1 Corinthians 12:18

18 But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, according as it has pleased [him].

1 Corinthians 12:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 12:18

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 position they could be put, and for the greatest service and usefulness to the whole: so God, and not man, hath set every member in the mystical body, the church, in such a place and part of it, as he himself thought fit; some in a higher, others in a lower station, but all for the good of the body; and therefore each member ought to be content with his place, gift, and usefulness, be they what they will; since it is the wise counsel and sovereign pleasure of God, who works all things after the counsel of his own will, that so it should be.

1 Corinthians 12:18 In-Context

16 And if the ear say, Because I am not an eye I am not of the body, is it on account of this not indeed of the body?

17 If the whole body [were] an eye, where the hearing? if all hearing, where the smelling?

18 But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body, according as it has pleased [him].

19 But if all were one member, where the body?

20 But now the members [are] many, and the body one.

Footnotes

• [a] Mid. voice; as LXX, Gen. 1.17, 'set for himself:' see Note e, Heb. 1.3.