One body, honor, and hospitality (12:4–13)

Says Paul writes that “in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another” (12:5, BSB), though the members do not all have the same function (12:4). He urges, “Outdo yourselves in honoring one another” (12:10), and, “Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality” (12:13).

Sanday and Headlam (ICC, p. 355) note that ancient writers often compared a social organism to a body, and they take the use here to build on 1 Cor 12:12–31. The Stoic Seneca offers one example: “we are the parts of one great body” (Ep. 95.52), and the duties he draws from it include sharing a crust with the starving (95.51). Aristotle defines honor as “a token of a reputation for doing good” and lists its outward marks, from privileges and front seats to gifts (Rhet. 1.5.9).

On hospitality, Sanday and Headlam (p. 363) say that it was recognized “from the very beginning” as one of the most important Christian duties, citing Heb 13:2, 1 Tim 3:2, Titus 1:8, 1 Pet 4:9 and 1 Clement. Believers, they explain, saw themselves as scattered aliens bound together as one body, so a traveling Christian should find a home among the Christians in each town.

These parallels do not show that Paul depends on any of these writers, and they do not decide how the body image or the gifts of 12:6–8 are to be read; see the exegetical notes.