1 Corinthians 12:21 (ESV) … “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.”
Paul presents scenarios in which the body parts questioned the value of others. Paul insisted it would be inconceivable for an eye to tell a hand, “I don’t need you!” The same inconceivability would apply to the head speaking that way to the feet. Common sense demands that the opposite is true. The eyes need the hands, and the head needs the feet. The parts of the body which appear to be weaker are actually indispensable.
Ironically, those parts of the body that people consider less honorable they actually treat with special honor. This expression probably refers to clothing and ornaments placed on fingers, feet, toes, and other so-called “minor” parts of the body. Likewise, the church should give special honor to its members who do not naturally attract honor themselves.
Moreover, people take great care to treat unpresentable private portions of their bodies with special modesty as they give comparably little special treatment to their presentable parts. The church should behave similarly, going out of its way to honor and exalt those people whom we tend to overlook.
Every Christian is important to the church and to every other Christian. Because of the union that believers share with one another in Christ, what happens to one believer happens to everyone.[1]
[1] Pratt, R. L., Jr. (2000). I & II Corinthians (Vol. 7, p. 220). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
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