1 Corinthians 12:12

Different Members in One Body

12:12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:27

12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it.

Romans 12:5

12:5 so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another.

Galatians 3:26-28

3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. ¹  3:27 For all of you who ²  were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave ³  nor free, there is neither male nor female ⁴  – for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 1:22-23

1:22 And God ⁵  put ⁶  all things under Christ’s ⁷  feet, ⁸  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ⁹  1:23 Now the church is ¹⁰  his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. ¹¹ 

Ephesians 2:15-16

2:15 when he nullified ¹²  in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man ¹³  out of two, ¹⁴  thus making peace, 2:16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ¹⁵ 

Ephesians 3:6

3:6 namely, that through the gospel ¹⁶  the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members ¹⁷  of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 4:12-13

4:12 to equip ¹⁸  the saints for the work of ministry, that is, ¹⁹  to build up the body of Christ, 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to ²⁰  the measure of Christ’s full stature. ²¹ 

Ephesians 4:25

4:25 Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, ²²  for we are members of one another.

Colossians 2:19

2:19 He has not held fast ²³  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ²⁴  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ²⁵ 

Colossians 3:11

3:11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave ²⁶  or free, but Christ is all and in all.

Colossians 3:15

3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body ²⁷  to this peace), and be thankful.

[3:26]  ¹ tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

[3:27]  ² tn Grk “For as many of you as.”

[3:28]  ³ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 1:10.

[3:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “male and female.”

[1:22]  ⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “subjected.”

[1:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ⁸ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

[1:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

[1:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “which is.” The antecedent of “which” is easily lost in English, though in Greek it is quite clear. In the translation “church” is repeated to clarify the referent.

[1:23]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

[2:15]  ¹² tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargew) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.

[2:15]  ¹³ tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.

[2:15]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.

[2:16]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.

[3:6]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and fellow members.”

[4:12]  ¹⁸ tn On the translation of πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων (pro" ton katartismon twn Jagiwn) as “to equip the saints” see BDAG 526 s.v. καταρτισμός. In this case the genitive is taken as objective and the direct object of the verbal idea implied in καταρτισμός (katartismo").

[4:12]  ¹⁹ tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (ei" ergon diakonia").

[4:13]  ²⁰ tn The words “attaining to” were supplied in the translation to pick up the καταντήσωμεν (katanthswmen) mentioned earlier in the sentence and the εἰς (eis) which heads up this clause.

[4:13]  ²¹ tn Grk “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” On this translation of ἡλικία (Jhlikia, “stature”) see BDAG 436 s.v. 3.

[4:25]  ²² sn A quotation from Zech 8:16.

[2:19]  ²³ tn The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.

[2:19]  ²⁴ tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.

[2:19]  ²⁵ tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”

[3:11]  ²⁶ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[3:15]  ²⁷ tn Grk “in one body.” This phrase emphasizes the manner in which the believers were called, not the goal of their calling, and focuses upon their unity.