15 [a]If the foot would say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear would say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

17 [b]If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 12:15 Now he buildeth his doctrine upon the foundations which he had laid: and first of all he continueth in his purposed similitude, and afterward he goeth to the matter barely and simply. And first of all he speaketh unto them which would have separated themselves from those whom they envied, because they had not such excellent gifts as they: now this is, saith he, as if the foot should say it were not of the body, because it is not the hand: or the ear, because it is not the eye. Therefore all parts ought rather to defend the unity of the body, being coupled together to serve one the other.
  2. 1 Corinthians 12:17 Again, speaking to them, he showeth them that if that should come to pass which they desire, to wit, that all should be equal one to another, there would follow a destruction of the whole body, yea, and of themselves: for it could not be a body, unless it were made of many members knit together, and divers one from another. And that no man might find fault with this division as unequal, he addeth that God himself hath coupled all these together. Therefore all must remain coupled together, that the body may remain in safety.

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