1 Corinthians 12:14 Komentář

In this chapter the apostle, I. Considers the case of spiritual gifts, which were very plentifully poured out on the Corinthian church. He considers their original, that they are from God; their variety and use, that they were all intended for one and the same general end, the advancement of Christianity and the church's edification (Co1 12:1-11). II. He illustrates this by an allusion to a human body, in which all the members have a mutual relation and subserviency, and each has its proper place and use (Co1 12:12-26). III. He tells us that the church is the body of Christ, and the members are variously gifted for the benefit of the whole body, and each particular member (Co1 12:27-30). And them, IV. Closes with an exhortation to seek somewhat more beneficial than these gifts (Co1 12:31).

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 12 In this chapter the apostle discourses concerning spiritual gifts, showing the author, nature, use, and excellency of them; compares the church to an human body, and in a beautiful manner sets forth the symmetry and subserviency of the members of it to one another, being set in different places, and having different gifts; and enumerates the several offices and gifts in the church, and yet suggests there is something more excellent than them. He intimates, that spiritual gifts are valuable things, and should be taken notice of; nor would he have the saints ignorant of them, and therefore gives the following account, Co1 12:1 and yet he would not have those that have them be proud of them, and lifted up with them; for which reason he puts them in mind of their former state in Heathenism, to make and keep them humble, Co1 12:2 and points out such who have the Spirit of God, the author of all gifts and grace; not such who call Jesus accursed, but they that call him Lord, Co1 12:3 which Holy Ghost, who is called Spirit, Lord, and God, is the author of the different gifts bestowed upon men, Co1 12:4 the end of bestowing which gifts is the profit of others, Co1 12:7 of which gifts there is an enumeration in nine particulars, Co1 12:8 of each of which the Spirit of God is the worker and giver, according to his sovereign will and pleasure, Co1 12:11 and which are all for the good of the whole community; which is illustrated by the simile of an human body, which as it consists of many members, and is but one, so Christ mystical, or the church, though it consists of divers persons, yet they are all one in Christ, and all their gifts are for the service of each other, Co1 12:12 which unity is proved and confirmed by the saints being baptized by one Spirit into one body, the church, and by drinking of him, or partaking of the same grace, Co1 12:13 and in order to show the usefulness and profit of every spiritual gift, even the meanest, to the churches of Christ, and that none might be despised, he enlarges upon the metaphor of the human body he had compared the church to, and by it illustrates the unity of the church, and the members of it, Co1 12:14 and shows that the inferior members should not envy the superior ones, or be dejected because they have not the same gifts: and conclude from hence, that they are not, or deserve not, to be of the same body, Co1 12:15 seeing it is convenient and absolutely necessary that there should be many members, and these set in different places, and have different gifts and usefulness; and particularly what should make them easy is, that God has placed them according to his will and pleasure, Co1 12:17. And, on the other hand, he shows, that the more noble, and excellent, and useful members, ought not to despise the lower, meaner, and more ignoble ones, partly because of the usefulness and necessity of them, they cannot do without them, Co1 12:21 and partly because of the honour put upon them, Co1 12:23, and all this is so ordered, that there be no schism, but that there should be a mutual care of one member for another, and that they should sympathize with each other, Co1 12:25. This simile the apostle more plainly and particularly accommodates and applies to the church, the body of Christ, and the members of it, and of one another, Co1 12:27 and gives an enumeration of the several officers and offices in the church, set there by God himself; and there are no less than eight of them, some greater than others, most of them proper and peculiar to the primitive church, though some perpetual, and which still continue, Co1 12:28 but in the times in which they were all of them in being and use, every member of the church was not possessed of them, only some, though all had more or less the advantage of them, Co1 12:29. Wherefore, he concludes with an exhortation to the saints to covet the best of those gifts; and yet observes that there was something more excellent than them, and preferable to them, which he was about to show them, Co1 12:31 and hereby he makes an easy transition to the next chapter, in which he recommends charity, and prefers it to gifts.

For the body is not one member,.... Not only one; nor is anyone member the body, though ever so eminent, as the head or eye: thus the church of Christ is not one person only, or does not consist of one sort of persons; as only of Jews, or only of Gentiles, or only of rich and freemen, or only of men of extraordinary gifts and abilities, or greatly eminent for grace and spiritual knowledge: but many; members, as the Arabic version adds; as eyes, ears, hands, feet, &c. so in the mystical body of Christ, the church, there are many members, some in a higher station, others in a lower; some of greater gifts, grace, and usefulness, others of lesser; some Jews, other Gentiles; some bond, others free; yet all one in Christ the head, and all related to each other.

Those who are experts in such matters say that the virtues are not separate from each other and that it is not possible to grasp one of the virtues properly without attaining to the rest of them, but where one of the virtues is present the others will necessarily follow.

"For the body is not one member, but many." i.e., We are come to the same initiation, we enjoy the same Table. If now one Spirit both formed us and gathered us all together into one body; for this is the meaning of, "we were baptized into one body:" and vouchsafed us one table, and gave us all the same watering, (for this is the meaning of, "we were made to drink into one Spirit,") and united persons so widely separated; and if many things then become a body when they are made one: why, I pray, art thou continually tossing to and fro their difference? But if thou sayest, "Because there are many members and diverse," know that this very thing is the wonder and the peculiar excellency of the body, when the things which are many and diverse make one. But if they all were some one, they would not be a body. Wherefore, he saith, "If they were all one member, where were the body?" This however, he mentions not till afterwards; but here he points out also something more; that besides the impossibility of any one being a body, it even takes away the being of the rest.

The unity of the body consists in the fact that its many members supply the things which the other parts lack.

Paul says this in order not to overlook the humbler members of the church. For even if someone is lesser by nature, he still belongs to the body of the church.

Do not be amazed, he says, that being so many we are one body; for in the human body too, with its many members, one can find one body.

Then when he says, for the body, he explains the likeness in detail. First, he describes the condition of a natural body and its members; secondly, he adapts this to the mystical body of Christ (v. 27). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he describes the completeness of a natural body; secondly, the relations of the members to each other (v. 21). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he states his intention; secondly, he explains with examples (v. 15); thirdly, he proves by leading to something awkward. First, therefore, he says: It has been stated that all of us have been baptized into one mystical body, which represents a likeness to a natural body. For the natural body of a man is not one member but many, because its perfection is not saved in one member, but is composed of many, which of necessity must serve the various potencies and acts of the soul. Hence it says in Rom (12:4): "For as in one body we have many members and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ."

The apostle proceeds to the question of the Corinthians concerning spiritual gifts, Co1 12:1. He calls to their remembrance their former state, and how they were brought out of it, Co1 12:2, Co1 12:3. Shows that there are diversities of gifts which proceed from the Spirit, Co1 12:4. Diversities of administrations which proceed from the Lord Jesus, Co1 12:5. And diversities of operations which proceed from God, Co1 12:6. What these gifts are, and how they are dispensed, Co1 12:7-11. Christ is the Head, and the Church his members; and this is pointed out under the similitude of the human body, Co1 12:12, Co1 12:13. The relation which the members of the body have to each other; and how necessary their mutual support, Co1 12:14-26. The members in the Church, or spiritual body, and their respective offices, Co1 12:27-30. We should earnestly covet the best gifts, Co1 12:31.

For the body is not one member - The mystical body, the Church, as well as the natural body, is composed of many members.

THE USE AND THE ABUSE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS, ESPECIALLY PROPHESYING AND TONGUES. (1Co. 12:1-31) spiritual gifts--the signs of the Spirit's continued efficacious presence in the Church, which is Christ's body, the complement of His incarnation, as the body is the complement of the head. By the love which pervades the whole, the gifts of the several members, forming reciprocal complements to each other, tend to the one object of perfecting the body of Christ. The ordinary and permanent gifts are comprehended together with the extraordinary, without distinction specified, as both alike flow from the divine indwelling Spirit of life. The extraordinary gifts, so far from making professors more peculiarly saints than in our day, did not always even prove that such persons were in a safe state at all (Mat 7:22). They were needed at first in the Church: (1) as a pledge to Christians themselves who had just passed over from Judaism or heathendom, that God was in the Church; (2) for the propagation of Christianity in the world; (3) for the edification of the Church. Now that we have the whole written New Testament (which they had not) and Christianity established as the result of the miracles, we need no further miracle to attest the truth. So the pillar of cloud which guided the Israelites was withdrawn when they were sufficiently assured of the Divine Presence, the manifestation of God's glory being thenceforward enclosed in the Most Holy Place [ARCHBISHOP WHATELY]. Paul sets forth in order: (1). The unity of the body (1Co. 12:1-27). (2). The variety of its members and functions (Co1 12:27-30). (3). The grand principle for the right exercise of the gifts, namely, love (Co1 12:31; Co1 13:1-13). (4) The comparison of the gifts with one another (1Co. 14:1-40). I would not have you ignorant--with all your boasts of "knowledge" at Corinth. If ignorant now, it will be your own fault, not mine (Co1 14:38).

Translate, "For the body also." The analogy of the body, not consisting exclusively of one, but of many members, illustrates the mutual dependence of the various members in the one body, the Church. The well-known fable of the belly and the other members, spoken by Menenius Agrippa, to the seceding commons [LIVY, 2.32], was probably before Paul's mind, stored as it was with classical literature.