Texts in Conversation
In 1 Clement, the author tells the Corinthians that the head is nothing without the feet, a comparison of the church to a body that Paul had made to the same church in 1 Corinthians 12, and sets it beside an army in which each rank obeys the one above.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Corinthians 12:21
New Testament
20 So now there are many members, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.” 22 On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential, 23 and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, 24 but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another. 26 If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it.
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 37:5
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Early Christian
3 All are not prefects, nor rulers of thousands, nor rulers of hundreds, nor rulers of fifties, and so forth; but each man in his own rank executes the orders given by the king and the governors. 4 The great without the small cannot exist, neither the small without the great. There is a certain mixture in all things, and in this is utility. 5 Let us take our body as an example. The head without the feet is nothing; so likewise the feet without the head are nothing: even the smallest limbs of our body are necessary and useful for the whole body: but all the members work together and unite in subjection, that the whole body may be saved.
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Notes and References
“... Paul’s metaphor of the body is found in 1 Corinthians, Romans, and Ephesians. But the detailed correlation between 1 Clement and 1 Corinthians makes it very likely that in this instance Clement draws on the metaphor as it is developed in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. As Lindemann observes, there is ‘eine erhebliche Wahrscheinlichkeit’ that we find here evidence of direct literary dependence on 1 Corinthians. ...”
Gregory, Andrew F.
The Reception of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers
(p. 146) Oxford University Press, 2005
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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