1 Corinthians 12:17
in 1 Corinthians 12If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
KJV
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 12
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If the whole body ... - The idea in this verse is, that all the parts of the body are useful in their proper place, and that it would be as absurd to require or expect that all the members of the church should have the same endowments, as it would be to attempt to make the body “all eye.” If all were the same; if all had the same endowments, important offices which are now secured by the other members would be unknown.
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 whole body were an eye
The questions picture a body made of one huge eye, able to see and unable to hear or smell. Hodge and Matthew Henry apply it to Corinthians who wanted every member to have the same prized gift. A church of one gift loses every other function.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Theodoret of CyrusCOMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 247 · Written before 458.
proposed
Even if the body had only its most important member, it would still be useless without the others.
"If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" Thus, because, having fallen upon the difference of the members, and having mentioned feet, and hands, and eyes, and ears, he led them to the consideration of their own inferiority and superiority: see how again he consoles them, intimating that so it was expedient: and that their being many and diverse, this especially causeth them to be a body. But if they all were some one, they would not be a body. Wherefore, he saith, "If they were all one member, where were the body?" This however, he mentions not till afterwards; but here he points out also something more; that besides the impossibility of any one being a body, it even takes away the being of the rest. "For if the whole were hearing, where were the smelling," saith he.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since he mentioned the eye and the foot, the ear and the hand, and presented them as reasoning about elevation and degradation, and through this the Corinthians would naturally again come to grief rather than consolation, he now shows that it is useful and necessary …
Then when he says, If the whole body were an eye, he proves by leading to two awkward conclusions, the first of which is the removal of necessary things from the body; the second is the removal of bodily completeness (v. 19). In regard to …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If the whole body were an eye,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
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 words behind it
14 Greek wordsEvery 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.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| ὅλον | holon | all | G3650 → | 109 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σῶμα | soma | body [were] | G4983 → | 142 times |
| ὀφθαλμός, | ophthalmos | an eye, | G3788 → | 100 times |
| ποῦ | pou | where | G4226 → | 47 times |
| ἡ | he | [would be] the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀκοή; | akoe | hearing? | G189 → | |
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| ὅλον | holon | all | G3650 → | 109 times |
| ἀκοή, | akoe | [were] hearing, | G189 → | |
| ποῦ | pou | where | G4226 → | 47 times |
| ἡ | he | [would be] the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄσφρησις; | osphresis | sense of smell? | G3750 → |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
ὅλονall
holonG3650 →109 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
σῶμαbody [were]
somaG4983 →142 times
ὀφθαλμός,an eye,
ophthalmosG3788 →100 times
ποῦwhere
pouG4226 →47 times
ἡ[would be] the
heG3588 →19766 times
ἀκοή;hearing?
akoeG189 →
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
ὅλονall
holonG3650 →109 times
ἀκοή,[were] hearing,
akoeG189 →
ποῦwhere
pouG4226 →47 times
ἡ[would be] the
heG3588 →19766 times
ὄσφρησις;sense of smell?
osphresisG3750 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Psalms 94:9He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?
it leads to
- Exodus 4:11
And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 23:23–24
“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?”
- Psalms 44:21
would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
- Proverbs 20:12
Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
- Psalms 11:4
The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
- Exodus 4:11
Through
Proverbs 20:12Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
it leads to
- Matthew 13:13–16
This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- Psalms 94:9
He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see?
- Psalms 119:18
Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
- Matthew 13:13–16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
On this verse
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 10 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); Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 30; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 247; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.