How can the church be one body if it has many members?
The church is one body because the one Spirit places all believers into the body of Christ, regardless of Jew or Gentile, bond or free. Though it has many members, each member belongs to the same body, just as a human body has many parts but remains one.
Les teaches from I Corinthians 12 that Paul uses the human body as an analogy. A body is one but has many members—fingers, toes, eyes—yet it is still one body. So also is Christ, the body of Christ. Verse 13 says by one Spirit all believers—not just a chosen few—are baptized or placed into that one body. It is not a denomination; it is the body of Christ. Jew or Gentile, bond or free, all partake of that one Spirit. Paul returns to the physical body: the body is not one member but many. He uses the extreme example of a foot saying it is not the hand and therefore not of the body, or a little toe that seems unseen but would be missed if cut off, because it is part of the body.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
More Questions
How is the Body of Christ like a human body?
In the body analogy, a human body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ, referring to the Body of Christ.
Where is the control of the members of the body, and how does that picture the Body of Christ?
Control of all the members of the physical body (fingers, toes, eyes, ears) is located in the head, and so also in the Body of Christ the members are under the Head.
What does Scripture teach about the body of Christ?
Contrary to those who ridicule the body of Christ as an invisible entity, Scripture, especially Paul's writings, teaches that believers are members of the body of Christ, with Christ as head in heaven and believers as the body still on earth.