14. For the body does not consist of one limb or organ but of many.
15. If the foot should say, Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body?
16. If the ear should say, Because I am not the eye, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not [a part] of the body?
17. If the whole body were an eye, where [would be the sense of] hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where [would be the sense of] smell?
18. But as it is, God has placed and arranged the limbs and organs in the body, each [particular one] of them, just as He wished and saw fit and with the best adaptation.
19. But if [the whole] were all a single organ, where would the body be?
20. And now there are [certainly] many limbs and organs, but a single body.
21. And the eye is not able to say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22. But instead, there is [absolute] necessity for the parts of the body that are considered the more weak.
23. And those [parts] of the body which we consider rather ignoble are [the very parts] which we invest with additional honor, and our unseemly parts and those unsuitable for exposure are treated with seemliness (modesty and decorum),
24. Which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so adjusted (mingled, harmonized, and subtly proportioned the parts of) the whole body, giving the greater honor and richer endowment to the inferior parts which lack [apparent importance],
25. So that there should be no division or discord or lack of adaptation [of the parts of the body to each other], but the members all alike should have a mutual interest in and care for one another.
26. And if one member suffers, all the parts [share] the suffering; if one member is honored, all the members [share in] the enjoyment of it.
27. Now you [collectively] are Christ's body and [individually] you are members of it, each part severally and distinct [each with his own place and function].