📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 12:17

What does 1 Corinthians 12:17 mean?

"If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?"

— 1 Corinthians 12:17 (World English Bible)

Surrounding context

14

For the body is not one member, but many.

15

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.

16

If the ear would say, “Because I’m not the eye, I’m not part of the body,” it’s not therefore not part of the body.

17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?

18

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.

19

If they were all one member, where would the body be?

20

But now they are many members, but one body.

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