“If they were all one member, where were the body?”
The full verse · 1 Corinthians 12:19 · KJV
they , were the ?
Asked by
Paul: the apostle writing to the Corinthians "concerning spiritual gifts" and the church as one body (1 Corinthians 12:1, 12)
Asked to
Corinthians: the believers at Corinth, to whom Paul says, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:27)
The Scene
Paul has just said that God has "set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (1 Corinthians 12:18).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionPaul presses his picture to its end. Earlier he asked what one sense would be lost (1 Corinthians 12:17); now he asks whether there would be a body at all. A single member, however fine, is not a body. Barnes says the idea this verse seems intended to illustrate is that "if there was not variety of talent and endowment in the church, the church could not itself exist." Gill says the same of a church that was "all ministers, or all hearers": there would be no body.
The Response
What Scripture recordsPaul answers at once: "But now are they many members, yet but one body" (1 Corinthians 12:20). He then shows that the members need one another: "the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee" (1 Corinthians 12:21). God arranged it so "that there should be no schism in the body" (1 Corinthians 12:25).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsDivision was a real danger at Corinth, not just an idea. Paul had heard of "contentions" among them, with some saying "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos" (1 Corinthians 1:11-12), and of "divisions" when they came together (1 Corinthians 11:18). Matthew Henry traces these contests at Corinth back to pride, and he notes that because the members are many, there must be distinction among them.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThe church's unity is not sameness. Paul's answer holds both truths together: "many members, yet but one body" (1 Corinthians 12:20). God does not make His people one by making them identical. He makes them one by placing different members in one body and joining them by one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13, 18).
That unity has a purpose. God tempered the body together "that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another" (1 Corinthians 12:25). The differences God gives become the very places where members care for one another.
Look Closer
How is this question different from the ones in 1 Corinthians 12:17?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, You made us one body with many members; where have I mistaken unity for everyone being the same?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Why do you think groups, even churches, drift toward wanting everyone to be alike?
- Share about a time when someone very different from you helped you grow in faith.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Unity in the church does not mean every member has the same gift or the same role. Paul's question shows that a church of identical members would not be a body at all. When you feel friction with someone whose gifts or ways differ from yours, remember that God may have placed them near you on purpose.
This doesn't make every disagreement a matter of different gifts. Paul still corrects real wrongs at Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:17-22). But differences of gift and role are part of God's design, and "the same care one for another" (1 Corinthians 12:25) is how the body holds together.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?”
“Is it therefore not of the body?”
“Is it therefore not of the body?”
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