The verse means the church is one body made up of many members with different gifts and roles, and every member belongs to the body and is needed. As in the human body, very different parts from eyes to feet have different functions yet form one harmonious whole, with no part able to work successfully detached from the others. All the members are centered in Christ as Head and receive life from Him, and connection with Him involves connection with His church as His body on earth. Therefore no member is to separate into an independent course, pursue self-sufficiency, despise or envy another's gifts, or divide into parties, but members are to counsel together, care for one another, and suffer and rejoice together. There are no idle members, for each has an appointed place and work suited to ability to be done in humility, self-denial, and kindly sympathy, with ministry and medical work and every other branch joined hand in hand as one body under its Head.
Body Image Meaning
Many members form one body, which is the church, with different gifts and roles assigned for its life and work. Each member belongs to the body and is needed, and no member is the whole body by itself. No one should claim non-belonging because service differs from another's, and differences are not ground for breaking into factions but call for unity and love that gives a faithful witness. Differences should produce close harmonious relationships and mutual care for one another's interests, not division or the judgment that some are unnecessary, and this oneness gathers people of different backgrounds by the Spirit. Every part is indispensable though not all do the same work, and success comes through harmonious cooperation under Christ's guidance to renew and sanctify souls and prepare them for glory. Members are to exercise their different gifts actively as members of Christ's body whose head is Jesus Christ, without self-sufficiency, crowding one another, judging one another, or measuring one gift against another.
The human body illustrates this oneness, for very different parts from eyes to feet have different functions yet make one perfect whole. They depend on one another, act in harmony under the intelligence and laws that govern the being, and their variety contributes to the perfection of the whole. Like members of the human body each church member has a distinct office and role and should work in unity under sanctified intelligence guiding the whole. No part can work successfully detached from the others, and church membership alone without faithful harmony with Christ does not make a Christian or secure salvation. This arrangement by the same Spirit preserves variety while animating believers and binding them in surpassing love, reaching people of varied makeup and minds, so each cultivates God-given powers and qualities without losing will and identity and without being over-managed and controlled.
Connection with Christ involves connection with His church, for Christ is the head and the church is His body of many dependent parts joined in one united whole. The relation is very close and sacred, and the church is organized for service, so joining the church is one of the first steps in a life of service and loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as training that leads outward to effort for the world. The church is the Lord's body and His continued incarnation on earth, with Christ as divine Shepherd and great Head, gospel ministers as undershepherds under Him, and members as His working agencies who with all their forces must become one with the Head in unity of action and stand out prominently. To believe on Christ is to be united to Him as a limb is united to the body. No member can become independent of God or of the others, for desire for independence brings a fall as with the glorious angels who depended on God for happiness, light, and intelligence yet fell through insubordination.
The same body pattern applies beyond the church, for the Bible is one complete body pervaded by one divine life, as the human body is a complete structure where every part is united and dependent for life. Each book is a member with its own special office and use and lesson, connected with the rest to form a complete whole fitted to human beings in every phase of life to secure a special result and make the human family complete in Christ. All humanity is likewise connected as parts of one web through reciprocal action and mutual relation ordained by God, with each receiving from others and having something to give, so no one can be dropped from God's plan without affecting the whole and nothing is independent of the rest. As members of the human family all are individual parts of one mighty whole, made necessary to one another and to God, with no soul independent, so the well-being of each is the happiness of the whole and each is to promote the welfare of the rest of God's family. Bonds create lasting obligations and shared responsibility even when ignored, each person's conduct affects others, and the close bond makes separation of affection and faith feel like tearing away a limb. Christ died to make men one with Him and with each other, binding them to God by love and to work for fellow men, with Christ as Teacher, Ruler, strength, righteousness, and great Center uniting all in one without party strife, schism, or partition walls, training them in meekness, lowliness, goodness, patience, and love as channels of blessing.
The instruction of 1 Corinthians 12 with chapter 13, together with related instruction in Ephesians about mutual relation as members of Christ, represents the relation members should sustain to one another and is to be unitedly and intelligently understood. Chapters 12 and 13 should be committed to memory, written in mind and heart, studied and digested rather than ignored, and carefully applied. Application begins with self-examination and the continuous humbling of self, taking self critically in hand, denying self, taking up the cross of self-denial, self-humiliation, and self-sacrifice, and not laying that cross on another to carry. It requires dying to self and living to Christ and uniting human weakness to His strength, as shown when Christ descended from heaven's throne clothing divinity with humanity to show what human beings may become. God has joined together men of different minds, talents, capabilities, experience, and abilities so none bears the burden alone but deficiency in one is supplied by another through counseling, assisting, remembering others have a work to do, refusing to bar the mind against counsel, and blending minds in plans, until as cherished unchristlike traits are softened, subdued, and purified, members unite with one another and are one with Christ in God.
Diversity of Gifts
The many members form one body because God Himself dispenses different gifts and assigns different kinds of service and lines of work as He chooses for the good of the whole, all serving under the same Spirit. One gift is given to one person and another gift to another, with some placed in one line and others in other lines, and some are called to teach others to fit them for service and should go cheerfully where leading points. Gifts are given for service, not to exalt their possessors, but to uplift Christ, represent truth, benefit others, and help each one faithfully carry out the work. So distinct ability has its appointed field, as when the Bourdeaus had a work among the French that American ministers could not do, and those entrusted with such different work should be supported and encouraged to use their gifts while relying on God rather than their own wisdom. Recognizing this order guards against rivalry, carnal emulation, pride, envy, and contempt, and strengthens unity and mutual love.
This variety is God's plan to meet varied makeup and minds in the world, since the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. All members center in Christ as Head and receive their varied gifts by the same Spirit, yet workers must not force other minds to bend to their own ideas and destroy will, identity, and natural traits that give access to people others could not reach. Each person must be left free for God to convict the heart, call forth powers, and develop individual strength for a special work, without being forced to bear one person's stamp. Their union in the work adds strength, as Luther's courage and energy were complemented by Melanchthon's gentleness, caution, and exactness, and their partnership encouraged Luther and strengthened the Reformation. Differences are therefore to develop as God-given qualities suited to varied people and needs, rather than conforming everyone to one mind and hindering the work God has for them.
Unity does not mean uniformity or sameness, and perfection of the church does not depend on each member being fashioned exactly alike. Individuality remains, with different minds, figures, and ways of presenting truth to interest and educate different minds, without contradiction, confusion, striving for originality, or striving for strangeness. Each member has liberty of expression and different gifts in spiritual working and different manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but all must blend capabilities in harmonious action with unity and love and the glory of God in view, pledging equal interest by prayer to fulfill the work. Like diverse leaves on one tree each perfect in form, like different parts of one temple, and like many stones in the high priest's breastplate, differences add to the perfection of the whole when blended in love under the Holy Spirit. All draw spiritual supplies from the same storehouse, bought with the same blood, born of God by the same Spirit, worked by the same Spirit, and fed on the flesh and blood of the Son of God, the Word which is Spirit and life, so the same vitalizing current flowing through minds and hearts produces harmony, dwelling on points of agreement, keeping unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, loving as brethren with pity and courtesy, and showing true love in noble unselfish deeds. To think it a virtue to differ and to fail in harmony denies the Source of all spiritual life, while no one is to work out a problem of private invention or launch out against another, and selfishness is not to rule.
God assigns each person a particular line of service, so unity does not mean everyone does the same work, and members should respect one another's distinct work rather than interfere with or take it over. Each Christian has an appointed place, office, and post of duty, as hand, head, ear, eye, or limbs joined under one head to work as one well-regulated whole, with various lines committed to different persons according to ability yet all connected with the great whole. Each is to keep to his own machine in his own place, and when every member diligently and faithfully does his own work correctly the larger machinery works beautifully with exact and harmonious revolutions. If members leave their own machines to watch and correct the great wheel and rearrange the whole church, they are out of place, hindering its working, causing heavy groaning and disagreeable noise that jars beyond themselves, and making things much worse. No one is to neglect his own work to take another's or to stand apart to watch, criticize, and judge, but those joined in the same work are to blend together, take time to understand each other, find points of resemblance, help one another, supply one another's lack, and give due credit to each one's ability, with hearts blending and moving like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other yet distinct in action, controlled by divine power with undivided effort to draw others to Christ.
The usefulness of the body grows by harmonious energy and action of every member, so the church is strengthened when every part acts in order and every gift is exercised for the benefit of the whole, without fitful or spasmodic movements, without envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, or evil acting, and with sympathy for the whole. Consecration makes every act holy, with Holiness unto the Lord as the motto, and perfection of the whole depends on the proper functioning of its individual members cooperating under Christ's leadership rather than working independently or requiring all to be alike. Because two members do not act the same part, no member is to entertain self-sufficiency or tell another he is not needed, and among members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, but respect for each other's gifts. No member should consider another inferior or unnecessary, despise another's gifts, or envy another's abilities, since differences in minds and abilities are useful, members supply what others lack, and each contributes to harmony and usefulness. Work represented by the hand or foot may be lowly yet important, its worth depends not on greatness but on the love and motive with which it is done, and no work appointed by God is inferior whether great or small. Varied talents from every rank and class are needed to make a complete whole, no part or contribution is to be undervalued or excluded, each has a place and distinct worth though in different degrees, and no one should be expected to be suited for every role.
Christ as Head
Gifts were placed in the church by the Holy Spirit for its edification and instruction, to serve until the end of time. The many members are centered in Christ as Head and receive life from Him, as branches and leaves draw strength and life from one vine and root. Their varied gifts and talents are to be joined in united service under Jesus Christ as the acknowledged head, rather than under human guidance. Each has a proper place and part to fill, and no member is independent of the others, for Jesus is the center and source of life and power throughout the whole.
Believers differ in characteristics and experiences, yet form one harmonious body in which each has a part to play. Believers are complete only in Christ, who lifts His people from sin's degradation and gives them a place as fellow workers with God. People of varying types of character are brought together in church capacity through profession of faith as many distinct members joined in one united body under Christ as Head. A name on the church record does not make true membership; only those who belong to Jesus remain, while those without Him are taken away like fruitless branches of a vine. A true member has a spiritual connection with God, bears fruit, and gives evidence of absolute allegiance to Christ, and faith and love are the gold of character that works on the Lord's side to unite and harmonize the members of Christ's body.
Each person has an appointed work suited to ability, and no member should remain inactive. The work may differ, but the same Spirit moves all who serve; members depend on one another while carrying out distinct duties, and their united effort is to draw people to Christ. That Spirit of Christ must circulate through the workers as blood circulates through the body, and this requires true conversion of heart and mind and spirit, with no halfway work, and self crucified. When the day of Pentecost fully comes the laborers will unite in true repentance and conversion, and then Christ and heavenly angels will cooperate with them in their daily labors. Christian unity is formed through the Holy Spirit, shared love, and coordinated service.
The converting power of God should circulate among ministers and physicians as many members of one body like the healthful current of blood in the body, and where that circulation exists great changes take place. Disunion between these workers is displeasing to God, whether it comes from ministers disrespecting health reform light against tea, coffee, and flesh meats, or from physicians feeling too strongly injured, despising ministers, and bearing down on them as a body in an unjustifiable manner, since fault is not altogether on one side. The health of the church depends on spiritual peace and harmony, just as physical health depends on the harmonious action of all parts of the body. This unity comes in Christ through belief of the truth under the Holy Spirit's influence, and gives the world a convincing testimony that His disciples are taught by Him. A person may be connected to Christ's body in name yet lack spiritual life, and such a member is paralyzed, with only fitful activity and no lasting fruit. True life comes from Christ and is shown by steady growth in grace and an abiding life that reflects Him, while brief, feeling-driven impulses are not evidence of that life or of Christ's grace.
Mutual Need Care
No member is complete in himself and no one is qualified to bear the burden of the work alone, for the many members are joined together as one body precisely so that what is lacking in one may be supplied by the strength of another. God has united men of different minds, talents, experience, temperaments, and abilities, giving different gifts so workers blend their efforts in harmony and counsel with and assist one another rather than act as if they can carry the work alone or reject counsel. This joining means careful thinkers check exaggerated action, physicians and teachers placed near schools and sanitariums blend their talents, and ministers combine their talents with those of others, with every talent guided by the Holy Spirit in love, humility, and unity. The members depend on one another and cannot work successfully in independence, but are to use their different abilities under God's direction in unselfish service, helping one another and contributing to the perfection of the whole, while even a weak or inexperienced member remains vital and can be strengthened by others.
Differences are meant to produce close harmonious relationships, mutual care, and sympathy, so that no member can live or work alone and no one can say to another, I have no need of thee. When one member suffers all the members suffer with it, and when one is honored all are honored, enlightened, and rejoice with him, jealously guarding one another's interests with true religion blending every virtue in harmonious proportion into a symmetrical whole. God gathers believers into this one body so they can encourage and strengthen one another and bless the world, each converted member showing a changed character and sharing in the support of the whole, with kindly interest, Christlike sympathy, and rejoicing in helping fellow workers whose influence produces righteousness. Like organs of a body each must serve beyond itself, for a part that keeps its life and gifts to itself loses its power, while even the weakest believer belongs to Christ's body and by humble dependence on God may draw on the privileges of a child of God.
Membership creates lasting bonds of mutual responsibility and reciprocal influence that remain even when people ignore them, with heart bound to heart and each person having a part to fulfill in relation to the others. Each person's conduct affects others, for mutual confidence is powerful for good or evil and unconscious influence always tends to good or evil, so that neglecting God's purposes for these relationships harms character and can become a snare to others. Members are to unite in harmonious action, each part acting in harmony with the others and working in right relation to the others as living workmen deriving power from Christ, considering each part's work in relation to the others and to God's cause. Those who work together in love and unity reflect the glory of God, and when the whole body works harmoniously with no counter-influence, each member acting in concert at his own post in the ministry of reconciliation, this united action exhibits God's miracle-working power as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
Unity Without Separation
Many members yet one body means no member is to separate from the body, pursue an independent course in supposed wisdom, live only for self, or call his work undenominational. No one can disconnect from the agencies appointed and work on an independent line in his own supposed wisdom and still be successful, for trying to work alone is a delusion of the enemy that brings discord, ruin, and failure, and even self-flattery about doing God's work will not prosper in the end. Each is to remain joined in his respective capacity, cooperating and using ability where service is most effective, standing together in harmony and unity so the work advances in unity and order, while refusal to cooperate reveals a spirit uncontrolled by God, for union is strength and variance is weakness and sin. Workers must counsel with and assist one another, share plans and thoughts, listen and receive kind counsel, blend mind and plans with other minds, keep the mind open, trust the wisdom of brethren, and pray and labor together rather than let personal peculiarities hinder the work. No one has enough wisdom or ability to manage alone and no one is qualified to bear the burden alone, for God joined men of different minds, gifts, methods, and fields so experience and ability supply deficiency, differences are no reason to refuse cooperation, and each must consider his relation to fellow workers as part of a great whole. No worker is to treat knowledge or skill as exclusively his own but is to share what can help others for the good of the whole, and harmonious cooperation means supplying one another's lack in meetings, checking exaggerated action by careful thought without slowness and delay that loses time, educating members to bear responsibilities, patiently training the less experienced, and students humbly learning from experienced physicians. Simple organization and church order are ordained for the unity and perfection of the church, with Christian joined to Christian and church to church as many parts united in one organized body under the Holy Spirit by golden links, with one part of the work connected to another, so human effort cooperates with God and conferences and churches cherish dependence and build one another up. Office stands for leading, advising, counseling, helping bear burdens, and leading in thanksgiving to God, not for ordering and commanding laborers or controlling and ruling fellow laborers with kingly power, for position gives no kingly authority and makes no one infallible or independent. No one man has all wisdom or has been given all wisdom to mold important interests, and making one mind and judgment the mold and voice is a great evil endangering both the responsible man and cooperators, so leaders must modestly regard others' opinions as worthy of respect and likely as correct as their own, welcome as helpers those whose minds do not run in exactly the same lines, give each a chance to be proved, treat coworkers with the consideration they would wish to receive, and leave members free under Christ as the only Master and only Head controlled by the Holy Spirit and never by men. Each believer as only one member and never an independent whole is to perform his several office within the domain of God whether preaching the Word, teaching in schools, practicing as physician, cultivating soil, following a trade, acting in councils, or going to foreign lands, looking to the Lord as companion, counselor, guide, helper and friend, doing his best with all tact and strength of mind and heart, sinew and muscle, keeping clean and unspotted, serving with humility, valuing help, and encouraging coworkers in Christlike love, and no worker is to make individual judgment supreme, trust self above counsel and judgment of brethren especially appointed leaders, seek light directly from God alone apart from others, forbid workers to go where they can find work or control their support, or neglect and despise appointed leaders, since that rejects the ordained means of help, encouragement and strength and lets Satan separate the independent from channels of light unto deception and overthrow. There is to be no strife over who shall be greatest, just as there is no reason for strife among bodily members over which is greatest, but one common interest with all cooperating with Christ in restoring in man the moral image of God, faithfully using talents under the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit in working out personal salvation and that of family and associates. There is to be no division, contention, party spirit, or conscience control, gifts must never separate believers into parties under different heads, no minister is to be conscience for others or gain experience for them, and when contention appears it must be investigated and called by its right name, for all dissension is born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Each laborer being erring and fallible needs the instruction, correction, and counsel of brethren to perfect character, so esteeming self, following self-will, acting from impulse and natural feeling, rising in opposition to what brethren introduce when it crosses mind or feeling, holding a hard, bitter, severe, unsubdued spirit, refusing to yield private judgment and plans, concentrating on one point until fortified against moving, and maintaining opinion against plain facts, reason, and clearest proof breaks unity, forbids extreme independence and one-man power where all must bend to one mind and will, makes one a sadness, weight, and perplexity instead of help and strength, and God will not accept his labors, leaving no place for the disregardful in the redeemed family.
Ministry Medical Union
Medical missionary work stands to the whole cause as hand or arm stands to the body, not as head and not as the whole body itself. It is only one part and one member among many, appointed to its own work within the great whole, and it must cooperate with the ministry of the word rather than operate independently or take its place. To make it everything, the main line, or supreme reverses the appointed order, so that the arm declares it has no need of the head and the body in effect becomes the arm, to great harm. That reversal misdirects strength and resources, weakens the people for other service, leaves parts of the work undone, and eclipses the warning message, the instruction of the churches, holding to the old landmarks, teaching members to help the needy and outcast, inviting outsiders to come in, and the proclamation of Christ's soon coming and the third angel's message.
Gospel ministry and medical missionary work, together with publications containing present truth made effectual by faith as the Holy Spirit sends truth home to earnest hearers and readers, are many members yet one body that must be joined hand in hand with no line drawn between them. Neither part is complete alone, and medical work is the gospel in illustration, the gospel practiced while the word preached is the gospel proclaimed, bound up together in unselfish united labor to save sinners. The body of truth is the third angel's message for the last days, and health reform and medical missionary work is the right arm connected with that body to defend it and help it work efficiently. Perfect unity must therefore hold all branches together, with every part joined harmoniously in God's worldwide plan and every feature complete when occupying its proper place, advancing wondrously when human inventions and wrong threads are not brought into the pattern.
The ministry of the Word holds first place among human agencies as the great educational force for salvation, as head and as the elevated body, while medical missionary work as hand and arm sustains it and must be governed by head and body rather than lead the body. The arm has real power and belongs to the body and must not be cut off, but the body must work the arm and the arm must not work the body, keeping in proportion to the ministry and sustaining it rather than taking control. To disparage the ministry and conduct medical work independently is to separate the arms from the body, leaving flying arms dispensing means without direction of the head. The result is an unbalanced, disproportionate work that unsettles minds and brings confusion, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, crowds out the ministry until it finds no standing room, consumes means needed in other lines, consumes but does not produce, becomes a strange medley of disorganized atoms, and places men where they will scoff at Bible truth, a peril of ambition and selfishness drawing means into the wrong place that began about 1893 and increased afterward.
All branches belong to one great plan without walls of partition or territorial kingdoms, including general administrative work, publishing work, sanitarium work, schools, and health work, with no branch to become a kingdom by itself and no centralized kingly power to be continued. No one is to regard his own branch as vastly more important than the others, and the same principles that govern general affairs are to govern publishing and sanitarium management, each line needing experienced management lest the whole become unbalanced. Each member or branch has its own work demanding special effort while also laboring for the health and welfare of the whole, protecting, building up, and strengthening the others, with school and sanitarium remaining distinct yet helping one another through close cooperation. Now is the time for united great and small work with many workers and many kinds of work, as in Greater New York, to make a perfect whole, with medical, gospel, and institutional talents managed as one whole.
Rightly united, the hand opens doors so the body can enter and largely prepares the way for present truth to be received, breaking down prejudice, creating confidence, and causing truth to go with power, while the body gives prominence and stability. Without hands the body is useless and can do nothing, so honoring the body requires honoring the helping hands, and treating the right hand with indifference and refusing its aid leaves the work able to accomplish nothing. Christ joined preaching and healing, proclaiming truth and ministering to the sick as part of the gospel, and health reform as the helping hand was bound with Jesus, each giving completeness to the other. Every minister of the gospel should therefore be prepared to do practical medical missionary work, especially in large cities where this united work opens doors, with reluctance toward health reform traced to unwillingness to deny self, and disunion over tea, coffee, and flesh meats displeasing God. Tithes of workers in medical lines are not to be separated to a medical association but all tithes go to one treasury, with liberal sending of ministers to work in connection with the medical work, and the spiritual health of the church decides the vital current flowing to its Health Institute arm, whether a vitalizing current of light and holiness for good or a sickly deathly influence from moral darkness spreading disease everywhere.
Humble Active Service
There are no idle members in the one body made up of many members, for every man, woman, child, and convert has work fitted to ability in God's household and vineyard. Each member is to take a place in service and help carry the work, so that every addition to the church through conversion takes a place of duty and strengthens its mission. Leaders are to plan so that all can serve, making the church active and fruitful rather than idle and dead. The whole church is to act in unity as a living, active agency guided by the Holy Spirit.
The body is living and active when its members carry out their individual duties, including praying with and helping those who are lame, sick, or dependent. Even those who feel least among the saints belong to Christ's body, and through Christ are joined with His human agents and with the excellence and power of heavenly beings. Each has a duty not for selfish interests but so that each one's influence strengthens all. Minds and abilities need cultivation and training, and steady daily effort increases usefulness and ability to bear fruit for God's glory.
Members are to endure hardship as soldiers, keep Christ before them, and speak His words within reach. No one is to place bars in the way of any soul repenting toward God and believing in Jesus Christ so that he lacks courage to fight against Satan's temptations. Instead of criticizing, crowding, judging, or measuring one gift by another, each person is to deal sternly with self, examine temperament and weaknesses of character with close introspection, and deal decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition so God is not dishonored. Influence grows by wearing the yoke of Christ and lifting His burdens, by realizing personal weakness, and by showing sympathy, forbearance, and holy emulation while applying to God as the Source of all strength.
No one gains increased strength by seeking to be the head, and no worker with responsibility is qualified to decide important questions while cherishing love of supremacy, desire for mastery, high opinion of self, and old hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and habits formed in selfishness. Such tendencies must be conquered, selfish habits given up, and selfishness banished by close self-examination, with a clean, unselfish character wrought out by studying Christ's life and learning of Him in a new conversion, remaining learners under the Holy Spirit. Those who feel they are the least of all, yet work and pray and share what they have received, receive more to share as they impart, become burden-bearers, and allied to Christ the living Head are vitalized by His Holy Spirit.
The one body joined from many distinct believers calls for revealing unceasing tenderness in dealings with one another, uniting in service, and jealously guarding one another's interests even though mistakes are made. It forbids standing apart in self-confidence and standing afar off when coming together for counsel to watch for an opportunity to criticize and condemn. It requires speaking good words that help and strengthen brethren, with kindly interest, sympathy, forbearance, and holy emulation.
Gifts are given for service not to exalt their possessors but to uplift Christ, represent the truth, benefit others, and help each person faithfully carry out work, with every gift needed in the Lord's work. Every soul taking a position as a member of Christ's body has work appointed by God and receives talents to use and improve in proportion to capability, whether five, two, or one according to ability. Taking that place is a pledge to act faithfully as a steward of God, using time, money, influence, and talent for saving souls with the same prudence and wisdom one would use if personal gain were at stake. Refusing to serve places a person in opposition to Christ, while the treasure of His Word committed as a special honor is to be understood, appropriated, and employed to the glory of God in every circumstance of life.
Efficiency of God's work on earth depends on members acting together in harmonious action as faithful stewards of His means without practicing robbery toward God, with assurance of His help to those true to Him. Each member is entrusted with blessing and comforting those of like precious faith, looking to Jesus, being a light to others by example, and responding to His giving His precious life to save with cheerful service. Union with the body instead of standing apart requires doing all God requires without shrinking from duty, especially for those with earthly possessions to overcome love of riches, place possessions upon the altar, and impart freely of substance to aid the cause of truth, so love of truth predominates over love of the world. A minister is disqualified from his place in building the body to healthy action when deficiencies of character keep him from building it up, for working from impulse and feeling, laboring and speaking and praying only when inclined instead of acting from principle and discipline whether he feels like it or not, fails to produce healthy action and leaves the cause languishing in discouragement. When gifts are active they encourage the fainthearted and correct and reprove those who err.
Every mental and physical power is to be cultivated amid the perils of the last days, for all powers are essential to make the church a building representing the wisdom and character of God as the great Designer. Talents and powers of mind are God's gifts to be cultivated and used in right relation to each other so as to make a perfect whole, with man forming character after the divine likeness by earnestly cultivating the mind as the Lord's garden. The many members form one whole in which each part however small affects the usefulness of the whole, so gifts and abilities are to be faithfully used and carefully guarded rather than weakened by misuse.
The verse means the church is one body made up of many members with different gifts and roles, and every member belongs to the body and is needed. As in the human body, very different parts from eyes to feet have different functions yet form one harmonious whole, with no part able to work successfully detached from the others. All the members are centered in Christ as Head and receive life from Him, and connection with Him involves connection with His church as His body on earth. Therefore no member is to separate into an independent course, pursue self-sufficiency, despise or envy another's gifts, or divide into parties, but members are to counsel together, care for one another, and suffer and rejoice together. There are no idle members, for each has an appointed place and work suited to ability to be done in humility, self-denial, and kindly sympathy, with ministry and medical work and every other branch joined hand in hand as one body under its Head.
Body Image Meaning
Many members form one body, which is the church, with different gifts and roles assigned for its life and work. Each member belongs to the body and is needed, and no member is the whole body by itself. No one should claim non-belonging because service differs from another's, and differences are not ground for breaking into factions but call for unity and love that gives a faithful witness. Differences should produce close harmonious relationships and mutual care for one another's interests, not division or the judgment that some are unnecessary, and this oneness gathers people of different backgrounds by the Spirit. Every part is indispensable though not all do the same work, and success comes through harmonious cooperation under Christ's guidance to renew and sanctify souls and prepare them for glory. Members are to exercise their different gifts actively as members of Christ's body whose head is Jesus Christ, without self-sufficiency, crowding one another, judging one another, or measuring one gift against another.
The human body illustrates this oneness, for very different parts from eyes to feet have different functions yet make one perfect whole. They depend on one another, act in harmony under the intelligence and laws that govern the being, and their variety contributes to the perfection of the whole. Like members of the human body each church member has a distinct office and role and should work in unity under sanctified intelligence guiding the whole. No part can work successfully detached from the others, and church membership alone without faithful harmony with Christ does not make a Christian or secure salvation. This arrangement by the same Spirit preserves variety while animating believers and binding them in surpassing love, reaching people of varied makeup and minds, so each cultivates God-given powers and qualities without losing will and identity and without being over-managed and controlled.
Connection with Christ involves connection with His church, for Christ is the head and the church is His body of many dependent parts joined in one united whole. The relation is very close and sacred, and the church is organized for service, so joining the church is one of the first steps in a life of service and loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties as training that leads outward to effort for the world. The church is the Lord's body and His continued incarnation on earth, with Christ as divine Shepherd and great Head, gospel ministers as undershepherds under Him, and members as His working agencies who with all their forces must become one with the Head in unity of action and stand out prominently. To believe on Christ is to be united to Him as a limb is united to the body. No member can become independent of God or of the others, for desire for independence brings a fall as with the glorious angels who depended on God for happiness, light, and intelligence yet fell through insubordination.
The same body pattern applies beyond the church, for the Bible is one complete body pervaded by one divine life, as the human body is a complete structure where every part is united and dependent for life. Each book is a member with its own special office and use and lesson, connected with the rest to form a complete whole fitted to human beings in every phase of life to secure a special result and make the human family complete in Christ. All humanity is likewise connected as parts of one web through reciprocal action and mutual relation ordained by God, with each receiving from others and having something to give, so no one can be dropped from God's plan without affecting the whole and nothing is independent of the rest. As members of the human family all are individual parts of one mighty whole, made necessary to one another and to God, with no soul independent, so the well-being of each is the happiness of the whole and each is to promote the welfare of the rest of God's family. Bonds create lasting obligations and shared responsibility even when ignored, each person's conduct affects others, and the close bond makes separation of affection and faith feel like tearing away a limb. Christ died to make men one with Him and with each other, binding them to God by love and to work for fellow men, with Christ as Teacher, Ruler, strength, righteousness, and great Center uniting all in one without party strife, schism, or partition walls, training them in meekness, lowliness, goodness, patience, and love as channels of blessing.
The instruction of 1 Corinthians 12 with chapter 13, together with related instruction in Ephesians about mutual relation as members of Christ, represents the relation members should sustain to one another and is to be unitedly and intelligently understood. Chapters 12 and 13 should be committed to memory, written in mind and heart, studied and digested rather than ignored, and carefully applied. Application begins with self-examination and the continuous humbling of self, taking self critically in hand, denying self, taking up the cross of self-denial, self-humiliation, and self-sacrifice, and not laying that cross on another to carry. It requires dying to self and living to Christ and uniting human weakness to His strength, as shown when Christ descended from heaven's throne clothing divinity with humanity to show what human beings may become. God has joined together men of different minds, talents, capabilities, experience, and abilities so none bears the burden alone but deficiency in one is supplied by another through counseling, assisting, remembering others have a work to do, refusing to bar the mind against counsel, and blending minds in plans, until as cherished unchristlike traits are softened, subdued, and purified, members unite with one another and are one with Christ in God.
Diversity of Gifts
The many members form one body because God Himself dispenses different gifts and assigns different kinds of service and lines of work as He chooses for the good of the whole, all serving under the same Spirit. One gift is given to one person and another gift to another, with some placed in one line and others in other lines, and some are called to teach others to fit them for service and should go cheerfully where leading points. Gifts are given for service, not to exalt their possessors, but to uplift Christ, represent truth, benefit others, and help each one faithfully carry out the work. So distinct ability has its appointed field, as when the Bourdeaus had a work among the French that American ministers could not do, and those entrusted with such different work should be supported and encouraged to use their gifts while relying on God rather than their own wisdom. Recognizing this order guards against rivalry, carnal emulation, pride, envy, and contempt, and strengthens unity and mutual love.
This variety is God's plan to meet varied makeup and minds in the world, since the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. All members center in Christ as Head and receive their varied gifts by the same Spirit, yet workers must not force other minds to bend to their own ideas and destroy will, identity, and natural traits that give access to people others could not reach. Each person must be left free for God to convict the heart, call forth powers, and develop individual strength for a special work, without being forced to bear one person's stamp. Their union in the work adds strength, as Luther's courage and energy were complemented by Melanchthon's gentleness, caution, and exactness, and their partnership encouraged Luther and strengthened the Reformation. Differences are therefore to develop as God-given qualities suited to varied people and needs, rather than conforming everyone to one mind and hindering the work God has for them.
Unity does not mean uniformity or sameness, and perfection of the church does not depend on each member being fashioned exactly alike. Individuality remains, with different minds, figures, and ways of presenting truth to interest and educate different minds, without contradiction, confusion, striving for originality, or striving for strangeness. Each member has liberty of expression and different gifts in spiritual working and different manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but all must blend capabilities in harmonious action with unity and love and the glory of God in view, pledging equal interest by prayer to fulfill the work. Like diverse leaves on one tree each perfect in form, like different parts of one temple, and like many stones in the high priest's breastplate, differences add to the perfection of the whole when blended in love under the Holy Spirit. All draw spiritual supplies from the same storehouse, bought with the same blood, born of God by the same Spirit, worked by the same Spirit, and fed on the flesh and blood of the Son of God, the Word which is Spirit and life, so the same vitalizing current flowing through minds and hearts produces harmony, dwelling on points of agreement, keeping unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, loving as brethren with pity and courtesy, and showing true love in noble unselfish deeds. To think it a virtue to differ and to fail in harmony denies the Source of all spiritual life, while no one is to work out a problem of private invention or launch out against another, and selfishness is not to rule.
God assigns each person a particular line of service, so unity does not mean everyone does the same work, and members should respect one another's distinct work rather than interfere with or take it over. Each Christian has an appointed place, office, and post of duty, as hand, head, ear, eye, or limbs joined under one head to work as one well-regulated whole, with various lines committed to different persons according to ability yet all connected with the great whole. Each is to keep to his own machine in his own place, and when every member diligently and faithfully does his own work correctly the larger machinery works beautifully with exact and harmonious revolutions. If members leave their own machines to watch and correct the great wheel and rearrange the whole church, they are out of place, hindering its working, causing heavy groaning and disagreeable noise that jars beyond themselves, and making things much worse. No one is to neglect his own work to take another's or to stand apart to watch, criticize, and judge, but those joined in the same work are to blend together, take time to understand each other, find points of resemblance, help one another, supply one another's lack, and give due credit to each one's ability, with hearts blending and moving like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other yet distinct in action, controlled by divine power with undivided effort to draw others to Christ.
The usefulness of the body grows by harmonious energy and action of every member, so the church is strengthened when every part acts in order and every gift is exercised for the benefit of the whole, without fitful or spasmodic movements, without envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, or evil acting, and with sympathy for the whole. Consecration makes every act holy, with Holiness unto the Lord as the motto, and perfection of the whole depends on the proper functioning of its individual members cooperating under Christ's leadership rather than working independently or requiring all to be alike. Because two members do not act the same part, no member is to entertain self-sufficiency or tell another he is not needed, and among members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, but respect for each other's gifts. No member should consider another inferior or unnecessary, despise another's gifts, or envy another's abilities, since differences in minds and abilities are useful, members supply what others lack, and each contributes to harmony and usefulness. Work represented by the hand or foot may be lowly yet important, its worth depends not on greatness but on the love and motive with which it is done, and no work appointed by God is inferior whether great or small. Varied talents from every rank and class are needed to make a complete whole, no part or contribution is to be undervalued or excluded, each has a place and distinct worth though in different degrees, and no one should be expected to be suited for every role.
Christ as Head
Gifts were placed in the church by the Holy Spirit for its edification and instruction, to serve until the end of time. The many members are centered in Christ as Head and receive life from Him, as branches and leaves draw strength and life from one vine and root. Their varied gifts and talents are to be joined in united service under Jesus Christ as the acknowledged head, rather than under human guidance. Each has a proper place and part to fill, and no member is independent of the others, for Jesus is the center and source of life and power throughout the whole.
Believers differ in characteristics and experiences, yet form one harmonious body in which each has a part to play. Believers are complete only in Christ, who lifts His people from sin's degradation and gives them a place as fellow workers with God. People of varying types of character are brought together in church capacity through profession of faith as many distinct members joined in one united body under Christ as Head. A name on the church record does not make true membership; only those who belong to Jesus remain, while those without Him are taken away like fruitless branches of a vine. A true member has a spiritual connection with God, bears fruit, and gives evidence of absolute allegiance to Christ, and faith and love are the gold of character that works on the Lord's side to unite and harmonize the members of Christ's body.
Each person has an appointed work suited to ability, and no member should remain inactive. The work may differ, but the same Spirit moves all who serve; members depend on one another while carrying out distinct duties, and their united effort is to draw people to Christ. That Spirit of Christ must circulate through the workers as blood circulates through the body, and this requires true conversion of heart and mind and spirit, with no halfway work, and self crucified. When the day of Pentecost fully comes the laborers will unite in true repentance and conversion, and then Christ and heavenly angels will cooperate with them in their daily labors. Christian unity is formed through the Holy Spirit, shared love, and coordinated service.
The converting power of God should circulate among ministers and physicians as many members of one body like the healthful current of blood in the body, and where that circulation exists great changes take place. Disunion between these workers is displeasing to God, whether it comes from ministers disrespecting health reform light against tea, coffee, and flesh meats, or from physicians feeling too strongly injured, despising ministers, and bearing down on them as a body in an unjustifiable manner, since fault is not altogether on one side. The health of the church depends on spiritual peace and harmony, just as physical health depends on the harmonious action of all parts of the body. This unity comes in Christ through belief of the truth under the Holy Spirit's influence, and gives the world a convincing testimony that His disciples are taught by Him. A person may be connected to Christ's body in name yet lack spiritual life, and such a member is paralyzed, with only fitful activity and no lasting fruit. True life comes from Christ and is shown by steady growth in grace and an abiding life that reflects Him, while brief, feeling-driven impulses are not evidence of that life or of Christ's grace.
Mutual Need Care
No member is complete in himself and no one is qualified to bear the burden of the work alone, for the many members are joined together as one body precisely so that what is lacking in one may be supplied by the strength of another. God has united men of different minds, talents, experience, temperaments, and abilities, giving different gifts so workers blend their efforts in harmony and counsel with and assist one another rather than act as if they can carry the work alone or reject counsel. This joining means careful thinkers check exaggerated action, physicians and teachers placed near schools and sanitariums blend their talents, and ministers combine their talents with those of others, with every talent guided by the Holy Spirit in love, humility, and unity. The members depend on one another and cannot work successfully in independence, but are to use their different abilities under God's direction in unselfish service, helping one another and contributing to the perfection of the whole, while even a weak or inexperienced member remains vital and can be strengthened by others.
Differences are meant to produce close harmonious relationships, mutual care, and sympathy, so that no member can live or work alone and no one can say to another, I have no need of thee. When one member suffers all the members suffer with it, and when one is honored all are honored, enlightened, and rejoice with him, jealously guarding one another's interests with true religion blending every virtue in harmonious proportion into a symmetrical whole. God gathers believers into this one body so they can encourage and strengthen one another and bless the world, each converted member showing a changed character and sharing in the support of the whole, with kindly interest, Christlike sympathy, and rejoicing in helping fellow workers whose influence produces righteousness. Like organs of a body each must serve beyond itself, for a part that keeps its life and gifts to itself loses its power, while even the weakest believer belongs to Christ's body and by humble dependence on God may draw on the privileges of a child of God.
Membership creates lasting bonds of mutual responsibility and reciprocal influence that remain even when people ignore them, with heart bound to heart and each person having a part to fulfill in relation to the others. Each person's conduct affects others, for mutual confidence is powerful for good or evil and unconscious influence always tends to good or evil, so that neglecting God's purposes for these relationships harms character and can become a snare to others. Members are to unite in harmonious action, each part acting in harmony with the others and working in right relation to the others as living workmen deriving power from Christ, considering each part's work in relation to the others and to God's cause. Those who work together in love and unity reflect the glory of God, and when the whole body works harmoniously with no counter-influence, each member acting in concert at his own post in the ministry of reconciliation, this united action exhibits God's miracle-working power as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
Unity Without Separation
Many members yet one body means no member is to separate from the body, pursue an independent course in supposed wisdom, live only for self, or call his work undenominational. No one can disconnect from the agencies appointed and work on an independent line in his own supposed wisdom and still be successful, for trying to work alone is a delusion of the enemy that brings discord, ruin, and failure, and even self-flattery about doing God's work will not prosper in the end. Each is to remain joined in his respective capacity, cooperating and using ability where service is most effective, standing together in harmony and unity so the work advances in unity and order, while refusal to cooperate reveals a spirit uncontrolled by God, for union is strength and variance is weakness and sin.
Workers must counsel with and assist one another, share plans and thoughts, listen and receive kind counsel, blend mind and plans with other minds, keep the mind open, trust the wisdom of brethren, and pray and labor together rather than let personal peculiarities hinder the work. No one has enough wisdom or ability to manage alone and no one is qualified to bear the burden alone, for God joined men of different minds, gifts, methods, and fields so experience and ability supply deficiency, differences are no reason to refuse cooperation, and each must consider his relation to fellow workers as part of a great whole. No worker is to treat knowledge or skill as exclusively his own but is to share what can help others for the good of the whole, and harmonious cooperation means supplying one another's lack in meetings, checking exaggerated action by careful thought without slowness and delay that loses time, educating members to bear responsibilities, patiently training the less experienced, and students humbly learning from experienced physicians.
Simple organization and church order are ordained for the unity and perfection of the church, with Christian joined to Christian and church to church as many parts united in one organized body under the Holy Spirit by golden links, with one part of the work connected to another, so human effort cooperates with God and conferences and churches cherish dependence and build one another up. Office stands for leading, advising, counseling, helping bear burdens, and leading in thanksgiving to God, not for ordering and commanding laborers or controlling and ruling fellow laborers with kingly power, for position gives no kingly authority and makes no one infallible or independent. No one man has all wisdom or has been given all wisdom to mold important interests, and making one mind and judgment the mold and voice is a great evil endangering both the responsible man and cooperators, so leaders must modestly regard others' opinions as worthy of respect and likely as correct as their own, welcome as helpers those whose minds do not run in exactly the same lines, give each a chance to be proved, treat coworkers with the consideration they would wish to receive, and leave members free under Christ as the only Master and only Head controlled by the Holy Spirit and never by men. Each believer as only one member and never an independent whole is to perform his several office within the domain of God whether preaching the Word, teaching in schools, practicing as physician, cultivating soil, following a trade, acting in councils, or going to foreign lands, looking to the Lord as companion, counselor, guide, helper and friend, doing his best with all tact and strength of mind and heart, sinew and muscle, keeping clean and unspotted, serving with humility, valuing help, and encouraging coworkers in Christlike love, and no worker is to make individual judgment supreme, trust self above counsel and judgment of brethren especially appointed leaders, seek light directly from God alone apart from others, forbid workers to go where they can find work or control their support, or neglect and despise appointed leaders, since that rejects the ordained means of help, encouragement and strength and lets Satan separate the independent from channels of light unto deception and overthrow.
There is to be no strife over who shall be greatest, just as there is no reason for strife among bodily members over which is greatest, but one common interest with all cooperating with Christ in restoring in man the moral image of God, faithfully using talents under the sanctified influence of the Holy Spirit in working out personal salvation and that of family and associates. There is to be no division, contention, party spirit, or conscience control, gifts must never separate believers into parties under different heads, no minister is to be conscience for others or gain experience for them, and when contention appears it must be investigated and called by its right name, for all dissension is born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Each laborer being erring and fallible needs the instruction, correction, and counsel of brethren to perfect character, so esteeming self, following self-will, acting from impulse and natural feeling, rising in opposition to what brethren introduce when it crosses mind or feeling, holding a hard, bitter, severe, unsubdued spirit, refusing to yield private judgment and plans, concentrating on one point until fortified against moving, and maintaining opinion against plain facts, reason, and clearest proof breaks unity, forbids extreme independence and one-man power where all must bend to one mind and will, makes one a sadness, weight, and perplexity instead of help and strength, and God will not accept his labors, leaving no place for the disregardful in the redeemed family.
Ministry Medical Union
Medical missionary work stands to the whole cause as hand or arm stands to the body, not as head and not as the whole body itself. It is only one part and one member among many, appointed to its own work within the great whole, and it must cooperate with the ministry of the word rather than operate independently or take its place. To make it everything, the main line, or supreme reverses the appointed order, so that the arm declares it has no need of the head and the body in effect becomes the arm, to great harm. That reversal misdirects strength and resources, weakens the people for other service, leaves parts of the work undone, and eclipses the warning message, the instruction of the churches, holding to the old landmarks, teaching members to help the needy and outcast, inviting outsiders to come in, and the proclamation of Christ's soon coming and the third angel's message.
Gospel ministry and medical missionary work, together with publications containing present truth made effectual by faith as the Holy Spirit sends truth home to earnest hearers and readers, are many members yet one body that must be joined hand in hand with no line drawn between them. Neither part is complete alone, and medical work is the gospel in illustration, the gospel practiced while the word preached is the gospel proclaimed, bound up together in unselfish united labor to save sinners. The body of truth is the third angel's message for the last days, and health reform and medical missionary work is the right arm connected with that body to defend it and help it work efficiently. Perfect unity must therefore hold all branches together, with every part joined harmoniously in God's worldwide plan and every feature complete when occupying its proper place, advancing wondrously when human inventions and wrong threads are not brought into the pattern.
The ministry of the Word holds first place among human agencies as the great educational force for salvation, as head and as the elevated body, while medical missionary work as hand and arm sustains it and must be governed by head and body rather than lead the body. The arm has real power and belongs to the body and must not be cut off, but the body must work the arm and the arm must not work the body, keeping in proportion to the ministry and sustaining it rather than taking control. To disparage the ministry and conduct medical work independently is to separate the arms from the body, leaving flying arms dispensing means without direction of the head. The result is an unbalanced, disproportionate work that unsettles minds and brings confusion, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, crowds out the ministry until it finds no standing room, consumes means needed in other lines, consumes but does not produce, becomes a strange medley of disorganized atoms, and places men where they will scoff at Bible truth, a peril of ambition and selfishness drawing means into the wrong place that began about 1893 and increased afterward.
All branches belong to one great plan without walls of partition or territorial kingdoms, including general administrative work, publishing work, sanitarium work, schools, and health work, with no branch to become a kingdom by itself and no centralized kingly power to be continued. No one is to regard his own branch as vastly more important than the others, and the same principles that govern general affairs are to govern publishing and sanitarium management, each line needing experienced management lest the whole become unbalanced. Each member or branch has its own work demanding special effort while also laboring for the health and welfare of the whole, protecting, building up, and strengthening the others, with school and sanitarium remaining distinct yet helping one another through close cooperation. Now is the time for united great and small work with many workers and many kinds of work, as in Greater New York, to make a perfect whole, with medical, gospel, and institutional talents managed as one whole.
Rightly united, the hand opens doors so the body can enter and largely prepares the way for present truth to be received, breaking down prejudice, creating confidence, and causing truth to go with power, while the body gives prominence and stability. Without hands the body is useless and can do nothing, so honoring the body requires honoring the helping hands, and treating the right hand with indifference and refusing its aid leaves the work able to accomplish nothing. Christ joined preaching and healing, proclaiming truth and ministering to the sick as part of the gospel, and health reform as the helping hand was bound with Jesus, each giving completeness to the other. Every minister of the gospel should therefore be prepared to do practical medical missionary work, especially in large cities where this united work opens doors, with reluctance toward health reform traced to unwillingness to deny self, and disunion over tea, coffee, and flesh meats displeasing God. Tithes of workers in medical lines are not to be separated to a medical association but all tithes go to one treasury, with liberal sending of ministers to work in connection with the medical work, and the spiritual health of the church decides the vital current flowing to its Health Institute arm, whether a vitalizing current of light and holiness for good or a sickly deathly influence from moral darkness spreading disease everywhere.
Humble Active Service
There are no idle members in the one body made up of many members, for every man, woman, child, and convert has work fitted to ability in God's household and vineyard. Each member is to take a place in service and help carry the work, so that every addition to the church through conversion takes a place of duty and strengthens its mission. Leaders are to plan so that all can serve, making the church active and fruitful rather than idle and dead. The whole church is to act in unity as a living, active agency guided by the Holy Spirit.
The body is living and active when its members carry out their individual duties, including praying with and helping those who are lame, sick, or dependent. Even those who feel least among the saints belong to Christ's body, and through Christ are joined with His human agents and with the excellence and power of heavenly beings. Each has a duty not for selfish interests but so that each one's influence strengthens all. Minds and abilities need cultivation and training, and steady daily effort increases usefulness and ability to bear fruit for God's glory.
Members are to endure hardship as soldiers, keep Christ before them, and speak His words within reach. No one is to place bars in the way of any soul repenting toward God and believing in Jesus Christ so that he lacks courage to fight against Satan's temptations. Instead of criticizing, crowding, judging, or measuring one gift by another, each person is to deal sternly with self, examine temperament and weaknesses of character with close introspection, and deal decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition so God is not dishonored. Influence grows by wearing the yoke of Christ and lifting His burdens, by realizing personal weakness, and by showing sympathy, forbearance, and holy emulation while applying to God as the Source of all strength.
No one gains increased strength by seeking to be the head, and no worker with responsibility is qualified to decide important questions while cherishing love of supremacy, desire for mastery, high opinion of self, and old hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and habits formed in selfishness. Such tendencies must be conquered, selfish habits given up, and selfishness banished by close self-examination, with a clean, unselfish character wrought out by studying Christ's life and learning of Him in a new conversion, remaining learners under the Holy Spirit. Those who feel they are the least of all, yet work and pray and share what they have received, receive more to share as they impart, become burden-bearers, and allied to Christ the living Head are vitalized by His Holy Spirit.
The one body joined from many distinct believers calls for revealing unceasing tenderness in dealings with one another, uniting in service, and jealously guarding one another's interests even though mistakes are made. It forbids standing apart in self-confidence and standing afar off when coming together for counsel to watch for an opportunity to criticize and condemn. It requires speaking good words that help and strengthen brethren, with kindly interest, sympathy, forbearance, and holy emulation.
Gifts are given for service not to exalt their possessors but to uplift Christ, represent the truth, benefit others, and help each person faithfully carry out work, with every gift needed in the Lord's work. Every soul taking a position as a member of Christ's body has work appointed by God and receives talents to use and improve in proportion to capability, whether five, two, or one according to ability. Taking that place is a pledge to act faithfully as a steward of God, using time, money, influence, and talent for saving souls with the same prudence and wisdom one would use if personal gain were at stake. Refusing to serve places a person in opposition to Christ, while the treasure of His Word committed as a special honor is to be understood, appropriated, and employed to the glory of God in every circumstance of life.
Efficiency of God's work on earth depends on members acting together in harmonious action as faithful stewards of His means without practicing robbery toward God, with assurance of His help to those true to Him. Each member is entrusted with blessing and comforting those of like precious faith, looking to Jesus, being a light to others by example, and responding to His giving His precious life to save with cheerful service. Union with the body instead of standing apart requires doing all God requires without shrinking from duty, especially for those with earthly possessions to overcome love of riches, place possessions upon the altar, and impart freely of substance to aid the cause of truth, so love of truth predominates over love of the world. A minister is disqualified from his place in building the body to healthy action when deficiencies of character keep him from building it up, for working from impulse and feeling, laboring and speaking and praying only when inclined instead of acting from principle and discipline whether he feels like it or not, fails to produce healthy action and leaves the cause languishing in discouragement. When gifts are active they encourage the fainthearted and correct and reprove those who err.
Every mental and physical power is to be cultivated amid the perils of the last days, for all powers are essential to make the church a building representing the wisdom and character of God as the great Designer. Talents and powers of mind are God's gifts to be cultivated and used in right relation to each other so as to make a perfect whole, with man forming character after the divine likeness by earnestly cultivating the mind as the Lord's garden. The many members form one whole in which each part however small affects the usefulness of the whole, so gifts and abilities are to be faithfully used and carefully guarded rather than weakened by misuse.