1 Corinthians 12:14
in 1 Corinthians 12For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the body is not one member, but many.
KJV
For the body is not one member, but many.
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 12
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
For the body is not one member, but many
on 1 Corinthians 12:14-17
For the body is not one member, but many: Paul answers Corinth's drift toward a favored few gifts by insisting the body was never meant to be one organ. If the foot should say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, or the ear say the same of the eye, the complaint changes nothing, since a member's place in the body does not depend on its own comparison to another member. Verse 17 presses the logic to its absurd end, a body all eye has no hearing, a body all hearing has no smell, so uniformity would destroy the very thing the discontented member wanted to belong to.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Severian of GabalaPAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 425.
proposed
Paul says this in order not to overlook the humbler members of the church. For even if someone is lesser by nature, he still belongs to the body of the church.
The unity of the body consists in the fact that its many members supply the things which the other parts lack.
"For the body is not one member, but many." i.e., We are come to the same initiation, we enjoy the same Table. If now one Spirit both formed us and gathered us all together into one body; for this is the meaning of, "we were baptized into one body:" and vouchsafed us one table, and gave us all the same watering, (for this is the meaning of, "we were made to drink into one Spirit,") and united persons so widely separated; and if many things then become a body when they are made one: why, I pray, art thou continually tossing to and fro their difference? But if thou sayest, "Because there are many members and diverse," know that this very thing is the wonder and the peculiar excellency of the body, when the things which are many and diverse make one. 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.
So is the broad serenity and calm of the soul troubled by one invading passion, and affected by the injury of a single part. They tell us too, those who have investigated the subject, that the virtues are not disunited from each other, and that to grasp the principle of any one virtue will be impossible to one who has not seized that which underlies the rest, and that the man who shows one virtue in his character will necessarily show them all.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, for the body, he explains the likeness in detail. First, he describes the condition of a natural body and its members; secondly, he adapts this to the mystical body of Christ (v. 27). In regard to the first he does two …
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Do not be amazed, he says, that being so many we are one body; for in the human body too, with its many members, one can find one body.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For the body is not one member,....
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 Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The well-known fable of the belly and the other members, spoken by Menenius Agrippa, to the seceding commons [LIVY, 2.32], was probably before Paul's mind, stored as it was with classical literature.
For the body is not one member - The mystical body, the Church, as well as the natural body, is composed of many members.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the body ... - The body is made up of many members, which have various offices. So it is in the church. We are to expect the same variety there; and we are not to presume either that all will be alike, or that any member that God has placed there will be useless.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | Also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σῶμα | soma | body | G4983 → | 142 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔστιν | estin | is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| ἓν | hen | one | G1520 → | 343 times |
| μέλος | melos | member | G3196 → | 34 times |
| ἀλλὰ | alla | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| πολλά. | polla | many. | G4183 → | 367 times |
καὶAlso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
σῶμαbody
somaG4983 →142 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔστινis
estinG1510 →2333 times
ἓνone
henG1520 →343 times
μέλοςmember
melosG3196 →34 times
ἀλλὰbut
allaG235 →635 times
πολλά.many.
pollaG4183 →367 times
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
1 Corinthians 12:12The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.
it leads to
- Romans 12:4–5
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,
- Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.
- 1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.
- Ephesians 4:15–16
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
- Romans 12:4–5
Through
Ephesians 4:25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
it leads to
- Colossians 3:9
Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,
- Zechariah 8:16
These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
- Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but those who deal faithfully are His delight.
- Romans 12:5
so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.
- Colossians 3:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 12 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; Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity 15; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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; Severian of Gabala, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.