1 Corinthians 12:26

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. AND-ACCORDINGLY-ALL ... SUFFER WITH IT. 'When a thorn enters the heel, the whole body feels and is concerned-the back bends, the belly and thighs contract, the hands come forward and draw out the thorn, the head stoops, and the eyes regard the affected member with intense gaze' (Chrysostom)....

26._Whether one member suffers _“Such a measure of _fellow-feeling.” ( _ συμπάθεια _,) _(761) says he, “is to be seen in the human body, that, if any inconvenience is felt by any member, all the others grieve along with it, and, on the other hand, rejoice along with it, in its prosperity. Hence there is no room there for envy or contempt.” To be _honored, _here, is taken in a large sense, as meaning, to be _in prosperity and happiness. _Nothing, however, is better fitted to promote harmony than this community of interest, when every one feels that, by the prosperity of others, he is proportionally enriched, and, by their penury, impoverished....

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 26. _AND WHETHER ONE MEMBER SUFFER_] As there is a mutual exertion for the general defence, so there is a mutual sympathy. If the _eye_, the _hand_, the _foot_, c., be injured, the _whole man_ grieves and if by _clothing_, or _any_ thing else, any particular member or part is _adorned, strengthened_, or _better secured_, it gives a general pleasure to the whole man....

AND WHETHER ONE MEMBER SUFFER - One member, or part of the body. ALL THE MEMBERS SUFFER WITH IT - This, we all know, is the case with the body. A pain in the foot, the hand, or the head excites deep solicitude. The interest is not confined to the part affected; but we feel that we ourselves are affected, and that our body, as a whole, demands our care. The word “suffer” here refers to disease, or sickness. It is true also that not only we feel an “interest” in the part that is affected, but that disease in any one part tends to diffuse itself through, and to affect the whole frame. If not arrested, it is conveyed by the blood through all the members until life itself is destroyed. It is not by mere interest, then, or sympathy, but it is by the natural connection and the inevitable result that a diseased member tends to affect the whole frame. There is not, indeed, in the church the same...

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 WHETHER ONE MEMBER SUFFER,.... Pain; even the meanest, lowest, and most distant, as the foot or hand, toe or finger: ALL THE MEMBERS SUFFER WITH IT; are more or less affected therewith, and bear part of the distress; as is easily discerned, by their different forms and motions on such an occasion: so when anyone member of the mystical body is in affliction, whether inward or outward, of body or mind, the rest are, or should be, affected with it, condole, sympathize, help, and assist; and remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, as if they themselves were in bonds, and them that suffer adversity, whether spiritual or temporal, as being in the body, not only in the flesh, but as being part of the body, the church; and therefore should weep with them that weep, and bear a part with them in their sorrows. The Jews have a saying f, that "if one brother dies, all the brethren...

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 ...