Lesson 13. The Gospel and the Holy Spirit
Day 3
Welcome back. Today we see an enlightening metaphor for the church, and we might even understand a little better why we, ourselves, have physical bodies. Let’s read about it:
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized 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. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body”
1 Corinthians 12:12-20
Question 1. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, Paul used the physical body as a metaphor for the church; what is each person in the “church body” called?
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Paul compared the church to a human body, and each person is a “member” or a “part.” The primary teaching in this passage is that each “member” of the “body” is valuable and necessary for the best function and health of the church.
Notice the teaching in verse 13: For we were all baptized 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.
Earlier in his letter (1 Corinthians 10:1-4), Paul reminded the Corinthians of the travels of the Israelites after God redeemed them out of slavery in Egypt, referencing two specific events: 1) They were “baptized into Moses” in the Red Sea, and 2) they drank from the struck Rock, who is Christ.
Here again in chapter 12, we see the connection between the cross and the Spirit of God: 1) Jesus died and opened the way to the Promised Land of heaven through His death, just like Moses parted the Red Sea and opened the way for the Israelites. We are spiritually baptized into Christ (“baptized by One Spirit”) upon believing the gospel. 2) After Moses struck the rock (Exodus 17:6), the Israelites drank water which poured from it, even as we drink of the Spirit of God who flows from the death of Jesus (John 7:37-39).
Question 2. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” What does it mean to drink the Spirit of God? Please share.
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To live and grow in the gospel means we drink the Spirit of God. We do this by coming to the cross, where the Rock, Christ, was struck. We receive the Spirit of God one time through believing the gospel, but we are refreshed with the Spirit of God each time we return to the cross. As we meditate on the cross and its results in our own lives, the Spirit quenches our thirst and fills our souls. See Ephesians 5:18-20 for more on this topic.
The emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12 is on the fact that the Israelites were “one body,” as they were baptized by “one Spirit” and given “one Spirit to drink”. Before Paul discusses individual parts of the body, he wants them to know that they are individually part of the “one body” of the church, members of the church universal.
Question 3. What does it do for your own heart to know that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, you are a member of the universal church - the Bride of Christ?
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