Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,
Parallel translations
- WEB For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,
- KJV For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
- BSB Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,
- NKJV For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
- NASB For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function,
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
Just as a body has many members with different functions, so the church is diverse in its parts.
Overview
Paul introduces the image of the human body to describe the Christian community. The point is both unity and diversity: many members, varied functions, yet one body. This prepares for his teaching that believers, though different, belong to one another in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 1 Cor 12:27Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
- 1 Cor 12:12–14For 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 4:15–16but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;
- 1 Cor 12:4Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
- Eph 4:4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 12:4 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.