Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:14-27
Khen Lim
Image source: euintheus.org
In 1 Corinthians 12:14-27, Paul uses the human body to draw
comparison to the Church, likening it to how our diverse body parts coalesce as
one as a way of idealising the notion of unity in diversity. He explains, “For
we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or
Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
We
may be of different social dynamics, cultural roots and inherited backgrounds
but we all have a common origin vested in a common purpose even if we are
reminded that we are not identical.
For example, the ear receives auditory signals as an input in
the same fashion as the eye takes in optical signals but both have no function
of their own to make their work meaningful. For that, we would need
connectivity to the brain. In other words, the ear and eye as well as the foot
and the hand have a similar interdependent sense of belonging whereby everyone
comes together only when they come together.
Paul made sure that this also applies to those who profess to
a gift of tongues. If you have such a gift, do not think that you are more
important than others who may or may not have other spiritual gifts. One gift
does not make a person superior over anyone else in the same way that the eye
or the ear cannot dominate the whole body. The eye may see well but it cannot
hear or smell and the ear may be an excellent listener but it can neither see
nor taste. Speaking in tongues, therefore, is just one of a myriad spiritual
gifts and so, no one attribute overshadows others.
Paul doesn’t leave out the so-called inconsequential parts of
the human body for they too have a role to play that other parts cannot mimic
or supplant. Most of us think that the tiny pinkie is pretty useless but it
might take losing one to appreciate why we have it. And the same goes with our
teeny baby toe or any other insignificant body part.
Literally, the human body
has thousands of large and small parts of various shapes and sizes,
internalised or externalised, bone or sinew, and all of them are useless on
their own but indispensable when they are brought together to the extent that
they then function beautifully in unity, complementing one another, doing
different things but coherently and cohesively and existing in a symbiosis
honed to perfection by the Divine and unmatched by whatever humanly-crafted
technology born from sterile labs.
We also see the same perfection in other living things and
organisms around the world for they, too, are the creation of the Greatest
Creator. Beyond the magnificent human body, we see wonderment in the diverse
flora and fauna. Plants and trees that spring to life in lush green, from non-descript
looking seeds to adulthood with every part functioning organically to fulfil
their needs through pollination, flowering and final fruition. They all perform
their individual roles that come together to form a perfect network of
unbelievable inter-dependability. Where modern man chooses to call it a force of nature, we prefer to give glory
back to God and say it is His ingenuity and craftsmanship.
Unity in diversity is the harmony of all parts bonding
together. They may be diverse but they work as one when unified. These parts
are to be no more than the equal of one another because no one part is greater:
“But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that
lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body but that its parts
should have equal concern for each other.” In other words, everyone belongs and
all the parts need to work together for the good of One.
In our modern day, many churches throughout the Western world
have been pouring efforts in welcoming refugees from Syria and supporting the
immigration policies that their countries have crafted. Going through the
Internet, it is just about impossible to actually find any church web and
blogsite that even questions the wisdom of doing this.
Many use Scripture to prove
and justify their compassion towards the refugees quoting numerous verses from
both the Old and the New Testaments. Some selected quotes from the Old include
Lev 19:9-10,33-34, Dt 10:18-19, Ezek 16:49, Ex 23:9, Mal 3:5, 1 Kgs 8:41-44 and
Job 31:32 but if you can ‘re-contextualise,’ I’m sure you can find even more
(try this page
if you’re curious).
From the New Testament, many quote Mt 25:25-46, Lk
10:29-37, Gal 5:14 and of course, 1 Cor 12:12-14 where the body is not made up
of one but many parts. They use these verses to uphold the principle of respect
for the human dignity of all. Everyone is part of the one body (including those
who maim, rape and terrorise). We are all one and no one deserves any less of
the same rights and this includes the (largely unchecked) refugees.
However it is very hard to reconcile all of these to the harsh
reality of what is taking place especially in Europe where the official slogan
adopted by the European Union in 2000 was ironically, ‘Unity in Diversity,’
which then espoused the working platform in multiple European languages behind
Multiculturalism. It is now near to full bloom and the results have been
nothing short of dramatic and catastrophic.
According to the EU’s
Constitutional Treaty, the slogan encourages nations to transcend the
differences and divisions that have characterised the different nations’
heritage, history and national identity that were no less at the heart of many
historical European conflicts in order to pursue a common destiny.
Syrian refugees disembark train brandishing knives (Image source: jtf.org)
And what better way to underline this than to allow hundreds
of thousands of Syrian refugees in even when there has not been any security
checks and balances in place. To do this, the EU put into place the Schengen
Agreement that allows all EU citizens to move freely in and among the 28 member
states, and therein, the ideal of a borderless Europe without cross-border
checks and no barbed fences to keep anyone in or out. The idea is to champion
the potpourri of ethnicities, languages and religions for peaceful co-existence
for all to enjoy.
What has been the result so far? In sheer numbers, this one is
easy to answer. Since the EU was formed in November 1993, more than 660 have
been killed and 4,255 injured in Europe alone from Islamist terrorist attacks.
Here are the details recorded from 1998/1995 to 2016 (numbers in brackets for
killed/injured):
1988-1995
-
December 21 1988: Pan Am
Flight 103, Lockerbie, Scotland (270/-)*
-
July 25 1995: Saint-Michel
subway station, Paris (8/80)
* Not included in the count since
this occurred before the formation of EU
2003-2005
-
November 15,20 2003:
Istanbul, Turkey (57/700)
-
March 11 2004: Madrid,
Spain (191/1,800)
-
July 7 2005: London,
England (52/700)
2012-2014
-
March 19 2012: Toulouse
and Montauban, France (7/5)
-
May 24 2014: Jewish
Museum, Brussels, Belgium (4/-)
2015
-
January 7: “Charlie
Hebdo,” Paris, France (12/11)
-
November 13: “Bataclan,”
Paris, France (137/368)
2016 (current to date)
-
March 13: Ankara, Turkey
(37/125)
-
March 22: Brussels
Airport, Belgium (31/150)
-
June 28: Ataturk
International Airport, Turkey (41/239)
-
July 14: Nice-Martins,
France (84/77)
Image source: pinterest.com
Are the incidents recorded in this timeline the result of EU’s
refugee immigration policy? Not entirely of course. If we are to align the
terrorist attacks to the immigration policy, then we must focus on the events
of 2015 and 2016 (and beyond). If that’s the case, then the relevant numbers
killed and injured would be 342 and 970 respectively.
The situation on the ground with respect to the EU’s liberal
immigration policy has been a divided one. The political leaders persist in
denial, refusing to blame their own multiculturalism policies despite the
alarming realities that face the people and brought them hardship, insecurity,
destruction and death. They do condemn the attacks and bemoan the tragedies but
beyond the pale, it’s business as usual and the refugees keep coming in unchecked.
In CNN’s
report on July 28 2016, German Chancellor Angela Merkel “refused to back down
from an open-door refugee policy that has attracted fierce criticism” despite a
volley of vicious and ‘terrifying’ attacks across her country and parts of
Europe. The evidence is there and it is undeniable – the perpetrators are
refugees inspired by Islamist extremism.
At least four attacks in Germany from
July 18 to 24 this year have included an axe-in-train and machete attack,
shooting in a mall and a suicide bombing. In light of overwhelming proof,
Merkel admitted to CNN that the Islamic State (ISIS) has successfully
infiltrated the migrant route from Syria to Europe:
“We do know that the Islamic State use the refugee movements,
that they… have used it to also make it possible for terrorists to enter. We of
course try to limit this kind of movement,” she said.
Set against all of this is a disarming disregard for morality.
Churches appear no different from a liberal-tainted society in their inability
to tell right from wrong, evil from good. Churches welcome refugees, claiming
that they have converted ‘many’ but fail to perceive the big picture of those
who have made their way into Europe with the intent to hurt and harm.
According
to the Hadith Tabari 9:69, the words of the prophet of Islam say, ‘Killing
unbelievers is a small matter to us’ to which we should be mindful of the
counter-response in Job 15:35, saying, ‘They conceive trouble and give birth to
evil; their womb fashions deceit.’
Image source: vdare.com
Without the morality marker – one that has been handed to us
by God Himself – we all become blind to evil and we fail to discern the good
from the bad. We no longer know what truth looks like in light of all the lies
we’ve been fed. And so we end up welcoming the wolves among the sheep because
we cannot tell the differences anymore.
It is also important to separate the political leaders from
the people they are responsible over because the populace does not necessarily
agree with these policies. While political correctness has blinded essentially
French and German leaders who are the drivers of EU’s integration ideal, there
are EU countries that have, as early as mid-2015, been resisting including
Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and possibly Bulgaria, not forgetting
that the recent big news was BREXIT, a very clear statement that the people of
the UK were not supportive on the whole.
This was underlined by a recent poll
by The Independent newspaper, which revealed disapproval by almost 8 in 10
British with 56 percent demanding a substantial cut (prior to BREXIT). After
allowing 1 million refugees in 2015, a GlobalScan poll shows about 1 in 2
Germans do not welcome Syrian refugees, suggesting a growing home opposition
against Merkel’s German opposition to Merkel’s troubled open-door policy. Even
more surprising was another poll
showing 1 in 4 migrants wants Germany to stop the refugee influx.
So where do all these take us in terms of Paul’s teachings in
1 Corinthians 12:14-27? I think it’s not difficult to see how anyone including
church leaders can take verses out of context and use them to justify their own
personal beliefs and agenda. In view of the harsh realities of what the Syrian
refugee crisis has turned out to be, we cannot simply look to Paul’s words to
support and sympathise because we need to account for a lot of other factors
that the apostle doesn’t weigh in with what he writes in his letter to the
church of Corinth.
Was Paul’s idea of unity in diversity inclusive of refugees
seeking asylum from persecution? It doesn’t say in the Bible and I’m inclined
to believe not. Does it then support the idea of the much-maligned immigration
policy? It may but we cannot, at the same time, be so unwise that we do not vet
them for security clearances.
Image source: muslimstatistics.wordpress.com
Can we then use various Scriptural verses to
justify bringing the refugees in? We should always be cautious about doing so
without forcing Scripture into a false context and we should also be mindful
that some of our worst enemies are from within. The Bible tells us to stay
alert and watch for our enemy, the devil (1 Pt 5:8) but before that, we would
do well to hold on to our morals and know who our enemy is (Eph 6). When we are
morally upright, we will be able to discern (Mt 7:16) even if he speaks well
(Ps 55:21).
The popular late Lawrence Welk has a poignant reminder for all
of us, “Never trust anyone completely but God. Love people but put your full
trust only in God.”
We could not have said it better.
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