1 Corinthians 12:18

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But as it is, God put the parts in the body as he wanted them. He made a place for each one.

Revised Standard Version
But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But now hath god disposed the membres every one of them in the body at his awne pleasure.

Hebrew Names Version
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.

International Standard Version
But at this very time God has arranged the parts, every one of them, in the body just as he wanted to.Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 3:5,11; 12:28;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.

New Century Version
If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But truly God put all the parts, each one of them, in the body as he wanted them.

Update Bible Version
But now God has set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him.

Webster's Bible Translation
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

English Standard Version
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

World English Bible
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

Weymouth's New Testament
But, as a matter of fact, God has arranged the parts in the body--every one of them--as He has seen fit.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But now God hath set membris, and ech of hem in the bodi, as he wolde.

English Revised Version
But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him.

Berean Standard Bible
But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design.

Contemporary English Version
But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best.

Amplified Bible
But now [as things really are], God has placed and arranged the parts in the body, each one of them, just as He willed and saw fit [with the best balance of function].

American Standard Version
But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him.

Bible in Basic English
But now God has put every one of the parts in the body as it was pleasing to him.

Complete Jewish Bible
But as it is, God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as he wanted them.

Darby Translation
But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, according as it has pleased [him].

Etheridge Translation
But now hath Aloha set all the members severally in the body as he willed.

Murdock Translation
But now hath God placed every one of the members in the body, according to his pleasure.

King James Version (1611)
But now hath God set the members, euery one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

New Living Translation
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.

New Life Bible
But God has put all the parts into the body just as He wants to have them.

New Revised Standard
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But nowe hath God disposed the members euery one of them in the bodie at his owne pleasure.

George Lamsa Translation
But now God has set every member in the body, as it has pleased him.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, now, hath God set the members, each one of them in the body, even as he pleased.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But now God hath set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But nowe hath God set ye members, euery one seuerally in the body, as it hath pleased hym.

Good News Translation
As it is, however, God put every different part in the body just as he wanted it to be.

Christian Standard Bible®
But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted.

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

Lexham English Bible
But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body just as he wanted.

Literal Translation
But now God set the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He desired.

Young's Literal Translation
and now, God did set the members each one of them in the body, according as He willed,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But now hath God set the membres, euery one seuerally in the body, as it hath pleased him.

Mace New Testament (1729)
now God disposed every one of the members in the body as he thought fit.

New English Translation
But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided.

New King James Version
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

Simplified Cowboy Version
I'm going on and on so you will understand that the church, or the Body of Christ, is made up of vastly different parts, doing vastly different things, but all for the same Lord.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

Legacy Standard Bible
But now God has appointed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

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

hath: 1 Corinthians 12:24, 1 Corinthians 12:28

as it: 1 Corinthians 12:11, 1 Corinthians 3:5, 1 Corinthians 15:38, Psalms 110:3, Psalms 135:6, Isaiah 46:10, Jonah 1:14, Luke 10:21, Luke 12:32, Romans 12:3, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:9, Revelation 4:11

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 4:9 - are Matthew 6:27 - by 1 Corinthians 1:30 - in

Cross-References

Genesis 3:13
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

Genesis 4:10
God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."

Genesis 12:9
Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.

Genesis 12:10
Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, "Look. We both know that you're a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they're going to say, ‘Aha! That's his wife!' and kill me. But they'll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you're my sister. Because of you, they'll welcome me and let me live."

Genesis 31:26
"What do you mean," said Laban, "by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn't you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn't permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.' I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?"

Genesis 44:15
Joseph accused them: "How can you have done this? You have to know that a man in my position would have discovered this."

Exodus 32:21
Moses said to Aaron, "What on Earth did these people ever do to you that you involved them in this huge sin?"

Joshua 7:19
Joshua spoke to Achan, "My son, give glory to God , the God of Israel. Make your confession to him. Tell me what you did. Don't keep back anything from me."

1 Samuel 14:43
Saul confronted Jonathan. "What did you do? Tell me!" Jonathan said, "I licked a bit of honey off the tip of the staff I was carrying. That's it—and for that I'm to die?"

Proverbs 21:1
Good leadership is a channel of water controlled by God ; he directs it to whatever ends he chooses.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But now hath God set the members,.... The members of a natural body, as they are all made and fashioned by God in the form they be, so they are each of them set by him in the place they are:

everyone of them in the body as it hath pleased him; according to his sovereign will, without consulting any; and each stands in the best situation and position they could be put, and for the greatest service and usefulness to the whole: so God, and not man, hath set every member in the mystical body, the church, in such a place and part of it, as he himself thought fit; some in a higher, others in a lower station, but all for the good of the body; and therefore each member ought to be content with his place, gift, and usefulness, be they what they will; since it is the wise counsel and sovereign pleasure of God, who works all things after the counsel of his own will, that so it should be.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hath God set the members ... - God has formed the body, with its various members, as he saw would best conduce to the harmony and usefulness of all.