"The apostle's words of warning to the Corinthian church are applicable to all time and are especially adapted to our day. By idolatry he meant not only the worship of idols, but self-serving, love of ease, the gratification of appetite and passion. A mere profession of faith in Christ, a boastful knowledge of the truth, does not make a man a Christian. A religion that seeks only to gratify the eye, the ear, and the taste, or that sanctions self- indulgence, is not the religion of Christ. AA 317.1"
"Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)"
The EGW passage echoes the sentiment of Philippians 3:19, which warns against those whose 'god is their belly' and who are focused on earthly desires. EGW expands on this idea, connecting it to idolatry and self-indulgence, making the connection more explicit.
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
The EGW passage emphasizes that a mere profession of faith is insufficient, echoing the principle in Matthew 7:21 that true discipleship requires doing the will of the Father. EGW elaborates on what constitutes a superficial religion, but the core principle is directly derived from the verse.
By a comparison of the church with the human body, the apostle aptly illustrated the close and harmonious relationship that should exist among all members of the church of Christ. “By one Spirit,” he wrote, “are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I …
"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."
EGW directly quotes and elaborates on 1 Corinthians 12:12, using the analogy of the body to illustrate the unity and diversity within the church. This is a clear and undeniable explicit allusion.