Why bother with the body analogy?

by Chris Ow

St Paul seems quite taken with the analogy of the body when talking about groups of Christians. I have often wondered why this is so.

No doubt the analogy works very well [see his first letter to the Corinthians Ch 12] and he uses it in various other epistles as well [see Eph 2:16 and Col 3:15].

But what are we 21st century Christians to make of it? Especially within our context in the university? Biblical literary devices often seem as remote as the Red Planet for us. Given the mad rush for Red Spot RBR books and what-not, where can I find the Body of Christ made from many parts?

No doubt the early Christians Paul was addressing in his letters also wondered similarly, else there would be little need for Paul's lengthy exposition of the implications of his analogy. Paul wrote to correct various problems in these communities.

I wonder what he would have written to us were he around today.

My own rather apocalyptic guess is that we might well be likened to the Laodicean church in Revelation [see Rev 3:14-22]. We lack little, and so settle quickly into comfortable mediocrity. I say this because I see in myself a sufferer of this malady of complacent indifference.

Why fix what is not broken?

But no body grows unless its cells are alive, and tending towards a unified goal. Just as the body is directed by the head, so perhaps we too need to ask which head, if any, we are looking toward.

Now is the time to look at the little cells within our body. Let's leave aside grandiose dreams of corporate glory until we can be sure that our cells function, and can grow and divide.

It is indeed apt that we have devoted ourselves to the study of Acts. Is not the communal life Luke describes in Acts 2:42-47 the ideal we look toward?

But like all ideals its realisation is a matter of several ingredients. For now, though, I see three things that we need:
" The political will to embark on the path toward such a goal;
" the perseverance to stay the course in the face of adversity; and
" an attitude of humility before the One who owns the copyright for the Masterplan.

We are going somewhere. We are a body that is alive. The kind of life we shall have depends on where we want to go.

Many thanks to Fr. John-Paul Tan for making this article possible. The time and effort expended is greatly appreciated!