Read & explore together
The Body of Christ
Paul explains Christ’s people by comparing them to a human body. One body has many parts, and each part matters. This picture helps readers understand belonging, difference, honour and care within the church.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
In this part of the letter, Paul teaches about one body with many members. He speaks about people from different backgrounds being brought into one body in one Spirit, then shows why different members are still truly connected and necessary.
1 Corinthians 12:12–26Main takeaway
This passage teaches that Christ’s body is one, includes many different members, and calls them to mutual honour, care, sorrow and joy.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01One body, many membersPaul begins with a simple picture: one body has many members, yet it is still one body. He applies that picture to Christ.
Explanation
Paul begins with a simple picture: one body has many members, yet it is still one body. He applies that picture to Christ. He also says all were baptised into one body in one Spirit, across different social and ethnic groupings, so their shared life is grounded in that one Spirit.
02Different parts still belongThe next point answers feelings of not belonging. If a foot says it is not a hand, or an ear says it is not an eye, that does not remove it from the body.
Explanation
The next point answers feelings of not belonging. If a foot says it is not a hand, or an ear says it is not an eye, that does not remove it from the body. A body cannot be made of only one kind of part. Difference is necessary for a body to function as a body.
03God arranged the bodyPaul says God has set each member in the body as he desired. If there were only one member, there would be no body.
Explanation
Paul says God has set each member in the body as he desired. If there were only one member, there would be no body. So the picture holds two truths together: there are many members, and yet there is one body. Variety is not a mistake in God’s arrangement.
04No member is needlessPaul then answers pride and dismissal. The eye cannot say to the hand, or the head to the feet, that they are not needed.
Explanation
Paul then answers pride and dismissal. The eye cannot say to the hand, or the head to the feet, that they are not needed. Members that seem weaker are called necessary. God composed the body so that less honoured parts receive honour, aiming to remove division.
05Shared care, shared pain, shared joyThe purpose of this arrangement is that the members would have the same care for one another.
Explanation
The purpose of this arrangement is that the members would have the same care for one another. Paul ends with a strong test of real unity: when one member suffers, all suffer with it, and when one member is honoured, all rejoice with it.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why does Paul mention Jews or Greeks, bond or free, when speaking about one body?
Look at how verse 13 joins different groups to the same body and the same Spirit.
02What problem is Paul correcting when he imagines the foot and ear speaking?
Notice that these examples answer the thought, ‘I’m not part of the body’, and Paul says that conclusion is false.
03How does Paul describe the right response to members who seem weaker or less honoured?
Trace the words necessary, honour, no division and the same care for one another.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
1 Corinthians 12:12–26
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.
13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.
14For the body is not one member, but many.
15If the foot would say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body,” it is not therefore not part of the body.
16If the ear would say, “Because I’m not the eye, I’m not part of the body,” it’s not therefore not part of the body.
17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.
19If they were all one member, where would the body be?
20But now they are many members, but one body.
21The eye can’t tell the hand, “I have no need for you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need for you.”
22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23Those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor; and our unpresentable parts have more abundant modesty,
24while our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,
25that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
26When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.