[12] Just as a body is one whole made up of many different parts, and all the different parts comprise the one body, so it is with the Anointed One. [13] We were all ceremonially washed through baptism together into one body by one Spirit. No matter our heritage-Jew or Greek, insider or outsider-no matter our status-oppressed or free-we were all given the one Spirit to drink. [14] Here's what I mean: the body is not made of one large part but of many different parts. [15] Would it seem right for the foot to cry, "I am not a hand, so I couldn't be part of this body"? Even if it did, it wouldn't be any less joined to the body. [16] And what about an ear? If an ear started to whine, "I am not an eye; I shouldn't be attached to this body," in all its pouting, it is still part of the body. [17] Imagine the entire body as an eye. How would a giant eye be able to hear? And if the entire body were an ear, how would an ear be able to smell? [18] This is where God comes in. God has meticulously put this body together; He placed each part in the exact place to perform the exact function He wanted. [19] If all members were a single part, where would the body be? [20] So now, many members function within the one body. [21] The eye cannot wail at the hand, "I have no need for you," nor could the head bellow at the feet, "I won't go one more step with you." [22] It's actually the opposite. The members who seem to have the weaker functions are necessary to keep the body moving; [23] the body parts that seem less important we treat as some of the most valuable; and those unfit, untamed, unpresentable members we treat with an even greater modesty. [24] That's something the more presentable members don't need. But God designed the body in such a way that greater significance is given to the seemingly insignificant part. [25] That way there should be no division in the body; instead, all the parts mutually depend on and care for one another. [26] If one part is suffering, then all the members suffer alongside it. If one member is honored, then all the members celebrate alongside it. [27] You are the body of the Anointed, the Liberating King; each and every one of you is a vital member.
