"Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it." (I Cor. 12:27)
I have one body. It is made up of many different members. I have two hands, two arms, two feet, ten fingers, ten toes, one nose, two eyes, one mouth, two kidneys, etc. You get the point. We need each member, and when we forfeit a part, we are hindered in our behavior and action. If my eye sees a beautiful flower, it can only observe it. It cannot smell it, without the nose. It cannot cut it and put in a vase to give to someone. Each part of the body is interdependent on the other.
First Century missionary Paul uses that analogy in I Corinthians to describe the church. It says that the church universal is the body of Christ. But keep in mind he is writing to a specific expression of that universal church, the church in the city of Corinth. Granted they had not divided up by denominations. They were the church in Corinth.
But they were struggling with divisions in their fellowship and with arrogance and pride, and a host of other problems. So Paul reminds them that by God's Spirit they have been made to be members of one body. That happened at the point of their conversion to Christ. As each member of a body is important, so each person who is genuinely part of the church has been equipped by God to fulfill a specific function in the body. All of the body depends on each member.
How has God placed you in the body? Keep in mind it is sovereignly His choice, and it is based on grace, not personal merit. So there is no room for pride, and their is no room for inferiority. God has crafted the church to fulfill His mission in the world. All believers matter to God and to the body.
