1 Corinthians 12:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

NIV: Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

NASB: For the body is not one part, but many.

CSB: Indeed, the body is not one part but many.

NLT: Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.

KJV: For the body is not one member, but many.

NKJV: For in fact the body is not one member but many.

Paul's illustration of the church—the collective name for all believers everywhere—is that of a human body. Like a body, the church is one organism. Like a body, the church has many, diverse members who serve a variety of functions. A body is not made up of identical copies of just one part; a healthy body requires a diversity of forms and functions.

Paul began this discussion with an explanation of the supernatural gifts God's Holy Spirit distributes to every believer as He sees fit. Soon, Paul will identify each believer's "part" in the body of Christ by the gifts we have been given to use to serve the rest of the church. Our gifts determine our function, and our function determines our part in the body of Christ. Every Christian has the Spirit. Every Christian has received a gift to use in service. Every Christian is a member of Christ's body.

First Corinthians 12:12–31 continues Paul's teaching on the spiritual gifts as they cooperate to empower God's will for the church. The Christian church is like a human body. It is one individual organism made up of many different parts that serve a wide variety of functions. All those functions matter. Nobody should decide they don't like their gift or their role in the church and try to quit. The body needs each member to do its part in order to work properly. We must respect and value each other for the vital roles we serve in the church.

Apparently in response to further questions from Corinth, Paul describes what spiritual gifts are, who receives them, and what they are for. His emphasis is that particular spiritual gifts do not make believers spiritual. Every believer is spiritual because every Christian has God's Spirit with him or her. In addition, the Spirit gives one or more spiritual gifts to each believer to be used to serve the church. The church is like a body, in which every part is needed, and all the parts exist to serve one another. Every believer must discover how they are gifted by the Spirit and value the function they serve in Christ's body.

After tackling the issues of head coverings for women and the Lord's Supper in the previous chapter, Paul moves to the issue of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul insists that the display of spiritual gifts does not make one believer more spiritual or important than another. Every believer in Jesus has the Spirit, and the Spirit gives to every believer one or more spiritual gifts. The gifts are given for the common good, and the church is like a human body. Each gifted function in the church represents a body part, and all the parts are essential. This sets up a description of love, as defined from a Christian viewpoint, and famously recorded in chapter 13.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.

Accessed 4/27/2024 5:36:26 PM