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Monday, October 14th, 2024
the Week of Proper 23 / Ordinary 28
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

1 Corinthians 12:17

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Scofield Reference Index - Faith;   The Topic Concordance - Body;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Selfishness;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Church;   Gifts of the spirit;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Body;   Body of Christ;   Christians, Names of;   Church, the;   Worship;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Holy Ghost;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Body;   Body of Christ;   Church;   Humanity;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Brotherly Love;   Inspiration;   Spiritual Gifts;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Character;   Dependence;   Gifts;   Good;   Unity (2);   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Fruit;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corinthians, First Epistle to the;   Member;   Redeemer;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
If the whole body were an eye, it would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, it would not be able to smell anything.
Revised Standard Version
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?
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If all the body were an eye where were then the eare? If all were hearynge: where were the smellynge?
Hebrew Names Version
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
International Standard Version
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole bodybody">[fn] were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
New American Standard Bible
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
New Century Version
If the whole body were an eye, it would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, it would not be able to smell.
Update Bible Version
If the whole body is an eye, where is the hearing? If the whole is hearing, where is the smelling?
Webster's Bible Translation
If the whole body [were] an eye, where [were] the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling?
English Standard Version
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
World English Bible
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
Weymouth's New Testament
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the nostrils be?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If al the bodi is the iye, where is heryng? and if al the bodi is heryng, where is smellyng?
English Revised Version
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
Berean Standard Bible
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
Contemporary English Version
If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn't hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn't smell a thing.
Amplified Bible
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole [body] were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
American Standard Version
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
Bible in Basic English
If all the body was an eye, where would be the hearing? if all was hearing, where would be the smelling?
Complete Jewish Bible
If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If it were all hearing, how could it smell?
Darby Translation
If the whole body [were] an eye, where the hearing? if all hearing, where the smelling?
Etheridge Translation
For if the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing ? And if the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
Murdock Translation
And if the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? Or if it were all hearing, where would be the smelling?
King James Version (1611)
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
New Living Translation
If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
New Life Bible
If the whole body were an eye how would it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how would it smell?
New Revised Standard
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
Geneva Bible (1587)
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
George Lamsa Translation
If the whole body were eyes, where would hearing be? And if the whole were hearing, where would smelling be?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, the whole body, were, an eye, where were the hearing? If, the whole were, hearing, where were, the smelling?
Douay-Rheims Bible
If the whole body were the eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
If all the body [were] an eye, where were then the hearyng? If all [were] hearyng, where were the smellyng?
Good News Translation
If the whole body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it were only an ear, how could it smell?
Christian Standard Bible®
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
King James Version
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
Lexham English Bible
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
Literal Translation
If all the body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If all hearing, where the smelling?
Young's Literal Translation
If the whole body [were] an eye, where the hearing? if the whole hearing, where the smelling?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf all the body were an eye, where were then the hearinge? Yf all were hearinge, where then the smellinge?
Mace New Testament (1729)
if the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? if the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
New English Translation
If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell?
New King James Version
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
Simplified Cowboy Version
If the whole body were an eye, how would you listen? If your whole body were an ear, how would you smell the steak cooking?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
Legacy Standard Bible
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

Contextual Overview

12You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. 14I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. 19But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair? 25The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Corinthians 12:21, 1 Corinthians 12:29, 1 Samuel 9:9, Psalms 94:9, Psalms 139:13-16, Proverbs 20:12

Cross-References

Genesis 12:14
When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh's princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.
1 Chronicles 21:22
David said to Araunah, "Give me the site of the threshing floor so I can build an altar to God . Charge me the market price; we're going to put an end to this disaster."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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

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

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

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If the whole body ... - The idea in this verse is, that all the parts of the body are useful in their proper place, and that it would be as absurd to require or expect that all the members of the church should have the same endowments, as it would be to attempt to make the body “all eye.” If all were the same; if all had the same endowments, important offices which are now secured by the other members would be unknown. All, therefore, are to be satisfied with their allotment; all are to be honored in their appropriate place.


 
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