The Body of Christ

¹² A person has only one body, but it has many parts. Yes, there are many parts, but all those parts are still just one body. Christ is like that too. ¹³ Some of us are Jews and some of us are not; some of us are slaves and some of us are free. But we were all baptized to become one body through one Spirit. And we were all given^[a] the one Spirit.

¹⁴ And a person’s body has more than one part. It has many parts. ¹⁵ The foot might say, “I am not a hand, so I don’t belong to the body.” But saying this would not stop the foot from being a part of the body. ¹⁶ The ear might say, “I am not an eye, so I don’t belong to the body.” But saying this would not make the ear stop being a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, it would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, it would not be able to smell anything. ^18-19 If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But as it is, God put the parts in the body as he wanted them. He made a place for each one. ²⁰ So there are many parts, but only one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the foot, “I don’t need you!” ²² No, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are actually very important. ²³ And the parts that we think are not worth very much are the parts we give the most care to. And we give special care to the parts of the body that we don’t want to show. ²⁴ The more beautiful parts don’t need this special care. But God put the body together and gave more honor to the parts that need it. ²⁵ God did this so that our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other. ²⁶ If one part of the body suffers, then all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part is honored, then all the other parts share its honor.

²⁷ All of you together are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body.