Bible Repentance: Path to Love - Robert J. Wieland

loves them. The only way He has to show that love
to them is through His church on earth. Therefore
“God hath set … in the church’’ the various gifts of
His Spirit so that the church may become His
efficient “body” for expressing Himself to the
world in the same way that a healthy person
expresses through the “members” of his physical
body the thoughts and intent of his mind. These
“gifts” lead up to the supreme gift of love, which
Paul says is “a more excellent way.”
1 Corinthians 12 discusses the corporate
relationship of the “many members” with one
another and with Christ in the church, “the body.”
The “more excellent way” of love is revealed in
chapter 13 as the normal function of the “body,” its
corporate effectiveness in service. The two
chapters must not be separated. Many have seen in
chapter 13 a “portrait” of Christ. But in its full
context the portrait really is of the church. Paul
added the 13th to the 12th chapter in order to
demonstrate how the union of the “many members”
with Christ as “the Head” works out in practical
life. The “many members” in “one body” in Christ
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