453 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But now hath God set the members,.... The members of a natural body, as they are all made and fashioned by God in the form they be, so they are each of them set by him in the place they are: everyone of them in the body as it hath pleased him; according to his sovereign will, without consulting any; and each stands in the best situation and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if they were all one member,.... As all eye, or all ear, or all hand, or all foot: where were the body? where would be the body? it would not be a body consisting of such proper and suitable members, as now it is: so if the community of the saints were either all ministers, or all hearers, c. there would be no body, consisting of different...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But now are they many members,.... Of different make and shape, in different parts and places, and of different use and service: yet but one body; all are united together, and make up one complete body, and which without each of them would not be perfect: so there are many members in the body of Christ, the church; some are teachers, others are...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Nay, much more those members of the body,.... The apostle, in a beautiful gradation, proceeds to take notice of such parts of the body as are more weak, dishonourable, and uncomely, showing the necessity and usefulness of them: which seem to be more feeble; than others, do not consist of a strong bony substance, and are not fenced with sinews, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And those members of the body,.... As the back parts of it: which we think to be less honourable; though greatly useful, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; by clothing them, for a man's garments are his honour and glory; [See comments on Matthew 6:29], so the poor members of Christ's church, who are thought to be, though they really are...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For our comely parts have no need,.... As the face, eyes, nose, lips, cheeks, c. which stand in no need of an external covering, of any outward ornament: so such as are blessed with the bounties of nature and providence, with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and are eminent for grace and holiness, and are enabled to walk worthy of their calling, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That there should be no schism in the body..... No complaint of one member against another, as useless and unnecessary; no murmuring on that account; no tumults and rioting; no rebellion and insurrection of one against another; no dissension, no division. The use Menenius (e) Agrippa made of this simile, applying it to the body politic, as the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And whether one member suffer,.... Pain; even the meanest, lowest, and most distant, as the foot or hand, toe or finger: all the members suffer with it; are more or less affected therewith, and bear part of the distress; as is easily discerned, by their different forms and motions on such an occasion: so when anyone member of the mystical body is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now ye are the body of Christ,.... Not his natural body, which his Father prepared for him, in which he bore our sins on the tree, and which was offered up once for all; nor his sacramental body, or the bread in the supper, which is a representation of his body; but his body mystical, the church; not that the Corinthians were the whole of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God hath set some in the church,.... As before the apostle gives an account of the various different gifts of the Spirit, qualifying men for service in the church of Christ, here he enumerates the several offices and officers: first apostles; as were the twelve disciples, and Paul the apostle; men that were immediately sent by Christ himself,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Are all apostles?.... No some are prophets, as distinct from apostles; and some are teachers, as distinct from them both, and some are neither: are all prophets? no; some are apostles, above them, and some are teachers, inferior to them; and but very few there were who had that peculiar character and gift: are all teachers? no; the far greater...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Have all the gifts of healing?.... No; when these gifts were in being, all had them not. When anointing with oil, in order to heal the sick, was in use, it was only performed by the elders of the church, not by the common members of it, who were to be sent for by the sick on this occasion: do all speak with tongues? no; it was not true in fact, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But covet earnestly the best gifts,.... Which may be rendered either indicatively as an assertion, "ye do covet earnestly the best gifts": of prophesying and teaching, of doing miracles, healing diseases, speaking with, and interpreting, different tongues and languages; but I can, and do show you something that is better, and more excellent than...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 13 This chapter is taken up in the commendation of the grace of charity, or love, which is preferred to all gifts whatsoever; is described by its properties and effects, and particularly its duration; on which account it is represented as more excellent than other principal graces. The apostle prefers it to gifts, by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Though I speak with the tongues of men,.... That is, of all men, all languages that men anywhere speak, or have been spoken by them. The number of these is by some said (i) to be "seventy five"; but the general opinion of the Jews is, that at the confusion of languages at Babel, they were seventy; for they say (k), that then "the holy blessed God...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And though I have the gift of prophecy,.... Either of foretelling future events, as Balaam, who foretold many things concerning the Messiah and the people of Israel, and yet had no true love for either; and Caiaphas, who was high priest the year Christ suffered, and prophesied of his death, and was himself concerned in it, being a bitter enemy to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,.... Of which the Jews give us instances; they say (n), that R. Ishcab stood, והחליק כל נכסיו לעניים, "and distributed all his goods to the poor"; and a little after they say the same of King Monbaz, that he stood and gave away, or dispersed, "all his goods to the poor"; and elsewhere (o) they say...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Charity suffereth long,.... The apostle, in this and some following verses, enumerates the several properties and characters of the grace of love; and all along represents it as if it was a person, and no doubt designs one who is possessed of it, and in whose heart it is implanted and reigns; such an one is said to "suffer long", or be "patient",...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Doth not behave itself unseemly,.... By using either unbecoming words, or doing indecent actions; for a man unprincipled with this grace will be careful that no filthy and corrupt communication proceed out of his mouth, which may offend pious ears; and that he uses no ridiculous and ludicrous gestures, which may expose himself and grieve the...