²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.^(A)

¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,^(A)

Paul’s Interest in the Colossians

²⁴ I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

³⁰ because we are members of his body.^[a](A)

⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.^(A)

¹⁴ Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many members yet one body.

One Body with Many Members

¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.^(A)

¹⁸ He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.^(A)

²³ for the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.^(A)