Lessons #433 and 434
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Focus on members of the church of Christ (1 Cor 12:14-19)
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
We continue with the second responsibility you have regarding the overall message of the section of 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 that states that Unity and diversity are essential in the body of Christ, that is, the church of Christ. This second responsibility is that You should focus on facts stated about members of the church of Christ. This we said involves five facts. We have considered the first two facts to help you understand the importance of unity and diversity in the body of Christ. The first is that the church of Christ consists of several members. The second is that no believer can be separated from the body of Christ. We considered the implication of this second fact as it concerns the security of believer’s salvation. So, we proceed with the third fact.
A third fact to help you understand the importance of unity and diversity in the body of Christ is that each member is necessary for the functioning of the local church of Christ or the universal church of Christ. This fact implies that the spiritual gift of each believer is needed for the proper functioning of a local church. We derive this fact from the analogy that involves the body and its parts that the apostle wrote in verse 17 in two rhetorical questions. The first rhetorical question is given in the first part of 1 Corinthians 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
The apostle sets a condition that is hypothetical, first because the word “if” is translated from a conditional particle (ei) that is used in different ways in the Greek. For example, the Greek word is used as a marker of condition that exists in fact or hypothetical so that it is translated “if.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:17, it is used to set up a condition that is hypothetical in that what is stated would never happen. The body has many parts so there is no way that the body would consist of only the eye. The conditional clause If the whole body were an eye is intended not merely as analogy that involves body parts but to convey that the church of Christ could not consist of those with one single gift, that is, where everyone has the same spiritual gift. There must be diverse gifts for the body of Christ to function properly. The eye as part of the body is an organ of sight so the apostle is concerned with what the eye does as part of the human body. Consequently, he was concerned with the functioning of each spiritual gift in the body of Christ.
It is our assertion that the apostle certainly was thinking of the functioning of members of the body of Christ when he wrote the conditional clause If the whole body were an eye. This is because of the rhetorical question he presented next in 1 Corinthians 12:17 where would the sense of hearing be? Since the conditional clause contains an organ of the body, the eye, we will expect the apostle to mention another organ of the body; in this case, the ear as he referenced in verse 16 but that is not what the apostle wrote. Instead, we have in the words of the NIV the sense of hearing.
The expression “sense of hearing” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (akoē) that may mean “hearing” as it is used to describe faith that results from hearing the word of God as we read in Romans 10:17:
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
The Greek word although may mean “hearing,” could refer to what is heard as it is used in Apostle Paul’s question to the Galatians who were gravitating to the law as a means of salvation or justification as we read in Galatians 3:5:
Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
The Greek word may mean “ear” as the organ by which someone hears something as it is used in Apostle Paul’s description of attitude of some believers regarding the truth of God’s word in the last days as recorded in 2 Timothy 4:3:
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:17, the word means “hearing,” that is, the faculty of hearing that enables us to perceive sounds. A person may ask that since our Greek word also has the meaning “ears” how can we settle on this meaning of “hearing” in our verse? That is a legitimate question. The answer is that if the apostle wanted us to use the meaning of “ear” in its first use since he used it twice in the verse, we would expect him to have used a different Greek word. We say this because the apostle referenced the ear in verse 16 but he used a different Greek word (ous) that is used predominantly in the NT Scripture with the meaning “ear, as an auditory organ.” In fact, of the thirty-six occurrences of the word, the translators of the NIV rendered it “ear” thirty-four times although the two other passages they translated it differently, the meaning “ear” is a more literal translation of the word. So, you get the idea that if the apostle wanted us to understand the first usage of the Greek word in verse 17 as “ear” as an auditory organ that he would have used the same word that he used in verse 16. Since he did not; we believe that he is concerned with sense of hearing than the organ itself. The second time the apostle used the Greek word we have considered in verse 17, the word has the sense of “ear as an auditory organ” as we will explain later. Anyway, it is our contention that the apostle was more focused on the function of the ear in the first usage of the Greek word we considered in verse 17. Thus, the rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 12:17 where would the sense of hearing be? demands the answer “nowhere” implying that if the body consisted only of the “eye” associated with sight then the body will not have the function of hearing. The point of the apostle, as we have indicated previously, is that if there is no diversity of spiritual gifts, the church of Christ would be limited in its function.
The apostle continued his point that it is necessary for diversity to exist in the body of Christ for its proper functioning through a second rhetorical question that is preceded by a conditional clause in 1 Corinthians 12:17 If the whole body were an ear. The word “ear” is translated from the same Greek word (akoē) used in the first part of the verse that we indicated has the meaning of “hearing.” This second time we take the meaning of the Greek word as “ear in the sense of auditory organ” despite the fact the apostle did not use the same Greek word (ous) he used in verse 16 that clearly refers to the ear. The reason for taking the Greek word as having the meaning “ear” instead of “hearing” is that such interpretation of the Greek word follows the pattern the apostle used in the verse we a considering. In the first conditional clause, he referenced an organ of sight, the eye, before he gave the rhetorical question that followed that is concerned with hearing. Following this pattern, we would expect that the apostle was thinking of the auditory organ rather than its function in the second part of the verse and so we are justified in using the meaning “ear” as auditory organ in the second usage of the Greek word in question.
Following the same approach, the apostle used in the first part of verse 17, he followed the conditional clause with a rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 12:17 where would the sense of smell be? The expression “sense of smell” is translated from a rare Greek word (osphrēsis) that appears only hear in the entire Greek NT Scripture with the meaning “sense of smell.” Of course, there is another Greek word (osmē) that may mean “smell” or “odor” that also appears once in the Greek NT in 2 Corinthians 2:16:
To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?
That notwithstanding, the Greek word the apostle used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:17 that means “sense of smell” is concerned with the function of the nose. Again, we contend that the apostle is concerned with function of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. His point based on his analogy, as we have stated previously, is that there needs to be diversity in spiritual gifts so that the church will function properly by exercising the range of spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gave to the church of Christ. Of course, the apostle still implies that no member should consider the spiritual gift one has as unimportant in the church of Christ. Every spiritual gift is important, and no one should look down on the spiritual gift of another believer because the person thinks less of another person’s spiritual gift. In any event, the third fact to help you understand the importance of unity and diversity in the body of Christ is that each member with the person’s spiritual gift is necessary for the functioning of the local church of Christ or the universal church of Christ. This brings us to the fourth fact.
A fourth fact to help you understand the importance of unity and diversity in the body of Christ is that it is God who places each member of the church in the church to function as He wants. This fourth fact is derived from what the apostle states in verse 18 regarding God’s action about parts of the body that he has used in his analogy of human body that applies to the church of Christ.
Apostle Paul, thus far, in his analogy using the body and its parts to teach of the importance of unity and diversity in the church of Christ, has used suppositions or conditions that are unreal. In verse 15 he used the conditional clause If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that we indicated in a sense is an unreal supposition; for one thing, the foot could not speak. The same unreal situation is given in verse 16 in the clause And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body. In verse 17, the apostle used two clauses If the whole body were an eye and If the whole body were an ear that express situations that are unreal and would not happened. After dealing with unreal situations, the apostle moved to something that is indeed real. He did this by the phrase he used in the Greek to begin verse 18.
Verse 18 in the Greek begins with two particles. The first is a Greek word (nyni) that may mean “now” as an adverb of time with focus on the moment. This is the way the apostle used it as he defended himself against Jewish accusations before Governor Felix as we read in Acts 24:13:
And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.
The word may mean “as it is.” The second particle used in verse 18 is a Greek word (de) that may be used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation but in certain occurrences the marker may be left untranslated. Although it is often translated “but” in the English when there is a perceived contrast between two clauses, but it has other meanings such as “now,” “then,” “and,” “so” when it is used to link segments of a narrative. It can also be used to indicate transition to something new. The use of the meaning “but” appears more times in the Greek NT to express contrast than any of its other usages. For example, it is a word used when Jesus contrasts what should be the right way to pray to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees as He stated in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:6:
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Anyway, when the two Greek words we have considered begin a clause, the combined words in the Greek that may be translated literally but now could be interpreted in one of two ways. The resultant phrase could be understood to mean “as the situation is” in which case it could be translated “but now” or “as it is” as the word is used by the apostle to recognize the situation he was in, in which he does what he did not want to do, implying that sin present as a force in him was working in him as we read in Romans 7:17:
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
Another interpretation of the combined Greek particles as a phrase is that the Greek phrase introduces the real situation after an unreal conditional clause or sentence that precedes the usage of the phrase and so the phrase may be used to introduce the real situation after an unreal conditional clause or sentence with the translation “but, as a matter of fact” or any other phrase that conveys in an emphatic manner that something that follows is real in contrast to the unreality of what preceded it. This second interpretation is reflected when Apostle stated what is the reality regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:20:
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
In this passage, the combination of the Greek words we are considering is rendered “but…indeed” to convey that what is stated is real after the apostle had used two unreal conditions in his argument regarding the reality of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:17–19:
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
In this passage, there are two unreal conditions the apostle stated. The first supposes that Christ was not resurrected as in the clause And if Christ has not been raised. This states what is not true but for the sake of the apostle’s argument he states what is unreal. The second supposes that believers have hope only in this life as in the clause of verse 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ. The Scripture reveals that we have hope beyond this life so what the apostle states is something that is unreal. Having stated these two unreal situations, the apostle proceeded to state what is real in verse 20 where the Greek phrase that begins our passage of study of 1 Corinthians 12:18 is used. The combined particles or Greek phrase is translated in the NIV as “but…indeed” in 1 Corinthians 15:20 or “but in fact” in the ESV and the NRSV. The same use of the combined Greek phrase used in 1 Corinthians 12:18 that literally translates “but now” is used to describe the reality of the one sacrifice of Christ that settled forever the matter of sin, so to speak, as the Greek phrase is use by the human author of Hebrews as we read in Hebrews 9:26:
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Although the Greek phrase we are considering is translated here as But now, nonetheless, it is used to state what is real in that Christ appeared on this planet to die for our sins as in the sentence he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. This sentence is preceded by two unreal situations stated in Hebrews 9:24–25:
24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
The human author of Hebrews stated two things that did not happen in these two verses. In verse 24, he indicated that Christ did not enter man-made sanctuary. In verse 25, he indicated that Christ did not enter heaven to offer Himself in a repeated sacrifice. After these two things that did not happen, the human author of Hebrews stated in verse 26 what actually happened. Thus, it was fitting that the combined Greek words or the Greek phrase that literally translates “but now” is used to begin the second sentence of verse 26.
We have noted that the combined Greek words that literally reads “but now” that is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:18 could be interpreted in two ways: “as the situation is” or “but, as a matter of fact” to introduce a real situation after unreal conditional clauses. The question is in what sense did the apostle use it at the beginning of verse 18? It is used with the meaning “but, as a matter of fact” to introduce a real situation after unreal conditional clauses so the phrase of the NIV of verse 18 but in fact is appropriate. So, also it is appropriate for the English versions that begin the verse with But as a matter of fact or something that expresses the fact that what is presented next is a reality in contrast to what has been said in the preceding verses. The reason for this interpretation is because from verse 15 to 17 the apostle introduced things that were not real but now in verse 18, he introduced that which is a reality hence we are correct in our interpretation.
The real situation the apostle introduced concerns placement of the various parts of the body as in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 12:18 God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. It is true that this sentence literally is concerned with the positions of the various parts of the body in a given body and their respective functions, but the apostle is concerned more with the church of Christ than parts of the human body. This we can learn even from the word “arranged” as it is indeed used in the sentence.
The word “arranged” is translated from a Greek word (tithēmi) that may mean “to lay, put”, that is, to put or place in a particular location. Thus, it was used for burial in the sense of the laying away or putting away the body of Lazarus in the grave after his death as per the question of the Lord Jesus to his sisters recorded in John 11:34:
“Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
It is in the sense of laying that the word is used in the quotation from the OT Scripture regarding the stumbling stone laid in Zion that Apostle Paul cited in Romans 9:33:
As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
The word is used for Jesus Christ giving up His life for us in 1 John 3:16:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
The word may mean “to appoint, assign” to some task or function, as Apostle Paul used it to describe his appointment or assignment regarding the gospel message in 2 Timothy 1:11:
And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.
The word may mean “to put aside, store up, deposit” as it is used in the instruction of Apostle Paul to the Corinthians regarding how to get ready for the contribution of money or gift that is to be delivered to believers in Judea by weekly putting aside an amount a person has determined, as we read in 1 Corinthians 16:2:
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
The word may mean “to make” in the sense of making someone something, as in the instruction of Apostle Paul in his farewell address to the elders of the church of Ephesus who have been put to their position of being overseers of believers in Ephesus by the Holy Spirit, as recorded in Acts 20:28:
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
The word may mean “to fix, set, establish” as the word is used in the response of the Lord Jesus to His disciples after His resurrection regarding the time God has set to restore the kingdom to Israel, as stated in Acts 1:7:
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:18, the word is used in the sense of “to set in proper place.”
The things that are set in the proper place in the analogy Apostle Paul used in the passage we are considering are given in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 12:18 the parts in the body. The parts of the human body are many, but the apostle was probably thinking of the external parts of the human body. We say this because he had mentioned directly four external parts of the body and indirectly two external parts of the body. The parts he mentioned directly are the foot, hand, ear and eye, and those he mentioned indirectly are nose and leg. We say he mentioned nose indirectly because of the question of 1 Corinthians 12:17 where would the sense of smell be? The word “smell” implies that the apostle was thinking of the nose. The mention of the leg is indirectly implied in the reference to foot because the foot is attached to the leg. Anyway, the apostle indicates that God has placed in place various parts of body as we read in 1 Corinthians 12:18 every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. The expression “to be” is not in the Greek since a literal translation of the Greek is each one of them in the body just as he wanted. The NET reads each of the members in the body just as he decided while the NRSV reads each one of them, as he chose indicating that our English versions used different meanings for the Greek verb used.
The word “wanted” of the NIV is translated from a Greek verb (thelō) that may mean “to wish to have, desire, want,” that is, to have a desire for something as Apostle Paul used it to describe what he wanted Roman believers to do, as stated in Romans 16:19:
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
The word may mean to have something in mind for oneself and so means “to purpose, will, wish, decide.” It is with the meaning “to decide” that the word is used in the NIV to describe Jesus’ decision to travel to Galilee in John 1:43:
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
It is with the meaning “to wish” that Apostle Paul used it in his question to the Galatians of desiring to be enslaved back to what they had been freed from in Galatians 4:9:
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
The word may mean “to choose” as Apostle Paul used it to describe those God has chosen to reveal Christ as we read in Colossians 1:27:
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The word may mean to take pleasure in something in view of its being desirable and so means “to enjoy, like, take pleasure in something” as Apostle Paul used it to describe false individuals in Colossae that took pleasure in false humility and in the worship of angels in Colossians 2:18:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
The word may mean “to have an opinion,” “to think something to be so,” that is, “to maintain” something that is contrary to the true state of affairs as it is used to describe false teachers whose opinion is described in 2 Peter 3:5:
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
The clause they deliberately forget is literally in maintaining this it escapes them. The range of meanings that we have considered indicate that the translations of the NET and the NRSV of 1 Corinthians 12:18 using the words “decided” and “chose” are supported as the Greek verb has the meanings used by these English versions. Nonetheless, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:18, the Greek word means to have something in mind for a purpose so that the sense of the word is “to want strongly” or “to desire.”
Be that as it may, what the apostle conveyed in his analogy is that the placement of the parts of the human body in their respective locations is according to what God desired or wanted for a purpose. His purpose, of course, although not directly stated is implied, which is so that the parts of the body would function in a way that contributes to the overall functioning of the body of a person on this planet. You see, the hand was placed in the body the exact location that it needed to be as the other parts of the body. If any of the part of the body has been placed at another location, the human body would definitely have problem. Although the apostle was not concerned with human anatomy per say in that he focused on external parts of the body but that does not change the fact that God properly placed parts of the body to function in a way to cause the human body to function in the most efficient way possible. Can you imagine, if the head was not placed at the exact location, we have it, what would happen? Experts tell us that the most important organ of the human body is the brain. The brain with the nerve system controls and coordinates everything in the body. The brain is housed in our head. If the head had been placed at a different place on the human body, it would certainly make it difficult for other parts of the body to be efficiently controlled. Thus, God who is the master designer placed the head in the exact location that it should be to house the brain that controls everything in the human body. It is not only that the body parts were placed at the right location that God wanted to ensure the smooth function of the body but even the size of each part is important. If the hand was longer or shorter than it should be, it would be difficult for humans to operate properly. Interestingly, those involved in the study of artistic anatomy have given approximate ratios of the various parts of the body to the head. For example, they say that the approximate height of an average person is about seven and half times the head height. The leg is about four times the head height. Our interest in mentioning these observations of experts is to say that God designed the human body parts in such a way that they fit together to ensure cohesiveness when the various parts carry out their functions. It is thus not surprising that the psalmist writing under the Holy Spirit conveys the sense of wonder regarding the body as we read in Psalm 139:14:
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
In any event, we should recognize that the apostle was not really concerned about human anatomy as he is concerned with the body of Christ, that is, the church. So, we need to apply what he wrote about what God did with parts of the body to the church of Christ.
We have stated that the analogy of the body and body parts the apostle has been using is intended to address the church and members of the body of Christ. This being the case, when the apostle indicated that God placed parts of the body as He pleased, his intention is that we understand that God has given spiritual gifts to various believers as He pleased. He is the God who knew His plan and its outworking from the beginning to the end as implied in Isaiah 46:10:
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
Furthermore, God does what pleases Him in keeping with His nature as we are informed by the psalmist in Psalm 135:6:
The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
When you put together these two facts about God, we should recognize that He gives to each local church of Christ the spiritual gifts that are necessary for that local church to accomplish His purpose. In effect, no local church would be without the gifts that are necessary to carry out God’s plan that is pleasing to Him. As He placed each part of the body to function in support of the whole body, so He has placed believers in a local church with spiritual gifts that are needed to carry out His plan. The implication is that we should not think that anyone has any spiritual gift because of anything on the part of the individual but because God has seen fit to give such a person the gift whatever that happened to be in order to carry out the function of the local church in accordance with His plan for that local church. I am saying that we should not think of our spiritual gifts in a way that will indicate that it is because of anything on our part that we have them as the Holy Spirit cautioned believers in Rome as we read in Romans 12:3:
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
In any event, a fourth fact to help you understand the importance of unity and diversity in the body of Christ is that it is God who places each member of the church in the church to function as He wants. This brings us to the fifth fact
A fifth fact to help you understand the importance of unity and diversity in the body of Christ is that there would have been no church of Christ as we know it if it consists of only one member. It is this fact that is conveyed in 1 Corinthians 12:19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
Apostle Paul was being emphatic in conveying the fact the Holy Spirit wants us to get from verse 19. We say this because of the Greek phrase that begin verse 19 that literally may be translated “but if” as reflected in the AMP. It is true that the translators of the NIV did not translate the Greek phrase literally as “but if” in this passage but they did so elsewhere as, for example, in the apostle’s argument in dealing with God’s faithfulness in Romans 3:5:
But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
The same literal translation we stated is adopted by the translators of the NIV in Paul’s argument in support of the bodily resurrection as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:12:
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
This aside, we contend that the literal translation of the Greek phrase that begins 1 Corinthians 12:19 is “but if.” The reason for the literal translation is because of the two Greek particles used in the verse. The first particle is a Greek word (ei) that has several usages. For example, it could be used as a marker of an indirect question where it may be translated “that.” It can be used as a marker of a condition, real, hypothetical, actual, or contrary to fact. We see an example where the particle is used to express an unreal (contrary to fact) condition in what the Lord said about the Jews of His time, voiced out about their forefathers as stated in Matthew 23:30:
And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
The Jews stated what is contrary to fact in that they were not living at the time of their forefathers. It is in the sense of stating what is contrary to fact that Apostle Paul used the Greek particle in our passage of study, that is, 1 Corinthians 12:19. The second Greek particle (de) the apostle used may be used to connect one clause to another, either to express contrast or simple continuation but in certain occurrences the marker may be left untranslated. Although it is often translated “but” in the English when there is a perceived contrast between two clauses, but it has other meanings such as “now,” “then,” “and,” “so” when it is used to link segments of a narrative. It can also be used to indicate transition to something new or to resume a discourse after an interruption. The question, of course, is how to translate the particle in our present verse. Majority of our English versions did not translate it probably because they considered it as used to continue the apostle’s analogy or to focus on a different aspect of his illustration or to resume what the apostle stated in 1 Corinthians 12:17 before digressing to what he stated in verse 18. Some English versions translated it “and” such as in the HCSB. The ISV rendered it with the word “now” although I am not certain what the translators meant since “now” could mean “under present circumstances” or “as a consequence of the fact.” Anyway, it is probably that the apostle used it in an emphatic manner to further explain his analogy regarding the importance of diversity in unity so that it could be translated “in fact” to convey that he was making a point that should get the reader or hearer’s attention regarding what he was about to state which is in a sense an important point that drives home his point in the use of analogy. Of course, it is also possible that the apostle used it as an emphatic resumption of what he said in verse 17.
Be that as it may, the apostle introduced a conditional clause necessary to emphasize his point of the necessity of diversity in unity. Again, the conditional clause given in 1 Corinthians 12:19 is If they were all one part. The use of “if” as we have already indicated is to convey something that is contrary to fact. In effect, based on the fact the apostle used the word “if” to introduce something contrary to fact, we could fully translate the Greek conditional clause as “but if they were all one part and they are not” to convey the sense that what the apostle stated is contrary to fact regarding body parts.
The sentence they were of verse 19 refers the various body parts the apostle used in the preceding verses to communicate his point regarding the importance of diversity in unity. We are saying that the pronoun “they” refers to the various parts of the body the apostle already mentioned such as the hand, foot, ear, and eyes.
Having stated what is contrary to fact, the apostle then conveyed that if the condition he stated that was contrary to fact was indeed a fact then we would not have the body as we do. It is this that he presented in the question of 1 Corinthians 12:19 where would the body be? This question is meant to convey that there would not be a body as we know it if only there was one part to a body. The NLT translation captures the sense of what the apostle intended to convey in their translation How strange a body would be if it had only one part! The CEV also captured the sense of what the apostle meant by interpreting the verse instead of translating it as the translators rendered the verse as A body isn’t really a body, unless there is more than one part. The point of the apostle is that if there were no many parts to a body, the body as we know it would not exist. Of course, as we have already indicated, his point is that there would be no such thing as the church of Christ if it only consisted of one member with one or even more spiritual gifts. Hence, it takes all the members of the church of Christ with their various spiritual gifts to have the church of Christ on this planet.
Summing up what we have considered. Your second responsibility regarding the message that Unity and diversity are essential in the body of Christ, that is, the church of Christ is that You should focus on facts stated about members of the church of Christ. The first is that the church of Christ consists of several members. The second is that no believer can be separated from the body of Christ. The third is that each member is necessary for the functioning of the local church of Christ or the universal church of Christ. The fourth is that it is God who places each member of the church in the church to function as He wants. The fifth is that there would have been no church of Christ as we know it if it consists of only one member.
07/15//22