The body is a unit, though it is made up of many
parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it
is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one
body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given
the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but
of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not
belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part
of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I
do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be
part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the
sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the
sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the
body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were
all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many
parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need
you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On
the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are
indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we
treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are
treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no
special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and
has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there
should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have
equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part
suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with
it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of
it.