1 Cor 12:12-31

Many Members, One Body
An Exegetical Study of 1 Corinthians 12:12–31

Executive Summary

I. Introduction and Context

II. One Body, Formed by One Spirit (12:12–14)

III. No Member May Withdraw (12:15–20)

IV. No Member May Despise Another (12:21–26)

V. Each Has a Place, and Love Is the Way (12:27–31)

VI. Theological Synthesis: The Body and Its Members

VII. Implications for the Local Church

VIII. Summary of Key Ideas

IX. Questions for Discussion and Reflection

Bibliography

Executive Summary

The church at Corinth was richly gifted and badly divided. Its members split into parties around favorite teachers (1 Corinthians 1:10–12), divided along lines of wealth at the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:18–22), and turned the gifts of the Spirit into a contest of rank. In 1 Corinthians 12:12–31 Paul answers that division with the most extended picture of the body anywhere in his letters. The word σῶμα (“body”) appears eighteen times in these sixteen verses (12:12–27), and μέλος (“member”) thirteen times.

The passage moves in four steps:

One body formed by one Spirit (12:12–14). The church is one body with many members, and that unity is God’s work: “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” Every believer, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, has received the same Spirit.
No member may withdraw (12:15–20). The foot that says “I am not a hand” and the ear that says “I am not an eye” do not stop belonging to the body. Feelings of inferiority do not change God’s placement: “God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”
No member may despise another (12:21–26). The eye cannot tell the hand, “I have no need of you.” The weaker members are necessary, and God has “composed the body” so that the members care for one another, suffer together, and rejoice together.
Each has a place, and love is the way (12:27–31). “You are the body of Christ, and members individually.” God appoints differing gifts; not all have the same gift; believers should desire the gifts that build up the church, and above all walk the “more excellent way” of love (chapter 13).

The lesson for the local church is double. To members who feel they do not matter, Paul says: you belong, and the body needs you. To members who feel they do not need others, Paul says: you are wrong, and the body needs them. Unity in Christ is not uniformity. It is many different members, placed by God, caring for one another in love.

This study belongs to the series on the unity of the body. It is the foundational New Testament passage for the series’ picture of the church as one body with many members.

I. Introduction and Context

A. The Passage and How This Study Quotes It

The passage under study is 1 Corinthians 12:12–31 (NKJV). Rather than printing the whole passage at once, this study quotes each verse or group of verses at the head of the section that explains it, so the text and its explanation stay together. Readers are encouraged to read the whole passage in their own Bible before beginning.

B. The Problem at Corinth

A divided church. Paul’s first appeal in the letter is for unity: “that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The Corinthians had formed parties around Paul, Apollos, and Peter (1 Corinthians 1:12). At the Lord’s Supper, the wealthy ate while the poor went hungry (1 Corinthians 11:18–22).
A gifted church. Paul thanks God that the Corinthians “come short in no gift” (1 Corinthians 1:7). But they used the gifts to rank one another. Matthew Poole traces the divisions to differences in gifts: some looked down on others, and some disowned their place in the church.[1]
Chapters 12–14. Paul answers their questions about “spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:1) in three movements:
- Chapter 12: one Spirit gives many gifts to one body.
- Chapter 13: love is the “more excellent way” without which every gift is worthless.
- Chapter 14: gifts are to be used for the building up of the church.
The verses before our passage (12:4–11). Paul has just said that there are “diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:4), that “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all” (1 Corinthians 12:7), and that the Spirit distributes “to each one individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11). Verses 12–31 explain these truths with the picture of the body.

C. The Body Image in the Ancient World

The comparison between a community and a body was familiar to Paul’s readers. The best-known version was the fable told by Menenius Agrippa, recorded by the Roman historian Livy, in which the limbs rebel against the belly and starve themselves. The Cambridge Bible notes that the image was common and that Gentile readers would have known the fable.[2] The Pulpit Commentary adds that Seneca and Marcus Aurelius also used the idea of mutual dependence.[3]
Paul’s difference. In the ancient fable, the body is the city and its point is civic order: the lower classes should stay in their place. Paul’s point is different. The body is united not by civic duty but by shared life in Christ, and Paul’s argument protects the weaker members rather than keeping them in their place.[4]

D. The Structure of the Passage

Verses	Movement	Key Greek
12–14	One body, formed by one Spirit	ἓν σῶμα, ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι
15–20	No member may withdraw	οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος
21–26	No member may despise another	χρείαν σου οὐκ ἔχω; συνεκέρασεν
27–31	Each has a place; love is the way	σῶμα Χριστοῦ; ὁδὸν καθ’ ὑπερβολήν

E. The Place of This Study in the Series

The study of Ephesians 4:11–16 in this series describes how the body grows through gifted leaders who equip the saints, and through every member doing its share.
This study goes back to the foundation: what it means that the church is one body of many members, why every member belongs, and why every member is needed.
Companion studies on Romans 12:3–8 and Colossians 1:18–24 with 2:19 take up the same picture from two further angles: humility in using gifts, and Christ the Head of the body.

II. One Body, Formed by One Spirit (12:12–14)

A. “So also is Christ” (12:12)

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)

Unity and plurality together. The verse holds both truths in one sentence: the body is “one” and has “many members”; the members are “many” and are “one body.” Neither truth may be given up for the other.
“So also is Christ.” We would expect Paul to say “so also is the church.” Instead he says “Christ.” Meyer explains that Christ is the Head who has the church as His body, so the body cannot be named without naming Him.[5] Bengel, following Augustine, speaks of “the whole Christ,” Head and body together.[6] JFB says the same: the whole Christ, head and members.[7]
A living organism, not a heap. The Expositor’s Greek Testament contrasts a body with a pile of identical stones: a body lives by the different functions of its parts, so the unity of the church is the unity of a living organism.[8] JFB states the principle in a memorable line: “Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God.”[9]

B. “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (12:13)

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)

ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι (“by one Spirit,” or “in one Spirit”). The preposition ἐν can mean “by” (the Spirit as agent) or “in” (the Spirit as the element). The Expositor’s Greek Testament takes it as the element and power of the baptism; JFB as “in virtue of” or “through.”[10] Either way, the Spirit is the one who unites believers into one body.
Which baptism? Barnes and Gill hold that Paul refers to the Spirit’s work of regeneration rather than to water baptism as such; Meyer, Vincent, and the Cambridge Bible see a reference to the Spirit received at baptism, which for Paul marked the beginning of the Christian life.[11] On any reading, the point is the same: the believer’s union with the body is not a voluntary association he later joins. It happens when he is joined to Christ by the Spirit.
“We all” (ἡμεῖς πάντες). The aorist ἐβαπτίσθημεν (“we were baptized”) points to a completed event in the past.[12] Every believer at Corinth, including those the others looked down on, had received the same Spirit and been placed in the same body.
“Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.” The two deepest divisions of the ancient world, by birth and by social standing, do not divide the body. Paul says the same in Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11. Gill remarks that nation or social condition matters not for standing in Christ’s body.[13]
“Made to drink into one Spirit” (ἓν πνεῦμα ἐποτίσθημεν). The verb ποτίζω means “to give to drink” or “to water,” as a gardener waters plants (1 Corinthians 3:6–8). Barnes saw a reference to the Lord’s Supper; Meyer and the Expositor’s Greek Testament reject that view, since the aorist points to a single past event, and take it as a second picture of receiving the Spirit at conversion.[14] The believer is both immersed in the Spirit and filled with the Spirit.

C. “The body is not one member but many” (12:14)

For in fact the body is not one member but many. (1 Corinthians 12:14)

This short verse is the hinge of the passage. Having stressed unity (12:12–13), Paul now stresses diversity. A body with only one member would not be a body (12:19). The rest of the chapter explains why the many members must accept one another.

III. No Member May Withdraw (12:15–20)

A. The Foot and the Ear (12:15–16)

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:15)

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:16)

The problem of inferiority. The foot compares itself with the hand, and the ear with the eye. JFB notices that each compares itself with the member nearest to it, not with the highest; envy usually looks at the person just above us.[15] The Expositor’s Greek Testament describes these members as discouraged, envious of the shining gifts of others.[16]
The answer. Feeling left out does not make a member stop belonging. Ellicott reads the verse as a statement: the foot “is not on that account not of the body.”[17] A believer who says “I am not needed here” is mistaken about the body and about himself.
The point for the church. Bengel warns that the humbler members “ought not to be vilified by themselves.”[18] Some believers withdraw from church life because they do not have the most visible gifts. Paul says they are still members and are still needed.

B. “Where would be the hearing?” (12:17)

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? (1 Corinthians 12:17)

Paul shows the absurdity of a body made of one kind of member. A giant eye could see but not hear; a giant ear could hear but not smell. A church in which everyone had the same gift would be equally helpless.

C. “God has set the members … just as He pleased” (12:18)

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (1 Corinthians 12:18)

νυνὶ δέ (“but now”) turns from the absurd picture to the reality.
ἔθετο (“set,” “placed”). God Himself has placed each member. The same verb returns in verse 28: “God has appointed these in the church.” No member chose its own place.
καθὼς ἠθέλησεν (“just as He pleased”). Verse 11 said the Spirit gives gifts “as He wills.” The arrangement of the body reflects God’s will, not human ranking. To resent one’s place is to quarrel with God’s wisdom.

D. “Many members, yet one body” (12:19–20)

And if they were all one member, where would the body be? (1 Corinthians 12:19)

But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:20)

Verse 20 repeats the theme of the whole passage in seven words. Diversity is not a threat to unity; it is the condition of being a body at all.

IV. No Member May Despise Another (12:21–26)

A. “I have no need of you” (12:21)

And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” (1 Corinthians 12:21)

The opposite problem. Verses 15–16 addressed members who felt inferior. Verse 21 addresses members who feel superior. The eye and the head are the members most honored; the hand and the feet do the hard work.
χρείαν σου οὐκ ἔχω (“I have no need of you”) is the language of self-sufficiency. The Expositor’s Greek Testament connects this scorn to the divisions at Corinth.[19] Meyer says such contempt can find no warrant in another member’s weakness or lower honor.[20]
The point for the church. Gifted and prominent believers are tempted to think the church could manage without the ordinary members. Paul says it cannot.

B. The Weaker Members Are Necessary (12:22)

No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. (1 Corinthians 12:22)

“Seem to be weaker” (τὰ δοκοῦντα … ἀσθενέστερα). The word δοκοῦντα (“seem”) matters. The members only appear weaker. The Expositor’s Greek Testament and the Cambridge Bible think of the delicate inner organs, such as the eye or the brain, which cannot protect themselves but are vital.[21] Barnes observes that a person can live without an arm but not without a heart.[22]
ἀναγκαῖα (“necessary”). The weaker members are not merely tolerated; they are indispensable. Barnes applies this to the church: humble, quiet believers are often more vital to its welfare than the gifted and eloquent.[23]

C. Greater Honor to the Less Honorable (12:23–24a)

And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. (1 Corinthians 12:23–24a)

Paul’s illustration is clothing. We cover and adorn the parts of the body we consider less presentable; we leave the face and hands uncovered. Ellicott makes this point directly.[24] The care we give a member is not measured by its beauty.
The point for the church. A congregation shows its health by the honor it gives to members the world overlooks: the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the newcomer, the believer who serves out of sight.

D. “God composed the body” (12:24b)

But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, (1 Corinthians 12:24b)

συνεκέρασεν (from συγκεράννυμι) means “to mix together,” “to blend.” Thayer explains it at this verse as God causing the parts “to combine into an organic structure.”[25] The verb occurs only here and in Hebrews 4:2. Vincent notes that the idea of mutual adjustment is added to that of mingling.[26]
God, not the members, arranged the body. The verse begins with ἀλλά (“but”): over against human estimates of honor stands God’s design. JFB describes the arrangement as built “on the principle of mutual compensation.”[27]
τῷ ὑστεροῦντι (“to that part which lacks it”). God gives more honor to the member that lacks it. Grace reverses the world’s ranking.

E. “No schism in the body” (12:25)

that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. (1 Corinthians 12:25)

σχίσμα (“schism,” “division”) is the word Paul used in 1:10 (“that there be no divisions among you”) and 11:18 (“I hear that there are divisions among you”). This verse states God’s purpose in composing the body: to prevent the very divisions that were tearing Corinth apart. The Cambridge Bible defines the word here as “discordance of aims and interests.”[28]
“The same care for one another” (τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων μεριμνῶσι). The verb μεριμνάω means “to be anxious,” “to care for.” Jesus used it of anxious worry (Matthew 6:25), and Paul used it of his own daily “deep concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28, where the noun is used). Here it describes members who carry one another’s welfare on their hearts. Bengel notes that the plural verb stresses the care of all the members.[29]
Unity is not uniformity. The Pulpit Commentary observes that unity does not demand uniformity.[30] The cure for schism is not making every member the same but teaching every member to care for the others.

F. Suffering Together, Rejoicing Together (12:26)

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26)

συμπάσχει (“suffers with”) occurs only here and in Romans 8:17, where believers “suffer with Him” (Christ). συγχαίρει (“rejoices with”) is the same verb used in 13:6: love “rejoices in the truth.”
The picture. JFB and the Pulpit Commentary both pass on Chrysostom’s illustration: when a thorn enters the heel, the whole body feels it; when the head is crowned, the whole person is honored.[31] The Expositor’s Greek Testament observes that the body’s nerves make this shared feeling real, not imagined.[32]
Both halves are hard. It is often easier to weep with a suffering brother than to rejoice when a brother is honored. Envy makes the second half of the verse a real test of love (compare Romans 12:15).
The point for the church. A congregation in which members suffer alone, or in which one member’s honor breeds jealousy, is acting as if it were not a body.

V. Each Has a Place, and Love Is the Way (12:27–31)

A. “You are the body of Christ” (12:27)

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

ὑμεῖς (“you”) is emphatic: you Corinthians, divided as you are, are Christ’s body.
σῶμα Χριστοῦ has no article in Greek. The commentators agree that Paul does not mean the Corinthians are one of many separate bodies of Christ. Meyer says each church is not a separate body.[33] Ellicott says they are “a part of it, not the whole body.”[34] JFB pictures each local church as the body “in miniature.”[35] The local congregation is a real expression of the one body of Christ.
μέλη ἐκ μέρους (“members individually,” literally “members from a part”). Vincent prefers “severally”: each person has a distinct place and function.[36] The Expositor’s Greek Testament explains that each member has the part allotted to it.[37]

B. “God has appointed these in the church” (12:28)

And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28)

ἔθετο ὁ θεός (“God has appointed”) repeats the verb of verse 18. God placed the members in the body; God appointed the gifts in the church.
A ranked beginning. Paul numbers the first three: “first … second … third.” The Expositor’s Greek Testament says these are listed in order of importance, and the remaining gifts follow without ranking.[38] Apostles, prophets, and teachers come first because they lay and build the foundation of the church’s faith (compare Ephesians 2:20; 4:11).
ἀντιλήμψεις (“helps”) occurs only here in the New Testament. Meyer and Vincent connect it with the care of the poor and sick, the kind of work later associated with deacons.[39] The Cambridge Bible describes it as mutual assistance: helping the needy, tending the sick, teaching the ignorant.[40]
κυβερνήσεις (“administrations”) also occurs only here. Thayer defines it as “a governing, government,” and traces it to κυβερνάω, “to govern.”[41] Vincent explains the root as steering a ship; the related noun κυβερνήτης is the “pilot” or “shipmaster” of Acts 27:11 and Revelation 18:17.[42] The gift is the ability to guide the church wisely through difficult waters.
Tongues last. The gift the Corinthians prized most comes last in the list. The Pulpit Commentary says it was ranked last in value.[43] Chapter 14 explains why: the gifts that build up the whole church matter more than those that build up only the speaker (1 Corinthians 14:4–5).
The point for the church. “Helps” and “administrations” sit in the same list as apostles and prophets. The quiet helper and the careful organizer are as much gifts of God to the church as the gifted preacher.

C. “Are all apostles?” (12:29–30)

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? (1 Corinthians 12:29)

Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12:30)

μή expects “no.” Each question in Greek begins with μή, which signals that the expected answer is “No.” Not all are apostles; not all speak with tongues. No single gift is given to every believer, and no gift is the mark of true spirituality.
The point for the church. A church that expects every member to have the same gift, or that makes one gift the badge of maturity, has forgotten verses 17–19.

D. “Earnestly desire the best gifts” (12:31)

But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. (1 Corinthians 12:31)

ζηλοῦτε (“earnestly desire”) can be read as a command (“be zealous for”) or as a statement (“you are zealous for”). Most commentators, including Barnes, Ellicott, and Meyer, take it as a command; the Cambridge Bible hears in it an indirect rebuke of the Corinthians’ envy, since the word can also mean “to be jealous.”[44] The NKJV reads it as a command.
“The best gifts” (τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ μείζονα). Literally “the greater gifts.” Which are greater? Paul answers in chapter 14: “he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification” (1 Corinthians 14:5). The Cambridge Bible defines the best gifts as those that promote the building up of the church.[45] Bengel ranks the gifts by how far each serves love.[46]
“A more excellent way” (καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδόν). The word ὑπερβολή means “excess,” “beyond measure.” Meyer calls it “a super-excellent way.”[47] Ellicott notes that it is not another gift but a more excellent way of seeking the gifts.[48] That way is love, described in chapter 13. Without love, the greatest gift profits nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1–3).

VI. Theological Synthesis: The Body and Its Members

The church is one body because Christ is one. “So also is Christ” (12:12). The unity of the church is not built by agreement or organization; it flows from union with Christ.
The Spirit makes the body. Every believer was baptized by one Spirit into one body and made to drink of one Spirit (12:13). Membership in the body is the gift of God, not the achievement of the member.
Human distinctions do not divide the body. Jew and Greek, slave and free, are equally members (12:13).
Diversity is God’s design. “God has set the members … just as He pleased” (12:18). Differing gifts are not a problem to be solved but the shape of a living body.
No member may withdraw. Feelings of inferiority do not cancel God’s placement (12:15–16).
No member may despise another. Self-sufficiency is a lie; the weaker members are necessary (12:21–22).
God honors the overlooked. He composed the body so that greater honor goes to the part that lacks it (12:24).
The purpose is mutual care. God arranged the body so there would be no schism and the members would care for one another, suffering and rejoicing together (12:25–26).
Every gift is God’s appointment, and love is the way. The gifts differ in kind and in value for building up the church; the more excellent way is love (12:28–31).

VII. Implications for the Local Church

Receive every believer as a fellow member. “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (12:13). Align: treat believers of every background, income, and education as members of the same body, and refuse to form circles that leave others out.
Stop disqualifying yourself. The foot is still of the body (12:15). Adjust: if you have stepped back because you think your gift is small, step back in. The body is weaker without you.
Stop discounting others. The eye cannot say, “I have no need of you” (12:21). Adjust: name one member of the congregation whose contribution you have overlooked, and thank him or her this week.
Honor the overlooked. God gives greater honor to the part that lacks it (12:24). Align: make room in the church’s life for the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and the newcomer, not as objects of charity but as members whose gifts the body needs.
Accept your place as God’s choice. “Just as He pleased” (12:18). Adjust: thank God for the gift and place He has given you rather than envying another’s.
Care in concrete ways. “The same care for one another” (12:25). Align: know who in the congregation is suffering, and let them know they are not suffering alone.
Rejoice when others are honored. “All the members rejoice with it” (12:26). Adjust: when another believer is praised or blessed, examine your heart for envy and choose to rejoice.
Do not make one gift the badge of maturity. “Are all apostles?” (12:29). Align: measure spiritual maturity by love and service, not by the visibility of a gift.
Desire the gifts that build up others. “Earnestly desire the best gifts” (12:31). Adjust: ask how your gifts can strengthen others in the congregation, not how they can draw attention to you.
Walk the more excellent way. (12:31; 13:1–3) Align: before you serve, examine whether you are serving in love.

VIII. Summary of Key Ideas

Paul answers the divisions at Corinth with the picture of the church as one body with many members.
The body belongs to Christ; Paul can say “so also is Christ” because Christ and His church are one (12:12).
Every believer was baptized by one Spirit into one body and made to drink of one Spirit; ethnic and social distinctions do not divide the body (12:13).
Members who feel inferior may not withdraw: the foot and the ear are still part of the body (12:15–16).
God placed every member in the body as He pleased (12:18).
Members who feel superior may not despise others: the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you” (12:21).
The members that seem weaker are necessary, and God composed the body to give greater honor to the part that lacks it (12:22–24).
God’s purpose is that there be no schism, but that members care for one another, suffering and rejoicing together (12:25–26).
The local church is the body of Christ, and each believer has an individual place (12:27).
God appoints differing gifts; no single gift belongs to all; believers should desire the gifts that build up the church and walk the more excellent way of love (12:28–31).

IX. Questions for Discussion and Reflection

A. Discussion Questions

Why do you think some believers conclude, like the foot and the ear, that they do not really belong to the church? What could the congregation do to answer that feeling?
Where are we most tempted, like the eye, to say to another member, “I have no need of you”?
Which members of our congregation “seem to be weaker” but are in fact necessary? How do we show them honor?
Which is harder for you: suffering with a member who suffers, or rejoicing with a member who is honored? Why?
How would our church be different if every member believed that God placed him or her in the body “just as He pleased”?

B. Analysis Questions

Why does Paul write “so also is Christ” in verse 12 rather than “so also is the church”? What does that wording teach about the relationship between Christ and His body?
Compare verses 15–16 with verse 21. What two opposite attitudes threaten the body, and how does Paul answer each?
What does the verb συνεκέρασεν (“composed,” 12:24) add to the argument that began with ἔθετο (“set,” 12:18)?
Trace the word σχίσμα in 1 Corinthians 1:10, 11:18, and 12:25. How does chapter 12 address the problem first raised in chapter 1?
How do verses 29–31 prepare for chapters 13 and 14? What makes a gift “greater”?

C. Personal Evaluation Question

Have I been acting like the foot that withdraws, or like the eye that says “I have no need of you”? What one step will I take this month to take my place in the body and to honor another member?

D. Worldview Impact Question

Our culture ranks people by visibility, wealth, and success, and teaches us either to compete or to withdraw. How does Paul’s picture of a body in which God gives greater honor to the members that lack it challenge that way of thinking, and how should it change the way believers treat one another?

Bibliography

Directly Retrieved and Verified This Session

Barnes, Albert. Barnes’ Notes on the Bible. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Bengel, Johann Albrecht. Gnomon of the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Ellicott, Charles John, ed. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Gill, John. Exposition of the Entire Bible. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Jamieson, Robert, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm. Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982. Text checked at Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com.

Poole, Matthew. Commentary on the Holy Bible. 1 Corinthians 12:15. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-15.htm.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

The Expositor’s Greek Testament. Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

SBL Greek New Testament. Edited by Michael W. Holmes. Morphologically tagged text, MorphGNT. https://github.com/morphgnt/sblgnt.

Spence, H. D. M., and Joseph S. Exell, eds. The Pulpit Commentary. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Entries for συγκεράννυμι and κυβέρνησις. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/greek/.

Vincent, Marvin R. Word Studies in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 12:12–31. Bible Hub. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm.

Located Only Through Secondary Summary

Livy. History of Rome 2.32. The fable of Menenius Agrippa, as reported by the Cambridge Bible and the Pulpit Commentary.

Seneca and Marcus Aurelius on mutual dependence, as reported by the Pulpit Commentary.

Chrysostom. Illustration of the thorn in the heel and the crowned head, as reported by JFB and the Pulpit Commentary.

Recommended but Not Directly Consulted This Session

Bauer, Walter, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Ciampa, Roy E., and Brian S. Rosner. The First Letter to the Corinthians. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.

Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

[1] Matthew Poole, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:15, Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-15.htm.

[2] The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, on 1 Corinthians 12:12, Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_corinthians/12-12.htm. The fable is in Livy, History of Rome 2.32, which was not consulted directly.

[3] H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell, eds., The Pulpit Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:15–16, Bible Hub. The references to Seneca and Marcus Aurelius were not checked against those authors.

[4] Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:12. The observation that Paul’s argument protects the weaker members is this study’s, drawn from verses 22–24.

[5] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:12, Bible Hub.

[6] Johann Albrecht Bengel, Gnomon of the New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:12, Bible Hub. Bengel cites Augustine; his work was not consulted directly.

[7] Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:12, Bible Hub.

[8] The Expositor’s Greek Testament, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, on 1 Corinthians 12:12, Bible Hub.

[9] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:12.

[10] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:13; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:13.

[11] Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:13, Bible Hub; John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:13, Bible Hub; Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:13; Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:13, Bible Hub; Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:13.

[12] Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:13.

[13] Gill, Exposition, on 1 Corinthians 12:13.

[14] Barnes, Notes, on 1 Corinthians 12:13; Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:13; Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:13.

[15] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:15.

[16] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:15–16.

[17] Charles John Ellicott, ed., Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Corinthians 12:15, Bible Hub.

[18] Bengel, Gnomon, on 1 Corinthians 12:15–16.

[19] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:21–22.

[20] Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:21–22.

[21] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:22; Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:22.

[22] Barnes, Notes, on 1 Corinthians 12:22.

[23] Barnes, Notes, on 1 Corinthians 12:22.

[24] Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Corinthians 12:22–23.

[25] Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. “συγκεράννυμι,” Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/greek/4786.htm. Thayer predates the discovery of the Koine papyri; confirm in BDAG before teaching.

[26] Vincent, Word Studies, on 1 Corinthians 12:24.

[27] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:24.

[28] Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:25.

[29] Bengel, Gnomon, on 1 Corinthians 12:25.

[30] Spence and Exell, Pulpit Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:25.

[31] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:26; Spence and Exell, Pulpit Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:26. Both attribute the illustration to Chrysostom, whose work was not consulted directly.

[32] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:26.

[33] Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:27.

[34] Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Corinthians 12:27.

[35] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:27.

[36] Vincent, Word Studies, on 1 Corinthians 12:27.

[37] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:27.

[38] Expositor’s Greek Testament, on 1 Corinthians 12:28.

[39] Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:28; Vincent, Word Studies, on 1 Corinthians 12:28.

[40] Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:28.

[41] Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. “κυβέρνησις,” Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/greek/2941.htm. Confirm in BDAG before teaching.

[42] Vincent, Word Studies, on 1 Corinthians 12:28.

[43] Spence and Exell, Pulpit Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:28.

[44] Barnes, Notes, on 1 Corinthians 12:31; Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Corinthians 12:31; Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:31; Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:31.

[45] Cambridge Bible, on 1 Corinthians 12:31.

[46] Bengel, Gnomon, on 1 Corinthians 12:31.

[47] Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Commentary, on 1 Corinthians 12:31.

[48] Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers, on 1 Corinthians 12:31.