What Does 1 Corinthians 12:18 Mean in the King James?
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Belonging is a matter of being placed within the body, not resembling every other member.
THE MEANING
God places each member in the body, one by one, with the whole in view. The place is relational: distinct members belong within one body. Difference does not make a member accidental or misplaced.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that having a different place or function means you do not belong.
THE ROOT
ἔθετο
etheto
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
To put, set, or place.
“set” in this verse is etheto. The verb presents each member as deliberately placed, rather than left to find a place alone. Because the placing happens within the body, each member’s distinctness and belonging arrive together.
ALSO GROWS
thesis: A placing or position.
θέσις
This branch makes the idea of a place explicit: each member occupies a position within the body.
paratithēmi: To place beside, set before, or entrust.
παρατίθημι
The shared root carries the sense of placing something in relation to something else, as each member is placed in relation to the body.
σῶμα
sōma
GROWS FROM
σωμ-
sōm-
Body.
The body is not a pile of separate members but the whole in which their differences belong. Greek compounds preserve that shared belonging in words that mean “of the same body.”
ALSO GROWS
syssōmos: Belonging to the same body.
σύσσωμος
The word makes explicit what this verse shows through placement: membership means sharing one body.
sōmatikos: Bodily or pertaining to the body.
σωματικός
This branch keeps the body concrete, grounding the verse’s image in an embodied whole rather than an abstract group.
THE PATTERN
God arranges distinct members into a whole whose life depends on their belonging together.
For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.THE THREAD
For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:Verse 18 says each member is placed; this verse reveals how that placement shapes the whole. God fits the body together and gives more abundant honor to the part that lacked.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us