Paul now begins his main development of the image of the body.

The body, in English as in Greek, is generic; that is, it does not refer to a particular body. This is a statement that is true of all human bodies. In other languages there are various ways of making this clear.

Consist (Good News Bible‘s “made up of”) is implied in the Greek; Revised English Bible has simply “A body is not a single organ.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .