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From: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31
Unity and Variety in the Mystical Body of Christ
[14] For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
[27] Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28] And God
has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then
workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various
kinds of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do
all work miracles? [30] Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?
Do all interpret? [31] But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a
still more excellent way.
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Commentary:
12-13. In Greek and Latin literature, society is often compared to a body: even
today we talk of “corporations”, a term which conveys the idea that all the citi-
zens of a particular city are responsible for the common good. St Paul, starting
with this metaphor, adds two important features: 1) he identifies the Church with
Christ: “so it is with Christ” (v. 12); and 2) he says that the Holy Spirit is its life-
principle: “by one Spirit we were all baptized . . ., and all made to drink of the
Spirit” (v. 13). The Magisterium summarizes this teaching by defining the Church
as the “mystical body of Christ”, an expression which “is derived from and is, as
it were, the fair flower of the repeated teaching of Sacred Scripture and the holy
Fathers” (Pius XII, “Mystici Corporis”).
“So it is with Christ”: “One would have expected him to say, so it is with the
Church, but he does not say that [. . .]. For, just as the body and the head are
one man, so too Christ and the Church are one, and therefore instead of ‘the
Church’ he says ‘Christ”’ (Chrysostom, “Hom. on 1 Cor”, 30, “ad loc.”). This i-
dentification of the Church with Christ is much more then a mere metaphor; it
makes the Church a society which is radically different from any other society:
“The complete Christ is made up of the head and the body, as I am sure you
know well. The head is our Savior himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate
and now, after rising from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father.
And his body is the Church. Not this or that church, but the Church which is to
be found all over the world. Nor is it only that which exists among us today, for
also belonging to it are those who lived before us and those who will live in the
future, right up to the end of the world. All this Church, made up of the assembly
of the faithful — for all the faithful are members of Christ—has Christ as its head,
governing his body from heaven. And although this head is located out of sight
of the body, he is, however, joined to it by love” (St Augustine, “Enarrationes In
Psalmos”, 56, 1).
The Church’s remarkable unity derives from the Holy Spirit who not only assem-
bles the faithful into a society but also imbues and vivifies its members, exerci-
sing the same function as the soul does in a physical body: “In order that we
might be unceasingly renewed in him (cf. Eph 4:23), he has shared with us his
Spirit who, being one and the same in head and members, gives life to, unifies
and moves the whole body. Consequently, his work could be compared by the
Fathers to the function that the principle of life, the soul, fulfills in the human bo-
dy” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 7).
“All were made to drink of one Spirit”: given that the Apostle says this immedia-
tely after mentioning Baptism, he seems to be referring to a further outpouring
of the Spirit, possibly in the sacrament of Confirmation. It is not uncommon for
Sacred Scripture to compare the outpouring of the Spirit to drink, indicating that
the effects of his presence are to revive the parched soul; in the Old Testament
the coming of the Holy Spirit is already compared to dew, rain etc.; and St John
repeats what our Lord said about “living water” (Jn 7:38; cf. 4:13-14).
Together with the sacraments of Christian initiation, the Eucharist plays a spe-
cial role in building up the unity of the body of Christ. “Really sharing in the bo-
dy of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into com-
munion with him and with one another. ‘Because the bread is one, we, who are
many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread’ (1 Cor 10:17). In this
way all of us are made members of his body (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), ‘and individual
members of one another’ (Rom 12:5)” (”Lumen Gentium”, 7).
14-27. The unity of the mystical body, which derives from a single life-principle,
the Holy Spirit, and tends towards a common same goal, that is, the building
up of the Church, means that all its members, whatever their position, have the
same basic dignity and the same importance. St Paul develops this thinking by
a very effective literary device: he personifies the members of the human body
and imagines the nobler members looking down on the lesser ones (vv. 21-24).
This serves to reaffirm the truth of v. 25: “that the members may have the same
care for one another”. The responsibility of each Christian derives from the very
essence of the vocation he or she receives at Baptism and Confirmation: “In the
Church there is a diversity of ministries,” St. Escriva explains, “but there is only
one aim — the sanctification of men. And in this task all Christians participate in
some way, through the character imprinted by the sacraments of Baptism and
Confirmation. We must all feel responsible for the mission of the Church, which
is the mission of Christ. He who does not have zeal for the salvation of souls, he
who does not strive with all his strength to make the name and the teaching of
Christ known and loved, will not understand the apostolicity of the Church.
“A passive Christian has failed to understand what Christ wants from all of us.
A Christian who ‘goes his own way’, unconcerned about the salvation of others,
does not love with the heart of Jesus. Apostolate is not a mission exclusive to
the hierarchy, or to priests and religious. The Lord calls all of us to be, by our
example and word, instruments of the stream of grace which springs up to eter-
nal life” (”In Love with the Church”, 15).
28-30. St Paul concludes this description of the different parts of the body by ap-
plying it to the Church, where variety of functions does not detract from unity. It
would be a serious mistake not to recognize in the visible structure of the Church,
which is so multifaceted, the fact that the Church founded by Christ is “one”, vi-
sible at the same time as it is spiritual. The Second Vatican Council puts this
very clearly: “But the society structured with hierarchical organs and the mysti-
cal body of Christ, the visible society and the spiritual community, the earthly
Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches, are not to be thought of
as two realities. On the contrary, they form one complex reality which comes to-
gether from a human element and a divine element. For this reason the Church
is compared, not without significance, to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As
the assumed nature, inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a li-
ving organ of salvation, so, in a somewhat similar way, does the social structure
of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ who vivifies it, in the building up of the bo-
dy (cf. Eph 4:15)” “Lumen Gentium”, 8).
The Church is this way because that is the will of its founder, Jesus Christ: “The
Church is by divine will a hierarchical institution. The Second Vatican Council
describes it as a ‘society structured with hierarchical organs’ (”Lumen Gentium”,
8) in which ‘ministers are invested with a sacred power’ (”ibid., 18). The hierar-
chy is not only compatible with freedom: it is at the service of the freedom of the
children of God (cf. Rom 8:21). [...] ‘Hierarchy’ means holy government and sa-
cred order. In no way does it imply a merely human arbitrary order or a subhu-
man despotism. Our Lord established in the Church a hierarchical order which
should not degenerate into tyranny, because authority is as much a call to serve
as is obedience.
“In the Church there is equality, because once baptized we are all equal, all chil-
dren of the same God, our Father. There is no difference as Christians between
the Pope and someone who has just joined the Church. But this radical equality
does not mean that we can change the constitution of the Church in those things
that were established by Christ. By expressed divine will there are different func-
tions which imply different capacities, an indelible ‘character’ conferred on the sa-
cred ministers by the sacrament of Order. At the summit of this order is Peter’s
successors and with him, and under him, all the bishops with the triple mission
of sanctifying, governing and teaching” (J. Escriva, “In Love with the Church”, 30).
31. “Earnestly desire the higher gifts”: according to some Greek manuscripts
this can be translated “earnestly seek the greater gifts”. St Paul is encouraging
his Christians to put greater value on those gifts of the Holy Spirit which contri-
bute most to the goal of the Church than on those which are spectacular. He
probably has in mind the teaching he will develop (chap. 14) about the superiori-
ty of graces and charisms to do with teaching and catechesis.
“A still more excellent way”: this undoubtedly refers to charity, which he goes on
to describe and praise (chap. 13). Therefore, what is called his “hymn to charity”
is not a digression, much less a later addition, but an outpouring of the Apostle’s
soul, which perfectly explains why charity is the greatest of all gifts, a sure route
to holiness and salvation, and the identifying mark of the Christian: “the first and
most necessary gift is charity, by which we love God above all things and our
neighbor because of Him [...]. This is because love, as the bond of perfection and
fullness of the law (cf. Col 3:14, Rom 13:10), governs, gives meaning to, and per-
fects all the means of sanctification. Hence the true disciple of Christ is marked
by love both of God and of his neighbor” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 42).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.