For in fact the body is not one member but many.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the body is not one member, but many.
- KJV For the body is not one member, but many.
- BSB For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.
- NASB For the body is not one part, but many.
- NLT Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The body is not a single part but many parts. Healthy life requires diversity, not uniformity.
Overview
Paul states plainly the principle underlying his metaphor: a body by definition consists of many members. Applied to the church, this rebukes any expectation that all believers should have the same gift or role. The variety God designed is not a defect to be overcome but the very structure of a living body.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- 1 Cor 12:27–28Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
- 1 Cor 12:12For 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.
- Eph 4:25Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
- 1 Cor 12:19If they were all one member, where would the body be?
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 12:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.