1 Corinthians 12:15

Contextual Overview

¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹²Your body is made up of a bunch of different parts that do different things. The same thing applies to the church, or what we like to call, "The Body of Christ." ¹² For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹²For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹² For as the body is one, and has a number of parts, and all the parts make one body, so is Christ. ¹² For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also [is] the Christ. ¹² For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. ¹² For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. ¹² For as the body is one, and yet hath many members, but all the members of the body, many as they are, are one body, so is Christ.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Judges 9:8-15, 2 Kings 14:9

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make you a great nation,And I will bless you,And make your name great;And so you shall be a blessing;

Genesis 12:2
And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great people, and wyll blesse thee, and make thy name great, that thou shalt be [euen] a blessyng.

Genesis 12:2
I will build a great nation from you. I will bless you and make your name famous. People will use your name to bless other people.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
and Y schal make thee in to a greet folk, and Y schal blisse thee, and Y schal magnyfie thi name, and thou schalt be blessid;

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I wil blesse thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt bee a blessing.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If the foot shall say,.... The lowest member of the body, which is nearest the earth, treads upon it, sustains the whole weight of the body, and performs the more drudging and fatiguing exercises of standing and walking; and may represent one that is in the lowest station in the church, a doorkeeper in the house of God; one that is really the least of saints, as well as thinks himself so; and has the smallest degree of heavenly affection, and knowledge of spiritual light and understanding;

because I am not the hand; the instrument of communication and of action; and may signify such an one, that liberally imparts to the necessities of others, who has it both in his hand and heart, and is ready to communicate; one that is full of good works, of charity towards men, and piety towards God; who does all things, Christ strengthening him, natural, civil, moral, and evangelical; yea, even miracles and mighty deeds are done by his hand:

I am not of the body; have no part in it, am no member of it, do not belong to it:

is it therefore not of the body? or "it is not therefore not of the body", as the Syriac version renders it; that is, it is not "for this word", as the Arabic, or so saying, as the Ethiopic, not of the body; it nevertheless belongs to it, and is a member of it, nor can it be otherwise: thus the meanest person in the mystical body, the church, though he should say, that because he is not so handy and useful as another, cannot give so largely, nor do so much as another, therefore he is no proper member of the church; it does not follow that so it is, for Christ, the head of the church, regards such as members; he admires the "beauty" of his church's "feet", and has provided for the covering, ornament, and security of them, being himself clothed with "a garment down to the feet", which equally covers and adorns that part of the body as the rest; he does not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, or despise the day of small things; he regards their prayers, and takes notice and accepts of their meanest services; and they are, and should be considered as members of the body, by the rest and by themselves, the mystical body, the church, though he should say, that because he is not so handy and useful as another, cannot give so largely, nor do so much as another, therefore he is no proper member of the church; it does not follow that so it is, for Christ, the head of the church, regards such as members; he admires the "beauty" of his church's "feet", and has provided for the covering, ornament, and security of them, being himself clothed with "a garment down to the feet", which equally covers and adorns that part of the body as the rest; he does not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, or despise the day of small things; he regards their prayers, and takes notice and accepts of their meanest services; and they are, and should be considered as members of the body, by the rest and by themselves.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If the foot shall say ... - The same figure and illustration which Paul here uses occurs also in pagan writers. It occurs in the apologue which was used by Menenius Agrippa, as related by Livy (lib. 2: cap. 32), in which he attempted to repress a rebellion which had been excited against the nobles and senators, as useless and cumbersome to the state. Menenius, in order to show the folly of this, represents the different members of the body as conspiring against the stomach, as being inactive, and as refusing to labor, and consuming everything. The consequence of the conspiracy which the feet, and hands, and mouth entered into, was a universal wasting away of the whole frame for lack of the nutriment which would have been supplied from the stomach. Thus, he argued it would be by the conspiracy against the nobles, as being inactive, and as consuming all things. The representation had the desired effect, and quelled the rebellion. The same figure is used also by Aesop. The idea here is, that as the foot and the ear could not pretend that they were not parts of the body, and even not important, because they were not the eye, etc.; that is, were not more honorable parts of the body; so no Christian, however humble his endowments, could pretend that he was useless because he was not more highly gifted and did not occupy a more elevated rank.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 12:15. If the foot shall say, c.] As all the members of the body are necessarily dependent on each other, and minister to the general support of the system, so is it in the Church. All the private members are intimately connected among themselves, and also with their pastors without which union no Church can subsist.