The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
3. I say, then, with S. Augustine that the meaning of this passage is simply this : So also is Christ one body, i.e., the Church. For Christ is both head and body to the Church, inasmuch as He sustains all her members and works in them all, teaches by the doctor, baptizes by the minister, believes through faith, and repents in the penitent. For in this sense Christ is not locally but mystically, and by way of operation and effectually, the body, hypostasis, soul, and spirit of the whole Church. As the Church is the body of Christ, its head, so in turn is Christ the body of the Church, because, through the operation of His grace, He transfers Himself into all the members of the Church. So the Apostle often says that we are one in Christ, that through baptism we are incorporated into Christ and made one plant with Him. And Christ said to Paul, “Why persecutest thou Me?” that is, the Christians, My members (Acts ix. 4). So Paul says again: “To me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Therefore S. Francis in his words, “ My God, my Love, my All,” was but echoing S. Paul.
Ver. 13. — For by one Spirit are we all baptized. He proves that Christ is one body with many members from baptism, for by baptism we were regenerate, and incorporated into the one body of the Church, and therefore into Christ. In that body we live by the same Spirit, the Spirit of Christ ; and on the same food, the Eucharist, we are fed, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, bond or free. Notice the phrase “ into one body : ” this body is the Church, and consequently we are baptized into Christ, who, as I have said, is in a sense the body of the Church.
And have been all made to drink into one Spirit. In the Eucharistic chalice we have quaffed, together with Christ's blood, His Spirit. Hence some Greek copies read, “ We have all drunk of one draught.” Cf. Clemens Alex. Pædag. lib. i. c. 6. The meaning is that from it we all partake of one and the same Spirit of Christ, who, by abiding in all, quickens every member, and makes it perform duly its function. In other words, not only were we born and incorporated into the said body, but we all partake of the same food, viz.,
Christ’s body and blood, in the Eucharist. For one species of the Eucharist leads easily to the other, and by “ the drink ” we may well understand “ the food ; ” just as on the other hand from the species of bread we understand that of wine in chap. x. 17. Cf. Chrysostom and Cajetan, whose comments here are noteworthy.
It appears from this that all the baptized, whether good or bad, are the body of Christ, that is, are of the Church, and that they have been grafted into Him as members by baptism ; for the soul of this body, the Church, is the faith which all the faithful have, even though their life be evil. Cf. notes to Eph. v. 27.
Ver. 22. — Nay, much more those members of the body , which seem to be more feeble , are necessary . S. Chrysostom and Theophylact think that this refers to the eyes, which are small and delicate but yet most necessary. But as the eyes have been included in the preceding verse amongst the nobler members which govern the body, it is better to refer it, as others do, to the internal parts of the body. For the belly is as the kitchen or the caterer for the whole of the body, and cooks and distributes the food for every part, and therefore is essential to the life of the body.
Ver. 23. — And those members of the body . . . upon these we bestow more abundant honour . The “ less honourable ” members are the feet, say Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Ambrose. We are more careful to cover them with shoes, or to bestow ornament upon them, lest they be hurt in walking, or catch cold, or in some way convey illness to the stomach and head.
“Honour” here means either covering or the attention bestowed upon the feet in the way of decorated boots or leggings, such as many rich young men, and especially soldiers, wear. Homer, e.g., frequently speaks of the “ well-greaved Achaeans.”
And our uncomely parts have more abundant honour . Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Theophylact refer these to the pudenda. These, says S. Augustine ( Retract . lib. ii. c. 7), are called uncomely, not because nature so made them, but because, since the Fall, lust reigns in them more than elsewhere, because lust is contrary to the law of reason, and therefore ought to be a cause of shame to man. For it puts man to shame when his member so casts off his authority. The more abundant honour that they receive is a more careful and comely covering, so that even if men anywhere discard clothing, they yet cover these parts, as Theophylact says. Moreover, these members are honoured in wedlock, as being necessary to the procreation of children and the perpetuation of the species, as Chrysostom says. Hence, under the Romans, any one who emasculated himself was severely punished, as an offender against the common good and a violent assailant of nature.
Others think that the “ more feeble ” and “ less honourable ” members are identical, and are the belly and its subsidiary organs. But the Apostle makes a distinction between them, and connects them as distinct entities by the conjunction “and.” His meaning then is, that as we care for those members of the body which are more feeble and ignoble when compared to the rest, and treat them as if they were more useful, so, too, in the Church those who seem to be of less account, such as the infirm, the unknown, and the despised, are for that very reason of more use and should be the more carefully helped. So say Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm. For the use of beggars in the Church, see S. Chrysostom (Hom. 20 Moral., and also contra Invid. Hom. 31).
We have an illustration of this verse in the allegory of the belly deserted by the other members, by which Menenius Agrippa brought back the lower orders who had seceded from the senate of the
Roman people, and settled on Mons Sacer (Livy, lib. ii. dec. 1).
Menenius said : “At that time when men's members were not so agreed as they are now, but each sought its own private ends , they say that the other parts of the body were indignant that the belly should get its wants supplied by their care , their toil, and their ministry , and itself rest quietly in the midst, and enjoy the pleasures they gave ; so they agreed that the hand would lift no food to the mouth, that the mouth would not admit it if it were offered, nor the teeth chew it. Then while, as they thought, that they were reducing the belly by hunger, they found that each member and the whole body also were brought down to the last extremities . They saw then that the belly had, too, its active service , and was not more nourished by them than they gained from it. They saw that the blood , re-invigorated by the food that had been eaten , was impartially distributed through the veins into every part of the body , giving each its life and energy . Then , by drawing a comparison between the civil war in the body and the angry action of the lower orders against the Fathers , Menenius induced them to return .”
Ver. 24. — For our comely parts have no need. The eyes, the face, and the hands, which are the more comely parts of the body, lack no ornament, but are comely enough in themselves.
Having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. That is more careful guard, more clothing and ornament. Cf. ver. 22.
Ver. 25. — That there should be no schism in the body ; but that the members should have the same care one for another. No schism, such as that related by Menenius, but that all should have the same care for the others as for themselves, or else it may mean that each member should be solicitous for the common good of the whole body.
Ver. 26. — Whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it. “ They suffer together ” in such a way that the suffering member’s grief is lightened, “ not by communion in disaster, but by the solace afforded by charity,” says S. Augustine ( Ep . 133). Hence S. Basil (Reg. Brevior. 175) says that the outward proof of love is twofold: (1.) rejoicing in the good of one’s neighbour and labouring for it; (2.) in grief and sorrow for his misfortune or his sin. He who has not this loves not
Doctors infer from this verse that souls in bliss, burning with love for us, help us by their prayers in our troubles and dangers ; and that we in our turn ought to help souls kept in purgatory, for they suffer the devouring flame, and therefore he must be cruel indeed who does not suffer with them, and do what he can to set them free.