1-corinthians 12:15
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
American King James Version (AKJV)
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
American Standard Version (ASV)
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
If the foot says, Because I am not the hand, I am not a part of the body; it is no less a part of the body.
Webster's Revision
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
World English Bible
If the foot would say, "Because I'm not the hand, I'm not part of the body," it is not therefore not part of the body.
English Revised Version (ERV)
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.
Clarke's 1-corinthians 12:15 Bible Commentary
If the foot shall say, etc. - As all the members of the body are necessarily dependent on each other, and minister to the general support of the system, so is it in the Church. All the private members are intimately connected among themselves, and also with their pastors; without which union no Church can subsist.
Barnes's 1-corinthians 12:15 Bible Commentary
If the foot shall say ... - The same figure and illustration which Paul here uses occurs also in pagan writers. It occurs in the apologue which was used by Menenius Agrippa, as related by Livy (lib. 2: cap. 32), in which he attempted to repress a rebellion which had been excited against the nobles and senators, as useless and cumbersome to the state. Menenius, in order to show the folly of this, represents the different members of the body as conspiring against the stomach, as being inactive, and as refusing to labor, and consuming everything. The consequence of the conspiracy which the feet, and hands, and mouth entered into, was a universal wasting away of the whole frame for lack of the nutriment which would have been supplied from the stomach. Thus, he argued it would be by the conspiracy against the nobles, as being inactive, and as consuming all things. The representation had the desired effect, and quelled the rebellion. The same figure is used also by Aesop. The idea here is, that as the foot and the ear could not pretend that they were not parts of the body, and even not important, because they were not the eye, etc.; that is, were not more honorable parts of the body; so no Christian, however humble his endowments, could pretend that he was useless because he was not more highly gifted and did not occupy a more elevated rank.
Wesley's 1-corinthians 12:15 Bible Commentary
12:15 The foot is elegantly introduced as speaking of the hand; the ear, of the eye; each, of a part that has some resemblance to it. So among men each is apt to compare himself with those whose gifts some way resemble his own, rather than with those who are at a distance, either above or beneath him. Is it therefore not of the body - Is the inference good? Perhaps the foot may represent private Christians; the hand, officers in the church; the eye, teachers; the ear, hearers.