In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is explaining God’s purpose in giving Spiritual gifts because the Corinthians have been elevating people with the gift of tongues and marginalizing those who did not have this gift. They looked down on these people as having been given boring, less spectacular gifts.
Now, I do not want to slow us down with talking about tongues here. Besides, Paul’s point, at this juncture of the letter, is much more general. Like a human body has many members (e.g. hands, feet, head, nose, etc.) but is one body, so too is the body of Christ, such that Christ’s body is made up of all the individual members of the church who have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ (12:13).
Yet, there is an interesting shift later on in chapter 12 about clothing our less presentable members. Paul is talking euphemistically here about our private bits. We honor these parts of our body with additional clothing and attention because we do not want these exposed to the world. In fact, most of us doubly clothe these parts! We treat them with care. Scripturally, nudity is associated with shame, i.e. exposure before God. The only person who can uncover our nakedness for the purposes of sexuality (according to Leviticus 18) is the one whom we are in a marriage covenant with. Of course, parents and grandparents and caretakers are still able to change their children and grandchildren, but they should protect the child from the exposure of their nakedness.
OK, yes, this took a weird turn, but this helps ground Paul’s point:
On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. (12:22-25)
Paul is saying that God has elevated the poor Christians (which I am defining as anyone who would have the potential to be looked down upon) and given the church specific direction to care for these marginalized members of Christ’s body. (Think through Jesus’ ministry and teaching and how the poor, oppressed, and ostracized were the focus of His attention.) This teaching is, as Paul is saying, given by God for the purpose that the church would give honor to those who are considered shameful by societal standards. We are to give honor to and make presentable with that honor these folks in our body because those who are deemed skilled, attractive, and powerful in the body have no need of any additional honor. It is natural for us to care for people like that but unnatural for us to care for the societally rejected.
God instructs us and empowers us by the Holy Spirit to clothe in glorious garments, metaphorically, those who would traditionally be looked down upon in our midst so that “there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” We are not to put down the elevated and attractive among us but raise up those whom we would have the tendency to ignore.