From a 2004 sermon by John Piper (sorry for the lengthy quote, but it sets the stage):
Second, individuality is valued in Christ. Look at verse 5 again and focus on the second half of the verse: “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
One could ague that Paul’s focus here on the individual is really to stress that each of us is part of the collective unity called the body and that each of us is connected with every other member of the body. So one might say: There is no effort here to emphasize the value of individuality, but the contrary, to say that the body is all that counts.
But in view of verses 6-8, I don’t think that would be right. Verse 6 says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.” That is a conscious effort to make explicit our individual differences created and willed by God’s grace. Then he spells out different gifts in verses 7-8. So it would not be fair to say that Paul is trying to minimize our individuality and only emphasize the corporate reality of the body.
Would it not be better to say it this way: Paul is saying that our true individuality is found—discovered, experienced—in relationship to the body of Christ. Think about verse 5b, “and individually members one of another.” Members (parts) of one another. One by one. Individually. Here’s what Paul is saying: I am part of you. You are part of me. I am like your eye or your ear or your hand or your foot. And you are like my eye or my ear or my hand or my foot. Each individual, Paul says, is part of the other individuals in the body.
Here is the amazing thing: That’s who I am. I am a part of you. Which means that my individuality—my individual identity, as God has created me to be—cannot be known except in serving you as I rely upon Christ. And yours cannot be known except in serving others in reliance on Christ. That’s what hands and feet and eyes and ears do. They serve. That’s why we have gifts.
Paul values individuality so highly that he does not fail to tell us how our true individual selves can be known, namely, by living in relationship others and by serving and being served in the body of Christ. And then from that position and identity (as we will see later in the chapter) we express our individual identity with Christ in relation to the world. Love other people with all your heart in reliance on Christ and you will discover who you are.
This is a script, not a transcript, unfortunately. What he actually said was even more striking:
Discovering your individuality, who you are that God made you to be, does not happen by going into a room, or going into the woods, and beginning to… peel the layers off the onion of your personhood! It won’t work, I promise you. You will despair. You will go alone… you’ll take one layer off, and another layer off, looking for the “you,” and you’ll take another layer off, and you’ll being to panic, and you can’t ever find “you.” You won’t know who you are! If you go that route of individualization in terms of just me, myself, and “I will find my true identity and then come back and make my contribution” - you won’t find it.
You will find your being, your reason for being, your grace-given individuality, when you start functioning as members of one another. That’s who we are. Then, with that identity and that personhood, we move out from those God-given relationships into the world, to express that. You are created to be a member of the body of Christ, and a member of those who are in the body of Christ, and discover your individuality and your unique callings and giftings in connection with other members in the body, out of which you express your world identity…
Your job in the world is an expression and outgrowth of who you are in Christ, and you find out who you are in Christ in connection with the body of Christ, and if you haven’t done it that way, begin to work on it.
This is something I need to hear, and remember. My habit is to seek for myself, by myself. His argument (you should hear the whole thing, there are links from the page I linked above) is that you will not know what you can contribute to the body without the body’s help…
And those who hold back because they don’t know what they can contribute are in rebellion against God.
