1 Corintios 12:12

12. [τοῦ ἑνός] after σώματος, rec. with DE. Text אABCFG Vulg. Peshito.

12. καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ἕν ἐστιν. This simile is a very common one. It is used on several occasions by the Apostle. See Romanos 12:4-5; Efesios 4:16; Efesios 5:30; Colosenses 2:19.

It was even familiar to Gentile minds from the well-known apologue of Menenius Agrippa in Livy II. 32. Cf. Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act I. Sc. 1. For other examples see Alford in loc. The point here is somewhat different. The unity of the body in the fable above-mentioned centres in the idea of the body politic. In the Christian scheme the unity is found in Christ, of Whose life all His members partake.

οὕτων καὶ ὁ χριστός. The Apostle, like Christ Himself in the parable of the Vine in Juan 15 (as also in ch. 17), identifies His members with Himself. The life they live (Gálatas 2:20) is no longer theirs but His. They have put on the new man (2 Corintios 5:17; Efesios 4:24; Colosenses 3:10), the second Adam (ch.

1 Corintios 15:45; 1 Corintios 15:47) Who was created afresh in the Image of God. And the result is the identification of themselves with Him. So that they are His Body (Efesios 1:23), as filled with Him, Who filleth all things.

So Beza on Efesios 1:23, ‘Hinc etiam illud in Christo toties repetitum, quod multo expressius aliquid significat quam cum Christo, vel per Christum.’ And Colet on 1 Corintios 1, ‘Unum quiddam sub Deo ex multis et variis membris constituunt; qui ab una commune unctione unus Christus rite potest appellari. Quod hoc compositum ex Deo et hominibus in Deum vocatis, Paulus non modo Christum, sed etiam in Epistola ad Ephesios virum perfectum vocat.’