God would have him accomplish.
Unity does not mean sameness or uniformity, for life objects to uniformity and believers retain distinct individuality, dispositions, temperaments, styles, and methods. Unity in variety means the variety from eyes to feet makes a perfect whole, with all the different parts dependent upon one another and working together in harmonious action in obedience to the laws controlling the being, and the more believers drink in of the Spirit the more they are made alive and united by His surpassing love. Different minds may be impressed with the same thought and express it in a different way without contradiction, each dwelling on particular points fitted by constitution and education, with different styles appropriate to different locations and different ways of presenting the same truth and different figures of speech. As sunlight falling on different objects gives a different hue, and as each stone in the high priest's breastplate had its special light and significance and message from God adding to the beauty of the whole, so distinct contributions work together as one whole when guided by the same Spirit. No one mind alone is sufficient to devise plans and direct the work or to exert a healthful, well-balanced influence, but in God's providence people with different temperaments are brought together that there might be a blending of diverse elements, one adapted to the other, each doing its special work for God and each having his place in filling up one great plan bearing the stamp of Christ's image, for God is one. Unity does not require identical work, expression, or perspective, nor that everyone must think alike or agree with one person, but each member must serve in a fitting place so that together the members make the church an active agency for service, drawing spiritual supplies from the same storehouse by God's grace and His Spirit's working with harmonious action and no selfishness or self-exaltation, while division hinders the church's progress.
This need for different members and functions corresponds to gifts of the Holy Spirit placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. These gifts are to live in the church, encouraging those who are faint and correcting and reproving those who are in error. They include prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps, and governments set by God for the church's needs, since no one function can do everything and if everyone had the same role other necessary functions would be missing.
The same diversity includes concrete assignments, for the parts are not interchangeable and Christians as members of one body are complete in Christ. The Bourdeaus have a work among the French that American ministers cannot do, so they should be given room to use their own gifts and should exercise their abilities in faith rather than be forced to bear another's stamp. The different talents of colored men and women are likewise to be recognized and developed, including training them to serve their own people. Luther's courage and energy and Melanchthon's gentleness, caution, and exactness illustrate the same truth, for their differing gifts complemented one another, strengthened their shared work, and encouraged Luther.
Mutual Dependence and Unity
No member of the body is self-sufficient, and no one is qualified to bear the burden of the work alone. What is lacking in one is supplied by another, for God has joined together men of different minds, experience and abilities to counsel with and assist one another. Different gifts are valuable in their proper places, and strength in one area does not make a person's judgment perfect in every area, so people are to work together humbly even when they do not share the same views or plans, blending mind with mind to become a complete whole. A worker left to labor alone is in danger of thinking his talent sufficient, while union gives opportunity to consult together, pray together and cooperate in labor, and no one should refuse to link with brethren because they do not work in exactly the same line.
No member can disconnect from the agencies God has appointed and work on an independent line in supposed wisdom and still succeed. Even if a person flatters himself that he is doing God's work, that independent course will not prosper in the end. Such independence is a delusion leading to self-confidence, despising counsel, failure, disaster and ruin, showing need for converting power upon heart and character so that personal peculiarities do not hinder the work for the salvation of fellow men. Each person is given only a measure of ability and a piece of the work God would have done, whether preaching, teaching, practicing as a physician, cultivating soil or following a trade, and is to serve effectively in the work suited to that ability in his respective capacity, remaining united with the whole body under Christ alone as Master and Head rather than acting independently or calling any man master. The Lord's work advances healthfully and solidly when His people draw together and work in harmony, each keeping clean as a bearer of the vessels of the Lord and unspotted from the world.
Because two members do not act the same part, one member must not say to another I have no need of thee. Among the members there is to be no crowding another out, no judging, no measuring of one gift by another, and no striving over who shall be greatest, for if every member had the same function other necessary functions would be missing. God gives one gift to one person and another gift to another as He pleases for the good of the whole body, ordering some to serve in one line and others in other lines while all work under the same Spirit. Recognizing this plan guards against rivalry, pride, envy, contempt, evil-thinking and evil-speaking, and strengthens unity and mutual love, with one common interest and no division or contention as all cooperate in restoring in man the moral image of God. Usefulness lies not in possessing talents but in using them to be and do good and to bless others, trading upon talents through the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit and faithfully discharging God-given duty according to daily gained knowledge in righteousness.
The members are to work together in harmonious action in obedience to the laws controlling the being, under the sanctified intelligence governing the whole and under Christ as Head. Each has its own appointed station, office and place, active and distinct in its work yet dependent on the others, joined into one whole by the same Spirit and moving like a well-regulated machine or well-adjusted machinery. As the usefulness of the body is increased by harmonious energy and action of every member and by sympathy of every part with the whole, so the church is strengthened by well-regulated action of every part and exercise of every gift, each working for the benefit of the whole, sharing one another's suffering and honor, showing sympathy and kindly interest, speaking the truth in love, revealing unceasing tenderness by speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren, and jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made instead of watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn. The more believers drink in of the Spirit, the more they are made alive and united by His surpassing love, without fitful, spasmodic movements and without envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting, since every worker acts under God's supervision who has given to every man his work according to ability.
The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, with Ephesians on the same relation of members to one another, is to be committed to memory and written in mind and heart, and to be studied, digested and carefully considered rather than ignored. Believers must unite human weakness to Christ's strength, die to self and live to Christ, have strong unchristlike traits of character softened, subdued and purified, and unite with one another in order to be one with Christ in God, united understandingly and intelligently in humble obedience each filling a different place. Members remain bound to one another even when they ignore those bonds, and failing to understand their relations and responsibilities harms their own character and becomes a snare to others. Members must share Christ's love and serve one another as the heart sustains other parts by sending them blood, and a member who refuses to impart to others will perish.
Believers should work in harmony, put the good of the church before their own interests, and yield individual judgment to the judgment of the church body. Unity in one body under Christ as great Center and Head binds man to God by golden cords of love and lays each one under obligation to work for fellow men, because the Captain of salvation died that men might be made one with Him and with each other. As individual parts of the mighty whole of the human family, all are made necessary to one another and to God through an uplifted Saviour, and no soul can be made independent of the rest. Therefore there is to be no party strife, no schism, no shade of strife and no partition walls between man and man, for the well-being of each is the happiness of the whole, and Christ as Teacher, Ruler, strength and righteousness trains His subjects to imitate His virtues, His meekness and lowliness, His goodness, patience and love, thus consecrating heart and hand to His service and making man a channel through which the love of God can flow in rich currents to bless others.
Order and Leadership Responsibility
The verse belongs to the simple organization and church order ordained for the unity and perfection of the church, in which office makes a man a leader, adviser, counselor and helper in carrying burdens and a leader in thanksgiving to God, not one appointed to order and command laborers or to control and rule fellow workers. The Lord is over His heritage and will lead His people, so those carrying responsibilities must treat fellow laborers with the same consideration they would wish to receive, for all are brethren and position gives no man mastery or kingly authority. Because God has His church established on earth as many members but one body, every part of the work must act as connected with another part, joined by golden links, with no kings in the midst, no right to forbid another worker to go where he can find a place to work or to control his support, but workers going to the people, telling their necessities, and building up the work everywhere they can, including waste places and destitute fields. The work of God is a body of many branches with no one branch vastly more important than the others, so the kingly power formerly revealed in the General Conference at Battle Creek is not to be perpetuated and the publishing institution is not to be a kingdom of itself, with the same principles governing General Conference affairs to govern publishing and sanitarium work and no worker exalting his own branch above the others. Christ's church needs different members and functions and not everyone can perform the same role, and God appoints some to lead and bear responsibility for advancing the truth, so despising them rejects the help, encouragement and strength provided for the people.
The members of Christ's body do not all have the same office because the body needs different members with different work, all united to one Head with each member respected and doing individual work under that Head. That forbids striving for the chief place and the power of mastery, putting self first, treating a fellow worker as an inferior who must only obey, and picking and choosing laborers by personal preference, and it requires continual striving for unity among workers in sanitariums and in gospel ministry. The church is the body of Christ pervaded by the Holy Spirit, made of united converted agencies sanctified through the truth that must organize and combine in one, where no single member can be the whole body and there is to be no kingly power with one man controlling the whole, but all work under the law of cooperation in reciprocal influence upon one another. This united action joins divine power with human effort, bringing the power of the future world into the present to transform human agencies into divine agencies for revealing Christ and the cross to a world perishing in sin and iniquity. God has not given all wisdom to any one man, and no leader can by his own mind and judgment mold and direct important interests or be regarded as the voice for the people.
God has made other men just as valuable and willing to be taught and guided, giving to every man talents according to his several abilities, with one mind having a larger scope than another. Those placed in positions of trust must modestly regard the opinions of others as worthy of respect and as likely to be correct as their own, and must have connected with them as helpers men whose minds do not run in exactly the same lines as their own. When men are linked together each supplies the other's deficiency so they become a complete whole, because one man alone cannot bear the responsibilities of sacred office, and God would have His people linked together doing His work in perfect harmony. The idea that one man's mind and judgment can mold and direct important interests and be regarded as a voice for the people is a great evil endangering both the one in responsibility and those who cooperate with him. It is not the Lord's plan for one man or two or three men to gather all responsibilities into their own hands and do all the work, but those in advance in experience and knowledge are to yoke up with their brethren, esteem them, trust responsibilities to them, and bring them up by helping and instructing them, so they can learn from the great Teacher and impart what they receive from the Word.
Those deficient in some lines are not to be ignored or criticized and made a subject of remark but helped, and every man chosen of God is to be helped to find his place, including men with no ability to open the Scriptures who can do good service in secular lines. Ministers are not to be made errand boys for another minister or left to sit and hear one man preach while preaching talent is needed elsewhere, but are to stand side by side and share preaching and other responsibilities. Each worker is only a part of a great whole, one of a large number set in the church for God's purpose, and no one is the whole body, so men in responsibility must give up old hereditary and cultivated selfishness, love of supremacy, desire for mastery and high opinion of self. They need a new conversion to a clean, unselfish character wrought out by studying Christ's life and learning of Him, closely examining themselves to be free from all selfishness, with responsibility given that they may be a help to others and each one's own course determining his value among the many placed in the church. No worker in God's service can be a complete whole by himself, and every worker must guard against thinking he is sufficient in himself and must realize that responsibilities others must carry and qualifications others have are fully as essential as his own to progress.
Wherever placed, he needs other minds brought into connection with the work, must counsel with his brethren, must not follow his own will alone or regard his own judgment as fully sufficient without any other voice, and must let other members fully express their minds, since on some lines other minds may be more capable of giving wise counsel. He must not keep himself within himself as an entity distinct from his brethren, for their various talents are not his, and he needs humility with less of self and more of Christ to labor together with God. If the body were all one part, other necessary functions would be absent, which illustrates that God's work must not become unbalanced but its different lines must work together as a harmonious whole with more than a few minds contributing. Applied to Christian service, people are given different work, and each should do the work assigned rather than interfere with another worker's distinct task. In the church this means God's work requires diversity of gifts, and no worker should reject or oppose a fellow worker because that person serves in a different line, for every gift and talent is needed and is to be used in saving souls.
The perfection of the church does not depend on each member being fashioned exactly alike, for God calls for each one to take his proper place, to stand in his lot, and to do his appointed work according to the ability given him, to some five talents, to others two, and to others one. The church is a living, breathing, spiritual body in which each member has something different to do, and life and order are kept when spiritually-minded leading men assign individual duties, with one company praying with and helping the lame and sick and dependent and others set to work in other needed lines, so every member proves the body alive by doing his own part. Just as a body needs different parts and senses, the church needs members with different abilities and roles, and every member should be given a part to act according to ability, so the church can work effectively rather than leave members idle or talents unused. Every branch from publishing to sanitariums to schools to canvassing is to be kept in its place without walls of partition and without one line hindering another. No one person is a complete whole and no one mind alone is sufficient to plan and direct God's work, for God has given every man, woman and child a work to do in His moral vineyard, fitting one for a certain work and another for a different work for which he is adapted, with each to be the complement of the others.
Those joined together in school work are all needed and must blend together in union with the Holy Spirit, taking time to understand each other instead of standing apart to watch and criticize and judge each other, finding points of resemblance, being a help to one another with one supplying the lack of another, accepting and appreciating keener perceptions in another, and giving due credit to each one's ability. In God's providence people with different temperaments are brought together in connection with the school that they might unite in the work, and among Christ's followers there is to be blending of diverse elements, one adapted to the other, with each doing its special work for God and every individual having his place in filling up one great plan bearing the stamp of Christ's image, for God is one. Workers in the printing office are members of one body through which the Spirit of Christ must circulate as blood circulates through the human body, which requires true conversion of heart and mind and spirit, no half-way work, crucifixion of self, and the unity of Pentecost in true repentance and conversion, so Christ and heavenly angels will cooperate with the laborers in daily labor. God's work is one undivided body with connected members, and tithes of workers in medical lines must not be separated to a separate association but must all go to one treasury, with ministers supplied to work in connection with the medical work, so there is no division.
God's order is perfect unity, love and reciprocal dependence between every church and every conference, like members of one body building one another up in the most holy faith, and separating from conference organization to display supposed efficiency is entirely opposed to that order. The sacred chain of dependence binding men together is not slavery but the means by which the Holy Spirit is imparted and light reflected in clear, bright rays, while allowing evil thinking and evil speaking, discord and separation lets the enemy rob families of happiness, rob the church of usefulness and hinder the great work of reformation, and no one ruled by disunion and strife can truly say it is well with the soul. No conference, sanitarium or group of workers in one part of the field can work entirely separate from the other branches and the rest of the field, and those taking up new work must receive help and counsel from those with experience in both failure and success, with all movements to advance the work carefully scrutinized and closely knit together in harmonious action. God teaches different people in different ways, so no one mind receives everything, and believers should share plans and thoughts, listen freely to one another and accept kind counsel.
The body needs different members and functions and no one member can do everything, which supports mutual dependence in different callings, so each should value the help others are qualified to give rather than claim superior wisdom or authority. Not everyone is suited to every task, but lack of fitness for one kind of work does not make a person faithless or unwilling, and each person has value, for God does not expect everyone to be prepared for every role, and no one should dictate another person's work against that person's convictions of duty, though counsel may be offered while each remains free to seek direction from God. Members of the church have different functions and no one person can do every kind of work, so help from different people is to be welcomed, dictating how everyone must work avoided, and experienced workers allowed to teach those with less experience. The bond that keeps workers and their work united with God's commandment-keeping people is like a coupling pin, and breaking that bond is a serious mistake that workers and students must be trained to avoid.
Ministry and Medical Work
Medical missionary work is the hand and arm to the body, while the ministry of the Word, the preaching of the third angel's message and the building of churches is the body itself under Jesus Christ as Head. Neither part is complete without the other, and they must advance hand in hand in inseparable union, together with publications containing present truth. The body needs different members with different functions and cannot function as a single member, so no single member can do every kind of work and each branch has its appointed role. Medical missionary work is a helping hand and a leading member that helps the other parts of God's work, but it is not the whole body or its head and is not to be made all and in all. Labor for the degraded and fallen is not to be made the principal and all-important line, but is to be combined with giving the warning message and instructing the churches to help the needy and hold the old landmarks of truth, experience and duty. The ministry cannot be ignored without ignoring God, and separating medical work from preaching would make the work unbalanced, belittle the ministry, bring confusion and leave parts of God's work undone.
To make medical missionary work the whole body leaves no place for hearing and smelling and reverses God's order. The body must move and direct the arm, and the arm must not direct and rule the body, for the ministry of the Word holds the first place among human agencies while medical missionary work is the hand and arm, not the whole body. To disparage the ministry and carry medical work independently is to separate the arms from the body, making hands and flying arms dispensing means without direction of the head until the ministry has no standing room. The result is unbalanced, disproportionate and disorganized work that unsettles minds and brings confusion. It absorbs money, means and workers meant for ministers, missions and carrying the last message to the world, consumes but does not produce, saps all life and force from the ministry, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, and places men where they will scoff at Bible truth. Treating what should be hands and arms united to the body as the body itself draws means away into a separate work and becomes a great barrier and peril to the cause through revealed ambition and selfishness, dishonoring the Lord.
Kept in proportion, the right hand opens doors through which the body may find entrance, largely preparing the way for present truth by breaking down prejudice. No branch of gospel work, including health work and health reform, can make a perfect whole when separated from the others, for as the body cannot all be eye or all be hearing, the work cannot be carried on by one part alone. A body without hands is useless and can do nothing, and a body that refuses the aid of the right hand is able to accomplish nothing, so honor given to the body must also be given to the helping hands. Because the arm belongs to the body, oneness of respect is to be shown to medical missionary work and decided interest taken in it. The gospel ministry for proclamation of truth and labor for sick and well is the body with Christ as Head over all, and the third angel's message is the body of truth with health reform and medical missionary work as its right arm connected with the body to work efficiently and defend it. The two must be as closely connected as hand and arm with the body, carried forward together symmetrically and harmoniously without one line swayed heavily or exalted above the other. 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 as the gospel in illustration, while the field with its worldwide message requires work done in every line and in many places until every part of the large vineyard is worked to produce fruit.
Ministers and physicians are different members of the same body united under Christ as Head, each using varied gifts to bless humanity as God's helping hand, so all parts must be controlled by God's wisdom in harmony without jealousy, friction, quarreling, measuring brethren by personal ideas, following human devising or fastening to a human leader. They are to draw in even cords under Christ the Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race and restore the moral image of God, giving room to fellow laborers to strengthen His work in every line for the glory of God. There needs to be altogether a different understanding between them, with the true converting power of God circulating through them like the healthful current of blood in the body, bringing great changes toward unity when it does. Past disunion over health reform is displeasing to God, with ministers at fault for disrespect toward medical work and for taking position against the light given against tea, Java coffee and flesh meats, which injures and creates division, and physicians at fault for feeling too strongly injured, despising ministers and bearing down on ministers as a body in an unjustifiable manner, so that blame for mismanagement is not altogether on one side. Medical missionary work is to be as closely united with the gospel ministry as arm to body, going hand in hand especially in large cities to open doors for entrance of truth, and every minister of the gospel should be prepared to do practical medical missionary work, with reluctance to join health reform principles with ministry caused by unwillingness to deny self.
The church is a living body with different members and branches, and the Health Institute is an arm of that body whose condition is controlled by the condition of the whole. When the church stands in the counsel of God and is healthy, light is diffused and a vitalizing, healthful current is sent from the church to control and give life to the Institute. When the church is sickly and does not enjoy the favor of God nor the light of His countenance, the moral darkness of the church creates moral darkness and spiritual death in the Institute, and a sickly, deathly influence is circulated through the whole living body until the disease is apparent everywhere.
Character and Daily Service
The verse calls for continuous humbling of the self, with self taken critically in hand and self-examination as the beginning and very first step. That first step is self-denial and self-humiliation and self-sacrifice, each bearing his own cross and not laying it on another to carry. Instead of crowding another out, judging another, measuring one gift by another, criticizing one another and placing bars that keep souls from courage to fight temptation, each is to deal sternly with self, examine peculiar temperament and weaknesses of character with close introspection, and deal decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition so God is not dishonored. No one accepted as a member of the one body through repentance toward God and belief in Jesus Christ can remain separate in selfishness, shrinking from duty and unwilling to do all God requires, but each must overcome love of earthly possessions and willingly impart freely of substance to aid the cause of truth.
Each person is to develop the gifts God has given without despising another's gifts or envying greater talents or achievements, since no member is complete or fit to work independently in every matter and if all had the same function other necessary functions would be missing. A person need not be head or heart to serve effectively, for even the lowly work represented by hand or foot is important, and worth depends not on size but on love and motive behind it. Every member should cultivate abilities and persevere in service, since each contribution can increase the usefulness of the church, and gifts are to be used in service for the good of all to represent truth and uplift Christ rather than to glorify possessors or elevate people. Even the smallest gift is to be valued and faithfully used, with differing gifts and traits working together in harmony to serve and strengthen the church, and each is to preserve and use gifts in service to Christ, since each part influences the whole and weakening or misusing one part reduces the usefulness of the whole. God's people are to help one another carry out different duties and faithfully complete their work, recognizing need of one another.
The different members are all needed and must not stand apart in self-confidence but unite in service, revealing unceasing tenderness by speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren and by jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made instead of watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn. Each member has an appointed station, office and place, and each part is to be respected, encouraged and sustained with due respect and recognition to fellow workers, with each working for the benefit of the whole and speaking truth in love, without fitful, spasmodic movements, under God's supervision who has given to every man his work. As the body's usefulness is increased by harmonious energy and action of every member and by sympathy of every part with the whole, so the church is strengthened by well-regulated action of every part and exercise of every gift, with no envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting. The body made entirely of eyes could not hear and one made entirely of ears could not smell, so Christ's members should show sympathy, take kindly interest in fellow workers, and rejoice in helping them, and their mutual care bears righteous fruit and benefits the church through sanctifying grace. Each converted member is changed in character and strengthened by the faith and courage of the whole, even the weakest belongs to the body, and humble dependence on God makes that believer strong with the privileges of a child of God, so that what is lacking in one is supplied by another while every talent remains under the Holy Spirit's control and the whole works in harmony and love. People depend on one another with each having something to receive and something to contribute, and God joins believers together so their influence can bless one another and the world.
No member of Christ's body can be inactive, for the body is made of members with different work according to several ability, and all the various lines of work belong to one great whole and must be connected and done together in concert. Every member should be given a part to act according to ability so talents are not left idle or unused, each convert is to take a place of service, and members should be willing to serve in whatever way advances the work. Hearts must blend and all must move like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other yet distinct in action, each worker controlled by divine power putting forth undivided effort to draw those around him to Christ. Like leaves on the same tree members are not all exactly the same in form but each is to be perfect in its own form and development, and when varied capabilities and traits of character are perfected they combine to make a complete whole through which the Holy Spirit works in power. Distinct qualities enrich the whole while members remain one family.
True membership requires connection with Christ and therefore connection with His church, for the relation is close and sacred as bridegroom and bride and as head and body, and connection with the church organized for service is one of the first steps in service to Christ. Loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as an important part of training, and in a church filled with Christ's life it leads directly to effort for the world outside. With all its working forces the body must become one with the Head, with unity of action among members, Christ as divine Shepherd and gospel ministers as under-shepherds and members as working agencies, God making the church the continued incarnation of Christ to stand out prominently as His body. One connected to the body only in name without drawing life from Christ is like a paralyzed member whose fitful movements are not lasting activity, while true spiritual life produces growth and fruitful service. Those brought into church capacity through profession of faith whose names are on the record yet who do not belong to Jesus are like the fruitless branch taken away, whereas real membership means being a fruitful branch bearing fruit in absolute allegiance through spiritual connection, with faith and love as gold of character working to unite and harmonize members. Each member entrusted with a part, such as blessing and comforting those of like precious faith, becomes a light to others by believing in Jesus and cheerful service in response to His love, and faithfulness as stewards determines efficiency of the work.
In the perils of the last days every mental and physical power must be cultivated because all powers are essential to make a building representing God's wisdom and character, with God-given talents and powers of mind used in right relation to each other to make a perfect whole. Man makes character by earnestly cultivating the mind as the Lord's garden to form character after the divine likeness. The whole organism must be trained and brought into harmony, because using only certain parts leaves service deficient, and service to God requires the entire human being with physical and mental powers and affections developed for His work. Ministers build healthy action by overcoming deficiencies of character, disciplining themselves to work whether they feel like it or not, moving from principle instead of impulse and feeling, and feeding the flock, for being guided by disinclination, refusing to labor and to speak and pray unless feeling like it, and leaving waiting ones to move forward without help makes the cause languish and brings discouragement and loss where influence is felt most. No gift is to be used to separate believers, to be conscience for other men, to gain an experience for other men, or to form separate parties under different heads by teaching truth so as to cause contention and party spirit, and when such contention appears it must be investigated and called by its right names as born of narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds showing where reformation is needed. Men, women and youth of various temperaments, callings and positions, high and low, rich and poor, each with individual power to devise and execute what is best for many-sided life and individual responsibility to the whole, are to be organized to bring God-given talents into solemn service, enriching others with special and appropriate gifts as channels of light and co-workers with Christ, through daily connection with God giving deep insight into one's own life and others' lives to enlarge influence and arouse dormant energies, recognizing those with tact to watch for and care for souls and to appreciate all questions of spiritual life. Union is strength and the work needs many capabilities combined in different lines through well-organized effort, each helping the other with sympathy, forbearance and holy emulation, realizing personal weakness and applying to the Source of strength, giving those who seem to do little a chance and teaching them how to work. No one gains strength by seeking to be head, while those who feel least yet work and pray and share what they have received gain more to share and become burden-bearers, with influence growing by wearing Christ's yoke and lifting His burdens and working for time and eternity, allied to Christ as living Head and vitalized by His Spirit.
Each person is only one member and can never be an independent whole, and unity is preserved only as different members each perform their several offices under the Holy Spirit with Christ alone as Master and only head. None are to seek control by men or call any man master, but to look to the Lord as companion, counselor, guide, helper and friend, keeping clean as bearers of the vessels of the Lord and unspotted from the world. Whatever calling is followed, whether preaching the Word, teaching, practicing as a physician, cultivating soil, or following a trade, the work held is only a piece of the work to be done. God has given to every man his work, his own post of duty in the great whole, to be found out and then done in connection with other laborers under His supervision so the work goes forward soundly and healthfully, with Christ's person linking human and divine in sacred mystery. Sacred and secular callings alike, in business lines, ministry of the Word, and various trades, become consecrated service when mind, heart and soul are surrendered to Christ and God is loved with whole heart, mind, soul and strength in recognition of His ownership, and this consecration invests the whole life with sacredness that makes a man gentle, kind and courteous, makes every act consecrated with Holiness unto the Lord as motto, and trains him under Christ for the higher grade above.
If the whole body were only an eye there would be no hearing, and if the whole were only hearing there would be no smelling, showing that a body cannot be made of one kind of member alone. Each part from head to feet has its own appointed place and work, and every part is indispensable to the completeness and usefulness of the whole. God Himself sets the members in place and gives one gift to one person and another gift to another for the good of the whole, with all gifts worked by the same Spirit under Jesus Christ as Head. No member is self-sufficient and none can work alone on an independent line, so what is lacking in one is supplied by another and no one may say to another that he has no need of him. The members are to act together in harmony under Christ, sharing one another's suffering and honor, with the ministry of the Word as the body itself and medical missionary work as its helping hand and arm, neither complete without the other.
The Body's Picture
The two questions show what would be missing if the whole were only one thing, for if all were eye there would be no hearing, and if all were hearing there would be no smelling, so a body cannot be made of a single kind of member and sameness of function would leave necessary functions absent. Different gifts are therefore needed in the one body of Christ, with each member holding a distinct place assigned by God, and the differences enable the members to work together as one instead of causing division. No member is to be treated as unnecessary or inferior, and one gift is not to be measured against another, since variety makes the whole more useful and harmonious.
The eye, the ear, smelling and the other senses are not the whole body, and the parts from head to feet are not interchangeable, for each has its own appointed station, office and place, and every part is indispensable to the completeness and usefulness of the whole. As a well-regulated machine working under the head, the body is increased in usefulness by harmonious energy and action of every member and by the sympathy of every part with the whole, with each part respected, encouraged and sustained, each working for the benefit of the whole and speaking the truth in love without fitful, spasmodic movements. Those brought together in church capacity are thus to be united understandingly and intelligently in humble obedience, each filling a different place, with every worker acting under the supervision of God who has given to every man his work, leaving no room for envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting. The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 is to be committed to memory and written in mind and heart, to be studied and digested rather than ignored. Christians as members of one body are complete in Christ, mutually dependent so that each affects the welfare of others and each is to contribute to the good of the whole.
The same picture describes the Word of God as a complete body pervaded by one divine life, just as the outward human form is a complete structure with every part united to and dependent upon the other for life. Each member has its special office and is connected with the other to form a complete whole, so every portion of Scripture and every book has its use and is adapted to the human being in every phase of life to secure a special result. That result is to make the human family complete in Christ.
Harmonious action of all parts promotes physical health, and in the same way spiritual peace and harmony bring health to the church, with each part depending on the other part. God provided for reciprocal action and mutual relation of all living beings, arranging that all shall be connected together and the whole to God, so that no one can be dropped out without affecting the whole and nothing is independent of the rest. 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. Separating affections and faith from close companions can therefore feel like tearing away parts of one's body.
Diversity by God's Design
God Himself sets the members in the body as He chooses and gives gifts as it pleases Him, one gift to one person and another gift to another for the good of the whole body. All these different gifts are worked by the same Spirit, and all the members center in Jesus Christ as Head. Because two members do not act the same part, no member is self-sufficient and no member is to say to another, I have no need of thee, with no crowding out, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another. If every member were an eye there would be no hearing, and if all were hearing there would be no smelling, so no single member or role can make up the whole and each is needed for the completeness of the body.
This diversity is God's plan and economy to meet the varied makeup, organization, and minds of people in the world, so the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. Each person is to cultivate and use the powers and qualities God has given as endowment, to act out those powers and develop an individual strength for a special work, rather than have will and identity suppressed. No one's gifts are to be forced into another's pattern, made to bear one person's stamp, or made to conform to another's ideas, and no one is to be expected to use talents God has not given, but workers are to make room for one another's distinct contributions. Those who lead must therefore not govern too much, as with children, lest they confuse minds, destroy will and identity, and give no opportunity for God-given powers to develop. There is danger in seeking to make other minds bend to one's own ideas and in destroying their independent natural traits that would give them access to a class others could not touch, while overlooking that one may have peculiarities just as objectionable and even more decided, so every person must be left free for God to convict and operate upon the heart that he may obtain an experience for himself founded in God. Great caution is needed lest efforts to mold minds and work judgment and character after human ideas interfere when God is moving upon that mind to call forth its powers, for man's hand and man's training and discipline may spoil him for the work God would have him accomplish.
Unity does not mean sameness or uniformity, for life objects to uniformity and believers retain distinct individuality, dispositions, temperaments, styles, and methods. Unity in variety means the variety from eyes to feet makes a perfect whole, with all the different parts dependent upon one another and working together in harmonious action in obedience to the laws controlling the being, and the more believers drink in of the Spirit the more they are made alive and united by His surpassing love. Different minds may be impressed with the same thought and express it in a different way without contradiction, each dwelling on particular points fitted by constitution and education, with different styles appropriate to different locations and different ways of presenting the same truth and different figures of speech. As sunlight falling on different objects gives a different hue, and as each stone in the high priest's breastplate had its special light and significance and message from God adding to the beauty of the whole, so distinct contributions work together as one whole when guided by the same Spirit. No one mind alone is sufficient to devise plans and direct the work or to exert a healthful, well-balanced influence, but in God's providence people with different temperaments are brought together that there might be a blending of diverse elements, one adapted to the other, each doing its special work for God and each having his place in filling up one great plan bearing the stamp of Christ's image, for God is one. Unity does not require identical work, expression, or perspective, nor that everyone must think alike or agree with one person, but each member must serve in a fitting place so that together the members make the church an active agency for service, drawing spiritual supplies from the same storehouse by God's grace and His Spirit's working with harmonious action and no selfishness or self-exaltation, while division hinders the church's progress.
This need for different members and functions corresponds to gifts of the Holy Spirit placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. These gifts are to live in the church, encouraging those who are faint and correcting and reproving those who are in error. They include prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps, and governments set by God for the church's needs, since no one function can do everything and if everyone had the same role other necessary functions would be missing.
The same diversity includes concrete assignments, for the parts are not interchangeable and Christians as members of one body are complete in Christ. The Bourdeaus have a work among the French that American ministers cannot do, so they should be given room to use their own gifts and should exercise their abilities in faith rather than be forced to bear another's stamp. The different talents of colored men and women are likewise to be recognized and developed, including training them to serve their own people. Luther's courage and energy and Melanchthon's gentleness, caution, and exactness illustrate the same truth, for their differing gifts complemented one another, strengthened their shared work, and encouraged Luther.
Mutual Dependence and Unity
No member of the body is self-sufficient, and no one is qualified to bear the burden of the work alone. What is lacking in one is supplied by another, for God has joined together men of different minds, experience and abilities to counsel with and assist one another. Different gifts are valuable in their proper places, and strength in one area does not make a person's judgment perfect in every area, so people are to work together humbly even when they do not share the same views or plans, blending mind with mind to become a complete whole. A worker left to labor alone is in danger of thinking his talent sufficient, while union gives opportunity to consult together, pray together and cooperate in labor, and no one should refuse to link with brethren because they do not work in exactly the same line.
No member can disconnect from the agencies God has appointed and work on an independent line in supposed wisdom and still succeed. Even if a person flatters himself that he is doing God's work, that independent course will not prosper in the end. Such independence is a delusion leading to self-confidence, despising counsel, failure, disaster and ruin, showing need for converting power upon heart and character so that personal peculiarities do not hinder the work for the salvation of fellow men. Each person is given only a measure of ability and a piece of the work God would have done, whether preaching, teaching, practicing as a physician, cultivating soil or following a trade, and is to serve effectively in the work suited to that ability in his respective capacity, remaining united with the whole body under Christ alone as Master and Head rather than acting independently or calling any man master. The Lord's work advances healthfully and solidly when His people draw together and work in harmony, each keeping clean as a bearer of the vessels of the Lord and unspotted from the world.
Because two members do not act the same part, one member must not say to another I have no need of thee. Among the members there is to be no crowding another out, no judging, no measuring of one gift by another, and no striving over who shall be greatest, for if every member had the same function other necessary functions would be missing. God gives one gift to one person and another gift to another as He pleases for the good of the whole body, ordering some to serve in one line and others in other lines while all work under the same Spirit. Recognizing this plan guards against rivalry, pride, envy, contempt, evil-thinking and evil-speaking, and strengthens unity and mutual love, with one common interest and no division or contention as all cooperate in restoring in man the moral image of God. Usefulness lies not in possessing talents but in using them to be and do good and to bless others, trading upon talents through the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit and faithfully discharging God-given duty according to daily gained knowledge in righteousness.
The members are to work together in harmonious action in obedience to the laws controlling the being, under the sanctified intelligence governing the whole and under Christ as Head. Each has its own appointed station, office and place, active and distinct in its work yet dependent on the others, joined into one whole by the same Spirit and moving like a well-regulated machine or well-adjusted machinery. As the usefulness of the body is increased by harmonious energy and action of every member and by sympathy of every part with the whole, so the church is strengthened by well-regulated action of every part and exercise of every gift, each working for the benefit of the whole, sharing one another's suffering and honor, showing sympathy and kindly interest, speaking the truth in love, revealing unceasing tenderness by speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren, and jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made instead of watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn. The more believers drink in of the Spirit, the more they are made alive and united by His surpassing love, without fitful, spasmodic movements and without envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting, since every worker acts under God's supervision who has given to every man his work according to ability.
The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, with Ephesians on the same relation of members to one another, is to be committed to memory and written in mind and heart, and to be studied, digested and carefully considered rather than ignored. Believers must unite human weakness to Christ's strength, die to self and live to Christ, have strong unchristlike traits of character softened, subdued and purified, and unite with one another in order to be one with Christ in God, united understandingly and intelligently in humble obedience each filling a different place. Members remain bound to one another even when they ignore those bonds, and failing to understand their relations and responsibilities harms their own character and becomes a snare to others. Members must share Christ's love and serve one another as the heart sustains other parts by sending them blood, and a member who refuses to impart to others will perish.
Believers should work in harmony, put the good of the church before their own interests, and yield individual judgment to the judgment of the church body. Unity in one body under Christ as great Center and Head binds man to God by golden cords of love and lays each one under obligation to work for fellow men, because the Captain of salvation died that men might be made one with Him and with each other. As individual parts of the mighty whole of the human family, all are made necessary to one another and to God through an uplifted Saviour, and no soul can be made independent of the rest. Therefore there is to be no party strife, no schism, no shade of strife and no partition walls between man and man, for the well-being of each is the happiness of the whole, and Christ as Teacher, Ruler, strength and righteousness trains His subjects to imitate His virtues, His meekness and lowliness, His goodness, patience and love, thus consecrating heart and hand to His service and making man a channel through which the love of God can flow in rich currents to bless others.
Order and Leadership Responsibility
The verse belongs to the simple organization and church order ordained for the unity and perfection of the church, in which office makes a man a leader, adviser, counselor and helper in carrying burdens and a leader in thanksgiving to God, not one appointed to order and command laborers or to control and rule fellow workers. The Lord is over His heritage and will lead His people, so those carrying responsibilities must treat fellow laborers with the same consideration they would wish to receive, for all are brethren and position gives no man mastery or kingly authority. Because God has His church established on earth as many members but one body, every part of the work must act as connected with another part, joined by golden links, with no kings in the midst, no right to forbid another worker to go where he can find a place to work or to control his support, but workers going to the people, telling their necessities, and building up the work everywhere they can, including waste places and destitute fields. The work of God is a body of many branches with no one branch vastly more important than the others, so the kingly power formerly revealed in the General Conference at Battle Creek is not to be perpetuated and the publishing institution is not to be a kingdom of itself, with the same principles governing General Conference affairs to govern publishing and sanitarium work and no worker exalting his own branch above the others. Christ's church needs different members and functions and not everyone can perform the same role, and God appoints some to lead and bear responsibility for advancing the truth, so despising them rejects the help, encouragement and strength provided for the people.
The members of Christ's body do not all have the same office because the body needs different members with different work, all united to one Head with each member respected and doing individual work under that Head. That forbids striving for the chief place and the power of mastery, putting self first, treating a fellow worker as an inferior who must only obey, and picking and choosing laborers by personal preference, and it requires continual striving for unity among workers in sanitariums and in gospel ministry. The church is the body of Christ pervaded by the Holy Spirit, made of united converted agencies sanctified through the truth that must organize and combine in one, where no single member can be the whole body and there is to be no kingly power with one man controlling the whole, but all work under the law of cooperation in reciprocal influence upon one another. This united action joins divine power with human effort, bringing the power of the future world into the present to transform human agencies into divine agencies for revealing Christ and the cross to a world perishing in sin and iniquity. God has not given all wisdom to any one man, and no leader can by his own mind and judgment mold and direct important interests or be regarded as the voice for the people.
God has made other men just as valuable and willing to be taught and guided, giving to every man talents according to his several abilities, with one mind having a larger scope than another. Those placed in positions of trust must modestly regard the opinions of others as worthy of respect and as likely to be correct as their own, and must have connected with them as helpers men whose minds do not run in exactly the same lines as their own. When men are linked together each supplies the other's deficiency so they become a complete whole, because one man alone cannot bear the responsibilities of sacred office, and God would have His people linked together doing His work in perfect harmony. The idea that one man's mind and judgment can mold and direct important interests and be regarded as a voice for the people is a great evil endangering both the one in responsibility and those who cooperate with him. It is not the Lord's plan for one man or two or three men to gather all responsibilities into their own hands and do all the work, but those in advance in experience and knowledge are to yoke up with their brethren, esteem them, trust responsibilities to them, and bring them up by helping and instructing them, so they can learn from the great Teacher and impart what they receive from the Word.
Those deficient in some lines are not to be ignored or criticized and made a subject of remark but helped, and every man chosen of God is to be helped to find his place, including men with no ability to open the Scriptures who can do good service in secular lines. Ministers are not to be made errand boys for another minister or left to sit and hear one man preach while preaching talent is needed elsewhere, but are to stand side by side and share preaching and other responsibilities. Each worker is only a part of a great whole, one of a large number set in the church for God's purpose, and no one is the whole body, so men in responsibility must give up old hereditary and cultivated selfishness, love of supremacy, desire for mastery and high opinion of self. They need a new conversion to a clean, unselfish character wrought out by studying Christ's life and learning of Him, closely examining themselves to be free from all selfishness, with responsibility given that they may be a help to others and each one's own course determining his value among the many placed in the church. No worker in God's service can be a complete whole by himself, and every worker must guard against thinking he is sufficient in himself and must realize that responsibilities others must carry and qualifications others have are fully as essential as his own to progress.
Wherever placed, he needs other minds brought into connection with the work, must counsel with his brethren, must not follow his own will alone or regard his own judgment as fully sufficient without any other voice, and must let other members fully express their minds, since on some lines other minds may be more capable of giving wise counsel. He must not keep himself within himself as an entity distinct from his brethren, for their various talents are not his, and he needs humility with less of self and more of Christ to labor together with God. If the body were all one part, other necessary functions would be absent, which illustrates that God's work must not become unbalanced but its different lines must work together as a harmonious whole with more than a few minds contributing. Applied to Christian service, people are given different work, and each should do the work assigned rather than interfere with another worker's distinct task. In the church this means God's work requires diversity of gifts, and no worker should reject or oppose a fellow worker because that person serves in a different line, for every gift and talent is needed and is to be used in saving souls.
The perfection of the church does not depend on each member being fashioned exactly alike, for God calls for each one to take his proper place, to stand in his lot, and to do his appointed work according to the ability given him, to some five talents, to others two, and to others one. The church is a living, breathing, spiritual body in which each member has something different to do, and life and order are kept when spiritually-minded leading men assign individual duties, with one company praying with and helping the lame and sick and dependent and others set to work in other needed lines, so every member proves the body alive by doing his own part. Just as a body needs different parts and senses, the church needs members with different abilities and roles, and every member should be given a part to act according to ability, so the church can work effectively rather than leave members idle or talents unused. Every branch from publishing to sanitariums to schools to canvassing is to be kept in its place without walls of partition and without one line hindering another. No one person is a complete whole and no one mind alone is sufficient to plan and direct God's work, for God has given every man, woman and child a work to do in His moral vineyard, fitting one for a certain work and another for a different work for which he is adapted, with each to be the complement of the others.
Those joined together in school work are all needed and must blend together in union with the Holy Spirit, taking time to understand each other instead of standing apart to watch and criticize and judge each other, finding points of resemblance, being a help to one another with one supplying the lack of another, accepting and appreciating keener perceptions in another, and giving due credit to each one's ability. In God's providence people with different temperaments are brought together in connection with the school that they might unite in the work, and among Christ's followers there is to be blending of diverse elements, one adapted to the other, with each doing its special work for God and every individual having his place in filling up one great plan bearing the stamp of Christ's image, for God is one. Workers in the printing office are members of one body through which the Spirit of Christ must circulate as blood circulates through the human body, which requires true conversion of heart and mind and spirit, no half-way work, crucifixion of self, and the unity of Pentecost in true repentance and conversion, so Christ and heavenly angels will cooperate with the laborers in daily labor. God's work is one undivided body with connected members, and tithes of workers in medical lines must not be separated to a separate association but must all go to one treasury, with ministers supplied to work in connection with the medical work, so there is no division.
God's order is perfect unity, love and reciprocal dependence between every church and every conference, like members of one body building one another up in the most holy faith, and separating from conference organization to display supposed efficiency is entirely opposed to that order. The sacred chain of dependence binding men together is not slavery but the means by which the Holy Spirit is imparted and light reflected in clear, bright rays, while allowing evil thinking and evil speaking, discord and separation lets the enemy rob families of happiness, rob the church of usefulness and hinder the great work of reformation, and no one ruled by disunion and strife can truly say it is well with the soul. No conference, sanitarium or group of workers in one part of the field can work entirely separate from the other branches and the rest of the field, and those taking up new work must receive help and counsel from those with experience in both failure and success, with all movements to advance the work carefully scrutinized and closely knit together in harmonious action. God teaches different people in different ways, so no one mind receives everything, and believers should share plans and thoughts, listen freely to one another and accept kind counsel.
The body needs different members and functions and no one member can do everything, which supports mutual dependence in different callings, so each should value the help others are qualified to give rather than claim superior wisdom or authority. Not everyone is suited to every task, but lack of fitness for one kind of work does not make a person faithless or unwilling, and each person has value, for God does not expect everyone to be prepared for every role, and no one should dictate another person's work against that person's convictions of duty, though counsel may be offered while each remains free to seek direction from God. Members of the church have different functions and no one person can do every kind of work, so help from different people is to be welcomed, dictating how everyone must work avoided, and experienced workers allowed to teach those with less experience. The bond that keeps workers and their work united with God's commandment-keeping people is like a coupling pin, and breaking that bond is a serious mistake that workers and students must be trained to avoid.
Ministry and Medical Work
Medical missionary work is the hand and arm to the body, while the ministry of the Word, the preaching of the third angel's message and the building of churches is the body itself under Jesus Christ as Head. Neither part is complete without the other, and they must advance hand in hand in inseparable union, together with publications containing present truth. The body needs different members with different functions and cannot function as a single member, so no single member can do every kind of work and each branch has its appointed role. Medical missionary work is a helping hand and a leading member that helps the other parts of God's work, but it is not the whole body or its head and is not to be made all and in all. Labor for the degraded and fallen is not to be made the principal and all-important line, but is to be combined with giving the warning message and instructing the churches to help the needy and hold the old landmarks of truth, experience and duty. The ministry cannot be ignored without ignoring God, and separating medical work from preaching would make the work unbalanced, belittle the ministry, bring confusion and leave parts of God's work undone.
To make medical missionary work the whole body leaves no place for hearing and smelling and reverses God's order. The body must move and direct the arm, and the arm must not direct and rule the body, for the ministry of the Word holds the first place among human agencies while medical missionary work is the hand and arm, not the whole body. To disparage the ministry and carry medical work independently is to separate the arms from the body, making hands and flying arms dispensing means without direction of the head until the ministry has no standing room. The result is unbalanced, disproportionate and disorganized work that unsettles minds and brings confusion. It absorbs money, means and workers meant for ministers, missions and carrying the last message to the world, consumes but does not produce, saps all life and force from the ministry, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, and places men where they will scoff at Bible truth. Treating what should be hands and arms united to the body as the body itself draws means away into a separate work and becomes a great barrier and peril to the cause through revealed ambition and selfishness, dishonoring the Lord.
Kept in proportion, the right hand opens doors through which the body may find entrance, largely preparing the way for present truth by breaking down prejudice. No branch of gospel work, including health work and health reform, can make a perfect whole when separated from the others, for as the body cannot all be eye or all be hearing, the work cannot be carried on by one part alone. A body without hands is useless and can do nothing, and a body that refuses the aid of the right hand is able to accomplish nothing, so honor given to the body must also be given to the helping hands. Because the arm belongs to the body, oneness of respect is to be shown to medical missionary work and decided interest taken in it. The gospel ministry for proclamation of truth and labor for sick and well is the body with Christ as Head over all, and the third angel's message is the body of truth with health reform and medical missionary work as its right arm connected with the body to work efficiently and defend it. The two must be as closely connected as hand and arm with the body, carried forward together symmetrically and harmoniously without one line swayed heavily or exalted above the other. 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 as the gospel in illustration, while the field with its worldwide message requires work done in every line and in many places until every part of the large vineyard is worked to produce fruit.
Ministers and physicians are different members of the same body united under Christ as Head, each using varied gifts to bless humanity as God's helping hand, so all parts must be controlled by God's wisdom in harmony without jealousy, friction, quarreling, measuring brethren by personal ideas, following human devising or fastening to a human leader. They are to draw in even cords under Christ the Leader sent by the Father to redeem the fallen race and restore the moral image of God, giving room to fellow laborers to strengthen His work in every line for the glory of God. There needs to be altogether a different understanding between them, with the true converting power of God circulating through them like the healthful current of blood in the body, bringing great changes toward unity when it does. Past disunion over health reform is displeasing to God, with ministers at fault for disrespect toward medical work and for taking position against the light given against tea, Java coffee and flesh meats, which injures and creates division, and physicians at fault for feeling too strongly injured, despising ministers and bearing down on ministers as a body in an unjustifiable manner, so that blame for mismanagement is not altogether on one side. Medical missionary work is to be as closely united with the gospel ministry as arm to body, going hand in hand especially in large cities to open doors for entrance of truth, and every minister of the gospel should be prepared to do practical medical missionary work, with reluctance to join health reform principles with ministry caused by unwillingness to deny self.
The church is a living body with different members and branches, and the Health Institute is an arm of that body whose condition is controlled by the condition of the whole. When the church stands in the counsel of God and is healthy, light is diffused and a vitalizing, healthful current is sent from the church to control and give life to the Institute. When the church is sickly and does not enjoy the favor of God nor the light of His countenance, the moral darkness of the church creates moral darkness and spiritual death in the Institute, and a sickly, deathly influence is circulated through the whole living body until the disease is apparent everywhere.
Character and Daily Service
The verse calls for continuous humbling of the self, with self taken critically in hand and self-examination as the beginning and very first step. That first step is self-denial and self-humiliation and self-sacrifice, each bearing his own cross and not laying it on another to carry. Instead of crowding another out, judging another, measuring one gift by another, criticizing one another and placing bars that keep souls from courage to fight temptation, each is to deal sternly with self, examine peculiar temperament and weaknesses of character with close introspection, and deal decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition so God is not dishonored. No one accepted as a member of the one body through repentance toward God and belief in Jesus Christ can remain separate in selfishness, shrinking from duty and unwilling to do all God requires, but each must overcome love of earthly possessions and willingly impart freely of substance to aid the cause of truth.
Each person is to develop the gifts God has given without despising another's gifts or envying greater talents or achievements, since no member is complete or fit to work independently in every matter and if all had the same function other necessary functions would be missing. A person need not be head or heart to serve effectively, for even the lowly work represented by hand or foot is important, and worth depends not on size but on love and motive behind it. Every member should cultivate abilities and persevere in service, since each contribution can increase the usefulness of the church, and gifts are to be used in service for the good of all to represent truth and uplift Christ rather than to glorify possessors or elevate people. Even the smallest gift is to be valued and faithfully used, with differing gifts and traits working together in harmony to serve and strengthen the church, and each is to preserve and use gifts in service to Christ, since each part influences the whole and weakening or misusing one part reduces the usefulness of the whole. God's people are to help one another carry out different duties and faithfully complete their work, recognizing need of one another.
The different members are all needed and must not stand apart in self-confidence but unite in service, revealing unceasing tenderness by speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren and by jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made instead of watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn. Each member has an appointed station, office and place, and each part is to be respected, encouraged and sustained with due respect and recognition to fellow workers, with each working for the benefit of the whole and speaking truth in love, without fitful, spasmodic movements, under God's supervision who has given to every man his work. As the body's usefulness is increased by harmonious energy and action of every member and by sympathy of every part with the whole, so the church is strengthened by well-regulated action of every part and exercise of every gift, with no envy, evil-thinking, evil-speaking or evil-acting. The body made entirely of eyes could not hear and one made entirely of ears could not smell, so Christ's members should show sympathy, take kindly interest in fellow workers, and rejoice in helping them, and their mutual care bears righteous fruit and benefits the church through sanctifying grace. Each converted member is changed in character and strengthened by the faith and courage of the whole, even the weakest belongs to the body, and humble dependence on God makes that believer strong with the privileges of a child of God, so that what is lacking in one is supplied by another while every talent remains under the Holy Spirit's control and the whole works in harmony and love. People depend on one another with each having something to receive and something to contribute, and God joins believers together so their influence can bless one another and the world.
No member of Christ's body can be inactive, for the body is made of members with different work according to several ability, and all the various lines of work belong to one great whole and must be connected and done together in concert. Every member should be given a part to act according to ability so talents are not left idle or unused, each convert is to take a place of service, and members should be willing to serve in whatever way advances the work. Hearts must blend and all must move like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other yet distinct in action, each worker controlled by divine power putting forth undivided effort to draw those around him to Christ. Like leaves on the same tree members are not all exactly the same in form but each is to be perfect in its own form and development, and when varied capabilities and traits of character are perfected they combine to make a complete whole through which the Holy Spirit works in power. Distinct qualities enrich the whole while members remain one family.
True membership requires connection with Christ and therefore connection with His church, for the relation is close and sacred as bridegroom and bride and as head and body, and connection with the church organized for service is one of the first steps in service to Christ. Loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as an important part of training, and in a church filled with Christ's life it leads directly to effort for the world outside. With all its working forces the body must become one with the Head, with unity of action among members, Christ as divine Shepherd and gospel ministers as under-shepherds and members as working agencies, God making the church the continued incarnation of Christ to stand out prominently as His body. One connected to the body only in name without drawing life from Christ is like a paralyzed member whose fitful movements are not lasting activity, while true spiritual life produces growth and fruitful service. Those brought into church capacity through profession of faith whose names are on the record yet who do not belong to Jesus are like the fruitless branch taken away, whereas real membership means being a fruitful branch bearing fruit in absolute allegiance through spiritual connection, with faith and love as gold of character working to unite and harmonize members. Each member entrusted with a part, such as blessing and comforting those of like precious faith, becomes a light to others by believing in Jesus and cheerful service in response to His love, and faithfulness as stewards determines efficiency of the work.
In the perils of the last days every mental and physical power must be cultivated because all powers are essential to make a building representing God's wisdom and character, with God-given talents and powers of mind used in right relation to each other to make a perfect whole. Man makes character by earnestly cultivating the mind as the Lord's garden to form character after the divine likeness. The whole organism must be trained and brought into harmony, because using only certain parts leaves service deficient, and service to God requires the entire human being with physical and mental powers and affections developed for His work. Ministers build healthy action by overcoming deficiencies of character, disciplining themselves to work whether they feel like it or not, moving from principle instead of impulse and feeling, and feeding the flock, for being guided by disinclination, refusing to labor and to speak and pray unless feeling like it, and leaving waiting ones to move forward without help makes the cause languish and brings discouragement and loss where influence is felt most. No gift is to be used to separate believers, to be conscience for other men, to gain an experience for other men, or to form separate parties under different heads by teaching truth so as to cause contention and party spirit, and when such contention appears it must be investigated and called by its right names as born of narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds showing where reformation is needed. Men, women and youth of various temperaments, callings and positions, high and low, rich and poor, each with individual power to devise and execute what is best for many-sided life and individual responsibility to the whole, are to be organized to bring God-given talents into solemn service, enriching others with special and appropriate gifts as channels of light and co-workers with Christ, through daily connection with God giving deep insight into one's own life and others' lives to enlarge influence and arouse dormant energies, recognizing those with tact to watch for and care for souls and to appreciate all questions of spiritual life. Union is strength and the work needs many capabilities combined in different lines through well-organized effort, each helping the other with sympathy, forbearance and holy emulation, realizing personal weakness and applying to the Source of strength, giving those who seem to do little a chance and teaching them how to work. No one gains strength by seeking to be head, while those who feel least yet work and pray and share what they have received gain more to share and become burden-bearers, with influence growing by wearing Christ's yoke and lifting His burdens and working for time and eternity, allied to Christ as living Head and vitalized by His Spirit.
Each person is only one member and can never be an independent whole, and unity is preserved only as different members each perform their several offices under the Holy Spirit with Christ alone as Master and only head. None are to seek control by men or call any man master, but to look to the Lord as companion, counselor, guide, helper and friend, keeping clean as bearers of the vessels of the Lord and unspotted from the world. Whatever calling is followed, whether preaching the Word, teaching, practicing as a physician, cultivating soil, or following a trade, the work held is only a piece of the work to be done. God has given to every man his work, his own post of duty in the great whole, to be found out and then done in connection with other laborers under His supervision so the work goes forward soundly and healthfully, with Christ's person linking human and divine in sacred mystery. Sacred and secular callings alike, in business lines, ministry of the Word, and various trades, become consecrated service when mind, heart and soul are surrendered to Christ and God is loved with whole heart, mind, soul and strength in recognition of His ownership, and this consecration invests the whole life with sacredness that makes a man gentle, kind and courteous, makes every act consecrated with Holiness unto the Lord as motto, and trains him under Christ for the higher grade above.