1 Corinthians 12:23

And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. LESS HONOURABLE. "We think" the feet and the belly "less honourable," though not really so. BESTOW ... HONOUR - putting shoes on (margin) the feet, and clothes over the belly. UNCOMELY PARTS - the secret parts. The poorest, though unclad in the rest of the body, cover these....

23._Which are less honorable. _Here we have a _second _argument — that the dishonor of one member turns out to the common disgrace of the whole body, as appears from the care that we take to cover the parts that are _less honorable. “Those _parts that are _comely,” _says he, _“do _not require adventitious ornament; but the parts that involve shame, or are less comely, are cared for by us with greater concern. Why so? but because their shame would be the common disgrace of the whole body.” _To invest with honor _is to put on a covering for the sake of ornament, in order that those members may be honorably concealed, which would involve shame if uncovered. (759)...

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...

WE BESTOW MORE ABUNDANT HONOUR - Margin, “Put on.” The words rendered “abundant honor” here, refer to clothing. We bestow upon them more attention and honor then 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 frivilous apparel. Those parts which decency requires us to conceal we not only cover, but we endeavor 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 favored than others with spiritual endowments....

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

AND THOSE MEMBERS OF THE BODY,.... As the back parts of it: WHICH WE THINK TO BE LESS HONOURABLE; though greatly useful, UPON THESE WE BESTOW MORE ABUNDANT HONOUR; by clothing them, for a man's garments are his honour and glory; Matthew 6:29, so the poor members of Christ's church, who are thought to be, though they really are not, the less honourable, have the more abundant honour conferred on them by God and Christ: God has chosen the poor of this world; Christ has sent his Gospel to them; these the Spirit calls and sanctifies, and makes them all glorious within; these Christ has given his churches a particular charge to take care of now, and will own them as his brethren at the great day, before angels and men; as he now greatly honours them with his presence, a large experience of his grace, and the supply of his Spirit: and our unco

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)...