Unity in Diversity: Many Parts, One Body
Click here to listen to this sermon. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! According to the Roman historian, Livy, the orator Menenius Agrippa told the quarreling Roman citizens this parable. The other members of the body were upset with the stomach and charged it with being lazy, doing nothing but simply allowing itself to be nourished. So, the hands refused to raise food to the mouth. The mouth declined to accept the food. The teeth would not chew. They all went on strike to get the stomach in line. It was only when the whole body had nearly starved to death that the other members realized their mistake. It is quite possible that St. Paul borrowed from this fable for the thoughts of our text because he was trained in Stoic philosophy; but if he did, he shows an insight into the body and its rel...