13 September 2022
Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
From 1 Corinthians 12: 12-14, 27-31, NRSV
St Paul was writing long before things like individual cells in the body were known about – let alone the fact that these cells had their own specialism – nerves, gut, brain, skin and many more. He was looking at the human body and seeing it as a way of showing how different parts work together for the good of all. Crucially, he sees it as a model for unity – not a unity that excludes diversity but that actually depends upon it. This, he says, unifies people of different races, backgrounds, world – views and traditions. His words were prophetic. Just as the human body is infinitely more complex and wondrous than Paul could have known – so the Body of Christ is made up of peoples whose diversity Paul could barely have dreamt of.
- How does the image of body of Christ express the unity and diversity among Christians?
- How might Paul look at the diversity of the Body of Christ in our own day?
Think today about people who are very different from you but who are also part of the Body of Christ. Choose one or more to focus your prayer on today.
