1 Corinthians 12:22

Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: MORE FEEBLE - more susceptible of injury; e. g., the brain, belly, eye. Their very feebleness, so far from doing away with the need for them, calls forth our greater care for their preservation, as being felt "necessary....

12-26 Christ and his church form one body, as Head and members. Christians become members of this body by baptism. The outward rite is of Divine institution; it is a sign of the new birth, and is called therefore the washing of regeneration, Titus 3:5. But it is by the Spirit, only by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, that we are made members of Christ's body. And by communion with Christ at the Lord's supper, we are strengthened, not by drinking the wine, but by drinking into one Spirit. Each member has its form, place, and use. The meanest makes a part of the body. There must be a distinction of members in the body. So Christ's members have different powers and different places. We should do the duties of our own place, and not murmur, or quarrel with others. All the members of the body are useful and necessary to each other. Nor is there a member of the body of Christ, but may and ough...

Verse 22. _THOSE MEMBERS - WHICH SEEM TO BE MORE FEEBLE_] These, and the _less honourable_ and _uncomely_, mentioned in the next verses, seem to mean the principal _viscera_, such as the _heart,_ _lungs, stomach_, and _intestinal canal_. These, when compared with the _arms_ and _limbs_, are comparatively _weak_; and some of them, considered in _themselves, uncomely_ and less honourable; yet these are more essential to life than any of the others. A man may lose an _eye_ by accident, and an _arm_ or a _leg_ may be amputated, and yet the _body_ live and be vigorous; but let the _stomach, heart, lungs_, or any of the _viscera_ be removed, and life becomes necessarily extinct. Hence these parts are not only _covered_, but the parts in which they are lodged are surrounded, ornamented, and fortified for their preservation and defence, on the proper performance of whose functions life so i...

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 MORE 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 his 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 vigorou...

EXPOSITION 1 Corinthians 12:1.—1 Corinthians 14:1.—ON SPIRITUAL GIFTS, AND THE DANGER WHICH AROSE FROM THE ABUSE OF THE "GIFT OF TONGUES." 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 _On spiritual gifts in general._ 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 Now concerning spirit

NAY, MUCH MORE THOSE MEMBERS OF THE BODY,.... The apostle, in a beautiful gradation, proceeds to take notice of such parts of the body as are more weak, dishonourable, and uncomely, showing the necessity and usefulness of them: WHICH SEEM TO BE MORE FEEBLE; than others, do not consist of a strong bony substance, and are not fenced with sinews, as the belly and its intestines: yet these ARE NECESSARY; nor could the body be sustained, nourished, and refreshed, without them; so the more weak and feeble saints, whose hearts and hands are to be strengthened, whose infirmities are to be bore, have their usefulness; and the effectual working in the measure of every part, even of the feeble and tender, maketh increase of the body, to the edifying of itself in love: and these God has seen fit, as necessary to call by his grace, and place in the body, that his strength may be made perfect in the...

1 Corinthians 12:1. _Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led._ Although the members of the church at Corinth were highly favored with spiritual gifts, they do not seem to have known how to use them. Paul points out to them, in this chapter, how ignorant they were concerning the very gifts which they possessed. They did not know how to put them to proper' use in the service of God. The apostle therefore reminds these gift-exalted Corinthians that, only a little while before, they were heathens, carried away by falsehood and superstition, and worshipping dumb idols. They had nothing, therefore, to boast of; and it is probable that, if we also look back to the hole of the pit whence we were dug, we shall find no more occasion for boasting than they had.

2. THE BODY AND THE MEMBERS OF THE BODY CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Concerning spiritual manifestations and diversities of gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:1 .)_ 2. The Body and its members. (1 Corinthians 12:12 .) In this interesting, important chapter, spiritual manifestations are first mentioned. The church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in the church. And first the distinctive mark of the Spirit is stated. As heathen they had been under the control of evil spirits, who had deluded them with idolatrous worship. And these evil spirits were still active, creeping in among Christians, pretending to be the Spirit of God and counterfeiting His manifestations. It was so then and it is so now. Seducing spirits and d

Paul now elaborates an illustration from the body and its members. Here we have organic unity with diversity of function and interdependence of the whole and its parts, interdependence also of the parts themselves. All are essential to the welfare of every other part and of the whole; none, however important or beautiful, can affect to despise the humbler or unseemlier; all sympathetically respond to the pain or honour of the other. The illustration does not call for detailed exposition. In 1 Corinthians 12:12 Christ is not regarded as the head of the body, but as the body itself of which Christians form part. The Spirit in whom all received baptism is not many but one, so its effect is to constitute them all one body, thus cancelling distinctions of race and social condition even in their extreme forms ...

THE CONFESSION OF THE SPIRIT (1 Corinthians 12:1-3)...