1 Corinthians 12:17

These verses shift from the image of a physical body to the image of the church as a spiritual body. Every part of the body is important and essential for it to work well. Believers should not brag about their spiritual roles or think less of them compared to others. God, who created the body, has placed each part exactly where he wants it (12:18).

The church is like a body (see 12:27) made up of many different parts. Each part has its own role, as determined by God (see 12:11, 18, 28; Romans 12:4–5).

Superior as the eye is, it would not do if it were the sole member to the exclusion of the rest.

The apostle here makes out the truth of what was above asserted, and puts the gifted men among the Corinthians in mind of their duty, by comparing the church of Christ to a human body.
I. By telling us that one body may have many members, and that the many members of the same body make but one body (Co1 12:12): As the body is one, and hath many members, and all members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ; that is, Christ mystical, as divines commonly speak. Christ and his church making one body, as head and members, this body is made up of many parts or members, yet but one body; for all the members are baptized into the same body, and made to drink of the same Spirit, Co1 12:13. Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, are upon a level in this: all are baptized into the same body, and made partakers of the same Spirit. Christians become members of this body by baptism: they are baptized into one body. The outward rite is of divine institution, significant of the new birth, called therefore the washing of regeneration, Tit 3:5. But it is by the Spirit, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, that we are made members of Christ's body. It is the Spirit's operation, signified by the outward administration, that makes us members. And by communion at the other ordinance we are sustained; but then it is not merely by drinking the wine, but by drinking into one Spirit. The outward administration is a means appointed of God for our participation in this great benefit; but it is baptism by the Spirit, it is internal renovation and drinking into one Spirit, partaking of his sanctifying influence from time to time, that makes us true members of Christ's body, and maintains our union with him. Being animated by one Spirit makes Christians one body. Note, All who have the spirit of Christ, without difference, are the members of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free; and none but such. And all the members of Christ make up one body; the members many, but the body one. They are one body, because they have one principle of life; all are quickened and animated by the same Spirit.
II. Each member has its particular form, place, and use. 1. The meanest member makes a part of the body. The foot and ear are less useful, perhaps, than the hand and eye; but because one is not a hand, and the other an eye, shall they say, therefore, that they do not belong to the body? Co1 12:15, Co1 12:16. So every member of the body mystical cannot have the same place and office; but what then? 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. 2. There must be a distinction of members in the body: Were the whole body eye, where were the hearing? Were the whole ear, where were the smelling? Co1 12:17. If all were one member, where were the body? Co1 12:19. They are many members, and for that reason must have distinction among them, and yet are but one body, Co1 12:20. 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, etc. 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. Variety in the members of the body contributes to the beauty of it. What a monster would a body be if it were all ear, or eye, or arm! So it is for the beauty and good appearance of the church that there should be diversity of gifts and offices in it. 3. The disposal of members in a natural body, and their situation, are as God pleases: But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath pleased him, Co1 12:18. We may plainly perceive the divine wisdom in the distribution of the members; but it was made according to the counsel of his will; he distinguished and distributed them as he pleased. So is it also in the members of Christ's body: they are chosen out to such stations, and endued with such gifts, as God pleases. He who is sovereign Lord of all disposes his favours and gifts as he will. And who should gainsay his pleasure? What foundation is here for repining in ourselves, or envying others? We should be doing the duties of our own place, and not murmuring in ourselves, nor quarrelling with others, that we are not in theirs. 4. All the members of the body are, in some respect, useful and necessary to each other: The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the feet, I have no need of your: nay, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble (the bowels, etc.) are necessary (Co1 12:21, Co1 12:22); God has so fitted and tempered them together that they are all necessary to one another, and to the whole body; there is no part redundant and unnecessary. Every member serves some good purpose or other: it is useful to its fellow-members, and necessary to the good state of the whole body. Nor is there a member of the body of Christ but may and ought to be useful to his fellow-members, and at some times, and in some cases, is needful to them. None should despise and envy another, seeing God has made the distinction between them as he pleased, yet so as to keep them all in some degree of mutual dependence, and make them valuable to each other, and concerned for each other, because of their mutual usefulness. Those who excel in any gift cannot say that they have no need of those who in that gift are their inferiors, while perhaps, in other gifts, they exceed them. Nay, the lowest members of all have their use, and the highest cannot do well without them. The eye has need of the hand, and the head of the feet. 5. Such is the man's concern for his whole body that on the less honourable members more abundant honour is bestowed, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. Those parts which are not fit, like the rest, to be exposed to view, which are either deformed or shameful, we most carefully clothe and cover; whereas the comely parts have no such need. The wisdom of Providence has so contrived and tempered things that the most abundant regard and honour should be paid to that which most wanted it, Co1 12:24. So should the members of Christ's body behave towards their fellow-members: instead of despising them, or reproaching them, for their infirmities, they should endeavour to cover and conceal them, and put the best face upon them that they can. 6. Divine wisdom has contrived and ordered things in this manner that the members of the body should not be schismatics, divided from each other and acting upon separate interests, but well affected to each other, tenderly concerned for each other, having a fellow-feeling of each other's griefs and a communion in each other's pleasures and joys, Co1 12:25, Co1 12:26. God has tempered the members of the body natural in the manner mentioned, that there might be no schism in the body (Co1 12:25), no rupture nor disunion among the members, nor so much as the least mutual disregard. This should be avoided also in the spiritual body of Christ. There should be no schism in this body, but the members should be closely united by the strongest bonds of love. All decays of this affection are the seeds of schism. Where Christians grow cold towards each other, they will be careless and unconcerned for each other. And this mutual disregard is a schism begun. The members of the natural body are made to have a care and concern for each other, to prevent a schism in it. So should it be in Christ's body; the members should sympathize with each other. As in the natural body the pain of the one part afflicts the whole, the ease and pleasure of one part affects the whole, so should Christians reckon themselves honoured in the honours of their fellow-christians, and should suffer in their sufferings. Note, Christian sympathy is a great branch of Christian duty. We should be so far from slighting our brethren's sufferings that we should suffer with them, so far from envying their honours that we should rejoice with them and reckon ourselves honoured in them.

1 Corinthians 12:14-27

14. For the body is not one member, but many.

14. Etenim corpus non est unum membrum, sed multa.

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

15. Si dixerit pes: Quoniam non sum manus, non sum ex corpore: an propterea non est ex corpore?

16. 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?

16. Et si dixerit auris: Quia non sum oculus, non sum ex corpore: an propterea non est ex corpore?

17. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

17. Si toturn corpus oculus, ubi auditus? si totum auditus, ubi olfactus?

18. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

18. Nunc vero Deus posuit merebra, unumquodque ipsorum in corpore prout voluit.

19. And if they were all one member, where were the body?

19. Quodsi essent omnia unum membrum, ubi corpus?

20. But now are they many members, yet but one body.

20. At nunc multa quidem membra, unum autem corpus.

21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

21. Nec potest oculus dicere manui: Ego to opus non habeo. Nec rursum caput pedibus: Vobis opus non habeo.

22. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

22. Quin potius, quae infirmiora corporis membra videntur esse, necessaria sunt:

23. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

23. Et quae iudicamus viliora esse in corpore, his abundantiorem honorem circumdamus: et quae minus honesta sunt in nobis, plus decoris habent.

24. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

24. Quae autem decora sunt in nobis, non habent opus, sed Deus contemperavit corpus, tribuens henorem abundantiorem opus habenti,

25. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

25. Ut ne dissidium esset in corpore, sed ut membra alia pro aliis invicem eandem sollicitudinem ha beant.

26. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

26. Et sive patitur unum membrum, compatiuntur omnia membra: sive glorificatur unum membrum, congaudent omnia membra.

27. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

27. Vos autem estis corpus Christi, et membra ex parte.

15. This is a bringing out still farther (epexergasia) of the preceding statement, or in other words, an exposition of it, with some amplification, with the view of placing in a clearer light, what he had previously stated in a few words. Now all this accords with the apologue of Menenius Agrippa. "Should a dissension break out in the body, so that the feet would refuse to discharge their office to the rest of the body, and the belly in like manner, and the eyes, and the hands, what would be the effect? Would not the result be -- the destruction of the whole body?" At the same time Paul here insists more particularly on this one point -- that each member ought to rest satisfied with its own place and station, and not envy the others, for he institutes a comparison between the more distinguished members, and those that have less dignity. For the eye has a more honorable place in the body than the hand, and the hand than the foot But if our hands were, from a feeling of envy, to refuse to discharge their office, would nature endure this? Would the hand be listened to, when wishing to be separated from the body?

To be not of the body, means here -- to have no communication with the other members, but to live for itself, and to seek only its own advantage. "Would it then," says Paul, "be allowable for the hand to refuse to do its office to the other members, on the ground of its bearing envy to the eyes?" These things are said of the natural body, but they must be applied to the members of the Church, lest ambition or misdirected emulation and envy should be the occasion of bad feeling among us, [754] so as to lead one that occupies an inferior station to grudge to afford his services to those above him.

17. If the whole body were an eye He sets aside a foolish aiming at equality, by showing the impossibility of it. "If all the members," says he, "desire the honor that belongs to the eye, the consequence will be, that the whole body will perish; for it is impossible that the body should remain safe and sound, if the members have not different functions, and a mutual correspondence between them. Hence equality interferes with the welfare of the body, because it produces a confusion that entails present ruin. What madness, then, would it be, should one member, instead of giving way to another, [755] conspire for its own ruin and that of the body!"

18. But now God hath placed. Here we have another argument, taken from the appointment of God. "It has pleased God, that the body should consist of various members, and that the members should be endowed with various offices and gifts. That member, therefore, which will not rest satisfied with its own station, will wage war with God after the manner of the giants. [756] Let us, therefore, be subject to the arrangement which God has appointed, that we may not, to no purpose, resist his will." [757]

19. If all were one member He means, that God has not acted at random, or without good reason, in assigning different gifts to the members of the body; but because it was necessary that it should be so, for the preservation of the body; for if this symmetry were taken away, there would be utter confusion and derangement. Hence we ought to submit ourselves the more carefully to the providence of God, which has so suitably arranged everything for our common advantage. One member is taken here to mean a mass, that is all of one shape, and not distinguished by any variety; for if God were to fashion our body into a mass of this kind, it would be a useless heap. [758]

20. Many members -- one body He repeats this the oftener, because the stress of the whole question lies here -- that the unity of the body is of such a nature as cannot be maintained but by a diversity of members; and that, while the members differ from each other in offices and functions, it is in such a way as to have a mutual connection with each other for the preservation of the one body. Hence no body can retain its standing without a diversified symmetry of the members, that we may know to consult public as well as private advantage, by discharging, every one, the duty of his own station.

21. And the eye cannot say to the hand Hitherto he has been showing, what is the office of the less honorable members -- to discharge their duty to the body, and not envy the more distinguished members. Now, on the other hand, he enjoins it upon the more honorable members, not to despise the inferior members, which they cannot dispense with. The eye excels the hand, and yet cannot despise it, or insult over it, as though it were useless; and he draws an argument from utility, to show that it ought to be thus -- "Those members, that are less esteemed, are the more necessary: hence, with a view to the safety of the body, they must not be despised." He makes use of the term weaker here, to mean despised, as in another passage, when he says that he glories in his infirmities, (2 Corinthians 12:9,) he expresses, under this term, those things which rendered him contemptible and abject.

23. Which are less honorable. Here we have a second argument -- that the dishonor of one member turns out to the common disgrace of the whole body, as appears from the care that we take to cover the parts that are less honorable. "Those parts that are comely," says he, "do not require adventitious ornament; but the parts that involve shame, or are less comely, are cared for by us with greater concern. Why so? but because their shame would be the common disgrace of the whole body." To invest with honor is to put on a covering for the sake of ornament, in order that those members may be honorably concealed, which would involve shame if uncovered. [759]

24. But God hath tempered the body together He again repeats, what he had stated once before, (1 Corinthians 12:18,) but more explicitly, -- that God has appointed this symmetry, and that with a view to the advantage of the whole body, because it cannot otherwise maintain its standing. "For whence comes it, that all the members are of their own accord concerned for the honor of a less comely member, and agree together to conceal its shame? This inclination has been implanted in them by God, because without this adjustment a schism in the body would quickly break out. Hence it appears that the body is not merely shattered, and the order of nature perverted, but the authority of God is openly set at naught, whenever any one assumes more than belongs to him." [760]

26. Whether one member suffers "Such a measure of fellow-feeling." (sumpatheia,) [761] says he, "is to be seen in the human body, that, if any inconvenience is felt by any member, all the others grieve along with it, and, on the other hand, rejoice along with it, in its prosperity. Hence there is no room there for envy or contempt." To be honored, here, is taken in a large sense, as meaning, to be in prosperity and happiness. Nothing, however, is better fitted to promote harmony than this community of interest, when every one feels that, by the prosperity of others, he is proportionally enriched, and, by their penury, impoverished.

27. But ye are the body of Christ Hence what has been said respecting the nature and condition of the human body must be applied to us; for we are not a mere civil society, but, being ingrafted into Christ's body, are truly members one of another. Whatever, therefore, any one of us has, let him know that it has been given him for the edification of his brethren in common; and let him, accordingly, bring it forward, and not keep it back -- buried, as it were, within himself, or make use of it as his own. Let not the man, who is endowed with superior gifts, be puffed up with pride, and despise others; but let him consider that there is nothing so diminutive as to be of no use -- as, in truth, even the least among the pious brings forth fruit, according to his slender capacity, so that there is no useless member in the Church. Let not those who are not endowed with so much honor, envy those above them, or refuse to do their duty to them, but let them maintain the station in which they have been placed. Let there be mutual affection, mutual fellow-feeling, (sumpatheia,) mutual concern. Let us have a regard to the common advantage, in order that we may not destroy the Church by malignity, or envy, or pride, or any disagreement; but may, on the contrary, every one of us, strive to the utmost of his power to preserve it. Here is a large subject, and a magnificent one; [762] but I content myself with having pointed out the way in which the above similitude must be applied to the Church.

Members severally. Chrysostom is of opinion, that this clause is added, because the Corinthians were not the universal Church; but this appears to me rather forced. [763] I have sometimes thought that it was expressive of impropriety, as the Latins say Quodammodo, [764] (in a manner.) [765] When, however, I view the whole matter more narrowly, I am rather disposed to refer it to that division of members of which he had made mention. They are then members severally, according as each one has had his portion and definite work assigned him. The context itself leads us to this meaning. In this way severally, and as a whole, will be opposite terms.

Footnotes:

[754] "Nous face restraindre et espargner les vns enuers les autres;" -- "Make us restrict and spare ourselves -- one towards another."

[755] "De s'accommoder et soumettre a l'un des autres membres;" -- To accommodate itself, and submit to one of the other members."

[756] "Comme les poetes ont dit anciennement des geans;" -- "As the poets have told of the giants in ancient times." The fabled war of the giants with the gods is referred to in Homer's Odyssey, 7, 59, 206; 10, 120. -- Ed.

[757] "De peur de perdre temps, and nous gaster en resistant a la volonte;" -- "Lest we should lose time, and do hurt to ourselves by resisting his will."

[758] "Un amas de chair inutile;" -- "A heap of useless flesh."

[759] It is observed by Raphelius, that timen peritithenai "signifies, in general, (honorem exhibere,) to give honor; but in this passage, by a metonymy, to cover over with a garment those members of the body which, if seen, would have a disagreeable and unseemly appearance; and this is a kind of honor put upon them." -- Ed

[760] "Et que ne porte sa vocation;" -- "And does not keep within his calling."

[761] The term is made use of in this sense by classical authors. Polyb. 22, 11, 12. See Calvin's Harmony, [29]vol. 2, p. 232. -- Ed.

[762] "Voyci vne belie matiere riche et abondante;" -- "Here is a fine subject, rich and copious."

[763] It is remarked by Billroth, that "the view of Chrysostom is out of place; for such a notion does not pertain to the argumentation of the Apostle." Biblical Cabinet, No. 22. -- Ed.

[764] An instance of this will be found in Cicero de Amicitia, 8. -- Ed.

[765] "Comme nous disons en Langue vulgaire, Aucunement;" -- "As we say, in common language -- In a manner."

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.

If the whole body were an eye,.... And nothing else,

where were the hearing? there would be no ear, and so no sense of hearing: and if the whole were hearing: or only consisted of a member capable of the sense of hearing,

where were the smelling? there would be no nose, the organ of smelling, and that sense would be wanting: thus if the church only consisted of ministers of the Gospel, of men of eminent light and knowledge, qualified for the preaching of the word to others, there would be no hearers; and on the other hand, if it only consisted of hearers, of such who only could hear the word to their own advantage, there would be none of a quick understanding, or of a quick smell to discern perverse things, to distinguish truth from error, to discern spirits, and direct the rest of the members to wholesome and savoury food, and preserve them from what would be hurtful and pernicious to them.

There are several actions to be performed by the body of a man, either for the support and the upholding of it in life, or for the accommodation of it while it lives; seeing, hearing, and smelling (which are the three actions here mentioned) are not indeed necessary for the upholding of life, but they are highly useful for a man’ s better being, and the accommodation of bodily life; therefore there is need of a variety of bodily members, organs or instruments of sight as well as of hearing, and organs of smelling as well as hearing; the wise God hath created no member of man’ s body in vain, each one hath its use in order to the being or well-being of the body: so it is in the church of God, as the apostle, , argueth; but he goes yet further on, first, in his comparison of the natural and mystical body.