---
title: 1 Corinthians 12:13
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-12-13/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-12-13.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 12:13
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 12:13

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

## JW Usage

JWs read "we were all baptised into one body" as referring only to the 144,000 anointed class. The "great crowd" belong to a different group with a different hope. The body of Christ, in Watchtower theology, is the anointed remnant — not all Christians. The Spirit's work in baptising believers into one body is restricted accordingly.

## Protestant Usage

First Corinthians 12:13 says "we were all baptised into one body" — not two bodies. Ephesians 4:4-6 lists seven unities that bind all Christians: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. The sevenfold unity is an all-or-nothing package. If "one hope" actually means two hopes, then "one baptism" means two baptisms, "one Lord" means two Lords, and "one faith" means two faiths — a conclusion that collapses the passage. First Corinthians 12:7 says "the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one" — not channelled through a central governing body. The Bible's picture is the Spirit indwelling every believer and distributing gifts across the entire body, with no single institutional channel controlling the flow.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [One Hope, Not Two](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/one-hope.md) — Ephesians 4:4 -- The Sevenfold Unity [Salvation]
- [The Pillar of Truth — Many Pillars, One Roof](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/pillar-of-truth-1tim315.md) — 1 Timothy 3:15 — The church upholds truth without monopolising it [Authority]