ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Corinthians 12.13

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

11. but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will. 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.

13. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.

  1. For the body is not one member, but many. 15. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. (1 Corinthians 12:11-15, ASV)
WEB

11. But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires. 12. For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.

13. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.

  1. For the body is not one member, but many. 15. If the foot would say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body,” it is not therefore not part of the body. (1 Corinthians 12:11-15, WEB)
KJV

11. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. Gentiles: Gr. Greeks

  1. For the body is not one member, but many. 15. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:11-15, KJV)
YLT

11. and all these doth work the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each severally as he intendeth. 12. For, even as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] the Christ,

13. for also in one Spirit we all to one body were baptized, whether Jews or Greeks, whether servants or freemen, and all into one Spirit were made to drink,

  1. for also the body is not one member, but many; 15. if the foot may say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body;' it is not, because of this, not of the body; (1 Corinthians 12:11-15, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle
  • Audience: the church at Corinth, a mixed Jew-and-Gentile congregation in a wealthy Roman colony, fractured over teachers, status, sexual ethics, and the limits of freedom
  • Location: composed in Ephesus, addressed to Corinth
  • Time period: c. AD 55-56

Theological reading

In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free. Two claims are packed into one sentence, and both are contested in different quarters.

The first is about initiation. The we all is comprehensive and it is stated of every believer at Corinth, including the ones Paul is about to rebuke. That makes Spirit baptism, in this verse, the common entry into the body rather than a subsequent empowerment received by some. Traditions that teach a distinct second experience generally locate it in the language of Acts rather than here, and this verse is the principal text they must accommodate. See Pneumatology and Baptism.

The second is about what the initiation abolishes. Jew and Greek was the deepest religious and ethnic division available to Paul's readers; bond and free was the deepest social one, in a city where a substantial part of the population was enslaved. Paul says the one Spirit put both classes into one body, and the parallel in Galatians 3:28 adds male and female. The claim is not that the distinctions vanish sociologically but that they carry no weight in determining membership.

The argument's function in context is anti-hierarchical. Chapter 12 is answering a congregation that had sorted itself by gift, and verses 14 to 26 will press the body image until it yields the conclusion that the parts which seem weaker are necessary and the parts thought less honourable receive more honour.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.