Answer: God has arranged the parts in the body, every
one of them, just as He wanted them to be, (verse 18).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
As God has arranged the parts of the human body exactly as He
wanted them, so is the nature of the church, the body of
Christ. Paul emphasizes that this one Body of Christ is a
spiritual organism, with each true Christian functioning as a vital
organ, or vital part, of it. He explains/illustrates the
interdependence of the body in verses 21 through 26,
setting a perfect scene for verse 27, where he says,
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a
part of it." He then lists some of the vital functions
in the Body of Christ (verses 28-31, with other
gifts/functions of the body listed in verses 4-10),
and that these functions are appointed by God Himself (verse
28), or "are the work of one and the same Spirit, and
He gives them to each one, just as He determines"
(verse 11).
Who are we, then, to question the Creator, Who has set Christ
as Head over His Own Body, the church? Romans
9:20-21: "But who are you, O man, to talk back
to God? 'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
"Why did you make me like this?"' Does not
the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some
pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"
God wants no "dead body parts." The parts
of Christ's Body are mutually dependent as they exercise
their distinctive functions, directed by the Head, Christ.
The weaker parts are indispensable, their functions just as
important as those parts of the body possessing more noticeable
gifts. Any Christian who derides any part of the body of
Christ is wounding the body as a whole, locally and
universally. GOD has arranged this body, and GOD has made
Christ the Head of it. It is, therefore, exactly as God
wanted it to be, with each part of the body being honored and
indispensable. The whole Body of Christ is to speak the Truth
in love. From Christ, the Body is to grow, mature, and build
itself up in love, as EACH PART does its work:
Ephesians 4:7-16: "But to each one
of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is
why it says: 'When He ascended on high, He led captives
in His train and gave gifts to men.' (What does
'He ascended' mean except that He also descended to the
lower, earthly regions? He Who descended is the very One Who
ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole
universe.) It was He Who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and
teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the
body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the
waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by
the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful
scheming. Instead, speaking the Truth in love, we will in all
things grow up into Him Who is the Head, that is, Christ.
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each
part does its work."
