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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 12:26 - 12:26
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26. καὶ εἴτε πάσχει ἕν μέλος. This is a matter of the most ordinary experience in the human body. A pain in any portion, even the most remote from the seats of life, affects the whole. A glance at history will shew us that it is the same with the body politic. Whatever is physically, morally, or spiritually injurious to any one portion of society, or of the Church of Christ, is sure in the long run to produce injury, moral and spiritual deterioration to the rest.
εἴτε δοξάζεται μέλος. Chrysostom eloquently remarks here, ‘Is the head crowned? All the man is glorified. Do the lips speak? The eyes also laugh and rejoice.’ This part of the verse is as true as the former. Whatever tends to exalt the character and purify the aims of any one class, or even individual member of society, is sure in a greater or less degree to affect every other. If the one thought is calculated to alarm us by calling our attention to the infinite mischief which may be wrought by one act of thoughtlessness or selfishness, it is an immense encouragement to be reminded by the other that no work for good, undertaken from unselfish motives and carried out in an unselfish spirit, can possibly be without effect.