1 Corinthians 12:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In this way: "If they were all one member, where would the body be?" The meaning of these words is as follows. If there were not a great difference among you, you would not be a body. Not being a body, you would not be one. Not being one, you would not have equal honor. If you all had equal honor in the same way, you would not be a body. Not being a body, you would not be one. And not being one, how would you have equal honor? But now, since you do not all have one gift, you make up a body. Being a body, you all make up one, and in this respect you do not differ from one another, because you make up a body. Therefore this very difference produces equality of honor. For this reason he adds: "But now indeed there are many members, yet one body." Keeping this in mind, let us too abandon all envy. Let us neither envy those who have greater gifts, nor despise those who have lesser ones. Thus it pleased God. Let us not resist. If you are still troubled, consider that another is often unable to fulfill your work. Therefore, although you are lesser than he, in this respect you surpass him. And although he is greater than you, in this respect he is lesser, and so you are equal. In the body too, members that seem insignificant perform actions that are not insignificant. Often they cause ruin even to important members if they are separated from them. What, for example, is less significant in the body than hair? But if you remove it from the eyebrows and eyelashes, you take away all the beauty of the face. The eye will no longer be so beautiful. Though the loss is not great, all beauty is lost because of it, and not only beauty, but also to a great degree the use of the eyes. Each of our members has both its own particular activity and a common one. Their beauty likewise is both particular and common. Although they seem divided from one another, in reality they are closely joined. When one is damaged, another is damaged also. Consider this: let someone's eyes be bright, cheeks smiling, lips rosy, nose straight, and eyebrows well ordered. But if you damage any one of these, you will distort the common beauty of the whole. Everything will become ugly, and what before seemed beautiful will appear repulsive. If, for example, you distort only the tip of the nose, you will produce great ugliness in the whole, although only one member has been distorted. The same will happen with the hand if you tear off even the nail of one finger.

"The 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'" (1 Cor 12:21). On the contrary, the members of the body that seem weaker, such as the tongue, the heart, and others, are much more necessary (1 Cor 12:22). Those that seem to us less honorable in the body, such as the stomach, the feet, and others, receive greater care from us (1 Cor 12:23). Therefore, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it (1 Cor 12:26). "And you," the Apostle concludes, "are the Body of Christ, and individually members" (1 Cor 12:27).

It especially serves those members that for some reason seem insufficiently protected or seem to disturb the dignity of the body as a whole. So also in the Church, those bearers of gifts of grace who have them in lesser measure may receive care from other bearers of higher gifts. Thus, as in a healthy body no member can grumble at its place or condition, but all hasten to serve one another and the whole body, so there must be common contentment and mutual help among the members of the Church generally. This must also exist especially among the bearers of different spiritual gifts of grace. Finally, the members of the body cannot leave their own condition, perform functions not proper to them, or occupy another place. Each member performs its functions not by accidental position, but according to the foreseen plan of our wise Creator. So also each member of the Church must necessarily do the work suited to his gift, through faith in the all-acting and all-sustaining Wisdom and goodness of God the Provider, our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the accomplishing Spirit, the one Cause of all gifts. As if summing up the Apostle's thought, blessed Theodoret says: "Therefore let everyone love what has been given. For if God has distributed active powers to the parts of the body, then the one who does not remain within the appointed bounds goes directly against Him Who set those bounds." Saint John Chrysostom says: "As the supreme Craftsman willed, so it came to be, for He wills what is profitable. If we must not be inquisitive about the members in our body, much less should we be so in the Church."