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Text -- 1 Corinthians 12:21 (NET)

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Context
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.”
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Dictionary Themes and Topics: TONGUES, GIFT OF | TONGUES OF FIRE | REDEEMER; REDEMPTION | MEMBER | HOLY SPIRIT, 2 | HEALING | GIFT | EPHESIANS, EPISTLE TO THE | Church | Charismata | COMMUNION; (FELLOWSHIP) | CHURCH GOVERNMENT | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Robertson , Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Calvin , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
, Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Barclay , Constable , College , McGarvey , Lapide

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 1Co 12:21 - -- Cannot say ( ou dunatai eipein ). And be truthful. The superior organs need the inferior ones (the eye, the hand, the head, the feet).

Cannot say ( ou dunatai eipein ).

And be truthful. The superior organs need the inferior ones (the eye, the hand, the head, the feet).

Wesley: 1Co 12:21 - -- The highest part of all.

The highest part of all.

Wesley: 1Co 12:21 - -- The very lowest.

The very lowest.

JFB: 1Co 12:21 - -- The higher cannot dispense with the lower members.

The higher cannot dispense with the lower members.

Clarke: 1Co 12:21 - -- And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee - The apostle goes on, with his principal object in view, to show that the gifts and gr...

And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee - The apostle goes on, with his principal object in view, to show that the gifts and graces with which their different teachers were endowed were all necessary for their salvation, and should be collectively used; for not one of them was unnecessary, nor could they dispense with the least of them; the body of Christ needed the whole for its nourishment and support. The famous apologue of Menenius Agrippa, related by Livy, will serve to illustrate the apostle’ s reasoning: the Roman people, getting into a state of insurrection and rebellion against the nobility, under pretext that the great men not only had all the honors but all the emoluments of the nation, while they were obliged to bear all the burdens, and suffer all the privations; they then in riotous assemblage left their homes and went to Mount Aventine. Matters were at last brought to such an issue, that the senators and great men were obliged to fly from the city, and the public peace was on the point of being utterly ruined: it was then thought expedient to send Menenius Agrippa to them, who was high in their esteem, having vanquished the Sabines and Samnites, and had the first triumph at Rome. This great general, who was as eloquent as he was valiant, went to the Mons Sacer, to which the insurgents had retired, and thus addressed them

Tempore, quo in homine non, ut nunc emnia in unum consentiebant, sed singulis membris suum cuique consilium, suus sermo fuerat, indignatas reliquas partes, sua cura, suo labore ac ministerio ventri omnia quaeri; ventrem, in medio quietum, nihil aliud, quam datis voluptatibus frui. Conspirasse inde, ne manus ad os cibum ferrent, nec os acciperet datum, nec dentes conficerent. Hac ira, dum ventrem fame domare vellent, ipsa una membra totumque corpus ad extremam tabem venisse. lnde apparuisse, ventris quoque haud segne ministerium esse: nec magis ali, quam alere eum, reddentem in omnes corporis partes hunc, quo vivimus vigemusque, divisum pariter in venas maturum, confecto cibo, sanquinem . T. Livii, Histor. lib. ii. cap. 32

"In that time in which the different parts of the human body were not in a state of unity as they now are, but each member had its separate office and distinct language, they all became discontented, because whatever was procured by their care, labor, and industry, was spent on the belly; while this, lying at ease in the midst of the body, did nothing but enjoy whatever was provided for it. They therefore conspired among themselves, and agreed that the hands should not convey food to the mouth, that the mouth should not receive what was offered to it, and that the teeth should not masticate whatever was brought to the mouth. Acting on this principle of revenge, and hoping to reduce the belly by famine, all the members, and the whole body itself, were at length brought into the last stage of a consumption. It then plainly appeared that the belly itself did no small service; that it contributed not less to their nourishment than they did to its support, distributing to every part that from which they derived life and vigor; for by properly concocting the food, the pure blood derived from it was conveyed by the arteries to every member.

This sensible comparison produced the desired effect; the people were persuaded that the senators were as necessary to their existence as they were to that of the senators, and that it required the strictest union and mutual support of high and low to preserve the body politic. This transaction took place about 500 years before the Christian era, and was handed down by unbroken tradition to the time of Titus Livius, from whom I have taken it, who died in the year of our Lord 17, about forty years before St. Paul wrote this epistle. As his works were well known and universally read among the Romans in the time of the apostle, it is very probable that St. Paul had this famous apologue in view when he wrote from the 14th verse to the end of the chapter.

Calvin: 1Co 12:21 - -- 21.And the eye cannot say to the hand Hitherto he has been showing, what is the office of the less honorable members — to discharge their duty to t...

21.And the eye cannot say to the hand Hitherto he has been showing, what is the office of the less honorable members — to discharge their duty to the body, and not envy the more distinguished members. Now, on the other hand, he enjoins it upon the more honorable members, not to despise the inferior members, which they cannot dispense with. The eye excels the hand, and yet cannot despise it, or insult over it, as though it were useless; and he draws an argument from utility, to show that it ought to be thus — “Those members, that are less esteemed, are the more necessary: hence, with a view to the safety of the body, they must not be despised.” He makes use of the term weaker here, to mean despised, as in another passage, when he says that he glories in his infirmities, (2Co 12:9,) he expresses, under this term, those things which rendered him contemptible and abject.

TSK: 1Co 12:21 - -- Num 10:31, Num 10:32; 1Sa 25:32; Ezr 10:1-5; Neh 4:16-21; Job 29:11

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Co 12:21 - -- And the eye cannot say unto the hand ... - The hand in its place is as needful as the eye; and the feet as the head. Nay, the eye and the head ...

And the eye cannot say unto the hand ... - The hand in its place is as needful as the eye; and the feet as the head. Nay, the eye and the head could not perform their appropriate functions, or would be in a great measure useless but for the aid of the hands and feet. Each is useful in its proper place. So in the church. Those that are most talented and most richly endowed with gifts, cannot say to those less so, that there is no need of their aid. All are useful in their place. Nay, those who are most richly endowed could very imperfectly perform their duties without the aid and cooperation of those of more humble attainments.

Poole: 1Co 12:21 - -- He names two of the most noble and useful members of the body, the head and the eye, which yet cannot tell the hands or the feet they have no nee...

He names two of the most noble and useful members of the body, the head and the eye, which yet cannot tell the hands or the feet they have no need of them: the wise God having created nothing in vain, but made every member in the body of a man for use, as to the whole, so to the several parts of the body; the hand is useful to the eye, and the feet are of use to the head. The application of this similitude, which the apostle so much enlargeth upon, we shall have, 1Co 12:27 , &c.

Gill: 1Co 12:21 - -- And the eye cannot say unto the hand,.... Every member of the natural body is useful and necessary. The eye, the seat of the sense of seeing, cannot s...

And the eye cannot say unto the hand,.... Every member of the natural body is useful and necessary. The eye, the seat of the sense of seeing, cannot say to the communicating and working hand,

I have no need of thee: I can do without thee: so the seers and overseers of the church, the ministers of the Gospel, cannot say to the liberal and munificent hands, we have no need of you; for as the one stand in need of the light, instruction, comfort, advice, and direction of the other, so the other stand in need of communication from them; and as God has made it a duty, that he that is taught in the word should communicate to him that teacheth in all good things; and as it is his ordinance that they which preach the Gospel should live of it; so he has generally ordered it in his providence, that they that teach should need such assistance:

nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. The head, which is the seat of the senses, and is superior to, and has the command and government of all the members of the body, cannot say to the lowest and most distant parts of it, the feet, you are needless and useless; so those that are set in the first place in the church, are over others in the Lord, and have the rule over them, cannot say to those that are under them, and submit unto them, even the lowest and meanest of them, that they are of no use and service to them; they can no more be without them, than the head can be without the feet, or than princes can do without subjects, or magistrates without citizens, or generals without soldiers.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

Geneva Bible: 1Co 12:21 ( 12 ) And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. ( 12 ) Now on the other h...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Co 12:1-31 - --1 Spiritual gifts,4 are diverse,7 yet all to profit withal.8 And to that end are diversely bestowed;12 that by the like proportion, as the members of ...

MHCC: 1Co 12:12-26 - --Christ and his church form one body, as Head and members. Christians become members of this body by baptism. The outward rite is of Divine institution...

Matthew Henry: 1Co 12:12-26 - -- The apostle here makes out the truth of what was above asserted, and puts the gifted men among the Corinthians in mind of their duty, by comparing t...

Barclay: 1Co 12:12-31 - --Here is one of the most famous pictures of the unity of the Church ever written. Men have always been fascinated by the way in which the different pa...

Constable: 1Co 7:1--16:13 - --III. Questions asked of Paul 7:1--16:12 The remainder of the body of this epistle deals with questions the Corin...

Constable: 1Co 12:1--14:40 - --E. Spiritual gifts and spiritual people chs. 12-14 Paul had been dealing with matters related to worship...

Constable: 1Co 12:4-31 - --2. The need for varieties of spiritual gifts 12:4-31 Paul planned to return to the subject of gl...

Constable: 1Co 12:15-26 - --The application of the figure 12:15-26 Paul proceeded to elaborate his analogy. 12:15-16 Perhaps Paul chose the feet, hands, ears, and eyes as example...

College: 1Co 12:1-31 - --1 CORINTHIANS 12 VII. MISUNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS (12:1-14:40) A. SPIRITUAL GIFTS (12:1-11) 1. Influence of the Spirit (12:1-3) 1 Now abou...

McGarvey: 1Co 12:21 - --And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you . [The interdependence of the members...

Lapide: 1Co 12:1-31 - --CHAPTER 12 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER In this and the two following chapters S. Paul discusses Christian gifts and graces. In this chapter he points ou...

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Introduction / Outline

Robertson: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) First Corinthians From Ephesus a.d. 54 Or 55 By Way of Introduction It would be a hard-boiled critic today who would dare deny the genuineness o...

JFB: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) The AUTHENTICITY of this Epistle is attested by CLEMENT OF ROME [First Epistle to the Corinthians, 47], POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 11], and...

JFB: 1 Corinthians (Outline) THE INSCRIPTION; THANKSGIVING FOR THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH; REPROOF OF PARTY DIVISIONS: HIS OWN METHOD OF PREACHING ONLY CHRIST. ...

TSK: 1 Corinthians 12 (Chapter Introduction) Overview 1Co 12:1, Spiritual gifts, 1Co 12:4, are diverse, 1Co 12:7, yet all to profit withal; 1Co 12:8, And to that end are diversely bestowed; 1...

Poole: 1 Corinthians 12 (Chapter Introduction) CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 12

MHCC: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) The Corinthian church contained some Jews, but more Gentiles, and the apostle had to contend with the superstition of the one, and the sinful conduct ...

MHCC: 1 Corinthians 12 (Chapter Introduction) (1Co 12:1-11) The variety of use of spiritual gifts are shown. (1Co 12:12-26) In the human body every member has its place and use. (1Co 12:27-30) T...

Matthew Henry: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians Corinth was a principal city of Greece, in that partic...

Matthew Henry: 1 Corinthians 12 (Chapter Introduction) In this chapter the apostle, I. Considers the case of spiritual gifts, which were very plentifully poured out on the Corinthian church. He conside...

Barclay: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL The Letters Of Paul There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letter...

Barclay: 1 Corinthians 12 (Chapter Introduction) The Confession Of The Spirit (1Co_12:1-3) God's Differing Gifts (1Co_12:4-11) The Body Of Christ (1Co_12:12-31)

Constable: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) Introduction Historical Background Corinth had a long history stretching back into the...

Constable: 1 Corinthians (Outline) Outline I. Introduction 1:1-9 A. Salutation 1:1-3 B. Thanksgiving 1:4-9 ...

Constable: 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Bibliography Adams, Jay. Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presb...

Haydock: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE, TO THE CORINTHIANS. INTRODUCTION. Corinth was the capital of Achaia, a very rich and populous city...

Gill: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS This was not the first epistle that was written by the apostle to the Corinthians, for we read in this of his having ...

Gill: 1 Corinthians 12 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 12 In this chapter the apostle discourses concerning spiritual gifts, showing the author, nature, use, and excellency...

College: 1 Corinthians (Book Introduction) FOREWORD Since the past few decades have seen an explosion in the number of books, articles, and commentaries on First Corinthians, a brief word to t...

College: 1 Corinthians (Outline) OUTLINE I. INTRODUCTION - 1:1-9 A. Salutation - 1:1-3 B. Thanksgiving - 1:4-9 II. DISUNITY AND COMMUNITY FRAGMENTATION - 1:10-4:21 A. ...

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