1 Corinthians 12:25

THE MESSAGE

The 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.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
God did this so that our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other.

Revised Standard Version
that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
lest there shuld be eny stryfe in the body: but that the members shuld indifferetly care one for another.

Hebrew Names Version
that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

International Standard Version
so that there might be no disharmony in the body, but that its parts should have the same concern for each other.

New American Standard Bible
so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.

New Century Version
so our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other.

Update Bible Version
that there should be no schism in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care one for another.

Webster's Bible Translation
That there should be no schism in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care one for another.

English Standard Version
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

World English Bible
that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
That there might be no schism in the body, but that the members might have the same care for each other:

Weymouth's New Testament
that there might be no disunion in the body, but that all the members might entertain the same anxious care for one another's welfare.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
that debate be not in the bodi, but that the membris be bisi in to the same thing ech for othere.

English Revised Version
that there should be no schism in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care one for another.

Berean Standard Bible
so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.

Contemporary English Version
He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others.

Amplified Bible
so that there would be no division or discord in the body [that is, lack of adaptation of the parts to each other], but that the parts may have the same concern for one another.

American Standard Version
that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Bible in Basic English
So that there might be no division in the body; but all the parts might have the same care for one another.

Complete Jewish Bible
So that there will be no disagreements within the body, but rather all the parts will be equally concerned for all the others.

Darby Translation
that there might be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same concern one for another.

Etheridge Translation
that there should be no divisions in the body, but all the members equally one of the other should have care:

Murdock Translation
that there might be no disunion in the body, but that all the members, equally, might care for one another;

King James Version (1611)
That there should be no schisme in the body: but that the members should haue the same care one for another.

New Living Translation
This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.

New Life Bible
This is so the body will not be divided into parts. All the parts care for each other.

New Revised Standard
that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Lest there should be any diuision in the body: but that the members shoulde haue the same care one for another.

George Lamsa Translation
That there may be no discord in the body, but that they may care one for another, all members should be equal.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
That there might be no division in the body, but that the members might have, the same, care, one for another;

Douay-Rheims Bible
That there might be no schism in the body: but the members might be mutually careful one for another.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Lest there shoulde be any stryfe in the body: but that the members shoulde haue the same care one for another.

Good News Translation
And so there is no division in the body, but all its different parts have the same concern for one another.

Christian Standard Bible®
so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other.

King James Version
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Lexham English Bible
in order that there not be a division in the body, but the members would have the same concern for one another.

Literal Translation
that there not be division in the body, but that the members might have the same care for one another.

Young's Literal Translation
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same anxiety for one another,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that there shulde be no stryfe in the body, but that the membres shulde indifferently care one for another. And yf one membre suffre, all the membres suffre with him:

Mace New Testament (1729)
that there might be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same mutual concern for one another.

New English Translation
so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another.

New King James Version
that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

Simplified Cowboy Version
God did this so our body would not be divided. God wants us to care for the entire body, not just the visible parts.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

Legacy Standard Bible
so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

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

there: 1 Corinthians 1:10-12, 1 Corinthians 3:3, John 17:21-26, 2 Corinthians 13:11

schism: or, division

the same: 2 Corinthians 7:12, 2 Corinthians 8:16

Reciprocal: 1 Corinthians 13:5 - seeketh 2 Corinthians 7:11 - carefulness

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That there should be no schism in the body..... No complaint of one member against another, as useless and unnecessary; no murmuring on that account; no tumults and rioting; no rebellion and insurrection of one against another; no dissension, no division. The use Menenius e Agrippa made of this simile, applying it to the body politic, as the apostle here does to the spiritual body, for the appeasing of a sedition among the people; is well known, and usually mentioned by interpreters on this place:

but that the members should have the same care one for another; that is, they are so tempered and mixed together, are in such close union with, and have such a dependence on each other, that they are necessarily obliged to take care of each other's good and welfare, because they cannot do one without another; and so God has ordered it in the church, that persons should be so placed in it, and gifts disposed of among them in such a manner, that every man is obliged, not only to look on, and be concerned for his own things, that he takes care of himself, and performs his office, but that he looks every man on the things of others, his good and safety being involved in theirs.

e Liv. Hist. l. p. 43.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That there should be no schism - Margin, “Division;” see note on 1 Corinthians 11:18. The sense here is, that the body might be united, and be one harmonious whole; that there should be no separate interests; and that all the parts should be equally necessary, and truly dependent on each other; and that no member should be regarded as separated from the others, or as needless to the welfare of all. The sense to be illustrated by this is, that no member of the church, however feeble, or illiterate, or obscure, should be despised or regarded as unnecessary or valueless; that all are needful in their places; and that it should not be supposed that they belonged to different bodies, or that they could not associate together, any more than the less honorable and comely parts of the body should be regarded as unworthy or unfit to be united to the parts that were deemed to be more beautiful or honorable.

Should have the same care - Should care for the same thing; should equally regard the interests of all, as we feel an equal interest in all the members and parts of the body, and desire the preservation, the healthy action, and the harmonious and regular movement of the whole. Whatever part of the body is affected with disease or pain, we feel a deep interest in its preservation and cure. The idea is, that no member of the church should be overlooked or despised; but that the whole church should feel a deep interest for, and exercise a constant solicitude over, all its members.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. That there should be no schism in the body — That there should be no unnecessary and independent part in the whole human machine, and that every part should contribute something to the general proportion, symmetry, and beauty of the body. So completely has God tempered the whole together, that not the smallest visible part can be removed from the body without not only injuring its proportions, but producing deformity. Hence the members have the same care one for another. The eyes and ears watch for the general safety of the whole; and they are placed in the head, like sentinels in a tower, that they may perceive the first approach of a foe, and give warning. The hands immediately on an attack exert themselves to defend the head and the body; and the limbs are swift to carry off the body from dangers against which resistance would be vain. Even the heart takes alarm from both the eyes and the ears; and when an attack is made on the body, every external muscle becomes inflated and contracts itself, that, by thus collecting and concentrating its force, it may the more effectually resist the assailants, and contribute to the defence of the system.