1Cor 12:14-23 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 14. For the body , etc. The body is made up of many members, which have various offices. So it is in the church. We are to expect the same variety there; and we are not to presume either that all will be alike, or that any member that God placed there will be useless.

1 Corinthians 12:14-23

Verse 14. For the body, etc. The body is made up of many members, which have various offices. So it is in the church. We are to expect the same variety there; and we are not to presume either that all will be alike, or that any member that God placed there will be useless. Verse 15. If the foot shall say, etc. The same figure and illustration which Paul here uses occurs also in heathen writers. It occurs in the apologue which was used by Menenius Agrippa, as related by Livy, (lib. ii. 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 labour, 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 want 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 honourable 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. Verse 17. If the whole body, etc. The idea in this verse is, that all the parts of the body are useful in their proper place, and that it would be as absurd to require or expect that all the members of the church should have the same endowments, as it would be to attempt to make the body all eye. If all were the same, if all had the same endowments, important offices which are now secured by the other members would be unknown. All, therefore, are to be satisfied with their allotment; all are to be honoured in their appropriate place. Verse 18. Hath God set the members, etc. God has formed the body, with its various members, as he saw would best conduce to the harmony and usefulness of all.

(c) "set the members" 1Cor 12:28. (d) "as it hath" 1Cor 12:11, Rom 12:3 Verse 19. And if all were one member. If there were nothing but an eye, an ear, or a limb, there would be no body. The idea which this seems intended to illustrate is, that if there was not variety of talent and endowment in the church, the church could not itself exist. If, for example, there were nothing but apostles, or prophets, or teachers; if there were none but those who spoke with tongues or could interpret them, the church could not exist. A variety of talents and attainments in their proper places is as useful as are the various members of the human body. Verse 21. And the eye cannot say to the hand, etc. The hand in its place is as needful as the eye; and the feet as the head. Nay, the eye and the head could not perform their appropriate functions, or would be in a great measure useless, but for the aid of the hands and feet. Each is useful in its proper place. So in the church. Those that are most talented, and most richly endowed with gifts, cannot say to those less so, that there is no need of their aid. All are useful in their place. Nay, those who are most richly endowed could very imperfectly perform their duties, without the aid and co-operation of those of more humble attainments. Verse 22. Which seem to be more feeble. Weaker than the rest; which seem less able to bear fatigue and to encounter difficulties; which are more easily injured, and which become more easily affected with disease. It is possible that Paul may here refer to the brain, the lungs, the heart, etc., as more feeble in their structure, and more liable to disease, than the hands and the feet, etc., and in reference to which disease is more dangerous and fatal.

Are necessary. The sense seems to be this: A man can live though the parts and members of his body which are more strong were removed; but not if those parts which are more feeble. A man can live if his arm or leg be amputated; but not if his brain, his lungs, or his heart be removed. So that, although these parts are more feeble, and more easily injured, they are really more necessary to life, and therefore more useful, than the more vigorous portions of the frame. Perhaps the idea is--and it is a beautiful thought--that those members of the church which are most retiring and feeble apparently; which are concealed from public view, unnoticed and unknown--the humble, the meek, the peaceful, and the prayerful--are often more necessary to the true welfare of the church than those who are eminent for their talent and learning. And it is so. The church can better spare many a man, even in the ministry, who is learned, and eloquent, and popular, than some obscure and humble Christian, that is to the church what the heart and the lungs are to the life. The one is strong, vigorous, active, like the hands or the feet, and the church often depends on them; the other is feeble, concealed, yet vital, like the heart or the lungs. The vitality of the church could be continued though the man of talent and learning should be removed--as the body may live when the arm or the leg is amputated; but that vitality could not continue, if the saint of humble and retiring piety and of fervent prayerfulness were removed, any more than the body can live when there is no heart and no lungs.

(e) "those members" Eccl 4:9-12, 9:14,15 Verse 23. We bestow more abundant honour. Marg., "Put on." The words rendered "abundant honour" here refer to clothing. We bestow upon them more attention and honour than we do on the face that is deemed comely, and that is not covered and adorned as the other parts of the body are.

More abundant comeliness. We adorn and decorate the body with gay apparel. Those parts which decency requires us to conceal we not only cover, but we endeavour as far as we can to adorn them. The face in the mean time we leave uncovered. The idea is, that in like manner we should not despise or disregard those members of the church who are of lower rank, or who are less favoured than others with spiritual endowments.

(1) "bestow" "put on" (*) "parts" "members"