Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 12:12
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.
12 31. Comparison of the Unity of the Body and the Unity of the Christian Church
12. For as the body is one, and hath many members ] This simile is a very common one. It is used on several occasions by the Apostle. See Rom 12:4-5; Eph 4:16; Eph 5:30; Col 2:19. It was even familiar to Gentile minds from the well-known apologue of Menenius Agrippa in Livy xi. 32. Cf. Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 1. For other examples see Alford in loc. The point here is somewhat different. The unity of the body in the fable above-mentioned centres in the idea of the body politic. In the Christian scheme the unity is found in Christ, of Whose life all His members partake.
so also is Christ ] The Apostle, like Christ Himself in the parable of the Vine in St John 15 (as also in ch. 17), identifies His members with Himself. The life they live (Gal 2:20) is no longer theirs but His. They have put on the new man (2Co 5:17; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10), the second Adam (ch. 1Co 15:45; 1Co 15:47) Who was created afresh in the Image of God. And the result is the identification of themselves with Him. So that they are His Body (Eph 1:23), as filled with Him, Who filleth all things.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For as the body is one – The general sentiment which the apostle had been illustrating and enforcing was, that all the endowments which were possessed in the church were the work of the same Holy Spirit, and that they ought to be appropriately cherished and prized, as being all useful and valuable in their places. This sentiment he now illustrates 1Co. 12:12-27 by a beautiful similitude taken from the mutual dependence of the various parts of the human body. The human body is one, and yet is composed of various members and parts that all unite harmoniously in one whole.
Being many – Or, although they are many; or while they are in some respects separate, and perform distinct and different functions, yet they all unite in one harmonious whole.
So also is Christ – The church is represented as the body of Christ 1Co 12:27, meaning that it is one, and that he sustains to it the relation of Head; compare Eph 1:22-23. As the head is the most important part of the body, it may be put for the whole body; and the name Christ here, the head of the church, is put for the whole body of which he is the head; and means here the Christian society, or the church. This figure, of a part for the whole, is one that is common in all languages; see the note at Rom 12:4-5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 12:12
For as the body is one, and hath many members so also is Christ.
Of the great variety of mens characters in the Church
The law of variety in unity obtains–
I. In nature.
1. No two leaves of the same tree, no two faces, even of twins, entirely correspond. Science, however, is continually bringing to light an unity and simplicity of type in things apparently different. What objects can present a greater superficial difference than quadrupeds and fishes, both of which, however, being vertebrates, are formed on the same general plan?
2. And the resemblance is not only of ground-plan, but of agency. The same power of gravitation which ties the planets to the sun, and retains them in their orbits, causes the leaf or the fruit to fall to the ground. The same power of electricity which rives the oak, attracts light substances towards chafed sealing-wax. The same refraction of the rays of the sun produces the rainbow, and makes the tiny dewdrop to twinkle with the prismatic colours.
3. The various parts of the universe work together for one end. Strong forces are at work in and around the earth, which, if allowed unlimited sway, might peril the planets existence; but they play into one anothers hands, and hold one another in equipoise.
II. In the Word of God. The Scriptures are a collection of books written under various circumstances at different times. We have histories, biographies, poetry, aphorisms, prophecies, rituals, letters. But however dissimilar, they are one organic whole, knit together by a certain plan and principles. The prophecy of the Seed of the woman, which should bruise the serpents head, is manifestly the nucleus round which the whole Bible has formed itself. The entire Old Testament looks forward to Messiah historically, typically, and prophetically.
III. In the Church. Shall we not expect to find the same feature here, for the Church, quite as much as Nature and Scripture is Gods workmanship?
1. The members of the Apostolic Church had various gifts, the phenomena of which were different, but all the results of the agency of one Spirit, and all working together for the glory of one Saviour. These supernatural gifts had something in the natural endowments of the possessors mind corresponding to them. Thus, e.g., corresponding to the gift of tongues, some persons have now a great facility of acquiring languages; corresponding to the girt of prophecy, we find in others a natural gift of high and fervid eloquence; some persons even nowadays have such a wonderful art of imparting what they know, that we can hardly be said to have lost the gift of teaching; others are admirably adapted for government; while even the gift of miracles itself rests on the power of mind over matter, of which power we have exemplifications in a natural way even nowadays.
2. The character and temperament of each individual Christian is different from that of his neighbour. Thus St. John represents the contemplative and studious disciple. St. Peter is the great bulwark and rock of the Church, breasting its perils and responsibilities gallantly, before St. Paul appears; Apollos is an eloquent declaimer, mighty in the Scriptures; Barnabas has a still small voice of consolation; while Paul, in powers of physical and mental endurance, in the expansiveness of his affections, is Gods chiefest instrument for the diffusion of the glad tidings. These are some of the moulds in which Christian character was cast, and in which we may expect that it will continue to be cast nowadays.
Conclusion:
1. Let us not distress ourselves that we were not brought to God in the same way as some others. Gods ways of influencing the human mind for good vary, first, with the original character of the mind, on which the Holy Ghost has to operate; and, secondly, with the acquired shape which that mind has taken from circumstances in which it has been thrown. On the same page of Scripture there is the record of Lydia, who became a Christian through the gentle opening of the heart, and of the gaoler who was shaken with strong alarm, as if over the pit of hell; nothing else would have broken bonds so firmly riveted.
2. Our method of serving God must depend on our capacities, endowments, position, and opportunities. It may not be a high or a widely influential work which we are doing for God, but then He may not have called us to such a work. I would undertake to govern a hundred empires, said Dr. Payson, if God called me to it, but I would not undertake to govern a hundred sheep unless He called me.
3. Learn a lesson of large charity. We ought, if rightly minded, to rejoice in the exuberance and variety of the spiritual gifts possessed by Christians, just as we delight in the rich variety of Nature or the Word of God. Gods purpose is that each Christian should exhibit, in the peculiarity of his circumstances, education, moral temperament, and mental endowments, a new specimen of redeeming love and grace. By various discipline here He fits and polishes each living stone for the place which it is destined to occupy in the spiritual temple; and when all the stones are made ready, He will build them together each into his place, and exhibit to men and angels their perfect unity. (Dean Goulburn.)
Different work given to different people
If we examine a thistle we find that each of the purple fringes of which the head is composed is a distinct flower, so that the plume of the thistle is not, in reality, one flower, but a collection of flowers. Each part has its own work to do, and is changed in shape or colour, according to its work. One part produces honey; another attracts, by its colour, insects to fertilise the plant; another helps to produce seed. Each part has its own excellent quality, and the effect of their combined labour is to promote the welfare of all. (H. Macmillan, LL.D.)
The Church: unity in diversity; diversity in unity
The apostles discourse is of spiritual gifts. These were largely distributed among the Christians of Corinth–to largely, it would seem, for the grace that went along with them. The diversity in unity here affirmed by the apostle of the gifts communicated to the early Church, pertains to the Church in its entire structure. It is, in fact, the law of its composition–an identity of character and experience, combined with an endless diversity in the details. The most palpable exemplification of this law is that which is offered by the diverse outward forms in which the Church exists. It is not the visible Church which the apostle affirms to be one; but the true Church–the Church made up of the regenerated and saved, who are confined to no one communion, and are known to God alone. But it is not without its significance that He has permitted the visible Church to be cast in many separate moulds. He might have prescribed a polity with such distinctness, and enjoined it in such terms of authority, that all churches would have conformed to it. But He saw fit so to frame His instructions on this subject as to leave room for a diversity of interpretation. The fact is indisputable, that to one class of minds this form of worship is the more edifying; to another, that. In this view we may refer to the visible Church as illustrating the principle of diversity in unity. The principle, however, finds its legitimate sphere within the brotherhood of real believers. This phrase, in fact, defines the sense in which they are affirmed to be one; they are real believers: this makes them one. So the apostle teaches in the passage before us: The body of Christ (the Church) is one: for (verse 13) by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free. It is through the anointing of the Spirit men are born again, and so engrafted into Christ as to become members of His body. This is the communicating of a new nature which makes them one, as really as the natural birth, the possession of a common humanity, makes them one. External diversities are of no consequence in either case. The child of the hovel, the wigwam, the palace, it matters not where or when he is born, he inherits the common nature and belongs to the race. So with the new birth, it merges all outward distinctions.
1. This unity includes a common head. Christ is the Head of the Church. Union with Christ is indispensable.
2. It denotes, further, a oneness of faith. Diversities of belief there certainly are among real believers. All Christians concur in the necessity of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. They are also of one purpose. The various members of the body, controlled by a single will, work together for the same ends. The members of Christs mystical body have a common aim.
4. They are united, too, by the bonds of a mutual sympathy. In the human body, if one member suffers, all suffer; if one rejoices, all rejoice. But this unity is not monotony. The Church is one. But it is one as the body is one; as the animal kingdom is one; the vegetable; the mineral; the whole realm of nature. The formula of definition in all these cases is, Unity in diversity, and diversity in unity. The Christian Church began in this way, and began gloriously. The Day of Pentecost supplied the mould in which it was to be cast. Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. What an assemblage was this! And as it set out, so it has continued. Contemning all distinctions of climate, empire, language, and religion, the Church has gone on, gathering into its ample fold people of all lands and tongues and faiths; cementing them into one harmonious whole; and that, without disturbing the elements which mark their several nationalities. But we may see this diversity in unity without convening the Church Ecumenical. It is the law of the kingdom everywhere. In the apostolic age, the household of faith comprised persons of every rank and occupation. And this variety has been perpetuated. The ministry has never been without its Johns and Pauls, its Thomases and Peters, its sons of thunder and its sons of consolation. Let me name Baxter, Owen, Bunyan, Jeremy Taylor, Bishop Hall, the Wesleys, the Erskines, Romaine, President Edwards, Whitefield, Dwight, Robert Hall, Chalmers, Davies, Mason, the Alexanders. What a galaxy is this! Every star is brilliant; but no two shine with the same lustre. And as with the ministry, so with the people. To delineate the variety which pertains to the many members of the one spiritual body would be to describe the numerous sorts of people aggregated in a community. For the Church recruits itself indifferently from the vast outlying masses of humanity. It appropriates to itself all ages, sexes, and conditions. Of course the training to which it subjects them demands the lopping off of excrescences and the healing of disorders which, neglected, would consume the life. But within the wise and wide limitations prescribed by the Divine Husbandman, it allows all the trees and shrubs transplanted into its enclosure to follow out each the law of its own growth. The pine is not expected to become an oak; nor the orange a vine; nor the violet a rose. This rule is observed even in respect to the methods by which the dead branches are engrafted into the True Vine and made alive. It is the prerogative of the one Almighty Spirit to effect this; here is the unity. But He does it in a great variety of modes; here is the diversity. Nor in conversion only. He carries the same variety of modes and means into the culture and development of the immortal germ deposited in regeneration. The efficiency in all instances is His own. And the one agency He has Himself prescribed, in His Word. But who can describe the paths along which He leads His people, and the endless combinations of proverbial and gracious influences by which He conducts them step by step up the acclivities of the higher life, and fashions them to the likeness of the heavenly? The fact is patent to every one. Let us advert to a few of the more important aspects in which it offers itself to our contemplation.
It will not be difficult to show that this Divine law of diversity in unity is as essential to the proper perfection of the Church as it is morally beautiful.
1. Let me begin with this latter thought, the moral beauty of this arrangement. This is not a thing to be argued. Beauty is a matter not of logic, but of feeling. Its appeal is to a constitutional susceptibility. And it is a part of our constitution to crave variety. We do not want, painting to be all of one colour, nor a tune of one strain. The ocean would pall upon us if it were always still or always boisterous. We grow weary of looking day by day at the same people in the same situation, unless they are our intimate friends. And as to our friends, we would not have them all alike if we could. It is one of the charms of the domestic state, the variety there is in families. He who made man made the Church; and of course adapted it to this as well as to every other part of his nature. No one can complain of the New Testament as a monotonous book; nor feel that when be has seen one of its personages he has seen all. We love the Church all the more because its unity, like that of a garden, effloresces in a grateful variety of fruits and flowers.
2. The principle of diversity in unity upon which the Church is constructed illustrates the power and efficacy of Divine grace. The palpable fact which meets the eye is that while grace is more than a match for depravity in its worst forms, it renews and elevates all the nobler traits of humanity; and in either case, without disturbing identity of character. In mans hands these various types of character might be bent or broken; they could never be renewed. Changed they might be, but not changed without sad contortion or mutilation. Too often has the experiment been tried. A wonderful achievement it is, as wonderful in power as in love, that of imbuing a whole community with a new life, from its very nature pervading, elevating, and controlling, and yet so incorporating it with all the natural faculties and functions as to aid their proper working and their true development. We cite it as one of the fruits of that diversity in unity which enters radically into the constitution of the Church.
3. It is still more to our purpose to refer to the wisdom, perhaps we may say the necessity, of this principle, in view of the mission assigned to the Church. It is not for man to say that anything is absolutely necessary to God in effecting His purposes which He has not declared to be so. But we may speak of the perfect adaptation of the principle we are considering, to the ends for which the Church was established. Not to name other topics, the Church is appointed to be, under God, the Teacher and Guide of the world. Its business is to disciple all nations. It needs, therefore, labourers of every sort and every variety of talent. With fewer gifts in kind, some portions of its work would be neglected. If it is to carry Christianity through the globe, it must have men whose constitutions and training fit them for the various climates of the earth. It must have men of iron nerve who can face dangers. It must have men of the requisite scholarship to grapple with strange languages and preach to strange peoples. In its home-field there is room for the exercise of every kind of gift. A scheme so vast demands a corresponding variety and affluence of talents. And this want is provided for in that diversity which, as we have seen, enters into the constituency of the Church. There are ministers of every grade of culture and with every kind of gifts. How, otherwise, could the ministry fulfil its design? The people vary indefinitely. And who can survey the broad acres which the Church is cultivating, without rejoicing in the combination of gifts employed in carrying forward the work? A radical part of this agency lies in the silent power of example; the simple routine of a quiet and upright life. Some are breaking up the fallow ground. Some are sowing. Some are nurturing the precious grain. And others reaping and gathering the crop. But all are servants of the great Taskmaster.
The unfolding of such a subject suggests the practical lessons which grow out of it.
1. One is a lesson of instruction and encouragement in respect to religious experience. We have seen that this is of no uniform type. Certain elements are essential, but beyond these it partakes of a very great variety. We are not, then, to set up this or that instance of conversion, nor this or that form of the Christian life, as the standard by which all others are to be tested. God has His own methods for bringing men into His kingdom. The only safe or authorised mode of trying our state is to come to the law and the testimony.
2. As unity in diversity is the law of the Church, it is the duty of all its members to cherish and promote the spirit of unity. The apostle points out the effect of a schism among the members of the body, as illustrative of a divisive spirit among the members of the Church. The divisions among Christians have always been the opprobrium of religion.
3. As diversity in unity is the law of the Church, let us try to learn what are our own gifts, and to fill each his own place. To learn what this is, we must ask His teaching in prayer. We must consider our situation and circumstances. We must endeavour to find out what gifts we have, and how they can be used to the best purpose.
4. There is one other lesson which I would gladly enforce if the time would permit, viz., a lesson of charity in judging of the Christianity of others. (H. A. Boardman, D.D.)
Christ the head, the Church His body
The appellation Christ is here applied, not to the person or our Lord, but to His Church, intimating that she is identified with her Saviour; and being given to the Church as a body, indicates the harmony and union of all its parts.
I. The union of believers with Christ. This is here represented as corresponding with that which subsists betwixt the head and the members of the body. (Eph 4:15-16; Col 1:18). This reminds us that Christ is–
1. The same nature with ourselves, even as the head is of the same nature with the body (Heb 4:16-17).
2. The governing power in the Church, as the head is of the body. In the head the eyes are stationed like watchful sentinels; the ears receiving the information conveyed by sound; the organs of taste and smell discerning things that differ, and contributing eminently both to our safety and to our enjoyment; the tongue, the interpreter of thought: there, in short, is the countenance, the seat of beauty, giving to man an impress of dignity not found in any of the inferior animals. Now the superior endowments of this capital of the human frame afford a fit emblem of the honour and supremacy of Him who is constituted our spiritual Head.
3. The vital principle, the source of life and feeling to the whole body. Christ our Head, in whom dwell all wisdom and all power, imparts and sustains the principles of the spiritual life.
II. Their relation to one another.
1. The members of the body are many, and differ exceedingly, and yet in a machine so complex each movement and circumvolution is exactly fitted for its specific end. Of the many bones, e.g., of the hand or foot, not one could change its place without injury to the limb to which it belongs. In like manner, every muscle, nerve, and artery has its own place and office, which no other could supply. So in the mystical body of Christ there are many members, with each its own office. One Christian excels in the intelligence of the eye, another in the discrimination of the ear: one has the activity and adaptation of the band, another the firmness and perseverance of the foot: one has the energy of the arm, another the tenderness of the bosom (verses 4-11).
2. This diversity occasions a dependence of the several members upon one another (verses 21, 22). Let no believer, however mean, be discouraged; let no believer, however eminent, presume that he is independent. The analogy suggests the mutual sympathy that should subsist among believers (verse 26). The tenderness each should cherish our fellow-Christians, the zeal each should render.
4. This mutual co-operation has the happiest results. In the natural body, when the eye is quick to discern, the hand diligent to execute, the foot steady to pursue, the ear open to hear, and the tongue ready to return a right answer, the combined exertion of our powers secures ends which their separate and unconnected attempts could never have attained. In like manner the efforts of the several members of the body of Christ are then successful when they are honestly and affectionately combined. (H. Grey, D.D.)
The Church the body of Christ
I. What this implies. That its members, like a living organism, are–
1. Animated by one spirit (verse 13).
2. Mutually dependent (verses 14-18).
3. United for one end (verses 19, 20).
II. What it requires in the several members.
1. Humility and contentment (verses 21-24).
2. Unity and sympathy (verses 25, 26).
3. Gratitude and fidelity (verses 27-31). (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. For as the body is one] Though the human body have many members, and though it be composed of a great variety of parts, yet it is but one entire system; every part and member being necessary to the integrity or completeness of the whole.
So also is Christ.] That is, So is the Church the body of Christ, being composed of the different officers already mentioned, and especially those enumerated, 1Co 12:28, apostles, prophets, teachers, &c. It cannot be supposed that Christ is composed of many members, &c., and therefore the term Church must be understood, unless we suppose, which is not improbable, that the term , Christ, is used to express the Church, or whole body of Christian believers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For as it is in the body natural, the integral parts, or members of it, are
many, yet the body is but one; so it is in the spiritual body, the church, which is that mystical body of which Christ is the Head. The members of the church may be many, and there may be in several members of the church a diversity of gifts, of administrations, and operations, yet the church is but one, yea, Christ and the church make up but one mystical body, of which he is the Head; and they are the members; and therefore the several members, having several gifts, or several offices, or several powers and operations, had no reason, for their difference in such gifts, or powers, or offices, to envy one another, or to despise each other, or glory over one another; for they were but one body, and had all the same Head, though they had from the same Spirit divers abilities, offices, and powers for several operations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12, 13. Unity, not unvaryinguniformity, is the law of God in the world of grace, as in that ofnature. As the many members of the body compose an organic whole andnone can be dispensed with as needless, so those variously gifted bythe Spirit, compose a spiritual organic whole, the body of Christ,into which all are baptized by the one Spirit.
of that one bodyMostof the oldest manuscripts omit “one.”
so also isChristthat is, the whole Christ, the head and body. SoPs 18:50, “His anointed(Messiah or Christ), David (the antitypical David) and His seed.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For as the body is one,…. That is, an human body; for of this the apostle speaks, and takes a simile, and forms a comparison from, showing the union among saints, and their mutual participation of the various gifts of the Spirit; for an human body is but one body, and not more.
And hath many members; as eyes, ears, hands, feet, c].
And all the members of that one body being many are one body as numerous as they may be, they all belong to, and make up but one body; performing different offices, for which they are naturally fitted for the good of the whole:
so also to Christ; not personal, but mystical; not the head alone, or the members by themselves, but head and members as constituting one body, the church. The church, in union with Christ, the head, is but one general assembly, and church of the firstborn written in heaven, though consisting of the various persons of God’s elect, who are closely united one to another, and their head Christ; and therefore are denominated from him, and called by his name; see Ro 9:3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Union Recommended. | A. D. 57. |
12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 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? 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? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19 And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20 But now are they many members, yet but one body. 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. 22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 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. 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: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
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 (v. 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, v. 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. iii. 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? Rom 12:15; Rom 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? v. 17. If all were one member, where were the body? v. 19. They are many members, and for that reason must have distinction among them, and yet are but one body, v. 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, 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. 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, v. 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, c.) are necessary (Rom 12:21Rom 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, v. 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, Rom 12:25; Rom 12:26. God has tempered the members of the body natural in the manner mentioned, that there might be no schism in the body (v. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
So also is Christ ( ). One would naturally expect Paul here to say (so also is the body of Christ). He will later call Christ the Head of the Body the Church as in Col 1:18; Col 1:24; Eph 5:23; Eph 5:30. Aristotle had used of the state as the body politic. What Paul here means is Christ as the Head of the Church has a body composed of the members who have varied gifts and functions like the different members of the human body. They are all vitally connected with the Head of the body and with each other. This idea he now elaborates in a remarkable manner.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
EACH MEMBER OF THE LORD’S BODY (the church) IN EACH CONGREGATION, HAS A MINISTRY
1) “For as the body is one.” (kathaper gar to some en estin) “For just as the physical body is one – one body.” So also is the church – body (assembly) one though each is made up of individual, important, and necessary functional members. Each body and both is and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit; (Eph 4:4; Eph 1:22-23; 1Co 6:19-20; 1Co 3:16-17). Here the human body is compared with each local congregation or church.
2) “And hath many members.” (kai mele echei) And has, holds, contains, or is composed of many members or parts.” Each human body is composed of many and diverse parts, neither of which alone constitutes a life body, yet each is biologically, functionally, and harmoniously important to’ the welfare of the human body.
3) “And all the members of that one body.” (panta de ta mele tou somatos) “but all the members of the (one) body.” But the members of the body, though many and important, could never long survive, function, or have and hold life or usefulness, apart from the life and unity of the whole body. So also the church body, apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the church and each assembly, cannot survive with candlestick power; Joh 16:7-14; Joh 14:13-17; Rev 2:5.
4) “Being many, are one body.” (polla onta en estin soma) “Being many (yet) are or exist as one body.” As many members constitute the human body, so many members constitute the “Church-body”, or assembly of Christ, in each community.
5) “So also is Christ.” (houtos kai ho christos) Christ is one being. His church, called His body or assembly, is also one body: 1) Salvation was secured by His cross body from which His blood was shed, Col 1:20; Col 1:22; 2) Not from or through His church body (assembly) Eph 1:22-23; Col 1:18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. For as the body is one He now derives a similitude from the human body, which he makes use of also in Rom 12:4; but it is for a different purpose, as I have already stated above. In that passage, he exhorts every one to be satisfied with his own calling, and not to invade another’s territory; as ambition, curiosity, or some other disposition, induces many to take in hand more than is expedient. Here, however, he exhorts believers to cleave to each other in a mutual distribution of gifts, as they were not conferred upon them by God that every one should enjoy his own separately, but that one should help another. It is usual, however, for any society of men, or congregation, to be called a body, as one city constitutes a body, and so, in like manner, one senate, and one people. Monenius Agrippa, (747) too, in ancient times, when desirous to conciliate the Roman people, when at variance with the senate, made use of an apologue, not very unlike the doctrine of Paul here. (748) Among Christians, however, the case is very different; for they do not constitute a mere political body, but are the spiritual and mystical body of Christ, as Paul himself afterwards adds. (1Co 12:27.) The meaning therefore is — “Though the members of the body are various, and have different functions, they are, nevertheless, linked together in such a manner that they coalesce in one. (749) We, accordingly, who are members of Christ, although we are endowed with various gifts, ought, notwithstanding, to have an eye to that connection which we have in Christ.”
So also is Christ The name of Christ is used here instead of the Church, because the similitude was intended to apply not to God’s only-begotten Son, but to us. It is a passage that is full of choice consolation, inasmuch as he calls the Church Christ; for Christ (750) confers upon us this honor — that he is willing to be esteemed and recognised, not in himself merely, but also in his members. Hence the same Apostle says elsewhere, (Eph 1:23,) that the Church is his completion, (751) as though he would, if separated from his members, be incomplete. And certainly, as Augustine elegantly expresses himself in one part of his writings —
“
Since we are in Christ a fruit-bearing vine, what are we out of him but dry twigs?” (Joh 15:4.)
In this, then, our consolation lies — that, as he and the Father are one, so we are one with him. Hence it is that his name is applied to us.
(747) Menenius Agrippa, a Roman consul, on occasion of a rebellion breaking out among the common people against the nobles and senators, whom they represented as useless and cumbersome to the state, was successful in quelling the insurrection, by a happy use of the apologue referred to, founded on the intimate connection and mutual dependence of the different parts of the body. The reader will find this interesting incident related by Livy, Book 2. chapter 32. — Ed.
(748) “ En remonstrant que les membres du corps ayans conspire contre le ventre, et se voulans separer d’auec luy s’en trouuerent mal les premiers;” — “By showing that the members of the body, having conspired against the belly, and wishing to separate from it, were the first to experience the bad effects of this.”
(749) “ Ils prenent nourriture et accroissement l’un auec l’autre;” — “They take nourishment and increase, one with another.”
(750) “ Ce bon Seigneur Iesus;” — “This good Lord Jesus.”
(751) Calvin, along with some other interpreters, understands the term, πλήρωμα, ( fullness,) in the passage referred to, in an active sense. Theophylact observes that the Church is the Πλήρωμα — completion of Christ, as the body and limbs are of the head. The term may, however, be taken in a passive sense, as meaning a thing to be filled or completed. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Butlers Comments
SECTION 3
Sagaciousness of Diversity (1Co. 12:12-26)
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one bodyJews or Greeks, slaves or freeand all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If 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. 16And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single organ, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need for you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, 25that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
1Co. 12:12-13 The Organism: The body of Christ (the church) is an organism, not an organization (see Special Study, Is the Church An Organization or an Organism?). On the Day of Pentecost (Act. 2:1 ff.) when the apostles began to carry out the command of their Lord, the resurrected Christ in heaven was united, as the Head, to the spiritual body (the church) being formed on earth in order that the work of redemption, attained by Christ in his physical body, might be practiced and proclaimed and increased in Christians (the body) until he comes. Of course, the church (Christians) can never add a word, a thought, or a deed to the finished work of Christs vicarious death and the Holy Spirits revelation of the New Testament scriptures. Jesus completed all that forever. But the Lord in that human body was not ending something, he was beginning a great program which he himself, in the limitations of a human body could never complete (the task of world-wide proclamation of redemption, see Col. 1:24-27), When Jesus was here in his physical body there was no part of human life that his holy nature did not penetrate with the redemptive purpose of God; his incarnation was an invasion of holiness on all fronts and in every aspect of human need. He penetrated every level of life with righteousness: social, political, ecclesiastical, moral, educational and familial. That is the work his body (the church) is commissioned now to do.
The definition of organism is: Any highly complex thing or structure with parts so integrated that their relation to one another is governed by their relation to the whole. An organism is something living where the whole exists for the parts, and each part for the whole and for all other parts. That is precisely what Paul is saying to the Corinthians in these verses about the church. Plummer says: The Church is neither a dead mass of similar particles, like a heap of sand, nor a living swarm of antagonistic individuals, like a cage of wild beasts; it has the unity of a living organism, in which no two parts are exactly alike, but all discharge different functions for the good of the whole. All men are not equal, and no individual can be independent of the rest; everywhere there is subordination and dependence.
Paul is saying that every individual has some function to discharge, and all must work (see Eph. 4:15-16) together for the common good. The all-important operation of an organism is unity in loving service. The Church is an organic body of which all the parts are moved by a spirit of common interest and mutual affection.
Christs body (the church) is one. Any member contributing to the destruction of this oneness, either by refusing to function (as it has been gifted) or by hindering another member from using its gifts (through jealousy or pride), is in danger of being cut off (see Mat. 5:29-30; Joh. 15:1-11). The oneness of mind, love and purpose in his disciples was what Jesus prayed for on the night before his death (Joh. 17:1 ff.). He knew the world would never believe God sent him if his disciples could not function as many different members in one whole, living, organism. Just as a human body must have all its members (parts) functioning properly in order for one body to be whole and serving its purpose, so it is with Christ, says the apostle. Paul is using Christ in 1Co. 12:12 as a metonymy for the church. All members in a physical body cannot have the same function, but the fulfillment of the bodys purpose demands that each member function according to its part. The body cannot be whole and cannot reach its fullest potential when one of its members does not function properly.
Paul wrote 1Co. 12:13 in Greek thus: dai gar en heni pneumati hemeis pantes eis hen soma ebaptisthemen . . . literally, for indeed by one Spirit we all into one body were immersed. . . . The emphasis is, of course, on the oneness of the instrumentality of the Corinthians immersion (see Act. 18:8). The Greek preposition en used with the dative case pneumati should be translated causally (see examples of en translated causally at Luk. 24:49; 2Th. 2:13; 1Pe. 1:2) when the context demands it. The Corinthians were not initially immersed in the Spirit but by the revealed will and command of the Spirit. Their initial immersion was in water in obedience to apostolic preaching. Some of the Corinthians later received the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. But the possession of miraculous gifts did not necessitate the immersion of the Holy Spirit. The immersion (baptism) of the Holy Spirit was administered only by direct endowment of Christ (see Mat. 3:11-12; Luk. 24:48-49; Joh. 1:33; Joh. 20:22-23; Act. 2:1-21; Act. 10:44-48; Act. 11:1-18). Miraculous gifts of the Spirit were incidentally imparted to those (the apostles and Cornelius family) who received the immersion (baptism) of the Spirit. All other Christians, except the foregoing, who received supernatural endowments, received them by the laying on of the hands of an apostle. Therefore, when Paul says en henipneumati, by one Spirit, he is indicating that all the Corinthians, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, were immersed in water in obedience to the revealed will of the same Spirit of God. His argument is that since they were all obedient to the will of the same Spirit, they are all members of the same body. Any person immersed in water in obedience to the revealed will of the Holy Spirit as preached and written by the apostles is a member of Christs body and equally important. Such a person is then personally responsible to the Head (Christ) of the body to use with humility and gratitude any and all endowments (gifts) he may have for the edification and increase of the whole body of Christ. All who have been immersed into Christs body by the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit were made to drink of one and the same Spirit of God (see Joh. 7:37-39; Isa. 44:3; Isa. 55:1; Isa. 58:11; Joh. 4:10; Joh. 4:13; Joh. 6:35; Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:17). All Christians of all ages drink of the Holy Spirit without receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament plainly teaches that drinking of the Holy Spirit is the same as partaking of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 6:4) or the same as partaking of the divine nature (2Pe. 1:4) or the same as having the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (Joh. 14:23; 1Jn. 2:24; 1Jn. 3:24, etc.).
1Co. 12:14-20 The Organs: Paul uses the human body, the physical body, to illustrate the wisdom of diversity. Every organism or body consists of more than one member or organ. And no one member or organ can supply every need the whole body must have to function as a whole; proper functioning in order to bring about the common good of the whole body requires the contribution of what each member has. Picture what a human body would look like, and how it might function, if it were all ear or all eye! Not only would it be a monstrous looking thing, it would be a malfunctioning thing, perhaps even a dying thing. God made unity, but not uniformity; he did not reduce all human beings down to sameness. Every member cannot have the same function, and, while it may appear that some members have more important functions than others, it is not so.
Because one member of the church in Corinth did not have the popular miraculous gift of speaking in a foreign tongue (or had no miraculous gift at all) he was not to be considered unimportant or unnecessary. If the Corinthian church had received only the miraculous gift of tongues what a useless body it would have been!
Furthermore, since God arranged the organs in that body (the Corinthian church) as he chose, for Christians to rearrange the priorities and functions of the members was rebellion against God. Whatever gifts God gives (miraculous or non-miraculous) he gives not to please men but to fulfill his redemptive purposes for the world. God certainly did not create diversity of functions in the members of the human body to destroy the body. Neither did Christs Spirit give diversity of miraculous and non-miraculous gifts to destroy his church, A body has to have many members to function properly. All members cannot have the same function. But the fulfillment of the bodys purpose must have each member functioning according to its part. The body cannot do without one of its members. The Corinthian church was dividing and destroying itself over the use and abuse of the different miraculous gifts, thinking some were important and some were not needed.
1Co. 12:21-26 The Operation: The very fact of diversity should preclude the possibility of discord. Diversity is given by God in order that the members may care for one another. What one lacks another supplies. Where one cannot function, another functions. This text teaches that Christians ought to: (a) realize they need each other; (b) respect each other; (c) sympathize with one another.
In the human body God has adjusted (Gr. sunekerasen, literally, blended or mingled together) all the organs and parts of the body in such a way that no organ can be considered inferior or useless or not needed. Those parts of the human body which seem to be weaker we find to be indispensable. One need only to lose the use of an arm, an eye, or even a finger to learn how indispensable each member is. Those parts of the human body we think are less honorable (Gr. atimotera), such as the sexual organs, God invests with greater honor. The sexual organs which some think dishonorable and uncomely have the function of procreation. Thus greater honor is given to those members of the body which men tend to think of as inferior.
These same principles are true in Christs spiritual body, the church. Some, in the church at Corinth, were categorizing the miraculous gifts in degrees of greater importance, lesser importance and no importance. In chapter 14 we shall learn that the one gift they thought superior was tongues and the inferior gift was prophecy. God revealed through Paul that the divine categorization of gifts was exactly opposite from that of men. It is true in the body of Christ today (universally, or locally). Every member has at least one non-miraculous gift. That gift comes by the grace of the same God to all. The body as a whole cannot get along without that gift. Some gifts are not as flamboyant as others. But the non-flamboyant may be more important. The less sensational gifts are certainly not to be considered inferior; they may, in fact, be superior!
There can be no such thing as isolation in the church. In the body there is no question of relative importance. If any limb or organ ceases to function the whole body is thrown out of order, This is even more true in the spiritual body (the church). When church members begin to think about their own superiority over one another, the possibility of the church functioning properly is destroyed. If any one member of the body suffers abuse, misuse or nonuse, all the other members together suffer some malfunction or loss. If any one member of the body seems to have a more honored (Gr. doxazetai, glorified) function or gift, the whole body should rejoice together that this member is making his God-given contribution to the common good of the whole body, realizing that from Gods perspective his glorious function is of no more significance than someone elses non-glorious function. It is not easy for human beings to have the divine perspective. It requires faith! It requires setting the human mind on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5-17)! It requires the control of the love of Christ over our thoughts until we no longer regard anyone from a human point of view (2Co. 5:14-21). Men tend to want to categorize, make themselves superior and others inferior, and lord it over one anotherbut it shall not be so among Christians! (Mat. 20:20-28). The devil will always make the divine perspective concerning gifts, talents, abilities and functions to be impractical and unfair. So the Christian must surrender his evaluations and priorities totally to the direction of the Spirit of God in his word, the Bible. The Christians only option is to perceive and classify gifts as the Bible does.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Appleburys Comments
Maintaining the Unity of the Church (1231)
Text
1Co. 12:12-31. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. 13 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 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. 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the-hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18 But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him. 19 And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20 But now they are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22 Nay, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary: 23 and those parts of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; 24 whereas our comely parts have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked; 25 that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof. 28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 30 have all gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 31 But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And moreover a most excellent way show I unto you.
Commentary
so also is Christ.Division threatened the life of the church at Corinth. It was divided over men and doctrine; it was divided over custom and conduct; it was divided over the abuse of the spiritual gifts. The latter produced the most serious schism. This section of the epistle was written to prevent splits over the possession of these gifts. They were not given as a token of personal honor of the one who received them, but for the building up of the body of Christ through promoting the preaching of the gospel. Paul used the figure of the human body to illustrate the lesson they needed so much. Just as the body is one and has many members, so Christ has one body of believers made up of many members with different tasks. There was no more reason for schism in the church than there was for such an unthinkable thing as strife and division among the members of the human body.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.The oneness of the church was produced by allwhether Jew or Greek, whether bond or freebeing baptized in one spirit into one body. On the Day of Pentecost, the three thousand who were either Jews or proselytes were baptized in water in the name of Christ for the remission of their sins. On the occasion of Peters speaking to the household of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit fell on all that heard his word. Because God had poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit on that group of Gentiles, Peter asked, Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Act. 10:44-48). Thus both Jews and Gentiles were brought into the body of Christ by the act of baptism in water. See Act. 18:8 and 1Co. 1:14-17 for additional information about the baptism of the Corinthians. Paul wrote to the Galatians and said, Ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ (Gal. 3:26-27). There is no doubt that the expression baptized into Christ refers to their baptism in water in the name of Christ for the remission of their sins.
What, then, is the meaning of the expression, in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body? To answer this question, we must consider this important fact: The Book of Acts, which gives the history of the founding and progress of the church in the first century, records only two cases of baptism in the Holy Spirit. The first was that of the apostles on the Day of Pentecost, and the second was that of the Gentile household of Cornelius (Act. 2:1-4; Act. 10:44-48; Act. 11:1-18).
The following facts of Scripture on the subject of the baptism in the Holy Spirit will help to answer our question:
1. Christ is the administrator of baptism in the Holy Spirit (Mat. 3:11). Baptism in the Holy Spirit and in fire are two different baptisms. Since the burning up of the chaff can only refer to the destruction of the wicked in hell, the gathering of the wheat into the garner must refer to the baptism in the Holy Spirit that enabled the apostles to reveal the terms of salvation. See Jesus promise, its fulfillment, and its effect as given in Act. 1:5; Act. 1:8; Act. 2:1-4; Act. 2:37-39.
2. The Holy Spirit is the element in which this baptism took place (Mat. 3:11; Act. 1:5). Just as water was the element in which John baptized, so the Holy Spirit was the element in which Christ baptized the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. But this expression must be figurative since the Holy Spirit is a person. The literal meaning of it is to be found in Jesus own words when He spoke of the power which the apostles were to receive when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Act. 1:8). They were immersed in that power.
3. According to Acts, the apostles and the household of Cornelius were the only ones baptized in the Holy Spirit. Christ promised this baptism to the apostles (Act. 1:5). Only the twelvenot the hundred and twentywere present when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost (Act. 1:26; Act. 2:1-4). Only the apostles spoke in tongues on that day and performed miracles (Act. 2:4; Act. 2:14; Act. 2:43). Only the apostles who had been baptized in the Holy Spirit laid hands on others to give them miraculous powers (Act. 8:18; 2Ti. 1:6). Peter clearly states that the Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit while he was speaking to them (Act. 10:44-47; Act. 11:15-16).
4. The purpose of the baptism of the apostles in the Holy Spirit was to enable them to recall what Jesus had said (Joh. 14:26); to guide them into all the truth (Joh. 16:13-14); to speak in other languages (Act. 2:4; Act. 2:11); to perform signs to confirm their spoken message (Act. 2:43; Heb. 2:3-4).
The purpose of the baptism of the Gentiles in the Holy Spirit was to prove to those who accompanied Peter and to the apostles at Jerusalem that God had granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles (Act. 10:47-48; Act. 11:1-18).
Since in one Spirit refers to all who were baptized into the one body of Christ, it cannot mean baptism in the Holy Spirit. Both the King James and the R. S. V. translate by one Spirit. But the fact remains that the Greek says in. While there are situations in which this Greek preposition must be rendered by or with in English, it seems most doubtful that this is one of them. Those English versions that have by seem to suggest that this has something to do with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But the context has to do with the spirit of oneness of the believers in Christ who were baptized in water into His body. It makes good sense if we translate in one spiritsmall sall were baptized into one body. That spirit was not the spirit of a Jew or the spirit of a Gentile, it was not the spirit of a slave or a free man, but it was the spirit or attitude of faith in Christ which characterized all who were baptized into the one body. Since it was in this attitude of oneness that they were baptized, the apostle urges them to maintain this unity and overcome the jealousy and faction that had arisen over the abuse of the spiritual gifts. This one spirit forbids the unchristian conduct of the ear that would say, I am not a part of the body because I am not the eye.
drink of one Spirit.All that has been said to indicate that the word spirit in this context is to be spelled with the small s applies here. All who were members of the body of Christ were made to share in this oneness in Christthe great spiritual blessing that removed all distinctions such as Jew or Gentile and made one new man in Christ (Eph. 2:15).
For the body.There are three steps in the apostles argument for the necessity of preserving the unity of the body of Christ: (a) the body is not one member, but many (1Co. 12:14); (b) they are many members, but one body (1Co. 12:20); (c) ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof (1Co. 12:28). No one member, regardless of the gift he possessed, could say that he was the body. There were many members with many gifts and functions, but there was just one body. The church is the body of Christ, and each member is a part of that body, not the whole body.
God set the members, each one of them, in the body.Just as God had a purpose for each member of the human body, so He had a purpose for each of the gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit to the various members of the church.
God tempered the body together.Just as honor to one member honors all the body, so the gifts given to any one honors the whole church.
God hath set some in the church.If one member said, I am not a part of the body that did not make it so. The member cant exist apart from the body. Why then should some assume a spirit of arrogance instead of the spirit of faith and trust in Christ because they had gifts that differed? What if the whole body were an eye? What if all spoke in tongues? What would become of other functions such as helping the sick and needy? No member of the human body could say, to another, I have no need of you. Yet some of the people of Corinth seemed to think that they could get along without the others. Speaking in tongues was their only concern, but Paul reminded them that God had placed all the gifts in the church for a purpose.
apostle, prophets, teachers.The history of the church in Acts shows that these were the ones to carry most of the work in the beginning. As the work grew and spread throughout the world, others were given the necessary gifts to assist in the work of the church. The impersonal reference to gifts seems to indicate that the gift, rather than the person who received it, was the important thing. This left no cause for division over gifts.
helps, governments.Helps were the various kinds of helpful deed which were done by deacons. The term governments comes from the word that among other things referred to the piloting of a ship. In some way, it had to do with those who gave leadership and direction to the work of the church. It may suggest the work of elders and deacons.
Are all apostles?Each in this series of questions requires a negative answer. If all were apostles, where would the church be? If all spoke in tongues, what would become of edification?
But desire the greater gifts.Each gift served a purpose, but some brought greater benefit to the church than others. The latter were the ones to be sought although the others were not to be neglected. Prophecy, for example, was of greater benefit to the church than speaking in a foreign language unless the message was translated for the edification of all.
a most excellent way.Paul is now prepared to present a superior way to a strife-torn congregation. They had been following the way of jealousy and division over spiritual gifts. The way he is about to show them is the way of love.
Summary
Up to this point, Paul has dealt with the problems of divisions and derelictions as reported by those from Chloe; he has answered the questions raised in the letter of the Corinthians about marriage, meats, and worship. The two remaining problems of major importance that require his attention are spiritual gifts and the resurrection of the dead. The familiar now concerning seems to connect this section with the portion of the epistle that began in 1Co. 7:1.
As he begins the chapter, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the days when they were being led away to the speechless idols that were supposed to give them divine guidance and instruction. They now face the privilege of being led by the inspired message from the Holy Spirit. Their problem was how to know when one was speaking under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The criterion by which they were to determine the source of a message was what the speaker said about the Lord Jesus. There were two tests to be applied: No one under the control of the Holy Spirit could say, Let Jesus be accursed. No one could say, Jesus is Lord except under the control of the Holy Spirit. These words, of course, could be uttered by anyone, but God did not permit an unclean spirit to speak through a man and say these things. The case of Balaam illustrates this point.
This chapter presents a comprehensive view of the miraculous activities in the church at Corinth. There were the gifts distributed through the Spirit; there were the services distributed through the Lord; and there were the workings distributed by God. Nine gifts are mentioned. For convenience, they may be presented in three groups: (1) Those that have to do with the revelation of the will of God: wisdom and knowledge; (2) those that were given to confirm the Word: faith, healings, miracles; (3) those that were used in the proclamation of the Word: prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues, and discerning of spirits. All these gifts were distributed by the one Spirit as He determined and for the benefit of the whole church. But these gifts that were given in order that the gospel might be revealed, established, and proclaimed became an occasion for dividing the Corinthian church.
Paul uses the human body with its many members to show that the spiritual body of Christ with its many members should preserve the unity of Christs followers. All of them in one spirit were baptized into the one body of Christ. In the church, there cannot be a spirit of the Jew and a spirit of the Gentile. There can only be the spirit of faith in the Lord Jesus which characterizes every one who is baptized into the one body. This spirit should be the controlling factor in the life of the church to make division impossible. Just as the hand and the foot have different functions, so the various members of the church had different gifts and different functions, but they still belonged to the same body. The fact that one had the gift of tongues and another the gift of healings was no ground for assuming a spirit of arrogance that led to the division of the church. Apparently, however, this was the thing that was done, and it was for this reason that Paul wrote these chapters to correct the strife and faction in the church at Corinth.
By a series of questions that called for negative answers, he showed how impossible it was for all to be apostles, or prophets, or teachers. He did not say that these gifts were not to be desired for they had been given for the benefit of the church, but he did indicate that there was a superior way for them to follow which he was about to show them, the way of love.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
b. The various gifts should harmonize the Church into one body, 1Co 12:12-26 .
The semblance between the human body and the body politic or social is so striking, and pregnant with so many lessons of loyalty, peace, and patriotism, that it has been popular in all ages. The apologue of Menenius Agrippa, as given by Livy in the early history of Rome, is memorable in literature. The common people, wearied with the tyranny of the aristocracy, and determined no longer to feed its greediness, had seceded from Rome, when Menenius related to them how the limbs of the human body rebelled against the lazy belly, and refused to work for it any longer until want of nourishment and digestion taught them that the refusing to feed the centre was to starve the whole. Applied to the sacred organism, the Church, Paul here uses the same parable to soothe the rivalries between the different possessors of charisms.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.’
Paul here likens Christ and His people to a body with its many different parts, and he describes them not as ‘the church’ but as ‘Christ’. This revelation of Paul’s inspired thinking must be carefully noted. It is not that Christ is in Heaven and we are on the earth, it is that we are with Him in ‘heavenly places’ (Joh 14:18; Joh 14:23; Eph 2:6; Php 3:20; Col 3:1-3), and He is present on earth with us and in us, manifesting Himself through us, so close is the union. It is not satisfactory to simply see these as metaphors, although they are partial metaphor. His nearness and indwelling in His people is a genuine reality. It is a oneness that goes beyond metaphor, although we must, while enjoying it, not build great theories on it. And the spiritual realm, the unseen realm, is a reality. In the end the body is the glorified Christ.
This verse should be writ large in all our hearts for it reveals Paul’s central emphasis and will save much false interpretation. It is in close union with Christ’s body sacrificed in death and its consequence that we are one body (Eph 2:15; Col 1:22), for it is through unity with Him that we are one (1Co 10:16-17). The body is primarily Christ, not the church. So it is in union with Him that we are the body, and the closer we sense our union with Him to be, the more will we see ourselves as one with His people in ‘the body’. In all that follows we must remember that he is not speaking of the church as the body, but of Christ as the body with Whom they have been made one and through Whom the church lives. It is not a physical body at all, but a spiritual body, although partly and dimly manifested through physical bodies.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Unity of the Gifts of the Spirit in the Body of Christ After explaining the diversity of the gifts of the Spirit (1Co 12:1-11), Paul then begins to explain how God’s operations are in unity and agreement and how they work together for the good of all. God’s operations do not conflict and bring divisions and conflicting teachings.
1Co 12:13 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” Comments There are three baptisms in New Testament Church. (1) There is the baptism into the body of Christ at the time of salvation. (2) There is water baptism as an outward testimony of one’s salvation experience. (3) There is the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues subsequent to the salvation experience. 1Co 12:13 refers to the baptism into the body of Christ by the experience of salvation. Rom 6:5 states the same thing in another way.
Rom 6:5, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:”
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:22
1Co 12:23 Comments – We all have parts of our body that are well shaped and look good and we also have parts that are poorly shaped, which we want to hide. We tend to dress so that our comely parts are exposed and our uncomely parts are hidden. Therefore, we attempt to dress our uncomely parts so that they appear comely. For example, if our toes are not well shaped, we tend to wear pretty shoes. If we have a scar on our body, we cover it with clothing. If we are blind, we often wear dark glasses to cover our eyes. A man with strong arms will wear shirts that show his strength. A skinny man will wear clothes that hide his weakness.
So is it in the body of Christ. We should attempt to give attention and the proper honor to the weaker members of our congregation so that our entire church looks comely in the eyes of the Lord. If we despise the weaker members, then we become a divided church, which makes the body of believers less functional for the kingdom of God.
1Co 12:28 Word Study on “teachers” BDAG says the Greek word “teacher” ( ) (G1320) means, “a teacher, master.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 58 times in the New Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “Master (Jesus) 40, teacher 10, master 7, doctor 1.”
1Co 12:28 Word Study on “helps” BDAG says the Greek word “helps” ( ) (G484) means, “help, helpful deeds.” It is used only one time in the New Testament being translated in the KJV as “helps.” Strong say it comes from the Greek verb ( ) (G482), which means, “to take someone’s part, help, come to the aid of.” Webster says the English word “help” means “ to aid; to assist .”
Comments – Each gift has an anointing. Even the ministry of helps comes with an anointing. Rom 12:6 says, “gifts differing according to the grace that is given.” The word “grace” can easily be translated “anointing.” Within the context of the epistle of 1 Corinthians, the phrase “the grace of God” refers to the operations of the gifts of the Spirit. In fact, some of the early Church fathers will use the Greek word (grace) when speaking of the charismatic gifts of the Spirit.
Rom 12:6, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;”
Illustrations: the Building of the Tabernacle – Old Testament illustrations of divine giftings are found in the book of Exodus, when God anointed several people to build the tabernacle. When God anointed people to build the tabernacle, He did not choose the Levites, but men of other tribes, who were helping to build the tabernacle.
Exo 28:3, “And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.”
Exo 31:3, “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,”
Exo 31:6, “And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;”
Illustrations: David’s Mighty Men – In 2 Samuel 23, we see how David’s thirty men partook of his anointing as they helped King David. King Saul is a type and figure of man attempting to establish God’s kingdom in the flesh, but failed. David is an example of how God accomplishes His plans and purposes by the Spirit. Although many of the men listed in this passage are mentioned nowhere else in the Scriptures, it reveals to us that David could not have accomplished what he did without these brave men and their courageous feats of victory. David had gone into exile with about six hundred men (1Sa 23:13). Of these men, about thirty of them learned to partake of David’s anointing and became mighty men of war as their leader. When we read about the feats that some of the most anointed men accomplished in the following passage of Scripture, we find a clue as to why some of them were able to partake of David’s anointing. These were men who were willing to give up their very lives for David their king. Such a willingness to serve and give one’s life in behalf of God’s servants opens the door of one’s heart to receive from the same anointing that David walked in. We see this displayed as bravery to stand against the enemy. Within their hearts, they had given themselves a sentence of death to their own will in order to accomplish the will of their king and their people. Such were those who because qualified for an anointing.
Illustrations: Solomon’s Glorious Kingdom – Another example of the anointing that comes with the ministry of helps can be seen in the ministry of King Solomon and Temple worship. In 2Ch 9:1-9 the queen of Sheba saw something so magnificent that she became speechless. She saw the king’s servants ministering in each of their offices with joy and under the anointing. She saw a Temple that was built and designed under the inspiration of divine ideas. Its artwork and craftsmanship were unique upon the earth and had never been done before. She met a king in which the Spirit and wisdom of God dwelt. It took her breath away. King Solomon’s servants were happy. This happiness, or joy, is an outward sign of the anointing. When I first began to work as an altar worker in the ministry of helps, I used to enjoy going to church and serving in this capacity. I eventually learned that this happiness or joy that I felt was because I was serving in an anointing in the ministry of helps.
2Ch 9:7-8, “Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.”
Illustrations: Jesus Feeds the Multitudes – Another illustration is found when the twelve apostles helped Jesus feed five thousand. Also note the principle of the ministry of helps seen in this story. The twelve disciples were helping Jesus to distribute the bread. As the blessing and anointing was flowing through Jesus Christ to bread the bread, so was this anointing imparted unto the disciples as they took of this bread and broke it and saw it multiply by their hands. This story teaches us that there is an anointing imparted as we serve in the ministry of helps.
Illustrations: The First Deacons – A New Testament illustration of the gift of helps is found in Act 6:1-7, when the apostles chose the first deacons to serve tables.
1Co 12:28 Word Study on “governments” Strong says the Greek word “governments” ( ) (G2941) means, “pilotage, directorship.” It is used only one time in the New Testament. Strong says it comes from the Greek word “ ,” which means, “to steer.” Kenneth Hagin teaches that this particular word within the context of this passage describes the office of a pastor, whose job is to oversee the local church. [158] I believe that the elders of the early church also served in this capacity of government along with the local pastor.
[158] Kenneth Hagin, He Gave Gifts Unto Men: A Biblical Perspective of Apostles, Prophets, and Pastors (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1992, 1993), 191.
1Co 12:28 Comments – We can see the five-fold ministry within this list of ministry gifts in 1Co 12:28-30. The office of the apostle, prophet, and teacher are clearly listed at the beginning of this passage of Scripture. However, the office of the evangelist and pastor are not listed, but rather can be seen in the gifts and anointings that confirm their offices. For example, an evangelist is confirmed through the regular manifestation of miracles and healings; for these two gifts most clearly distinguish the anointing as an evangelist. The deacons can be seen in the gift of helps, which gift can progress into the office of a pastor. We can then see the office of a pastor and even the elders within the gift of governments. We know that the gifts of utterance are generally a part of the office of a pastor, who often moves with the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues and most certainly is the one who oversees their use within the congregation.
We must ask the question of why Paul lists three offices of the five-fold ministry (apostle, prophet, and teacher) and only allude to the evangelist and pastor. I see two possible reasons, which perhaps lies in the role that God gave Paul the apostle, which was to lay down the doctrines of the New Testament Church. Within this task was the responsibility of identifying the five-fold offices. (1) It is possible that this identification, or recognition, was progressive, rather than a single event, so that Paul did not know the other two offices at the time of writing his epistles to the Corinthians. (2) Or, it is possible that Paul is listing in this passage some of the gifts that identify a ministry rather than the office name of evangelist and of pastor because he is emphasizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or manifestations of the Holy Spirit, in chapter 12 rather than the titles of their offices, which he lists in Eph 4:11. We do read in 1Co 12:7 that the 9-fold gifts are “manifestations of the Spirit,” being initiated by the Holy Ghost at his own will.
Certain church denominations only recognize the offices of the evangelist, pastor, and teacher as operating within the body of Christ in modern days, and they teach that the office of the apostle and prophet ended with the early church. Kenneth Hagin uses Eph 4:11-13 to clearly explain that Christ Jesus set the five-fold ministry in the body of Christ “until we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” [159] We must acknowledge that the body of Christ has not yet come into the full measure of the stature of Christ”. Therefore, the five-fold ministry has not ceased to function within the body of Christ.
[159] Kenneth Hagin, He Gave Gifts Unto Men: A Biblical Perspective of Apostles, Prophets, and Pastors (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1992, 1993), 2-3.
On the other extreme, Hagin also explains how some ministers used 1Co 12:28 to say that every local church must have the five-fold ministry on staff with the apostle and prophet having authority over the pastor, which is also an error. [160] This teaching goes to the extreme in the other direction. He explains that the pastor is the leader of the local church and that the description of “first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers” was not intended to describe rank and authority within the local church. One of the clearest examples to show that the apostle does not have authority over his local pastor is seen in Act 15:1-35 at the first Jerusalem council in which the apostles and elders were asked to determine the status of the Gentile converts. We read in Act 15:13-21 how James, the pastor over the church made the decision of how to receive the Gentiles into the congregation. When James spoke, the twelve apostles of the Lamb and elders submitted to his decision. We see in Acts 15:52 that there were prophets and teachers who also submitted to this decision. This story gives us a clear example of how the pastor carries the authority over the local church. Therefore, the words “first, secondarily, thirdly” in this verse do not refer to a hierarchy of church government.
[160] Kenneth Hagin, He Gave Gifts Unto Men: A Biblical Perspective of Apostles, Prophets, and Pastors (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1992, 1993), 17.
I believe that the words, “first, secondarily, thirdly” are used to describe the “order” in which Christ Jesus introduced these ministries into the early New Testament church, or into the body of Christ which is referred to in the previous verse. This is what the verse literally says when it reads, “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, ” Paul lists the five-fold ministry gifts again in Eph 4:11, but in a different order. Although we do not see a chronological order as clearly as we would like to see within Scriptures in which these ministry gifts were given to the body of Christ, we do have this order indicated in 1Co 12:28 when it says, “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” The first office of the New Testament Church was that of the apostle. Jesus Christ ordained twelve men in this ministry office prior to His ascension into Heaven. In Act 11:27 we read about the office of the prophet in the church in Jerusalem, of which Agabus was the most prominent (Act 11:28; Act 21:10). We see in Act 13:1 the office of the teacher being recognized in the church of Antioch. Thus, we have an order in which these first three offices of the five-fold ministry were placed into the New Testament Church. Paul discusses this order in 1Co 12:28, “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” The office of the evangelist will be recognized later in the lives of Philip (Act 21:8) and Timothy (2Ti 4:5). Paul will begin to ordain elders and pastors to oversee his churches, which is the final office that the New Testament church will recognize. So, we do have somewhat of a chronological order laid out in the New Testament.
Act 13:1, “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.”
Act 15:32, “And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.”
Act 21:8, “And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.”
This order of ministries could not have been given as ranks. Kenneth Hagin notes that the office of teacher is listed third in 1Co 12:28 and last in Eph 4:11. Also, he notes that the ministry of helps is listed before church governments, which cannot refer to ranks. [161]
[161] Kenneth Hagin, He Gave Gifts Unto Men: A Biblical Perspective of Apostles, Prophets, and Pastors (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1992, 1993), 187-91.
1Co 12:29-30 Comments The Distribution of the Gifts in the Body of Christ – After Paul explains the uniqueness of each member of the body of Christ (1Co 12:27-28), he then asks the rhetorical question, “Are all members (within the body of Christ) apostles, are all members (within the body of Christ) prophets, etc.” (1Co 12:29-30) In other words, Paul is saying that each member has unique gifts, which are distributed by the Holy Spirit.
1Co 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
1Co 12:31
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The body of Christ and its members:
v. 12. For as the body is one and hath many-members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
v. 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
v. 14. For the body is not one member, but many.
v. 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?
v. 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?
v. 17. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
v. 18. But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him. The fact that the Spirit of God works in the Church through manifold gifts of grace, in various persons, and yet always to the same end, the edification of the entire body as a unit, is here illustrated by reference to the analogy of a body. The unity of the Church is not that of inorganic nature, where many similar or dissimilar bodies are heaped together without organic connection; it is rather the oneness of a living organism, the exercises of whose members are diversified, but yet all serving the one same end, the health and well-being of the entire body: For just as the body of a man is one and he has many members, but all the members of the body, many as they are, are one body, so also is Christ. The oneness of the human body unfolds in a plurality of members, but with all its great variety of parts it is but one single system; just so Christ includes head and heart and all the members of the body in one system, every part and member being necessary for the integrity or completeness of the whole, but the entire body being governed by the one Head, Christ.
The unity of the one great Church system is effected by means of Baptism: For in one Spirit also we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we all of one Spirit were made to drink. Baptism is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; He is the power that influenced our hearts and minds and brought them into the right relation with Christ, added us as members to His body, sealed and attested to us our salvation. The nationality and the social status of the individual person has nothing to do with this process, for the Spirit makes no distinction between Jews and Greeks, between slaves and freemen; they have all received the same identical Spirit, they have all been imbued with the same life of Christ. And, incidentally, we all were made to drink of the same Spirit; He was and is the spiritual refreshment which our souls receive by faith; for the drinking includes all the nourishment of the soul, as it is received for the benefit of the entire body and of all its members.
This idea, that the unity of the bodily organization includes rather than excludes a plurality of membership, is now carried out in detail: For the body also is not one member, but many. To speak of the body as a member is a contradiction in itself: many members, many organs, make up the one body. And yet, no one of these is complete in itself, nor could it exist by itself, just as each one has its own function to exercise, its own work to perform in the body, which could not be accomplished without it. For the foot to argue that it is not a member of the body because it is not the hand would be just as foolish as for the ear to argue that it cannot be a member of the body because it is not the eye. The function of each organ and each member is definitely fixed, and therefore the foot or ear does not sever itself from the body by distinguishing itself from hand or eye; its foolish argument leaves it exactly where it was before. The eye is indeed a nobler member than the ear, just as the hand is a nobler member than the foot, but all the members of the body serve one another mutually. Note: “The obvious duty here inculcated is that of contentment. It is just as unreasonable and absurd for the foot to complain that it is not the hand as for one member of the Church to complain that he is not another; that is, for a teacher to complain that he is not an apostle, or for a deaconess to complain that she is not a presbyter, or for one that had the gift of healing to complain that he had not the gift of tongues. ” (Hodge.)
That all the members and organs are to serve the entire body, the whole system, each in its own sphere, the apostle brings out very strongly: If the entire body were eye, where would the hearing be? If the entire body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now, as things are by God’s will, He has appointed the members, each single one of them, in the body as He willed. Dissatisfaction with the particular gift of grace, with the particular status in the Church that any person has and occupies, is rebellion against the will of God, against the rule of the Lord of the Church; it is disloyalty toward Him and distrust of His wisdom. God has set things so, it is a matter of His determining will, and the obedient Christian will not be found complaining and objecting.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Co 12:12 . Illustration of how one and the same Spirit works all the charismata as He will; namely, just as the case stands with the body , that its many members make up its unity, so also does it stand in like manner with Christ , whose many members likewise constitute the unity of His body. is not the Christian church , but Christ Himself , inasmuch, that is to say, as He, as the Head of the church, has in its many members His organic body, [1975] which receives forth from Him, the Head, the whole harmonious connection and efficiency of all its members and its growth. Christ is not conceived as the Ego of the church as His body (Hofmann), but as in all parallel expressions of the apostle (see especially Eph 4:16 ; Eph 4:25 ; Eph 5:30 ; Rom 12:4 f., and above on 1Co 6:15 ), as the Head of the church, and the church as the body of the Head. 1Co 12:21 does not run counter to this; see on that passage.
The repetition of , which is superfluous in itself, or might have been represented by (comp Lobeck, a [1977] Aj. p. 222, Exo 2 ; Khner, a [1978] Xen. Anab. i. 7. 11), serves here emphatically to bring out the unity.
[1975] Comp. Ehrenfeuchter, prakt. Theol. I. p. 57 f.; see also Constitt. ap. ii 59. 1.
[1977] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[1978] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(12) For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (14) For the body is not one member, but many. (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? (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? (17) If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? (18) But now hath God set the members everyone of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (19) And if they were all one member, where were the body? (20) But now are they many members, yet but one body. (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. (22) Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: (23) And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. (24) For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: (25) That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. (26) And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
The Apostle here enters upon that beautiful illustration, which he had all along in view, to shew the oneness of Christ and his Church, and which he explains by the similitude of the human body. For, as the human frame, made up of an infinite number of parts, is, after all, but one complete whole; so is Christ’s mystical body. Christ’s Church is but one. Though some of his members are in heaven, and some on earth, and some yet unborn; yet the whole forms but one and the same complete body. So Jesus himself declares, Son 6:9 . And it is a sweet thought. Wherever any of his members are, whether in Heaven or earth, born or unborn, they must be equally dear to Jesus; being equally the gift of his Father, equally betrothed before all worlds by the Son, Hos 2:19-20 , and equally redeemed during the time-state of the Church upon earth, and equally the objects of the regenerating grace of God the Holy Ghost.
And this precious truth is read to us very blessedly, by what the Apostle hath here said, in relation to the equality of baptism, by which all are baptized by one Spirit into one body. Not water baptism, but by one Spirit. Numbers may be baptized in water, (and it is to be feared there are,) who were never baptized by the Spirit: witness Simon Magus, Act 8:9-24 . And numbers may be baptized by the Holy Ghost, who never were baptized in water, witness the Thief on the Cross. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, Gal 6:15 . Oh! for that sweet promise of Jesus which he gave to his disciples, to be my daily mercy, of being baptized with the Holy Ghost, Act 1:5 .
How very beautiful the Apostle hath set forth the different parts of the human frame, by way of representing the different members of Christ’s mystical body? It is really blessed to see, what an analogy there is, between the body corporal, and the body spiritual; and which by the way, becomes a proof, that both is produced by the same Almighty Architect and Builder.
First: the body is not, as the Apostle saith, one member, but many. It is made up of many and various parts, all beautiful in their various offices and characters, all equally useful in their several purposes and designs; and all ministering alike in their respective situations, and circumstances, to the general welfare of the whole. Now such is the mystical body of Christ. The body of Christ, his Church, is not one member, but many. There are some great, some small, some of larger abilities, some smaller, some weak, some strong; some more wise, others less so. But the humblest, as well as the greatest, is alike necessary, to form the body complete : neither would the body be complete, if the smallest, and apparently the most inconsiderable member was wanting.
And secondly: The highest cannot reproach the lowest, as if useless. The foot cannot say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body. Neither can either tell another that he hath no need of him. So, in like manner, the humblest of Christ’s members are as important in their apparently lesser offices, as the highest and the best. The Lord, the Maker, hath tempered all, to make all minister in the department to which the Lord hath appointed them, and all to act in the station the Lord hath marked, to their mutual happiness, and to his glory.
And thirdly: What endears the whole and makes the whole truly blessed is, that as the Lord is the Maker of all, hath by his infinite wisdom appointed all, and by his power governs all; so all are equally dear to Him whose all they are, and from whom all receive what they all are, and act only when graciously conducted, to promote the ends for which they are created and made; his glory, and their happiness. And this is the very purpose of Christ’s Church. This people (saith the Lord) I have formed for myself, they shall shew forth any praise, Isa 43:21 . Reader! do not pass away from this beautiful illustration by the Apostle, which he makes, from the wise and gracious order the Lord hath formed, in compounding the human frame as a body; without gathering from it, what the Holy Ghost by the Apostle evidently intended from the similitude, in explaining the yet far higher order in his ordination of the spiritual frame of the mystical members of Christ. All united to the One glorious Head, and every member deriving life, action, and influence, from Him, while sweetly ordered and governed by his unerring wisdom and love, they are supposed to be mutually ministering to His praise and their comfort. In the joy of one member, all partake. In the affliction of one, all sympathize. For as in the human frame, if the hand or arm be crushed, the whole body feels: so in the spiritual frame, the sufferings of any of Christ’s members calls forth the fellow-feeling of the whole Church. Reader! is it so with you? Do you take part in the exercises of Christ’s little ones? Do you rejoice in Zion’s welfare, or mourn with them that mourn? Isa 62:1 ; Psa 139 throughout.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
Ver. 12. So also is Christ ] Mystical Christ, the Church. Christ the Saviour of his body Eph 5:23 accounts not himself complete without his Church, Eph 1:23 . So God is called Jacob, Psa 24:6 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 30. ] As the many members of the body compose an organic whole, and all belong to the body, none being needless, none to be despised; so also those who are variously gifted by the Spirit compose a spiritual organic whole, the mystical body of Christ . First, however, 1Co 12:12-13 , this likeness of the mystical Christ to a body is enounced , and justified by the facts of our Baptism .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
12. ] The organic unity of the various members in one body, is predicated also of CHRIST, i.e. the Church as united in Him , see ch. 1Co 6:15 . The confirms the preceding . , by an analogy. By the repetition, , , , the unity of the members as an organic whole is more strongly set forth.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 12:12-20 . 40. THE ONE BODY, OF MANY MEMBERS. The manifold graces, ministries, workings (1Co 12:4 ff.), that proceed from the action of the Holy Spirit in the Christian community, stand not only in common dependence upon Him ( 39), but are mutually bound to each other. The Church of Christ is “the body” for the Spirit of God; and these operations are its correlated functional activities (1Co 12:12 f.). Differentiation is of the essence of bodily life. The unity of the Church is not that of inorganic nature, a monotonous aggregation of similars, as in a pool of water or a heap of stones; it is the oneness of a living organism, no member of which exercises the same faculty as another. Without “many members,” contrasted as foot with hand or sight with smell (1Co 12:14-17 ), there would be no body at all, but only a single monstrous limb (1Co 12:19 ). In God’s creative plan, it is the integration and reciprocity of a multitude of distinct organs that makes up the physical and the social frame (1Co 12:18 ff.).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
1Co 12:12 . “The one Spirit,” the leading thought of 39, suggests the similitude of “the body” for the Church (called in ch. 3 the tillage, building, temple of God), since this is the seat of His multifarious energies. In the Eph. and Col. Epp. becomes a fixed title for the Christian community, setting forth its relation both to the inhabiting Spirit and to the sovereign Head; as yet it remains a plastic figure. Aristotle had applied this image to the State, the body politic ; and the idea was a Gr [1870] commonplace. The Ap. is still insisting on the breadth of the Holy Spirit’s working, as against Cor [1871] partisanship and predilection for miraculous endowments; hence the reiterated and , also the emphatic of the second clause: “but all the members of the body, many as they are ( ), are one body”. In applying the comparison, Paul writes not as one expects, or , but with heightened solemnity , “so also is the Christ!” “Christ stands by metonomy for the community united through Him and grounded in Him” (Hn [1872] ). This substitution shows how realistic was P.’s conception of believers as subsisting “in Christ,” and raises the idea of Church-unity to its highest point; “all the members are instinct with one personality” (Ed [1873] ): cf. Gal 2:20 , 2Co 13:3 ; 2Co 13:5 , for this identification in the case of the individual Christian. The later representation of Christ and the Church as Head and Body is implicit in this phrase. For with art [1874] , cf. 1Co 1:12 , 1Co 10:4 , etc.; also Eph 5:23 ff.
[1870] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[1871]
[1872] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).
[1873] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
[1874] grammatical article.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Co 12:12-13
12For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
1Co 12:12 This starts a new paragraph that uses the inter-relationships of the human body as a metaphor for the church (cf. Eph 4:4; Eph 4:16). It emphasizes unity amidst diversity. The focus is not on any part, but on the functioning whole; not the individual, but the family.
The OT and NT have a corporate emphasis (see Special Topic at 1Co 12:7). This is not meant to depreciate the fact that people become Christians on an individual basis, but that once one is a Christian, the focus is always the health, unity, and well-being of the whole!
1Co 12:13 “by one Spirit” This preposition (en) can mean “in,” “with,” or “by means of.” Be careful of using Koine Greek prepositions to make doctrinal affirmations. This is parallel to Eph 2:18; Eph 4:4.
The Spirit is the means by which God convicts people of sin, draws them to Christ, baptizes them into Christ, and forms Christ in them (cf. Joh 16:8-14). This is the age of the Spirit. His activity is the sign that the new age of righteousness has come. The gift is the Spirit and the Spirit gives gifts which reflect His task of revealing Christ, drawing the lost to Christ, and forming Christlikeness in believers.
“were all baptized into one body” Water baptism is a metaphor of a previous spiritual experience that occurred at conversion (cf. Eph 4:5). In several ways Eph 4:4-6 parallels this passage. This baptism refers to initial salvation, which incorporates believers into the body of Christ, the Church. The often-used contemporary phrase “the baptism of the Holy Spirit” is confusing because biblically it refers to one trusting Christ as savior, but it is used today of an empowering, yielding, later experience in the lives of believers. I do not deny the reality of this subsequent experience, but I prefer the term “Lordship experience.” In reading the biographies of great Christians a pattern emerges: (1) trusting Christ; (2) trying to serve Him; (3) failing to produce lasting fruit; (4) frustration at personal efforts; (5) yielding to the need for God to do His own work; (6) empowering for ministry; and (7) all glory to God, not the human vessel.
“whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free” There are no more worldly human distinctions and barriers between those who trust Christ (cf. Joe 2:28 quoted by Peter in Act 2:14-36; Gal 3:27-28; Col 3:11). This truth surely asserts the equality of all human believers. However, it does not necessarily remove all distinctions. All believers are called, gifted servants, but a Christian may still be a slave.
This equality would have been shocking to Roman society in Corinth, where the man was the supreme authority over (1) his wife; (2) his children; and (3) his domestic slaves. There was a rigid social hierarchy. Paul’s radical theology, based on Jesus’ teachings and actions, was a drastic paradigm shift and shocking new worldview which had to be lived out in the fellowship of the church (cf. Eph 5:18 to Eph 6:9). It is specifically in this area that the church at Corinth was deviant.
“we were all made to drink of one spirit” This term was used of irrigating water. It literally meant “saturated.” This was interpreted as referring to the Lord’s Supper by Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, but because of Joh 7:37-39 it may refer to the Spirit. It is a metaphor of unity and community brought about by one agent, the Spirit.
Both “baptized” and “made to drink” are aorist passive indicatives, which imply a finished work in past time. The tense and parallelism show they do not refer to Christian water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but one past complete event (i.e., conversion by the Spirit, i.e., the passive voice, or by Christ, cf. Mat 3:11; Luk 3:16; Act 1:5, or by the Father, cf. Act 2:33).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
that one. The texts read “the”.
so also, &c. = so is Christ also.
Christ = the Christ. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12-30.] As the many members of the body compose an organic whole, and all belong to the body, none being needless, none to be despised; so also those who are variously gifted by the Spirit compose a spiritual organic whole, the mystical body of Christ. First, however, 1Co 12:12-13, this likeness of the mystical Christ to a body is enounced, and justified by the facts of our Baptism.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 12:12-13. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Oh, what a sacred oneness that is which subsists between all the Lords people! We are not simply brethren, but we are one; we are not allied by affinity, but by actual identity; we are parts of the same body; we are brought into spiritual membership with each other, as real and as effectual as that membership which subsists between the various parts of the body. Yet we are not all alike, although we are all of one body; some are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are bond, some are free; and yet, in some things, we are all alike, for we have all been baptized by one Spirit. And, moreover, we have all been made to drink into one Spirit; we have had one spiritual baptism, and we have had one spiritual drinking. Would to God that we felt more one, that our hearts beat more in tune with each other; that we had a sympathy with each other in woes and sufferings; that we had a fellow feeling with all who love the Lord; and could at all times weep with those that weep, as well as rejoice with those that rejoice
1Co 12:14-15. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
Do not get comparing yourself with others, and saying, Ah! if I were such-and-such a person, I might then think myself to be part of Christs body. No, you might not; if you were just like him. As there are only certain members of a sort in a mans body, so, by a parity of reasoning, there would not be more than a certain number of members alike in the mystical body. We do not imagine that there will be many members of this body, the Church, of one class, or of one character; so that, if you are different from others, you are filling a different office in the body. You may, from that fact, rather draw an inference of comfort than one of sorrow and despondency. Even should you say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, are you therefore not of the body? Oh, no! you are of the body still, though you do not think that you are.
1Co 12:16-17. 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? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
If we were all preachers, if we could all see into Gods truth, and set it forth in a public manner, where should we get our congregations?
1Co 12:17. If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
There must be different members to fill different offices. If we were all so one that there was no distinction whatever, if we were all of one rank, all of one age, all of one standing, the body would be incomplete.
1Co 12:18-21. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. 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.
Brethren, you sometimes think there are some belonging to the Church whom we could well spare; but there is not one superfluous member in the whole body. If they be truly united to Christ, they have all their offices, all their places. There is not a poor old woman, who has not been able to get up to the house of prayer for several years, who is not of some use to the Church; for she lies upon her bed, and there she intercedes with God. There is not: a member of the Church so humble, so illiterate, so uninstructed, that he or she may not be of essential service to the whole body. There is some little part, my brother, which you are to take in the great Church of Christ; you may not be able always to tell what it may be, but still there is a place for you to fill. There is a linchpin in a chariot; who thinks much about or thanks that pin? Indeed, it is so very small and insignificant, who would imagine it is necessary to the locomotion or speed? The wheels carry it round, but who would suppose that, if it were taken away, the wheel would fly off? Perhaps you are like one of these little linchpins which keep the wheel right; you may not know what use you are; but, possibly, you prevent someone else from turning aside. Let us each keep in our station, endeavoring, God helping us, to exert the influence which he has given us.
1Co 12:22-24. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 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. For our comely parts have no need but God both tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
A moments thought will tell you that those parts of our frame which are tenderest are the most necessary parts; and those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these, by clothing them more than other parts, we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; for our comely parts have no need of being covered, and therefore we leave them exposed.
1Co 12:25. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
We have heard this text urged by some who are in the Church of England as a proof that we are wrong in departing from it. They tell us that there should be no schism in the body; we beg to tell them that there is no schism in the body that we know of. We do not belong to their body, and therefore we make no schism in that body, we are quite clear of them. We have neither stick, nor stone, nor part, nor lot in their State Establishment; therefore we do not create a schism in the body. When they divide themselves into Puseyites and Evangelicals, they make a schism in their own body; but, as long as we are all united, as long as the members of a church walk together in unity, there is no schism in the body. We are different bodies altogether. They say that a schismatic is one who departs from a Church, and makes a rent from it; by no means, a schismatic is one who makes a rent in it, not from it. We, I say, are not schismatics. Those who are in the Church, and yet do not agree with its fundamental principles and its Articles of Faith, they are schismatics; but we are not.
1Co 12:26. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;
Is that true of our churches? I am afraid not. The members of the one Church of Christ have not been brought to that unity of feeling and sympathy which they ought to have.
1Co 12:26-30. Or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
God intended that there should be different offices in his Church; let us look on each other as being different, and yet united in the common faith of Christ.
1Co 12:31. But covet earnestly the best gifts:
I would not wish you, brother, to repress your aspirations after these blessings; I am most anxious that you should earnestly desire and seek to possess a large share of all these spiritual endowments.
1Co 12:31. And yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
Which is, holding the truth in love, and walking in charity one toward another.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
1Co 12:12. , so also Christ) The whole Christ is the head and body. The head is the only-begotten Son of God, and His body is the Church; Augustine. This is in harmony with Ps. 18:51. To His Anointed, to David and his seed: for so the accent requires it to be.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 12:12
1Co 12:12
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.-He now introduces the human body with the different members performing different offices, yet altogether composing the one body, to illustrate the body of Christ or the church with its different members, and these different gifts performing the different offices needful to the well-being of the body.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Many Members in One Body
1Co 12:12-19
The use of gifts must never be dictated by personal ambition or the desire for selfish gain. As every member of the physical body is united to the head by two sets of nerves, the afferent, which bring to the brain the slightest sense impressions, and the efferent, which bear to the extremities the commands of the mind, so is every member of the Church, even the feeblest and most distant, bound to his glorious Lord. The head of the swimmer is in one element-the air-and the members may be in another-the water-yet the head is able to control and co-ordinate them; so with the unseen Christ and His visible Church on earth. He must direct and use us. We have nothing to do with the work He confides to others, and must concentrate on that which He wants to achieve through us. If this means co-operation with other members or service to them; if it means hidden obscurity or temporary disuse, we must be equally content. It is for Him to do as He will. There is no room for envy or jealousy; they must give place to loving fellowship and mutual help, and the quiet peace and rest which come from recognizing the good pleasure of the Creator.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Baptized Into One Body
1Co 12:12-26
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. 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? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. 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. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 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. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. (vv. 12-26)
Seven things are brought before us in the section, but that which is first emphasized is the unity of the body of Christ. In verse 12 we have the unity of the human body as a figure of that of the church. For as the body is one-that is, your body and my body. We have a great many different members, each one having special functions, and yet the body is one; it is under one central control, one heart, one circulatory system, one mind dominating and controlling everything. As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [the] Christ. The definite article is found in the original, although we do not see it on the page of our King James Version. When the apostle uses the term, the Christ, it is just the same as if he said, the church, for as the context shows, he is thinking of the entire church as linked with the Lord Jesus Christ, its Head in heaven. As the human body is one, so also is the Christ. Christ means the Anointed, and our Lord Jesus is the Anointed. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, that is why He is called Christ. But we read of all believers, He which hath anointed us, is God (2Co 1:21) so we too have been anointed- Christed-by the same Spirit with whom God anointed Jesus. Therefore, our risen Head in heaven and the members of the body everywhere on earth constitute the Christ, the anointed One.
We cannot break the link that joins the believer to his Head in heaven. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Notice, it is not by the possession of divine life that we become members of the body of Christ. All believers from Abel (and we can go back to Adam, for Adam believed God when the promise came that the Seed of the woman should bruise the seed of Satan, and God declared His satisfaction in that faith by clothing Adam and his wife with coats of skin) down to the end of time have life from Christ. There is no other source of life, and no natural man in any dispensation was ever a child of God. The only way a man can become a child of God is through a second birth, through the reception of divine life, and this is given through believing the gospel. I know that people sometimes say, But we must have life first before believing the gospel. We have life before we believe a great many particulars in the gospel, but the apostle Peter says, Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for everAnd this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you (1Pe 1:23, 25). Therefore, by believing the gospel, whatever form it takes in the various dispensations (for Gods message to man has differed in the various ages, but it has always had to do with Christ), men are born again.
However, to be born again is not the same thing as being baptized into the body of Christ. No one is baptized into the body of Christ until the Spirit of God dwells in him, and the Spirit comes to dwell only in people who have been born again. There is as much difference between being born by the Spirit and being indwelt by the Spirit as between building a house and moving into it. New birth is by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit builds the house, and then He comes to indwell the believer, He comes to take possession. In our dispensation there is no appreciable difference in time between a mans being born again and being baptized into the body of Christ, but there was a time when there were numbers of people who were born again by the Spirit, but were not indwelt by Him.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers and to baptize them into one body. The Spirit of God now dwells within us and makes all believers one. That is what is meant by, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. I like the good old translation of the word baptized, to which some people object. I take this Greek word to mean immerse. For by one Spirit are we all [immersed] into one body. We who were so many individuals before have now been immersed into one, and in this body there is neither Jew nor Greek. Some used to be Jews, some used to be Gentiles, before they were born of God and indwelt by His Spirit. Now they have lost their old standing in the flesh. When we meet our Hebrew Christian brethren, we do not think of them as Jews any more, we think of them as fellow members of the body of Christ, and when they look upon us, their Gentile brethren, they do not think of us as unclean Gentiles, but as fellow members of Christs body. That is what took place on the Day of Pentecost, and has been going on ever since.
In this body there are neither bond nor free. It is not a question of master or servant. In the world outside we meet one another on that basis. If I am employed by another I am to render proper service to my master, but when we come into the church of God, we come together as fellow members of Christs body.
A Christian worker once told of her visit to the beautiful palace of an English Duchess, a very humble Christian. On the Lords Day morning the Duchess took the visitor to a meeting of a little group of Christian people gathered together around the table of the Lord, and as they sat there, a man got up and expounded the Word to them. The Duchess whispered to the lady, That is my coachman. The Christian worker was a little surprised that this lady should go and listen to her coachman expound the Word, and said to her later, Isnt it hard on your pride to have to listen to your coachman open the Scriptures to you? The Duchess replied, In the church of God there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, we are all one in Christ Jesus. All these earthly distinctions are wiped out in the presence of God.
So the apostle adds, Wehave been all made to drink into one Spirit. Just as by water baptism a line of demarcation has been drawn between the Christian and the world, so in this way we are definitely linked with the one body and enjoy fellowship in Him. Everything that you enjoy of a spiritual character in fellowship with your brethren, you do as in fellowship with the Holy Spirit who now indwells you.
Then we have a passage that is really a warning against discontent as to position in the body of Christ. In verses 14-17 we read, For the body is not one member, but many. 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? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? As men and women not yet glorified we still possess that old carnal nature. Even though set apart to God in Christ with new natures, we so often still find working within us envy and jealousy, and there is the tendency to say, Well, as I cannot do what so and so does, I will not do anything, and so discontent is engendered. Remember that every member of your physical body has its own special function. Just imagine a foot going on strike, and some morning when you are getting out of bed and you go to put your foot on the floor it should say, I do not like being a foot, I do not like always being shut up, having a stocking pulled over me and then a shoe, I have just as much right to be in the open as that hand. I do not like it that the hand does all the writing, the painting, and the playing of the piano while I have to be hidden away all the time. I do not like that kind of a thing, and I am not going to function unless you train me to write and to play the piano. I refuse to work any longer as a foot. I have seen folks just like that, folks that wont play unless they can do things that other people do. I heard of a man born without arms who had been so wonderfully trained that he could hold a pen between his toes and write and paint on a board, but he was a freak in a sideshow. A normal person does not do that. The foot cannot do the work of a hand. If the foot is content to do its own work, what a splendid thing it is, but if it tries to do the work of a hand, what a failure it is.
If every member of the body does its own work and does it well, the whole body is benefited thereby. Just so in the church or assembly of God. He does not gift every one in the same way; some have special public ministry, others have quiet, private service for the Lord, but all are important. I think I shall never have the least inkling until I get to heaven and stand at the judgment seat of Christ how much I have owed to quiet saints shut away in hidden places who have bowed down on their knees before God and asked His blessing upon my ministry during these forty-three years that I have been preaching the gospel. I have had the public place, but I am sure that the greatest amount of the credit for work done goes to those hidden saints who have thought enough about me to bear me up in prayer, that God might keep me from sin and use my testimony for the glory of His name. So let us be content to labor on in the place God has given us.
If the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? Fancy the ear going on strike and saying, I refuse to hear; if I cannot be the eye, I am not going to do anything. What a foolish thing! And yet there are people like that. The apostle says, and I imagine he smiled as he said it, If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? Just imagine a body a great big walking eye. Or, If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? If the body were one immense ear, would it not be a peculiar thing? And so each member has its place, and each is to act for God in that place.
In verse 18 the apostle shows that there should be no discontent, that there is no place for natural ambitions. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. When I think, I should like to do so much that I cannot, is it not blessed to realize that He has set me right here where I am, that I am in the place where He has put me, and He will give me grace to live for Him here?
But now are they many members, yet but one body. 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. What a rebuke to that sense of disdain that some of us cherish at times for other members of the body of Christ. Our Christian fellowship would be ten thousand times more precious if every one of us would settle it with God that by His grace we would never let an unkind criticism go out of our lips against any of His people. I find that the people who are the most sensitive to criticism are the most ready to criticize, those who get all broken up and upset if someone makes the least derogatory remark about them are those who will speak in the most cruel, unkind, and critical way of others.
I speak to you as a preacher, and I fear we are more guilty of this than anybody else. We often think and speak of one another in the most unkind way. Is it not a shame that men who have been set apart by God for the proclamation of His truth, who ought to stand shoulder to shoulder and be very jealous of each others reputation, should try to climb up on the failures of others? We who try to minister the Word, shall we not set an example to our brethren by covenanting with God that we will always say the thing that is good, the thing that is kind and helpful of our fellow servants; and if we see faults in them shall we not go to them personally and seek to help them; and when we speak to others of them, tell about the good things? In a restaurant I once saw a sign which read, If you like our food, tell others; if you dont, tell us. I think that would be a good sign for a church of God. If you do not like things, you come and tell us about it, and let us seek to put things right. We need one another and we ought to be helpers of one another. The tongues of some of us are so vitriolic, we can say such unkind things, and forget that these people are souls whom Jesus loved enough to die for, so dear to God that He gave His Son for their redemption.
Oh, that when Christians meet and part,
These words were graved on every heart-
Theyre dear to God!
However willful and unwise,
Well look on them with loving eyes-
Theyre dear to God!
Oh, wonder!-to the Eternal One,
Dear as His own beloved Son;
Dearer to Jesus than His blood,
Dear as the Spirits fixed abode-
Theyre dear to God!
When tempted to give pain for pain,
How would this thought our words restrain,
Theyre dear to God!
When truth compels us to contend,
What love with all our strife should blend!
Theyre dear to God!
When they would shun the pilgrims lot
For this vain world, forget them not;
But win them back with love and prayer,
They never can be happy there,
If dear to God.
Shall we be there so near, so dear,
And be estranged and cold whilst here-
All dear to God?
By the same cares and toils opprest,
We lean upon one faithful Breast,
We hasten to the same repose;
How bear or do enough for those
So dear to God!
Let us remember that God [hath] set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary. Sometimes perhaps we discount someones gift because it does not appeal to us, and yet that very person may be Gods messenger to others. Years ago when I was in the Salvation Army we had a girl who was certainly imbued by the Spirit of God, but she had worked in the open air so much that her throat was spoiled. I remember listening to her once as she tried to sing a song, but she could not sing. I felt so sorry for her, and somebody standing next to me said, Why does she make such a fool of herself by trying to sing? And on the other side someone said to me, Oh, it does me so much good every time I hear that girl sing; it comes from her heart and she is doing it for love for Christ. Remember, the people whom you do not appreciate may be Gods messengers to other folk. Be careful that you do not do anything to spoil the effect of their testimony.
I went to the dinner table in a home, and the people said, We wish you would pray for our sons and daughter. We have tried to bring them to Christ. We do get them to come to meeting with us, but they are getting less and less interested. I said, I am sorry; we must pray for them. There had just been a change of pastors in that church, and I had come to help the new pastor in some meetings, and as the dinner was passed around I said, This new pastor of yours seems a fine godly man. The mother said, I havent any use for him; he doesnt know how to dress for one thing, and he murders the kings English. The father said, Yes, we are most disappointed in him. And then the two boys and the girl went for them and said, We would like to know why you expect us to go to church. After the meal I said to the father, How do you expect your boys and your girl to be interested in spiritual things when you tear the messenger of Christ to pieces over the dinner table? Let us be careful, let us value one another, and remember that we each have our place to fill, and let us seek to fill it to the glory of God.
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. You heard that man testify in the mission, and his grammar was so bad you said, Oh, I wish he would sit down, but yonder a poor wretch listened and said, What! Did God save a man like that? Maybe He can save me. I am about as bad as he was when God saved him. He was not a very handsome nor a very brilliant member of the body, but you never could have reached that poor down-and-out man as he did.
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. The apostle Paul was a very observing person. Here is a woman who has a rather badly-formed ear. Upon that member she bestows more honor. Her beautiful hair is drawn over the ear, and that very uncomely part has become the most beautiful thing about her. People try to cover up the things in themselves that they do not think are pleasing, and try to make them more beautiful. I wish we would learn to cover up the uncomely things in our brethren. You never saw a perfectly beautiful woman yet who tried to cover her face with a dark heavy veil, unless she was about some nefarious business.
For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. He has done this in order that there should be no divisions in the body, no strife, that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. Now honestly, if you had loved that brother or that sister as much as you love yourself, would you have said that thing the other day? Remember, The members should have the same care one for another.
A brother came to the late Leon Tucker and started telling him quite a little about another preacher. Mr. Tucker asked, Is it because you love this brother so much you are telling me this? He turned very red and did not know how to answer him. Test yourself by that. The members should have the same care one for another.
And then it is a practical thing, Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. We know how it is in the human body. When you have had a festered finger, did you ever say to yourself, That affects only my thumb or finger, and I am not going to let the rest of the body bother about it. But the whole body was affected because of it. Let me say something serious and solemn: Your entire local assembly is affected if there is one member that is not living for God in it. The whole body of Christ is affected if there is one member playing fast and loose with holiness and purity and righteousness, because we are so intimately linked together.
Or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. One member is selected for some position of honor, and all the members are jealous of that one. Is that it? No, if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. If a member suffer, I suffer with him; if a member be honored, I rejoice with him.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
as: 1Co 10:17, Rom 12:4, Rom 12:5, Eph 1:23, Eph 4:4, Eph 4:12, Eph 4:15, Eph 4:16, Eph 5:23, Eph 5:30, Col 1:18, Col 1:24, Col 2:19, Col 3:15
so: 1Co 12:27, Gal 3:16
Reciprocal: Exo 12:46 – one house Exo 26:3 – coupled together Exo 35:35 – the cunning Exo 40:33 – up the court Job 29:15 – eyes Joh 15:5 – vine Joh 17:11 – that Joh 17:21 – they all Joh 17:26 – and I Act 4:32 – the multitude Act 9:4 – why Act 11:26 – were Act 22:8 – whom 1Co 8:12 – ye sin against 1Co 11:11 – General 1Co 12:14 – General Gal 3:28 – for Eph 1:3 – in Christ Eph 2:14 – both Eph 3:6 – the same Eph 4:3 – General Eph 4:25 – for Phi 1:27 – in one
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 12:12. The human body is used to illustrate the church which is the body of Christ, with the unified work of spiritual gifts in that body.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 12:12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body,[1] being many, are one body; so also is Christwho with the Church is an organic whole.
[1] The received reading, of the one body, has very weak support.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our apostle acquaints us that the intent and design of God in giving these various gifts, was the profit and edification of his church, which he compares to a body that has many members; for though that one Spirit which distributes the gifts, could have given them all to the same person, yet to maintain a mutual dependence, and a charitable serviceableness of the members one among another, he gave to one one gift, to another another; by which means one member of the church would be obliged to take care of the rest.
Behold here, how the wisdom of God has ordered the state of the church, like that of the natural body, to which the apostle elegantly compares the body of Christ, which is his church: As the body hath many members, so also has Christ; that is, the church of Christ. Now having assured them, that they were indeed members of one body, he tells them what it was that made them so, 1Co 12:13. For by one Spirit, says he, we are baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit; that is, by being baptized we are all made members of the body of Christ, and united one to another under him the head; and this, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, we are all one in Christ, who by baptism were admitted into the church; and this union of ours, one with another, is testified and declared by our communion at the Lord’s table, which is here called a drinking into one Spirit.
And whereas by baptism we are said by one Spirit to be baptized into one body, and at the Lord’s supper are said to drink into one Spirit; we learn, that the grace of the Holy Spirit was given in baptism and in the Lord’s supper to all the faithful, who do not receive unprofitable signs, but the quickening grace and Spirit of God, to make them living members of that one body.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The Unity of the Body
There is but one body. That body is the church. Paul told the Ephesian brethren, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” Earlier in the same letter, he had said, “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” ( Eph 4:4 ; Eph 1:22-23 ).
There are many different offices in the body, but only one body. The Spirit, working through earthly ministers, had caused people to be baptized into the one body. After baptism, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit ( Act 2:38 ). If the baptism into the one body is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which would be a filling or overwhelming, then why would Paul go on to say they were “made to drink into one Spirit?” In other words, why would a person already filled with the Spirit have to drink of it ( 1Co 12:12-13 )?
The human body and the church have many members, each with a role to play. Apparently some thought their possession of less showy gifts made them nonessential to the body (church). By referring to the human body, Paul showed each member fulfills an important function. No matter what their function, Paul said each was a part of the body and must perform his duty to the best of his ability. The need for differing gifts was thus made very plain. Different functions were to be performed by different members of the body to have a body working as a harmonious whole ( 1Co 12:14-17 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
1Co 12:12-13. For as the human body is one, and yet hath many members For different offices; and all the members, though many, constitute but one body United in one well-regulated system; so also is Christ That is, mystically considered, namely, the whole church or society, of which Christ is the head: in which, though there are several members, having different gifts, yet they do not constitute several churches, but only one church, and therefore they should all use their gifts for the good of that one. For by one Spirit When it is indeed received by us; we are all baptized into one body Are constituted true members thereof, united to the head of that body by faith, and to all the other members thereof by love: we are pardoned, regenerated, and created anew, and so made members of the true, invisible, or spiritual church; whether we be Jews or Gentiles Who are at the greatest distance from each other by nature; whether we be bond or free Slaves or freemen, who are at the greatest distance from each other by law and custom: we have all been made to drink into one Spirit In other words, The religion we before professed, whether true or false; the rank which we now hold in life, whether high or low; makes no difference as to the grand point: our union with the body, and its various members, as well as with the head, is the same, and the same happy consequences follow from that union; we all imbibe the influences of the same Spirit, by which the divine life was at first produced, and is continually preserved in our souls.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body: so is it with the Christ.
The apostle has just stated a Divine fact, which is the secret of the Church’s life: the unity of the Divine force, which animates it in the variety of its manifestations. This principle is realized, first, from the standpoint of the Divine influence in general, in the triple diversity of gifts, offices, and effects produced (1Co 12:4-6); then from the special viewpoint of the Spirit’s influence, in the variety of gifts (1Co 12:7-11). In 1Co 12:12 Paul renders palpable the harmony of this diversity with the unity which produces and governs it, by comparing it with what is nearest us, our own body. What is the human body? One and the same life spreading out into a plurality of functions each attached to one of the members of the organism, and labouring for its preservation and wellbeing. The last words: So it is with the Christ, present a difficulty. It seems as if we should have: So it is with the Church. Must we, with Grotius, de Wette, Heinrici, understand by the Christ the Church itself, or, with Rckert, the ideal Christ? These two meanings cannot be justified: the former because Paul, if that had been his idea, would have expressed himself more clearly; the latter, because it contains a notion foreign to the mind of the apostle. In general, commentators are agreed in applying the word: the Christ, to the personal glorified Christ, seeking, however, in various ways to comprehend the Church under the idea of His person; Chrysostom, Meyer saying: as head of the body, He fills and controls it throughout; Hofmann, Edwards regard Christ as the personal ego of the organism; Holsten thinks that the Christ denotes the Spirit, who generally, in Paul’s view, is identical, according to Holsten, with Christ’s glorified person. This last meaning is false, as well as the affirmation on which it rests. The Spirit is not identified either by Paul, or John, or any biblical writer, with the person of the Christ. The interpretations of Meyer and Hofmann are undoubtedly well founded, but it seems to me that the exact expression of Paul’s idea is rather this: The term the Christ here denotes the whole spiritual economy of which He is the principle in opposition to the natural economy to which the human body belongs. Similarly it might be said, in describing a law of natural humanity: It is so in Adam, or in instancing a law of the Jewish economy: It was so in Abraham. It is a way of forcibly calling to mind the unity of the personal principle on which an economy rests, and which forms, as it were, its permanent substance. In the first half of the following verse the apostle applies to the Church this figure taken from the human body.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. [Paul here strikes a fatal blow at that pride which animated those who held superior gifts. Can there be pride in one member of the body, as to the other members of which it is only an organic part? But all Christians, no matter how they differ in gifts, are parts of the body of Christ. Jesus illustrated the organic unity between himself and the church under the figure of the vine and the branches; and the apostles, carrying the figure forward so as to include the unity existing between Christians, spoke of Christ as the head and the church as the body, or Christ as the building and the church as the stones. All organism supposes both unity and diversity.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
12. The body of Christ is one, as He is one, yet innumerable have been the saints of all ages. Unification of Gods people is in the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1Co 12:12-31. Paul now elaborates an illustration from the body and its members. Here we have organic unity with diversity of function and interdependence of the whole and its parts, interdependence also of the parts themselves. All are essential to the welfare of every other part and of the whole; none, however important or beautiful, can affect to despise the humbler or unseemlier; all sympathetically respond to the pain or honour of the other. The illustration does not call for detailed exposition. In 1Co 12:12 Christ is not regarded as the head of the body, but as the body itself of which Christians form part. The Spirit in whom all received baptism is not many but one, so its effect is to constitute them all one body, thus cancelling distinctions of race and social condition even in their extreme forms (Gal 3:28, Col 3:11). And this Spirit not simply enfolds them, it saturates and penetrates them. In the application the readers are called body of Christ, i.e. such is their intrinsic quality; they are individually members, each in his sphere. God has appointed various members in the Church to exercise various functions (1Co 12:8-10, Rom 12:6-8*, Eph 4:11, cf. pp. 645f.), those of apostleship, prophecy, teaching, working of miracles, healing, helping, direction, and, as last of the list, speaking with tongues; the gift of interpreting tongues is added in 1Co 12:30. None of these functions is exercised by all, they are distributed among the members. They should desire the higher gifts. What he means is explained in 1 Corinthians 14. But before he pursues the theme, he points them to love as something better than all the gifts, in a panegyric which is the pearl of his writings. He had studied to some purpose the character and career of Jesus.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 12
Members; limbs and organs.–Christ; the body of Christ; that is, the church.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
I CORINTHIANS
SECTION 23 AS IN THE HUMAN BODY THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS, ALL NEEDFUL FOR THE GENERAL GOOD, SO IN THE CHURCH CH. 12:12-30
For, just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body; so also is Christ. For indeed in one Spirit we all were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether servants or freemen. And we all were made to drink one Spirit. For also the body is not one member, but many. If the foot say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body; it is not on this account not of the body. And, if the ear say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body; it is not on this account not of the body. If all the body were eye, where would be the hearing? If all were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has put the members, each one of them, in the body, according as His will was. And if all of them were one member, where would be the body? But now are there many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, No need of thee have I: or again the head to the feet, No need of you have I. But much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those which we think to be less honourable parts of the body, these we clothe with more abundant honour: and our unseemly parts have more abundant seemliness. But the seemly parts have no need. Yes, God has mixed together the body, to that which falls short having given more abundant honour; that there may be no division in the body, but that the same care the members may have on behalf of each other. And both if one member suffers, there suffer with it all the members: and if one member is glorified, there rejoice with it all the members.
And you are Christ’s body, and members part with part.
And some indeed God placed in the church-first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miraculous powers, then gracious gifts of healings, helpings, governings, kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all miraculous powers? have all gracious gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
This section explains the Spirit’s allotment of different gifts to different church-members, by the analogy of the human body. The analogy is asserted in 1Co 12:12; and justified in 1Co 12:13 by the spiritual facts of the church. Its lower side is expounded practically in 1Co 12:14-26 : 1Co 12:27 reasserts the analogy: 1Co 12:28-30 develop its higher side.
1Co 12:12. A comparison closely interwoven (cp. 1Co 6:15; Rom 12:4; Eph 1:23; Eph 4:16; Eph 4:25; Eph 5:30) into the mind of Paul; and among the sacred writers, peculiar to him.
Is one: as having one interest, and being instinctively conscious of this. See below. A living body is the most wonderful instance on earth of oneness amid variety. With great emphasis Paul says that all the members, though they are many, not only belong to, but are, one body. Just as we have many bodily members which together make up one undivided body, so also it is with Christ.
1Co 12:13. Proof of so also is Christ.
We all: emphatic, in contrast to the human body.
Baptized into, or for one body: see note, Rom 6:3. It denotes either the aim or the result of baptism; perhaps here the latter. They were made by baptism members of an outward and visible community which has a oneness similar to that of a human body. Nothing suggests any but the common sense of water-baptism. For the baptism of the Spirit (Mat 3:11; Mar 1:8; Luk 3:16; Joh 1:33; Act 1:5; Act 11:16) is never mentioned by Paul: and here body in contrast to Spirit suggests an outward and visible community, and an outward rite of admission to it.
In One Spirit: put prominently forward as the invisible source of the oneness of the visible community of the baptized. Just as the oneness of the human body flows from the one living spirit which animates, and moves in harmony, all the members. This oneness, a dead body has lost. Consequently, baptism is an effective union only when administered in the Spirit as its surrounding and life-giving element. In this sense Paul’s readers were in one Spirit baptized into and made members of one living body.
This assumes, as does 1Co 6:11, that all were genuine believers; and that in all such the Spirit is, 1Co 3:16; 1Co 6:19; 1Co 12:3. If at Corinth there were false brethren, these are left out of view.
Jews or Greeks etc.: national distinctions and the widest social distinctions being completely broken down.
And we all etc.; gives further prominence to the great teaching of 1Co 12:13 a, which permeates 1 Corinthians 12, and lies at the base of the comparison before us, viz. that every genuine member of the church has received into himself, henceforth to be to him the source of a new life, the One Spirit who makes the many members into one living body. Notice here two aspects of the Spirit’s relation to us. We receive Him into ourselves; and we are ourselves in Him. For He both permeates our being, moving and filling us from within, and by so doing raises us into a new element in which we henceforth live.
This verse does not imply that Paul’s readers received the Spirit in the moment of their baptism. Cp. Act 10:44-48. Baptism, like the Lord’s Supper, was commanded by Christ, and thus made a condition of salvation indispensable in all ordinary cases; and for the same reason, viz. to give to, and maintain in, His people a visible and united front before the world. There was, therefore, no way to the blessings of the Gospel except through baptism. And Paul could correctly say (Tit 3:5) that God saved His people through the laver of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit; and Ananias (Act 22:16) could say, Have thyself baptized and wash away thy sins. Consequently, without a purpose to be baptized there could be no intelligent and sustained faith; and therefore no reception of the Holy Spirit. But, nevertheless, the spirit is received by faith when we believe: Gal 3:14; Joh 7:39. In this verse Paul simply links together, as necessarily connected in all ordinary cases, the outward rite and the spiritual element which alone gave it reality.
1Co 12:14. Parallel with 1Co 12:12 a, developing for use the comparison there introduced. Paul accounts for the differences of nationality and rank in the church animated by one Spirit, by reminding us that also the human body is not all alike but consists of many members. This is made very clear in 1Co 12:15-16 by the evident absurdity of inferring that because one member is unlike some other it therefore does not enjoy the privilege of belonging to the body. This inference might be drawn not merely by the lowest members but by those next to the highest; and with equal absurdity. Notice that the members mentioned compared themselves, as men do, with others resembling, though superior to, themselves.
1Co 12:17-18. Not only is difference from others no proof that a member does not belong to the body, but it is a real gain to the body, which otherwise would be seriously defective. For the greater abundance of the best faculties would in no way supply the lack of the lesser ones.
But now: as things actually are, in contrast to all the members being alike.
God has put: the existing arrangement is His work.
According as He willed: when He formed the eternal purpose to make man. Paul strengthens his appeal to the Creator by pointing to His sovereign and deliberate determination.
Each one of them; suggests God’s special forethought about each member, and thus rebukes those who would have chosen otherwise.
1Co 12:19-20. The absurdity of the objections in 1Co 12:15-16, already exposed by the question 1Co 12:17, which evoked the contrary statement of 1Co 12:18, is still further exposed in 1Co 12:19 by another question, making with those of 1Co 12:17 a climax. Not only would a body in which the whole was endowed with the same faculties, even with the noblest faculties be seriously defective, but it would be no body at all, i.e. it would lack that which we all conceive to be the very essence of a living body. For a body is something composed of many and various parts endowed with widely different and mutually-supplementing capacities, all animated by one spirit and having one interest which all subserve. Therefore, to conceive all members to be equally endowed, would destroy our conception of a living body, a conception which we all feel to be not only very good but divinely wonderful. 1Co 12:20 is parallel with 1Co 12:18; and repeats the statement of 1Co 12:14 and 1Co 12:12, after showing the absurdity of the contrary supposition.
1Co 12:21. Continues the description, begun in 1Co 12:20, of the human body, by adding a fact implied in 1Co 12:17 and bearing very broadly on the Church of Christ. Without the labor of the hand, the lustre and the sight of the eye would perish. For, all the members need that which each one contributes to the general good, which is also its own good.
The head, the feet: widest extremes. Probably Paul thought only of the human body, not of Christ, the Head of the Church. As divine Christ needs (Act 17:25) no one. Yet perhaps we may say reverently that as incarnate He needs, for the purpose and according to the purpose for which He became man, the services and even the sufferings
(Col 1:24) of those whom He joins to Himself as members of His body. The argument of Estius that, since Christ does not need man’s help, the head here must be the pope, is overturned by his own words a few lines below: The metaphorical body is not bound to square with the human body in all points, but in those only for which the reference or comparison was chosen.
1Co 12:22-24 a. But etc.: in contrast to No need of you have I.
Much rather: we are much more ready to say what follows than what goes before. To which weaker members Paul refers, it is needless to determine. Many members, necessary to the body, are incapable of self-defense: and the strength of the strong members is ever ready to protect them. A special reference to the eye, is made unlikely by 1Co 12:21.
Less-honoured: viewed by us with less pride. For these we show our esteem by clothing them, for their well-being and comfort, carefully and it may be luxuriously and beautifully.
Unseemly: stronger than less honoured, completing the triple climax.
Seemliness: respectable in appearance, because suitably clothed. The face has no need of the care bestowed upon, and the expensive covering provided for, the feet. Nor do we adorn the eye. Thus we treat the members of our body, not according to their excellence or our esteem of them, but according to their need.
1Co 12:24-25. But God etc.: parallel to 1Co 12:18; as, in some sense, are 1Co 12:21-24 a to 1Co 12:15-17.
Mixed together: He has so joined the members as to make them one body.
Having given etc.; represents the honor paid to the less conspicuous parts of the human body as ordained by God. And rightly so. For God has put the members of the body in such relation to each other that the stronger and more beautiful are compelled for their own good and indeed for their existence to defend and care for, and thus to honor, the weaker members. Consequently, by God’s design, in the body there is no schism; i.e. no member seeks its own good to the disadvantage of others, thus separating itself and its aims from the other members.
Have the same care: a bold personification. Each member acts as though moved by anxious care for the well-being of the others. And it was in order to evoke this harmony and mutual care that God 80 joined the members together that they are compelled to pay special honor to the less honored ones. In other words, God has so linked our bodies together that we are compelled to treat our members not according to their beauty but their need; and has done this that there may be complete harmony in the body, and that each of our members may put forth its peculiar powers for the general good, thus securing for every part of our body the benefit of all the various powers with which its various members are endowed.
1Co 12:26. Instinctive recognition, by the members, of this common interest. Pain to any member at once affects all, thus moving them to joint action for its alleviation.
Suffer with: the Greek original of our word sympathize.
Rejoice-with it: a bold personification prompted by the intense feeling of oneness which pervades the human body.
1Co 12:27. Sudden transition from the human body, to which our attention has been for a time exclusively directed, to Paul’s readers, to remind them that, as proved in 1Co 12:13, a human body is a picture of their relation to Christ and to each other.
Part with part: each having only a part needing to be supplemented by the other parts.
1Co 12:28. That believers are Christ’s body, inasmuch as they are a visible community animated by the one Spirit of Christ, was proved in 1Co 12:13. Paul will now prove, by evident matters of fact, that they are members part with part; and that therefore the mutual relation of the members of a human body has a counterpart in them.
God put; corresponds with the same words in 1Co 12:18. Same word put (R.V. made.) in Act 20:28.
In the Church; corresponds with in the body; 1Co 12:18. The word apostles proves that Paul refers, not to the church at Corinth, but to the entire Christian community. So Php 3:6. Of this universal Church, each local church is a miniature pattern. Instead of continuing some to be apostles, others prophets etc., Paul breaks off the construction (cp. Rom 5:12; Rom 7:12) to say that in the Church the apostles hold the first, and the prophets the second rank. This would remind the readers that no one at Corinth stood in the first rank of the servants of Christ; and that the useful, but underestimated (cp. 25,) gifts of prophecy and teaching were next in worth.
Apostles: see under 1Co 15:7; Rom 1:1 : to be discussed under Gal 1:19.
Prophets: see note, 1Co 14:40.
Teachers: probably men who communicated knowledge acquired (under guidance of the Spirit) by ordinary methods, and held as a constant mental possession: the prophets spoke, apparently, under extraordinary and temporary impulses of the Spirit. In choosing elders or bishops, the church would naturally select for the more part men endowed with this gift. Cp. 1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:9. But the words God put directs attention, not to an official position, but to a divinely-given capacity for church work. Same order in Eph 4:11.
Then etc.: conspicuous mark of inferiority. By endowing certain men with miraculous powers, God put the powers in the Church.
Gracious-gifts of healings: converse order to 1Co 12:9, descending here from the general to the particular. The inferior position of these brilliant gifts is explained in 25.
Helpings: probably assistance to the sick and poor. (Same word in 2Ma 8:19; 3Ma 5:50, for miraculous help from God in time of need.) Cp. Act 20:35, where the cognate verb is used.
Tongues etc.: last pair here, as in 1Co 12:10.
1Co 12:29-30. By question after question Paul compels his readers to acknowledge how many capacities for usefulness each of them lacks and how much they need their own powers to be supplemented, as in a human body, by others. He thus completes his exposition of 1Co 12:4. Compare, in 1Co 12:8 ff, the repetition of to another.
To rebuke murmuring or contempt prompted by the lack of the possession of the more conspicuous gifts, to each one according as He pleases, 1Co 12:11; viz. that the Church may be a living body, in which each member both needs and helps the others and shares their joys and sorrows, that thus each member may be raised above the little circle of his own immediate interests to care for the general good. Consequently, our lack of certain brilliant gifts is no proof that we do not belong to Christ.
For we possess other gifts incompatible with those we lack and needful for the highest good of the community. An allotment of various gifts to various men is by the thoughtful care of God, and is needful for the welfare of the Church. All the members have capacities of usefulness; and all need to be supplemented by others. The human body is, therefore, both a picture of our relation to each other, and a pattern for our treatment of others. So far as a church imitates the action of a healthy human body, it attains its ideal and realizes the purpose of God. For then the endowment of each becomes an enrichment to the whole; and the church becomes the noblest embodiment of what is found in all God’s works, viz. Harmony amid infinite Variety.
That the Church is the Body of Christ, follows logically from the great fundamental doctrine of Rom 8:1-11 in connection with the obvious fact that the members of the Church, which in Paul’s day was one community throughout the world, are endowed with different capacities.
Indeed this analogy is suggested by the word Spirit. For, of this word the central idea is, an inward invisible principle permeating visible organized matter and giving to it unity, life, intelligence, power, and activity. See note, Rom 8:17. The analogy thus suggested is the most wonderful known to us. And its deep mark on the mind of Paul may be traced in Rom 12:4; 1Co 6:15; 1Co 12:12-27; Eph 1:23; Eph 4:12; Eph 4:16; Eph 4:25; Eph 5:30; Col 1:18; Col 1:24; Col 2:19.
In man we find, joined in most intimate and wonderful partnership, two elements absolutely different and belonging to different realms of being. The body is akin to the earth from which it came and with which it will soon mingle: the spirit is akin, not only to the immortal spirits around God’s throne, but to God Himself. Bodily life is the mysterious link binding together these elements. When this link is broken, each element returns (Ecc 12:7) whence it came. The body is the living dwelling place kept from corruption and kept alive and erect by the presence of the spirit; the instrument with which the spirit lays hold of, and uses, and enjoys, the material world, and the medium through which it reveals itself to other kindred spirits. The spirit is the animating principle giving to its material abode life, unity, intelligence, and power.
Now Paul has taught (Rom 8:1-11) that in each believer dwells the Spirit of Christ, as the source of immortal life and moral uprightness and the main-spring of new activity. Consequently, the Church is the material and living dwelling place of the Spirit of Christ, and the medium through which Christ manifests Himself to the world and works out His purposes of mercy. Through His people He smiles upon men, speaks words of life, and saves the lost. Therefore, since the spirit is One and believers many, and the many believers were joined in one outward and visible community, Paul could correctly speak of the Church as the body of Christ.
Again, in the Church as in a human body, each member is designed and fitted to do service for the whole, a service which can be rendered only so far as each member is animated by the one spirit. This service corresponds with the natural constitution of each member. But just as without life the eye cannot see, so, apart from the Spirit of Christ, the noblest human powers are powerless to do the work of God. Consequently, these various powers are gifts of the Spirit.
We notice also, as matter of fact, that in the church various men are endowed with various capacities, wealth, rank, learning, intellectual power, eloquence, administrative tact; and that these capacities seldom found together in one man, may be used for the good of the entire community. Even the helpless ones, by their cheerful patience reveal to those around the grace and glory of God.
Once more. The whole church, both the universal family of God on earth and any portion of it large or small, has one interest. Whatever develops or lessens the spiritual life of an individual is gain or loss to the whole community: for his influence will directly or indirectly affect the whole, for good or ill. And each church is a gainer or loser (cp. Rom 11:14) by the progress or the imperfection of neighboring churches. And all this is true, whether individuals and churches recognize it or not. We cannot benefit or injure others without thereby affecting ourselves. This wonderful oneness results from the presence of the One Spirit of God in the whole people of God. Therefore, by giving His Spirit to each believer, God has bound together the whole company of believers into one body having one interest.
From the foregoing analogy we may learn our relation to Christ and to each other. In a healthy human body each member is completely controlled and guided by the one spirit: and each member is instinctively conscious that the interest of the body is its own interest and puts forth all its powers for the general good. And so far as we are in spiritual health shall we be controlled by the Spirit of Christ, animated by desire for the general good, and in harmony with all other members. We cannot despise others; nor they despise us. We need, and may be enriched by, even the humblest: and it is our privilege if Christ abide in us, to be a benefit to all around. Again, just as every man defends every part of his body with his whole strength, so will Christ defend with His infinite power every one of His people. And just as a man’s body shares his fortunes, for good or ill, so we shall share the fortunes of Christ and shall sit down with Him, clothed in His royal raiment, upon His throne.
It is evident to all that the community of believers is not one in outward and visible form in the same sense now as in Paul’s day. This is to Catholics an argument against Protestantism. And this argument, which has some force, I cannot discuss here. But very strong reasons now keep back both individuals and churches from submitting to the sway of that great Church which is the lineal descendant of the apostolic Church. And the felt presence and life-giving activity of the Holy Spirit in these individuals and churches is to them complete proof that their separation from the See of Rome does not involve separation from Christ.
It is worthy of note that the important comparison of this section is peculiar, among the sacred writers, to Paul; but is found in the Latin writers. It is embodied in a well-known fable of Menenius Agrippa (B.C. 493) narrated by Livy, bk. ii. 32; and is found in Seneca, On Anger bk. ii. 31;* (* It is wrong to injure the Fatherland: therefore, a citizen also; for he is a part of the Fatherland…. What if the hands wish to injure the feet? the eyes to injure the hands? How all the members agree among themselves, because it is the interest of the whole that each be preserved.) and elsewhere. That the analogy was observed by heathens, need not surprise us. For society was ordained by God; and is, even in its fall, a rough outline of the kingdom of God. It is therefore an unconscious prophecy of the Church. We need not doubt that the comparison was suggested to Paul by modes of thought current among heathens. And, that this classic conception is reproduced only by the apostle who came most in contact with Greeks and Romans, is a mark of genuineness. The same metaphor is found (see Appendix A) in ch. 37 of Clement’s Epistle to the Corinthians; but is evidently a reference to the Epistle before us, which in other places Clement quotes expressly.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
12:12 {7} For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: {8} so also [is] {m} Christ.
(7) He sets forth his former saying by a similitude taken from the body: this, he says, is manifestly seen in the body, whose members are different, but yet so joined together, that they make but one body.
(8) The applying of the similitude. So must we also think, he says, of the mystical body of Christ: for all we who believe, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, are by one person by the same baptism, joined together with our head, that by that means, there may be framed one body compact of many members. And we have drunk one self same spirit, that is to say, a spiritual feeling, perseverance and motion common to us all out of one cup.
(m) Christ joined together with his Church.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The body and its members 12:12-14
Paul now compared the body of Christ, the universal church, though by extension the local church as well, to a human body. Again his point was not that the church needs to have unity but that it needs to have diversity.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The apostle spoke of this comparison in other epistles as well (Rom 12:4-5; Eph 4:11-13; Col 1:18; Col 2:19). He probably adapted the idea of the body politic, an essentially secular but commonly understood concept, to illustrate the church. There can be unity in a body without uniformity. Here the apostle stressed the fact that diversity among the members is an essential part of a unified body. Evidently the Corinthians were striving for unanimity and did not appreciate that there can and must be diversity in a "spiritual" church.
"One of the marks of an individual’s maturity is a growing understanding of, and appreciation for, his own body. There is a parallel in the spiritual life: as we mature in Christ, we gain a better understanding of the church, which is Christ’s body. The emphasis in recent years on ’body life’ has been a good one. It has helped to counteract the wrong emphasis on ’individual Christianity’ that can lead to isolation from the local church." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:607.]