1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one spirit are we all baptized into One Body.
The word spirit has the small "s" in the A.V. of 1611, and correctly so, for it here refers to the new nature or the new man in the believers of the first century. So it is by virtue of having this spirit that the Corinthian saints were baptized into or identified with one body.
1 Cor. 12:8-10 tells us that this body of believers was endowed with nine spiritual gifts; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and their interpretation. And verse 7 says that these were given to every man, i.e., every man in that body. This is significant for every believer. When they believed that Jesus is The Christ received a sign-gift, no one was ever missed. This fulfilled The Lord's Promise of Mar 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Everyone who believed on Jesus Christ received one of these signs. Do you have one? Why not? Because no Christians after Acts 28:27-28 receive sign-gifts, they were for the last Dispensation. Now go thru The Book of Acts very carefully, and you will see every believer had a sign-gift and no one was missed. Christians today should have questioned this, and they would have known we were in a different Dispensation by this one proof alone. There are many others.
Back to 1 Corinthians Chapter 12:14-17 where this body is described as having feet, hands, ears, eyes, and the like. Now this body can not be The Mystery One Body of Christ because God protected His Secret not yet revealed by listing body parts on the head. Which members of The Church of The One Body are part of The Head? Now member because Christ Jesus and He alone is The Head of The Body.
This Acts period body was made up of Jewish and Gentile believers. The Jews are addressed in 1 Corinthians Chapters 10 and 11, and the Gentiles in Chapter 12. These Gentiles are described in Gal. 3:9 as being blessed by faith with faithful Abraham, as God made sure that was how the blessings of Abraham would come upon the Gentiles and that by faith, they would become Abraham's seed. These Gentile believers were at one time spoken of by The Lord as dogs that eat the crumbs that fall from Israel's table. But now they were partaking of Israel's spiritual things, and Israel was getting jealous. See Rom. 15:27 and Matt. 15:26
Paul writes to some length in Romans about this body made up of Jew and Gentile Christians. A prophecy is quoted in Rom. 9:25 concerning the fact that God would call a people His people who were not His people. In Rom. 9:28 the Gentile believers obtained righteousness which they sought not after. They were continuing to provoke Israel to jealousy (Rom. 10:19 & Rom. 11:11). And Rom. 11:17-24 describes them as being grafted into the olive tree as wild olive branches so that the original tree (Israel) might bear fruit.
This not only shows that they are unequal, the Jew being first, but it is plain that such a relationship does not and cannot constitute a joint body. Romans Chapter 2 tells us that the Jew is first in blessing and also first in punishment. Summed up, all this is proof that there was a fleshly distinction between Jew and Gentile in that body.
The Jewish believers were still under the law, but the Gentile believers had the gospel of the grace of God preached to them. So they became guests at Israel's table by grace, not by the law.
This body at Corinth had the hope of the coming Messiah and His Kingdom. Along with Israel, Gentiles had The Hope of the 1 Corinthians Gathering Together in chapter 15, by which they would meet the Lord in the air (not heaven) and come with Him to the earth to take part in His Millennial Kingdom. Heaven was never their hope.
Paul was still preaching this coming, the hope of Israel in Acts 28:20. It had been his constant theme until Acts 28:27-28 where finally, the salvation of God was sent to the Gentiles. Salvation was then no longer of the Jews, and this body ceased to be.
