What Does 1 Corinthians 12:13 Mean?
For in one breath we were all immersed into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether servants or free, and we were all given to drink one breath.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.THE KEY
The verse makes belonging both immersion and nourishment: one Breath gathers divided people into one body, then becomes what all drink.
THE MEANING
You are immersed into one shared body through one Breath; ethnicity and social rank do not determine your place in that shared life. The image turns inward as everyone receives that same Breath to drink.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that ethnicity or social rank decides who can enter the shared life.
THE ROOT
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
to breathe, blow
“in one breath” in this verse is pneuma. The word rendered Spirit also carries the sense of breath and wind, so the verse pictures shared life as something moving through and sustaining the body. The final drinking image makes this Breath something everyone receives inwardly.
ALSO GROWS
pnoē: breath; blowing
πνοή
This related word keeps breath and moving air within the same family of meaning.
pneumatikos: pertaining to breath or Spirit
πνευματικός
This adjective grows from the same word family, carrying its breath and Spirit sense into descriptions of what is shaped by it.
βαπτίζω
baptizō
GROWS FROM
βάπτω
baptō
to dip, immerse
The verb carries the image of immersion, so the verse’s oneness is entry into a shared body. Paired with drinking, the image joins being immersed into the body with receiving the same inward life.
ALSO GROWS
baptō: dip; immerse
βάπτω
The related verb shows the physical image beneath the verse’s language of baptism.
baptisma: immersion; baptism
βάπτισμα
This noun names the immersing act, keeping the verse’s image concrete.
ἐποτίσθημεν
epotisthēmen
GROWS FROM
πίνω
pinō
to drink
“given to drink” in this verse is epotisthēmen. The verb means being given drink, and its family also supplies language for watering. That connection makes the one Breath both the way into the shared body and what nourishes everyone within it.
ALSO GROWS
potizō: give to drink; water
ποτίζω
This related verb is rendered watered in 1 Corinthians 3:6, connecting drinking with nourishment and growth.
poma: drink; beverage
πόμα
This noun names what is taken in, keeping the shared drinking image close to the verse.
THE PATTERN
One Breath gathers people across inherited divisions into shared life.
And it shall be afterward, that I will pour out my breath upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your elders will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither servant nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus the Anointed One.There is one body, and one breath, even as you have been called in one hope of your calling.THE THREAD
I planted, Apollos gave to drink, but God made it grow.The verb behind made to drink here is the same Greek verb rendered watered in this verse. That shared root makes the one Breath not only the way into the body but its nourishment toward growth.
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