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1 Corinthians 12:15

in 1 Corinthians 12

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.

KJV

If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

This verse in 1 Corinthians 12

Commentary

12 notes on this verse

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 1107.

He presents the members of the body as speaking and murmuring that they are diminished before the other members, in order that, having demonstrated the senselessness of the murmuring of the members, he might expose those who in the Church murmur that there are some …

This site's exposition

For the body does not consist

on 1 Corinthians 12:14-17

Paul answers Corinth's drift toward a favored few gifts: the body does not consist of one part, but of many. Verse 17 presses the logic to its end, where uniformity would destroy the body the member wanted to join.

This site's exposition

If the foot should say

Paul pairs the foot with the hand, two parts of the body that both do work. Chrysostom observes that envy usually looks at a part a little higher. The complaining foot remains a member all the same.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on 1 Corinthians 30 · Written before 407.

proposed

This however he states last; but for the present he goes to the members themselves, saying thus: "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?" For if the one being made inferior and the other superior, doth not allow their being of the body, the whole is done away. Do not say therefore, "I am not the body, because I am inferior." For the foot also hath the inferior post, yet is it of the body: for the being or not being part of the body, is not from the one lying in this place and the other in that; (which is what constitutes difference of place;) but from the being conjoined or separated. For the being or not being a body, arises from the having been made one or not. But do thou, I pray, mark his considerate way, how he applies their words to our members. For as he said above, "These things have I in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos," just so likewise here, to make his argument free from invidiousness and acceptable, he introduces the members speaking: that when they shall hear nature answering them, being thus convicted by experience herself and by the general voice, they may have nothing further to oppose. "For say, if you will," saith he, "this very thing, murmur as you please, you cannot be out of the body. For as the law of nature, so much more doth the power of grace guard all things and preserve them entire." And see how he kept to the rule of having nothing superfluous; not working out his argument on all the members, but on two only and these the extremes; having specified both the most honorable of all, the eye, and the meanest of all, the feet. […]

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES · Written before 384.

proposed

This means that a weak brother cannot say that he is not a part of the body simply because he is not strong.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on 1 Corinthians · Written before 1274.

proposed

Then when he says: If the foot should say, he clarifies what he had said by using certain members as examples. First, the members involved in motion, and he mentions two members: the foot as the more ignoble member in that it treads the earth …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

So among men each is apt to compare himself with those whose gifts some way resemble his own, rather than with those who are at a distance, either above or beneath him. Is it therefore not of the body - Is the inference good? Perhaps the foot may represent private Christians; the hand, officers in the church; the eye, teachers; the ear, hearers.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Shall it hereupon disown relation to the body? Because it is not fixed in the same station, or favoured with the same gifts as others, shall it say, "I do not belong to Christ?" No, the meanest member of his body is as much a member as the noblest, and as truly regarded by him. All his members are dear to him.
4 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

If the foot shall say,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He tells us that the church is the body of Christ, and the members are variously gifted for the benefit of the whole body, and each particular member,

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

If the foot shall say ... - The same figure and illustration which Paul here uses occurs also in pagan writers. It occurs in the apologue which was used by Menenius Agrippa, as related by Livy (lib. 2: cap. 32), in which he attempted to repress a rebellion which had been excited against the nobles and senators, as useless and cumbersome to the state. Menenius, in order to show the folly of this, represents the different members of the body as conspiring against the stomach, as being inactive, and as refusing to labor, and consuming everything.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

If the foot shall say, etc. - As all the members of the body are necessarily dependent on each other, and minister to the general support of the system, so is it in the Church. All the private members are intimately connected among themselves, and also with their pastors; without which union no Church can subsist.

The words behind it

21 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Kings 14:9

    But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a…

    it leads to

    • Judges 9:8–15

      One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

    • Hosea 9:6

      For even if they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles, and thorns will overrun their tents.

    • Proverbs 26:9

      Like a thorn that falls into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

    • 2 Chronicles 33:11

      So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

    • 2 Samuel 12:1–4

      Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Corinthians

The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1495 to 1498. Public domain.
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, 1495 to 1498. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 30; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.