For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:14–21 ESV
This is a profound statement about diversity and unity in the church. It has obvious application to wider human society.
But it is also counter-intuitive. We have been so thoroughly immersed in the imagery that we don’t notice that it portrays human life and human society as almost the opposite of the way it appears.
Imagine a Robot Society
Imagine that you are in a creative writing class. The teacher assigns you to write about an imaginary world based on what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the church being a body. But this world doesn’t have humans. Instead, it is populated by robots. Your assignment is to describe them.
Would you describe a horde of identical robots? I doubt it. Rather, the robots would be like the droids in Star Wars. Some would be humanoid but other’s would be R2 units. Some would be boxes with legs. In other words, the members of the robot society would actually be designed according to their different functions or roles.
That’s not us.
The Single Model for Dominion
God populated the real world with one model–or two at most. As these models reproduced themselves, some became metal workers, some farmers, and some herdsmen. But all were according to the standard model. They were all bipeds with two hands and heads at the top. All of human tasks and functions would be performed by that one model.
So, regarded as physical beings, it is like we all are ears or eyes (1 Corinthians 12:17). We are the same, with the exception of sexual differentiation. Eyes and ears are metaphorical labels for different talents, proclivities, or roles. When Paul compares people to different parts of the body, he is using analogies.
The model of humanity that sits on a throne, the model of humanity that works in the fields, the model that sits at a desk all day, the model that teaches others, the model that plays music on an instrument, the model that runs races, and many others doing many different things: These are all the same model. The variance that exists between them is usually subtle. Sometimes it is so subtle it is never discovered.
There are certain advantages to this design. Since we can substitute for one another that means we can help each other.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 ESV
But the uniformity of humans also makes it easier to envy others. After all, they are no different than you (in any obvious way).
Prosperity & Diversity
A few years ago I got to enjoy a Christmas concert in Saint Louis at Powell Hall. Since this meant seeing a lot of people I don’t usually hang around with, I paid attention to the musicians in the orchestra and the choir a social group. I could only wonder how many had a paying job, how many were getting their whole living from various music gigs, and how many were working an additional part- or full-time job unrelated to music in the hopes of getting a full-time job in music some day.
But what I did know is that very few of these people would even be aware of the possibility of being a professional musician if they did not live in a prosperous economy after the industrial revolution. In a society were the vast majority of people have to work in agriculture, few would have the option of making a living as a musician or singer.
Throughout history how many gifted people, who could have done different things, lived and died as farmers without any awareness that there could be other possibilities for them?
Some Thoughts
My point in writing this post is to explain the need for wisdom in human life. Proverbs says much about directing our bodies in certain directions. Obviously, one reason for that is human sinfulness and the constant temptation it presents.
But there is more to the need for wisdom.
A huge factor is that all of us are full of untapped potential. And we must be. That is the price of being a single model robot that can do all the tasks of dominion. We are contingent beings who develop ourselves in one of many directions. There will never be a world in this life where musicians don’t occasionally wonder if they should have been engineers or office workers don’t sometimes wish they had gone to nursing school.
We have to develop the potential that seems most promising at the time. That potential will be determined by many factors: what are the opportunities and what does one find the most subjectively rewarding are two of them.
We make these decisions with limited knowledge of the future. Wisdom is required (and faith and patience). The option of recanting a decision and going down another path, despite the lost time, can be a rational option sometimes, but is often a distraction and temptation. Again, wisdom is required.
In marriage, we are called to have one lifelong partner of the opposite sex. But we don’t have a way of finding that person apart from of generic compatibility to a general model. We have to decide on the most suitable, and “forsaking all others,” bind our affections and actions around an exclusive marital life with that partner. Unless death parts us (or our partner abandons us), in which case we are one again opened to all the possible models that are (or can be) present.
God could have designed a world in which pheromones caused young men and women to find each other. But he didn’t. This also requires wisdom. And like a young man who never develops himself toward a skill set by which to make a living, one who refuses to bind himself to one women (or who doesn’t embrace singleness) develops instead into a fool.
Wisdom is needed for humans to make choices that put them on certain paths into the future and eliminate other paths. This means we will always be vulnerable to the temptation of wishing we could jump paths. We will have natural vestiges in our desires and imagination of possibilities we gave up (often not fully realizing it at the time). Dissatisfaction with life causes us to covet the lives of others and coveting the lives of others causes us to be dissatisfied with our life. The wisdom (that we hopefully used initially) will counsel us not to heed this temptation. No one gets to go back in time. And no one really knows if he would have been happier on another path.
Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
1 Corinthians 7:17–24 ESV