1 Corinthians 12:27

Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.

As Farrar interpreted this, "Paul did not mean that the Corinthian church was a member in the body of all the churches, but that each Christian is a member of the body of Christ."[27] Johnson added that:

There is no definite article (ye are body of Christ); and this does not refer to the local church at Corinth, for there are not many bodies, a thought contrary to the context. Rather, it points to the quality of the whole, which each of them individually helps to constitute.[28]

[27] F. W. Farrar, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), Vol. 19, p. 399.

[28] S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., op. cit., p. 630.