Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:1-6 - English Standard Version (2025)

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One Body with Many Members Unity in the Body of Christ

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Listen to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:1-6

One Body with Many Members

¹²For just as ^(A)the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, ^(B)so it is with Christ. ¹³For ^(C)in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—^(D)Jews or Greeks, slaves^[a] or free—and ^(E)all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸But as it is, ^(F)God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, ^(G)as he chose. ¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts,^[b] yet one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²²On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, ^(H)all rejoice together.

²⁷Now ^(I)you are the body of Christ and individually ^(J)members of it.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 12:13 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
1 Corinthians 12:20 Or members; also verse 22

Cross references

1 Corinthians 12:12 : See ch. 10:17
1 Corinthians 12:12 : ver. 27
1 Corinthians 12:13 : [Rom. 6:5; Eph. 2:18]
1 Corinthians 12:13 : Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11; [Eph. 2:13-17]
1 Corinthians 12:13 : [John 7:37-39]
1 Corinthians 12:18 : ver. 28
1 Corinthians 12:18 : ver. 11; [ch. 3:5; Rom. 12:3]
1 Corinthians 12:26 : Rom. 12:15
1 Corinthians 12:27 : [Eph. 1:23; 4:12; 5:30; Col. 1:24]
1 Corinthians 12:27 : See Rom. 12:5

Unity in the Body of Christ

4I therefore, ^(A)a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to ^(B)walk in a manner worthy of ^(C)the calling to which you have been called, ²with all ^(D)humility and ^(E)gentleness, with ^(F)patience, ^(G)bearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in ^(H)the bond of peace. ⁴There is ^(I)one body and ^(J)one Spirit—just as you were called to the one ^(K)hope that belongs to your call— ⁵^(L)one Lord, ^(M)one faith, ^(N)one baptism, ⁶^(O)one God and Father of all, ^(P)who is over all and through all and in all.

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Cross references

Ephesians 4:1 : See ch. 3:1
Ephesians 4:1 : Col. 1:10; 2:6; 1 Thess. 2:12; [Phil. 1:27]
Ephesians 4:1 : See Rom. 8:28
Ephesians 4:2 : Acts 20:19; Phil. 2:3; Col. 3:12; 1 Pet. 3:8; 5:5; [Col. 2:18, 23]
Ephesians 4:2 : Gal. 5:23
Ephesians 4:2 : Col. 1:11
Ephesians 4:2 : Col. 3:13
Ephesians 4:3 : Col. 3:14; [Acts 8:23]
Ephesians 4:4 : ch. 2:16
Ephesians 4:4 : See ch. 2:18
Ephesians 4:4 : ch. 1:18
Ephesians 4:5 : Zech. 14:9; See 1 Cor. 1:13; 8:6
Ephesians 4:5 : [ver. 13; Jude 3]
Ephesians 4:5 : See Gal. 3:27, 28
Ephesians 4:6 : 1 Cor. 12:5, 6
Ephesians 4:6 : Rom. 9:5