1 Corinthians 12:19-20

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 1 Corinthians 12:19

If all the members of the human body were the same, it would not be able to function as a body. It would be incapable of getting anything accomplished. For example, if all had the gift of tongues, the gift that the Corinthians valued so highly, the body would not function. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 1 Corinthians 12:20

Uniformity is not the case in the human body, however. It has a variety of members, but it is one unified organism. read more

John Darby

Darby's Synopsis of the New Testament - 1 Corinthians 12:20

12:20 one. (d-10) Or '[There are] many members, and one body.' read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

(e) Spiritual Gifts(i) Their Nature and Relations1-3. The test of the Spirit’s presence is the confession of Jesus as the Lord. It would seem that some members of the Church, carried away by their excitement when speaking in the congregation under the power of the Spirit, as they said, had called Jesus accursed, as if they had been unbelievers. No such utterance, says the Apostle, can proceed from any one who speaks by the Spirit.2. Gentiles] and so ignorant of all spiritual gifts, and... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 12:1-40

(e) Spiritual GiftsIn the early Church various powers, faculties, and graces were bestowed on individual Christians by the Holy Spirit. Some of these were distinctly miraculous, such as prophecy, tongues, power to work miracles; others were less extraordinary gifts, such as teaching or wisdom; or special graces of Christian character, such as love. The Apostle does not distinguish between these classes; all alike come from the same Source, and are to be exercised for the good of all. The... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 1 Corinthians 12:20

(20) But now are they.—From the reductio ad absurdum of the previous verses the Apostle turns to the fact as it is, and proceeds (in 1 Corinthians 12:21) to state that there is a mutual interdependence in the members of the body. The eye is dependent on the hand, the head upon the feet. Here, no doubt, the illustration is drawn out in this particular direction to rebuke those who being themselves possessed of what were considered important spiritual gifts despised the gifts which the Spirit had... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

1 Corinthians 12:4 In the Iliad (bk. XIII. 726 f.), Polydamas says to Hektor: 'Hektor, ill is it for thy counsellors to persuade thee. Since God has dowered thee with warlike deeds, thou art fain to excel others in council as well. Yet by no means shalt thou be able to take all upon thyself. For to one God grants warlike deeds, to another the dance, to another the lute and song, and in the heart of another, farseeing Zeus hath set a goodly understanding to the profiting of many men.' 1... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

Chapter 18CONCERNING SPIRITUAL GIFTSThis Epistle is well fitted to disabuse our minds of the idea that the primitive Church was in all respects superior to the Church of our own day. We turn page after page, and find little but contention, jealousies, errors, immorality, fantastic ideas, immodesty, irreverence, profanity. At this point in the Epistle we do come upon a state of things which differentiates the primitive Church from our own; but here too the superior advantages of those early... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

2. The Body and the Members of the Body CHAPTER 12 1. Concerning spiritual manifestations and diversities of gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11 .) 2. The Body and its members. (1 Corinthians 12:12-31 .) In this interesting, important chapter, spiritual manifestations are first mentioned. The church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in the church. And first the distinctive mark of the Spirit is stated. As heathen they had been under the... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

The Lord's supper has been first considered, being the most important of all gatherings, because it is for the united expression of the affections of the saints toward Him. Now ministry toward the saints is in view in chapter 12. For this the Lord manifested Himself by the Spirit's work in saints. And we must not be ignorant as regards spiritual manifestations, for evil spirits are adept at simulating the work of the Spirit of God. The Corinthians had themselves known this in their former... read more

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