---
title: 1 Corinthians 12:27
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-12-27/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-12-27.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 12:27
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 12:27

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "you are Christ's body"
- NWT (2013 revision): "you are Christ's body"

## JW Usage

JWs read "you are Christ's body" as referring strictly to the 144,000 anointed who form the heavenly congregation. On the two-class system, only the anointed are members of the body of Christ; the great-crowd majority are subjects of that body, not parts of it. The verse therefore functions in JW theology as a marker of the anointed remnant rather than an inclusive description of every believer.

## Protestant Usage

Paul writes humeis de este sōma Christou kai melē ek merous — "now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it." The "you" addresses the entire Corinthian congregation, not a hidden sub-class within it (compare 2 Cor 1:1, where the same letter is written "to the church of God in Corinth, with all the saints"). Membership in the body of Christ on Paul's terms is coextensive with membership in the new covenant — he never partitions the congregation into a body-class and a subject-class. The two-class reading has to be imported from outside; Paul's "you" carries no asterisk.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders the verb "are" — the natural English of the Greek este — without smuggling in "in union with" expansions or qualifying brackets. The translation of this verse is faithful; the issue with the JW reading is interpretive rather than textual. Note how the NWT keeps "are" here while it swaps "is" for "means" at the Last Supper verses: Paul calling the Corinthians Christ's body does not press on Watchtower doctrine, whereas Jesus saying "this is my body" does.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [When 'Is' Becomes 'Means'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/is-to-means-broader-pattern.md) — The NWT's Pattern of Paraphrasing the Greek Copula [NWT Translation]