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- 1 Corinthians 12. 12-31a
1 Corinthians 12. 12-31a
One Body with Many Members
Note for Preachers:
Paul writes to the Corinthian slave society, describing the Christian communion as being like a human body. Such equation of the human social organism with the body was Hellenistic commonplace. However, Paul imports a Jewish concern for its holiness as reflecting the entire person, inward and outward. The body was not merely embodied spirit but a description of the living person. Christians derive their personhood from a particular Jew. Jesus, the image of God, born of a woman, Mary. This is far from idolatry. Recognising the authenticity of the body is to love the Creator, whose icon it is, and the self as neighbour, the them of chapter 13. It follows that any act of cruelty to the body of oneself or of another is an act of blasphemy.
- 1 Corinthians 12. 12-31a (pdf)
