28 Gifts of the Spirit Part 2

I Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

This verse forms an excellent three-part analogy of the human body compared to the work of the Spirit in providing cohesion to His Body of Believers. (a) The human body is a unit. (b) The human body has many parts, with a necessary diversity in its members. (c) The parts of the human body work together as one, with a dependent mutuality as each part fulfills an important function. Likewise the body of Christ has a diversity of parts functioning together. It seems that the Corinthians being very worldly all wanted to speak in tongues or prophecy. They wanted the showier or the gifts that were the most visible. Paul will explain in the section of Scripture that all the gifts are important for the complete functioning of the Body of Christ. This unity of the Body of believers can only exist if there are no heresies being promulgated. I Corinthians 11: 18-19 explains that heresies cause schisms so that selected believers will be raised up to speak out against them. Unity without truth is empty and the Spirit will not be there to unify.