Nina Snyder

The Body Of Christ Nina Snyder

In chapter 12 of his first letter to the Corinthian church, the apostle Paul writes that we are "the Body of Christ, and members individually" (vs. 27). Consider your own body. Your liver looks and operates very differently from your pancreas or your stomach. A person has only one body, but it has many parts that still make up just one body. The Body of Christ is like that too (vs. 12). If the whole body were an eye, it would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, it would not be able to smell anything (vs. 17). 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" (vs. 21). God's purpose is that the body should not be divided but rather that all its parts should feel the same concern for each other (vs. 25). So, Church, how are we doing with that concern for each other these days? Aren't we still in the mode of focusing on "We're right; they're wrong!" as we look at other Christian denominations or at other congregations within our own denomination, or even at those members of our own local congregation? In her booklet, The Body of Christ, Nina Snyder addresses these issues to draw Christians into unity, agreeing to peaceful disagreement "until we all come to the unity of the faith" (Ephesians 4:13).