1 Corinthians 12:23, commentary and pictures

The members thought to be less honorable are to receive more abundant honor, and the uncomely parts more abundant comeliness, with greater care, dignity and respect. The figure of the members composing the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another as one united whole. The church is one body with Jesus Christ as Head, made of many members with different offices and gifts by the same Spirit to be actively exercised together for the good of the whole. Those who seem less honorable, less important or lesser in gifts are not to be despised, disregarded or considered unnecessary, but are needed and valuable and to receive special honor and care. No member can disconnect to work on an independent line and still succeed, for God has joined men of different minds to counsel with and assist one another, so that deficiency in one is supplied by another.

Body Picture Explained

Those parts of the body that are thought to be less honorable are to have more abundant honor bestowed upon them, and the uncomely parts are to have more abundant comeliness, with greater care, dignity and respect. Every member is needed, and the different gifts and roles must be valued without comparing one gift with another, with none counted inferior, unnecessary, to be despised, disregarded or overlooked. This bestowal of special honor and care prevents divisions and teaches members to care for one another, guarding against rivalry, pride, envy and contempt while strengthening unity and mutual love. Differences in minds, abilities, talents and judgment allow people to supply what others lack and to balance one another, so that people of every rank and class, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, with different talents, belong together as parts of one complete whole. No contribution is to be undervalued, excluded or monopolized, and the health of the church depends on shared interests and sympathy in spreading light. The ministry and the medical missionary work have distinct and necessary roles and must work together under Christ, with medical missionary work as arm and hand not to be treated as inferior, separated from the ministry, or allowed to replace the work of the whole body.

The figure of the members composing the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another. The teaching of 1 Corinthians 12 together with 1 Corinthians 13 is set before those brought together in church capacity so that they will be united understandingly and intelligently as one united whole under sanctified intelligence. It is to be committed to memory, written in mind and heart, studied, digested and applied, and not ignored. Like the human body, the church is made of different members whose distinct functions contribute to one united whole, each member having a part to act and to perform under the intelligence governing the whole. Every part is indispensable and works harmoniously when each serves in the given role, with members not opposing one another, so that when one suffers all suffer with that member.

There is variety and not uniformity in the human body, from the eyes to the feet, yet all these different members depend upon one another to make a perfect whole. In all that variety there is harmonious action in conformity to the laws controlling the being, kept by an unseen, conscious, indivisible unity that keeps every part working in harmony with every other. Believers are to have this same unity in variety, animated and united by surpassing love as they drink in more of the Spirit. Life objects to uniformity, so variety does not mean contradiction or confusion but unity in diversity, where different testimonies about the same truth unite to form one whole. Different workers keep their individuality and present truth with different expressions, figures and ways that interest different minds and meet the necessities of varied minds, yet all are members of the same body worked by the same Spirit, fed from the same source, bought by the same blood and owned by God, so that the same vitalizing current flowing through minds and hearts produces harmonious action under the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit. It is no virtue to differ or to strain for originality and strange new productions, and failure to act in harmony denies the Source of spiritual life; the constant lesson is learning meekness and lowliness, drinking in of the Spirit, and tender compassionate love expressed in practical brotherly love that is pitiful and courteous and appreciates all plans and activities as coming from one Source.

The Word of God is 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 others for life. Each member of the body has its special office and is connected with the others to form a complete whole, and so every book and every portion of Scripture has its use and its lesson to be learned. Each portion is adapted to human beings in every phase of life to secure a special result and to make the human family complete in Christ.

To believe on Christ is to put on Christ and be united to Christ as a limb is united to the body, and those so united to Him have everlasting life. Christ clothed His divinity with humanity that His humanity might touch and uplift humanity, while with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite, thus linking finite man with the infinite God. A professed Christian who does not draw life from Christ is like a paralyzed member, connected to the body in name but lacking lasting activity, for brief impulsive movements are not spiritual life or growth in grace, while a living member shows continuing growth and fruit. Members regarded as less honorable are given greater honor and uncomely parts greater comeliness instead of being cut off, for weak, suffering or damaged limbs are not to be hastily amputated but restored with the best care. What would be a fearful mistake to cut off can be saved by patient care, by putting the sufferers in the best rooms and giving them the very best of care and treatment under faithful helpers, since the first work is restoration so that no limb is sacrificed and none is left to go through life in a crippled condition with its usefulness damaged for life. Separation from closely joined members is painful, like tearing a limb from the body. Physical health is promoted by the harmonious action of all parts of the body, with the whole physical organism to be trained and used in God's service and not neglected or abused, and so spiritual peace and harmony bring health to the church, with unity in Christ through belief of the truth carrying to the world a convincing testimony that His disciples are taught by Him.

Christ Head, Spirit Gifts

The church is one body with Jesus Christ as Head and center, made up of many members with different offices and gifts by the same Spirit to be actively exercised together. Like the human body from head to feet, the different members do not all act the same part yet all belong to one body centered in Christ, working under the Head as a well-regulated whole whose usefulness is increased by harmonious energy and action and by the sympathy of every part with the whole. Their unity shows they follow a heavenly Leader rather than human guidance, and their work is to be joined in orderly cooperation under Christ with each worker standing in his appointed station, office and place, speaking truth in love for the benefit of the whole. Because all are needed members of one body, there is to be no self-sufficiency saying to another that he has no need of him, and no crowding, judging, measuring of one gift by another, fitful spasmodic movements, envy, evil thinking, evil speaking or evil acting, but respect, encouragement, sustenance and due recognition for each part and each gift. Each person is to cultivate and develop the powers and qualities given him, and fellow laborers are to unite in work without destroying one another's will and identity, just as parents must not govern children so much that they crush individuality.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts to the church for its edification and instruction, and these gifts serve the church through the end of time. Prophets and other spiritual gifts belong to the church just as surely as teachers, helps and governments do, established because the church needs them and to remain while it awaits Christ's return.

God dispenses His gifts as it pleases Him, giving one gift to one person and another gift to another for the good of the whole body. It is God's order that some serve in one line of work, such as teaching others to fit them for service, and others in other lines, all working under the same Spirit. Recognizing this plan guards against carnal emulation, pride, envy and contempt of one another, and strengthens unity and mutual love.

This diversity is God's design to meet varied organizations, make-up and minds in the world, so the strength of one servant is not the strength of another. Each has independent natural traits and peculiar characteristics with its own special light and significance that adds beauty to the whole, and different places may call for different styles and different minds may express the same thought in different ways without contradiction, each dwelling on points fitted to constitution and education. In His providence God brings together people of different temperaments that they might unite in the work, with diverse elements blended together, one adapted to the other, and each to do its special work for God, every individual having his place in the filling up of one great plan bearing the stamp of Christ's image because God is one. Members should therefore not be forced to conform to someone else's ideas, have other minds bend to his ideas, have will and identity destroyed, or have judgment and character molded after himself even when peculiar traits look objectionable, since his own traits may be just as objectionable; every worker must be left free for God to convict his heart, give him an experience founded in God, call out his powers and develop individual strength for a special work, because human control and training can spoil him for what God wants him to do. All members form one family under one Mind, drawing spiritual supplies from the same storehouse and wholly dependent on God for grace and the Spirit's working, so there is to be no selfishness or self-exaltation.

Even the weakest saint who believes in Christ belongs to Christ's body, joined through Him to all His human agents and to the excellence and power of heavenly beings. The church is to be one Christian family, with members strengthening and sustaining one another through shared courage and faith, and a believer who lives in humble dependence on God becomes strong and has the privileges of a child of God. What is lacking in one may be supplied more fully through another's gifts and abilities, so even a weak or inexperienced believer can be strengthened by members who are more hopeful or mature. The least member is still vital, joined to Christ and to the whole body, and through Christ shares in the excellencies of His character, with each member having a duty not for selfish interests but so that influence strengthens all.

These gifts come from God and are to serve others by representing truth and helping the whole body accomplish its work, not to glorify their possessors or uplift people, but to uplift the world's Redeemer. Differences in ability call for cultivation and training, no one in the household of faith is without a task, and persevering effort increases each member's usefulness and ability to serve. In the perils of the last days every mental and physical power must be cultivated, for all the powers are essential to make the church a building that represents the wisdom and character of the great Designer; the talents and powers of the mind are God's gifts to be used in their right relation to each other so as to make a perfect whole, God gives the talents, man makes the character, and the mind as the Lord's garden must be earnestly cultivated to form a character after the divine similitude. Members regarded as having lesser gifts or abilities are not to be overlooked, each gift is to be valued and used, and even the smallest gift can help advance the cause when exercised in faith, for parts of the body that seem small or less useful still matter to the whole, each part affects the whole and misuse of one part reduces the body's usefulness.

Connection with Christ involves connection with His church, for the relation between Christ and His church is very close and sacred, He the head and the church the body, and He the bridegroom and the church the bride. The church is organized for service, and in a life of service to Christ connection with the church is one of the first steps; loyalty to Christ demands faithful performance of church duties, which is an important part of training, and in a church imbued with the Master's life it leads directly to effort for the world without. The church is His body pervaded by the Holy Spirit, where all converted, sanctified members are to organize and combine into one united agency, the divine cooperating with the human and bringing power of the future world into the present to transform human agencies into divine agencies working out united plans. The law governing the body is cooperation in reciprocal influence, with all influences bearing upon one another and no kingly power of one man controlling the whole, for the united body to reveal Christ and the cross to a world perishing in sin and iniquity. Christ is the divine Shepherd and great Head, gospel ministers are the undershepherds, and all church members are His working agencies and God's continued incarnation meant to stand out prominently; with all its working forces the body must become one with the Head, and among the members there must be unity of action, holding the doctrines of God's word in purity and following the Bible implicitly as partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust.

Honor Given to Lowly

Those regarded as less honorable, less important, or lesser in gifts are not to be despised, disregarded, overlooked, treated as inferior, pushed aside, or counted as unnecessary, but are needed, valuable, and to receive special honor and care. Differences in gifts and kinds of work do not make anyone unnecessary, for varied gifts are interdependent and together form a complete whole, with all needed in the work and each serving according to ability in dependence on God, with Jesus as source and center of life and power. Honor toward God is shown by developing one's own gifts while respecting the gifts and work of others, without envy and without acting as though one person can serve independently in every matter, since members are closely connected and none can be independent. No one should be expected to suit every kind of work, and lack of aptitude for a particular task does not make a person faithless or unwilling, while each is to contribute to the welfare and happiness of others and to be given room to use gifts rather than being required to follow one person's narrow, fixed pattern. God has prepared different people with different talents to work together in united, harmonious service, including those able to educate and train the young for useful roles.

Like the hand or foot serving effectively without being the head or heart, members who seem less important still have valuable work to do, and the worth of service depends not on prominence but on love and motive. What seems uncomely is treated with greater care, and every member has a place of duty and should willingly act the assigned part, serving wherever needed in advancing Christ's cause. No work done for the Master is inferior or of little account, whether great or small, for God appoints each work for the worker's own best good, for the best good of fellow men, and for the advancement of His cause, with work done cheerfully, humbly, and in Christ's meekness resulting in God's glory.

People of every rank and class, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, belong together as parts of a complete whole, and the body is complete only in Christ, who raises those degraded by sin and gives them a place as fellow workers. No part of the great work is to be depreciated, monopolized, undervalued, shut out, or excluded, including abilities that are overlooked, which are to be recognized and prepared for service. No line is to rank mental work above physical work, for different members and kinds of service have essential value and both draw on necessary powers. The poor, with simplicity of character, humility, tried virtue, confidence in God, and sympathy for the needy and oppressed, may have a talent larger than money, influence, or wisdom, and through patient toil and entire dependence on God point others to Jesus; human pride must not dissolve what God's wisdom ordained, for the interests of all classes are indissolubly united in the web of humanity, and sympathy cannot be withdrawn from any without loss to the church's healthful influence. Every person has individual power to devise and execute what is best for the many-sided life of the people at large, and men, women, and youth of various temperaments, callings, and positions are to be organized to bring God-given talents into solemn service, watching for and caring for souls, enlarging the circle of influence, and as co-workers with Christ enriching others with special and appropriate gifts as channels of light.

Greater honor is given by full inclusion, liberty of expression, and equal interest in the work, so that diversity of gifts makes a complete whole when blended in unity. All are to blend capabilities in prayer, pledged union in action, and harmonious labor with unity and love and God's glory in view, standing together to sustain Bible truth against fanaticism and heresy and aiming at perfection of Christ's character. In this there is no selfishness ruling the heart, no man launching out against another, and no one working out his own invention in raising means, supporting schools, or sustaining the ministry.

God made other men just as valuable as those in positions of trust and did not give all wisdom to any one man, for talents are given to every person according to ability, with one mind having larger scope than another. Opinions of helpers whose minds do not run in exactly the same lines are worthy of respect and likely to be as correct as one's own, and those with different talents and judgment should share in counsel and decision-making rather than be treated with superiority or contempt. Those in sacred office must be linked with such helpers, each supplying the other's deficiency to become a complete whole and doing God's work in perfect harmony instead of being molded and directed by one man's mind and judgment. Every minister sent to teach truth in a special field that others cannot fill must likewise be sustained, stimulated to earnest and persevering exertion, and given encouragement, sympathy, and consideration, with room to exercise his own powers and capabilities in his own way rather than being pressed exactly into the minds and ideas of others.

Less experienced workers, and those who seem to do but little, are to be patiently taught, supported, and given a chance with sympathy and forbearance rather than excluded or treated harshly. Room is to be made for each to contribute according to ability in well-organized work, with each helping the other while realizing personal weakness and seeking strength from the Source of all strength, for neglecting members' gifts leaves the church weakened and gives those gifts room to be used for other purposes. No one gains increase of strength by seeking to be the head, but those who feel themselves least of all and with determined zeal work and pray and impart what they have received receive more to impart and become burden-bearers, allied to Christ the living Head and vitalized by His Holy Spirit. The health of the center affects every part, and the work advances when people with different abilities are encouraged, trained, and set to serve according to their gifts.

Members remain bound to one another in one common body even if those ties are ignored, and disregarding the connection harms character and can become a snare, so God's purposes for relationships must be considered, with love for Jesus directing affection to its proper object and freeing it to flow without danger. All people are connected as different parts of one great whole and as part of the web of humanity, so that no part can be removed without affecting the whole, and each person is bound to God and to the whole human family under mutual obligation and cannot live to self or be independent of others. People of varied kinds are interdependent and should all be treated with kindness and sympathy, for contact with one another can refine and strengthen them. Christians are members of one body, brothers and sisters of one family and branches of one root in Christ, carrying mutual responsibility and natural obligations to respect and love one another with pure hearts fervently, truly, sincerely, and unaffectedly, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Friendship among them can be kept true and untainted only when united by truth in Jesus Christ, with pure love as a divine principle and permanent power drawn fresh from love flowing from God's heart, binding heart to heart by the Holy Spirit; their God-given talents and unconscious influence must be sanctified and exercised for one another's benefit rather than perverted to hurt and injure fellow members, since mutual confidence is powerful for good or for evil.

Unity in Diverse Roles

God's people are one body and every member must stay united to the body in his respective capacity, each working in his given place where he can serve most effectively. No one can disconnect from the appointed agencies and work on an independent line in his own supposed wisdom and still succeed, for such separation to live only for self is opposed to the body picture. Even if he flatters himself that he is doing God's work, he will not prosper in the end, since attempting independence is a delusion of the enemy. Like the physical body, the spiritual body's perfection depends on the proper functioning of its individual members working together under Christ's leadership rather than acting as separate wholes or pursuing their own plans. As different parts of a machine all are closely related to one another and dependent on one great center, so there is to be unity in diversity and no member can work successfully detached from the others.

The work of God requires a harmonious whole in which each laborer does his God-given work in his appropriate position and supplies the deficiency of another, for no one man's gift alone is sufficient to make a complete whole. A worker left alone is in danger of thinking his talent is enough, and none should refuse to link with brethren because they do not work in exactly the same line, since such refusal shows a heart needing converting power lest personal peculiarities hinder the salvation of fellow men. Various lines of work are committed to different men according to their several ability, but all work done for the Master is to be connected with the great whole, with all working together in concert each controlled by divine power and putting forth undivided effort to draw those around him to Christ. Hearts must blend and all must move like well-adjusted machinery, each part dependent on the other part yet standing distinct in action, part acting in harmony with part. Unity demands that workers consult together, pray together, and cooperate in labor, each acting the part God has appointed at his post in the grace of the ministry of reconciliation, for union is strength and variance is weakness and sin. The glory of God is reflected from those who labor in love and unity in Christian fellowship, exhibiting His miracle-working power as a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men for the strengthening and establishment of the church.

The entire church is one body that must act as one, blending in perfect union as a living, active, missionary agency moved and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Every church-member is called to enter service, to learn to work and to stand in his lot and place as a burden-bearer, and every addition to the church is to become one more agency for carrying on the great plan of redemption, because truth not lived and not imparted loses its life-giving power and healing virtue. Disciples are living members mutually joined together in Christ the living head and mutually dependent, so that if one member suffers all suffer with it and if one is honored all are honored, enlightened and rejoice with him, and no member can say to another part that he has no need of him. There is no more reason for strife over who shall be greatest than for strife among members of the body over which is greatest, but one common interest with no division, all cooperating with Christ in restoring the moral image of God in man. Believers are to live at peace, move in harmony, and put the good of the church ahead of personal interests and judgments, doing the work in quietness and humility in Christ's meekness and lowliness with prayerful study and full assurance of faith. Success as a people and as individuals depends not on numbers, standing, nor intellectual attainments, but on walking and working with Christ, each faithfully using God-given talents and responsibility in his family and among associates.

Unity preserves individuality without consolidation that erases distinct members, each worker keeping personal responsibility while working under the leadership of Jesus. Believers differing in disposition and individuality are distinct parts of one body to be one in the things of God, sanctified by the same Spirit, keeping their way of presentation under the Holy Spirit. Gentleness, caution, and exactness complement courage and energy, and their union strengthens the work and encourages those who serve in it. Workers counsel together and bring ideas into harmony with the teachings of truth, and no arbitrary man-ruling power ever takes the place and authority of God. Only those truly connected by faith remain as fruitful branches, while mere names on the record are like fruitless branches taken away, and faith and love as gold of character ever work on the Lord's side to unite and harmonize the members with Christ as Head and great Center. Each person is an individual part of the mighty whole made necessary to one another and to God, with no soul independent of the rest, the well-being of each being the happiness of the whole, so there is to be no party strife, no partition walls, and no schism.

God's order is perfect unity, love, and reciprocal dependence like members of a body, because no person is a complete whole alone and members need one another in mutual submission and continued learning under the Holy Spirit. No church, conference, or individual is to separate from organization to show supposed efficiency on an independent line, for separation is entirely opposed to God's plan and brings division and spiritual ruin. Every church and conference is to cherish dependence on one another, build one another up in the most holy faith, and seek the Holy Spirit so that light shines in clear, bright rays, with humbled hearts building on the solid Rock. Those who desire to work alone must not be left alone, but must unite and cooperate with brethren rather than act as a distinct whole carrying out their own plans and ideas. Refusing to work together according to God's directions and insisting on one's own judgment exposes an uncontrolled spirit, gives Satan opportunity to ensnare, and brings failure and ruin for which the person himself is responsible. Conferences, sanitariums, and workers in one part of the field depend on the other branches and must stay joined to them, for any attempt to establish a new work on an entirely separate basis is a failure needing help from those experienced in both failure and success.

Dependence and Mutual Counsel

God has qualified no one to carry the burden of the work alone, but has joined together people of different minds to counsel with and assist one another, so that deficiency in experience and abilities in one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. No one with his gift alone can perfect the work or carry through a series of meetings to completion, for varied gifts and different kinds of agencies are essential to build the work up strong and proportional and complete under divine direction. This requires uniting human weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, so that strong unchristlike traits are softened, subdued and purified and believers become one with Christ in God. Those who seem less honored are therefore to receive greater honor, just as parts needing more covering are given greater comeliness, and no one is sufficient to do the whole work alone. Each worker must consider his relation to other workers, blend mind and plans with other minds, remain open to counsel and caution, cherish confidence in the wisdom of brethren, and realize he is part of a great whole.

Cooperation must be harmonious, each doing his God-given work and filling his appropriate position, each supplying the deficiency of the workman who left alone would think himself a complete whole. Those of careful thought are needed to check exaggerated action, while those too slow and moderate in coming to conclusions lose precious time and cause great loss. The brethren are to be encouraged to work and educated to bear responsibilities, and sharing responsibilities with the church will lift burdens from ministers and add years to the life of the worker who cooperates with God.

Among members of the one body there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, but respect for each other's gifts as all needed. No member is to entertain self-sufficiency or say to another that he has no need of him, and gifts must never be used to separate believers from one another. No minister is to be conscience for other men or gain an experience for them, and truth is not to be taught so that believers divide into separate parties under different heads. When contention and party spirit appear they must be investigated and called by their right names, for all dissension is born of narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Different minds and talents belong together, no one's gifts or way of presenting truth is meant to control, and varied contributions strengthen the whole.

Workers are parts of one whole and must recognize relation and responsibility to one another, with no one working alone or shutting out counsel. Different minds and abilities should be joined, with each willing to receive advice and caution from fellow workers and to heed fellow workers rather than acting independently. What one lacks can be supplied by another, so no one should gather only followers who merely agree with him. Every person is erring and fallible and needs instruction, correction and counsel of brethren even when it crosses ideas and plans. To refuse to be taught, to refuse to yield opinion to the judgment of others, to concentrate on one point until no argument can move him, to maintain opinion against plain facts and reason and clearest proof, and to carry out his own way at any cost, with one-man power claiming everything must bend to one mind and will in a position of infallibility, bears not the marks of God's hand.

Office gives no kingly authority, for position makes no man a king over God's heritage and all are brethren to be led in meekness. The one holding office stands as leader, adviser, counselor and helper in bearing burdens and leader in thanksgiving, but is not appointed to order and command fellow laborers, for the Lord is over His heritage. Those carrying responsibilities are to treat fellow laborers with the same consideration they would wish if positions were reversed. Leaders are channels of light ordained for the help, encouragement and strength of the people, and to neglect or despise them is to reject God's means and stand liable to be deceived and overthrown by effort to separate, yet leaders must daily subordinate will to Christ, practice His virtues in meekness and lowliness, never dictate consciences or glorify self, and leave all free to act out grace bestowed in the liberty of the children of God. In every part of the work one part must work as connected with another part and that with another, joined by golden links, with no kings forbidding a worker to go to a field or refusing support if he goes. Christian must be united to Christian and church to church in close relationship, with all human instrumentality cooperating with the divine and subordinate to the Holy Spirit in organized, well-directed effort.

No teacher, physician or minister can ever be a complete whole by himself, for God has given every person certain gifts and ordained association in service so varied talents of many minds may be blended. Contact of mind with mind quickens thought and increases capabilities, and deficiencies of one laborer are made up by special gifts of another. When physicians and teachers thus associated unite in imparting knowledge, youth under their training receive symmetrical, well-balanced education for service. Managers of institutions, especially school and sanitarium near each other, must cooperate heartily with brotherly kindness and gentlemanly courtesy, overlooking differences on questions of no vital consequence, denying self and yielding personal opinions on minor matters to uphold one another's work, while still speaking plainly and firmly when occasion demands with kindness that gives no offense. Members do not all have the same office but are united to one Head, each to be respected and to do individual work under that Head, without picking and choosing fellow laborers by hereditary and cultivated traits or striving for chief place and mastery, so that an associate proved to be of understanding and efficiency is given every chance to stand as equal and counselor rather than kept as mere learner and inferior.

Self-examination is the beginning, requiring each person to deny self and bear his own cross of self-denial, self-humiliation and self-sacrifice instead of laying his cross on another to carry, with continuous humbling of self and taking self critically in hand. This means dealing sternly with self with closest introspection examining peculiar temperament and weaknesses, and dealing decidedly and bravely with perverse disposition, so God is not dishonored. Believers must not stand apart in self-confidence watching to criticize, condemn and judge when they meet for counsel, nor place bars that destroy courage to engage in warfare against temptation, for the Lord accepts everyone manifesting repentance and faith. Instead they are to reveal divine tenderness in tenderness to one another, speak good words to help and strengthen brethren, unite in service, and jealously guard one another's interests even though mistakes are made. Each is fitted for a certain work and adapted differently so each is complement of the others, and those thought less honorable receive more abundant honor by blending in union, taking time to understand one another, finding points of resemblance, helping one another, one supplying lack of another, accepting keener perceptions where another excels, and giving due credit to each ability.

Branches United in Work

Medical missionary work is the arm, the hand, and the right hand to the body, not the whole body itself. The gospel ministry and the work of the third angel's message are the body, with the ministry of the Word holding the first place and standing as head under Christ. The right hand opens doors through which the body finds entrance, largely preparing the way for present truth to go with power by breaking down prejudice, and a body without hands is useless while a body treating the right hand indifferently can accomplish nothing. Neither part is complete without union with the other, for medical missionary work is the gospel in illustration and must be bound up and joined closely with the gospel ministry. The evangelical work and the medical work are to blend in Christian unity in perfect unity, and when men do not interfere with human inventions and wrong threads, God takes His whole work in hand in every phase and carries it forward wondrously.

The arm belongs to the body and must remain subject to the head and body, working hand in hand without separation. Preaching the warning message, instructing the churches, and teaching how to help the needy and outcast must be sustained and combined with medical work, never letting medical labor for the degraded become the principal and all-important line. To exalt the arm above the body, make it supreme, let it control the body, or eclipse preaching reverses God's order. To disparage the ministry and carry medical work independently is to separate the arms from the body, producing unbalanced flying arms dispensing means without direction of the head. That disconnected course becomes a disorganized medley that consumes but does not produce, leaves many portions of the vineyard unworked, lets what was designed as hand and arm take the place of the whole body until the ministry has no standing room, and leads men to scoff at Bible truth. Every branch of the work must therefore move together in unity with all parts joined harmoniously, drawing in even cords in humility under Christ with no jealousy and no division into parties, wearing His yoke so God can use each worker as His helping hand.

Every branch is needed as a member and must remain in balance under God with no walls of partition, division, or territorial lines. Publishing houses, sanitariums, and schools are sacred members of the same great plan, each to be regarded as part of God's cause and sacredly cherished. No branch is to be a kingdom of itself, and no branch is to exercise kingly power over another, as in the kingly power formerly revealed at Battle Creek which is not to be perpetuated. Health reform is an essential part of the whole and is not to be treated with indifference or separated from the other branches, for no branch can be a perfect whole when separated from the others. The institutional work is a branch and an arm joined to the living body so that the life of one flows into the other, with the main body controlling the arm; when the church stands healthy under God's favor it diffuses light and sends a vitalizing current that keeps error out of the arm, but when the church is sickly in moral darkness it circulates a sickly deathly influence until disease appears everywhere. Close cooperation is likewise required between school and sanitarium, each helping and strengthening the other, with medical care and preaching belonging together in one ministry.

God has given every man, woman, and child distinct work in His moral vineyard according to ability, from sacred to secular callings. Each believer is only a part of the body, only one member and never an independent whole, and unity is preserved only as each performs its several office under one Head, with Christ as Master and efficiency by the power and Spirit of God. The work of labor for souls does not rest alone upon the delegated minister, for every member has enlisted not for ease but to endure hardship as a faithful soldier, educated to act a part in conversion with vigilance, courage, and faithfulness. Each is to find his post, keep his place, and do his own diligent work in unison without rushing ahead to rearrange the whole, acting faithfully as a steward of talents and of the Word. No one person is to carry the work alone and all are not to take up the same task, since small work and great work belong together to make a perfect whole and many different kinds of work are needed. Every member has a duty and something to do in serving others and helping meet the church's needs.

The verse calls for tenderness revealing God's tenderness, speaking good words to strengthen brethren and guarding their interests despite mistakes. Members are to show sympathy and kindly interest in one another, help fellow workers and rejoice in doing so, with courtesy producing righteousness through the sanctifying power of grace. As the heart sustains hand and head by sending blood, Christ's love is to flow through every part of His body. Selfishness is death, for no organ could live confining service to itself, and the soul that refuses to impart will perish as surely as the heart failing to send life-blood would quickly lose its power. Every worker must therefore be willing to do and to suffer cheerfully, living and succeeding only by serving one another as members one of another. Believers differing in characteristics and experience each have a part in harmonious life like branches drawing life from the same vine, remaining joined and not acting independently, for God has entrusted authority to the church and rejecting its counsel for private judgment leads to division and ruin.

Gifts in the church are to be valued and kept active, for when they live in the church they encourage the fainting and correct and reprove those who err. Every addition is to become an agency for redemption, with all working in concert in the ministry of reconciliation and each member entrusted with blessing and comforting those of like faith by looking to Jesus and serving cheerfully as a light by example. God accomplishes the work and the human channel is not to be exalted, for all exaltation belongs to God; each is to act his part in order with none considered unnecessary or crowded out, hiding in Jesus in meekness so Christ appears exalted. Tests bravely borne teach both bearer and others, and Jesus will not sustain self-sufficiency, self-seeking, and self-uplifting. Responsibility is given to help others, not to indulge love of supremacy, mastery, selfishness, or high opinion of self, requiring new conversion from hereditary and cultivated evil, close self-examination, and a clean unselfish character formed by studying Christ's life. Teachers and students are to preserve union by the coupling pin that joins the work to God's commandment-keeping people rather than breaking it, sharing plans and thoughts, listening to one another, and receiving kind counsel without fear, since God teaches different things to different people and no one has all insight.

Christ and His church are inseparable, so despising those appointed to lead and bear responsibility rejects the help, encouragement, and strength God has provided. The ministry is another appointed part alongside medical missionary work and must not be dismissed because some who serve in it are unworthy. To reject the ministry is to reject God.