Day 14: One Body in Christ

Opening Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:12 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (NIV)

Devotional Reflection

When we think of fellowship with one another, we tend to frame it as individual people gathering together. However, the apostle Paul presents a different perspective. We are all one body. When we fellowship, we are not merely individuals interacting with other individuals. Instead, we are parts of a single body—moving, resting, and working together for the benefit of the whole.

The nature of Christianity is not individual, but it is also more than a community. It is the union of us with God through Christ by the Holy Spirit. All believers have been baptized into one Spirit and united with Christ. The Holy Spirit surgically coapts us to God. We are fused to Him as His body, sharing His Spirit and bearing His mind. At the same time, the Holy Spirit coapts us together as one body—the Body of Christ.

We are not merely individuals, though we retain our unique identities. We are not simply a community, though we gather together. We are something entirely new: a new creation—a union of sinful humanity with a holy God through the forgiveness of sin, adoption as sons and daughters, and union with Christ. We never become God, but we are spiritually joined to Him and to one another while still maintaining our uniqueness.

From this perspective, Paul emphasizes that no part of the body can choose to separate itself from the body. If we are believers, we are part of the body. We may render ourselves ineffective, like a leg that refuses to help the body walk, but we remain part of the body nonetheless. Yet the purpose of a leg is to support and move the body. It is only when we fully engage with the church—supporting it and moving with it into the mission God has given—that we experience the fulfillment that comes from living within our God-given purpose.

Fellowship with one another—supporting one another and encouraging one another to live into the Great Commission to go and make disciples—is where we find our fullest life.

We can either support the body and help it move forward, or we can become a burden, dragged along by the rest of the body. The church will continue to fulfill its purpose, but when we take on the name of Christ without living as Christ lived, we give Jesus a bad name and make it more difficult for the body to carry out its mission.

The Examen

How am I currently engaging with the body of Christ—actively supporting it, or remaining on the margins?

Where might God be inviting me to participate more fully in the mission of the church?

Lectio Divina Scripture

1 Corinthians 12:24–26 But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (NIV)

Read the passage slowly, out loud, several times. With each reading, emphasize a different word or phrase. Notice what stands out and why.

Prayer Prompt

Lord, thank You for my church family. Help me to devote myself more fully to You by engaging more deeply with my church family. Amen.