¹² You Are the Body of Christ.^[a] The body is one, although it has many parts; and all the parts, though many, form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink.

¹⁴ Now the body is one, although it has many parts. ¹⁵ If the foot were to say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it nevertheless still belongs to the body. ¹⁶ Or if an ear were to say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it nevertheless still belongs to the body.

¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would we be able to hear? If the whole body were an ear, how would we exercise a sense of smell? ¹⁸ But God arranged each part in the body as he intended. ¹⁹ If all the members were identical, where would the body be?

²⁰ As it is, there are many members, but one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” any more than the head can say to the feet, “I do not need you.” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable, ²³ and those parts of the body that we regard as less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable parts are treated with greater propriety, ²⁴ whereas our more respectable members have no need of this.

But God has so designed the body as to give greater honor to the more humble parts, ²⁵ in order that there may be no dissension within the body and each part may have equal concern for all the others. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice together with it.

²⁷ You therefore are the body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.