1 Corinthians 12:20
in 1 Corinthians 12As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But now they are many members, but one body.
KJV
But now are they many members, yet but one body.
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 12
Commentary
9 notes on this verseSecondly, he asserts the contrary truth, saying: As it is there are many parts, yet one body, which is made complete by all the parts. Thus, the Church is composed of diverse orders: "Terrible as an army with banners" (S. of S. 6:10).
This site's exposition
God has arranged the members
on 1 Corinthians 12:18-20
The complaint of the previous verses meets God's own act: God has arranged the members of the body according to His design. The verb is tithemi, the Septuagint's verb for planting and appointing, so a member's function is a deliberate gift of arrangement.
This site's exposition
there are many parts, but one body
As it is turns from the imagined body of verses 17 and 19 back to the real body. The words repeat verse 12 and close the answer to the part that felt it did not belong. Many parts form one body.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The diversity in the members of the body unites for the purpose of ensuring that the body fulfills its potential.
"And if they were all one member, where were the body?" "But now are they many members, but one body." Thus having silenced them sufficiently by God's own arrangement, again he states reasons. And he neither doth this always nor that, but alternates and varies his discourse. Since on the one hand, he who merely silences, confounds the hearer, and he, on the contrary, who accustoms him to demand reasons for all things, injures him in the matter of faith; for this cause then Paul is continually practising both the one and the other, that they may both believe and may not be confounded; and after silencing them, he again gives a reason likewise. And mark his earnestness in the combat and the completeness of his victory. For from what things they supposed themselves unequal in honor because in them there was great diversity, even from these things he shows that for this very reason they are equal in honor. How, I will tell you. "If all were one member," saith he, "where were the body?" Now what he means is, If there were not among you great variety, ye could not be a body; and not being a body, ye could not be one; and not being one, ye could not be equal in honor. Whence it follows again that if ye were all equal in honor, ye were not a body; and not being a body, ye were not one; and not being one, how could ye be equal in honor? As it is, however, because ye are not all endowed with some one gift, therefore are ye a body; and being a body, ye are all one, and differ nothing from one another in this that ye are a body. So that this very difference is that which chiefly causeth your equality in honor. And accordingly he adds, "But now they are many members, yet one body."
The Medieval Church1 voice
Note the wisdom: he shuts their mouths by the very thing that seemed to produce faintheartedness, that is, by the fact that the gifts are diverse and unequal in honor. For if there were not diverse members, there would not be one body; and if …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But now are they many members,....
One member of a body is not a body; this is made up of many; and among these many there must be a distinction, difference of situation, shape, use, &c. So it is in the body of Christ; its members must have different uses, and therefore have different powers, and be in different places, some having one gift, and others a different one.
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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| νῦν | nun | Now | G3568 → | 145 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| πολλὰ | polla | many | G4183 → | 367 times |
| μὲν | men | indeed | G3303 → | 176 times |
| μέλη, | mele | [are the] members, | G3196 → | 34 times |
| ἓν | hen | [there is] one | G1520 → | 343 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| σῶμα. | soma | body. | G4983 → | 142 times |
νῦνNow
nunG3568 →145 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
πολλὰmany
pollaG4183 →367 times
μὲνindeed
menG3303 →176 times
μέλη,[are the] members,
meleG3196 →34 times
ἓν[there is] one
henG1520 →343 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
σῶμα.body.
somaG4983 →142 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.
- Colossians 2:19
He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.
- Romans 12:4–5
Through
1 Corinthians 12:14For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 12:27–28
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.
- 1 Corinthians 12:12
The 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.
- Ephesians 4:25
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
- 1 Corinthians 12:27–28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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On this verse
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; 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 (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.