²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

³⁰ And we are members of his body.

Paul’s Work for the Church

²⁴ I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.

²³ And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

⁵ so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

²³ For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.

¹⁴ Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.

One Body with Many Parts

¹² The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.