In the King James and American Standard Versions, “your” is always plural. It means belonging to more than one person spoken to. Unlike how we talk now, when “belonging to one person spoken to” was meant, the word “thy” was used.<\/p>\n
This fact has caused some otherwise good Bible students, teachers, and preachers to fall into an error. These claim that “your,” followed by the name of a single thing owned, means that what is owned belongs to “all of you” together. Hence, it is concluded that “your body<\/em>” in I Corinthians 6:19 must mean the church rather than each Christian’s own body. That, too, even though I Corinthians 18 spoke of “a man<\/em>” and “his own body<\/em>.”<\/p>\n In this, we shall show that in the Greek language (exactly as in English), an expression like “your body” was often used to indicate such a thought as “the body of each one of you.” We quote from the 564-page Handbook to the Grammar of the Greek Testament<\/em>, by Dr. Samuel G. Green. Page 202 has the heading, The Number of Nouns. Under this is the subtitle, “Chapter III, the Noun Substantive,” followed by the topic, Number. This has six numbered sections, of which we quote one in its entirety.<\/p>\n Section 237:<\/p>\n Some words, like soma<\/em>, body, kardia<\/em>, heart, when predicated of several individuals, are occasionally employed in the singular. The plural, however, is more common. Thus we read, to soma humon<\/em>\u00a0and ta somata humon<\/em>, your body or bodies: he kardia<\/em>\u00a0or hai kardaia auton<\/em>, their heart or hearts.<\/p>\n The word prosopon<\/em>, face, is always singular in such phrases as they fell upon their face, except in Revelation, vii. 11, xi. 16.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We needed to look up “predicate,” a verb with an accent on the last syllable. It means simply “to affirm or declare.”<\/p>\n In examining a complete concordance, one is surprised to find how frequently a plural possessive pronoun or noun is used with the singular of each of the three nouns Dr. Green gives. “Face” is one “predicated (declared) of several individuals.”<\/p>\n Matthew 17:6 states, “They fell on their faces<\/em>.” If we forget that we say the same thing and are going to be picky, we might ask, “Did all of them together have only one face?” We know it means “the face of each of them.”<\/p>\n Luke 2:31 tells that God had prepared His salvation “before the face<\/em> (singular) of all peoples<\/em> (Plural).” Another plural possessive noun was used by Stephen (Acts 7:45) in speaking of “the nations that God thrust out before the face of our fathers<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Since we are dealing particularly with “your,” we note two times when Paul wrote it to modify the singular “face.” In I Thessalonians 3:10, he wrote, “praying that we may see your face<\/em>.” “Your” is plural, referring to the whole church. But the meaning clearly is “your face,” or “the face of each one of you.”<\/p>\n Mark 8:17 records that Jesus asked, “Have ye your heart yet hardened?<\/em>” In Greek, the pronoun “your” and verb are plural. In King James English, both pronouns (“ye” and “your” are, too. But “heart” is singular in both. He said\u00a0 in Luke 12:34, “There will your heart be also.<\/em>” If He had been addressing one person, it would have been translated, “There will thy heart be also<\/em>.” The same would have been true of John 14:1, “Let not your<\/em> (plural) heart<\/em> (singular) be troubled<\/em>.”<\/p>\n “Your heart” was said to be “filled with sorrow<\/em>” (John 16:6), predicted as “shall rejoice<\/em>” (John 16:22) mentioned in “making melody with your heart<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:19), and “singleness of your heart<\/em>” (Ephesians 6:5).<\/p>\n Two other plural possessive pronouns are used with the singular “heart.” “If our heart condemn us<\/em>” is in I John 3:20, and the same is true with “not” in I John 3:21. The same word pairing is also in I John 3:19, Luke 24:32, and II Corinthians 6:11.<\/p>\n “Their heart” occurs in two previously cited verses and fifteen other times in the New Testament.<\/p>\n Plural possessive nouns are also written as if each group collectively had only one heart. Some examples are “people’s heart<\/em>” in Matthew 13:15 and Acts 28:27 and “heart <\/em>of men<\/em>” in Mark 7:21.<\/p>\n Many times in the New Testament, “thy body” is found. Then, in several instances, a plural possessive pronoun is used with “body” to mean “the body of each” and every one of a group.<\/p>\n James 3:3 points out that with a bridle for horses, “we turn about their<\/em> (plural) whole body<\/em> (singular) also.” Question: Did a group of horses share one body? Another such pronoun is “our” as in II Corinthians 4:10, “that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body<\/em>.” In I Corinthians 4:11, it is called “our mortal flesh<\/em>.” Romans 8:23 should be read to see how “the redemption of our body<\/em>” is used.<\/p>\n Certainly, in Philippians 3:21, the individual physical body of each Christian is indicated by “the body<\/em> (singular) of our<\/em> (plural) humiliation<\/em>.” In no way can “body” be construed to refer to the church.<\/p>\n We began with “your body” in I Corinthians 16:19-20. This pairing of words was used by Jesus as recorded in Matthew 6:25, “…nor yet for your body<\/em>.” If one disciple had been addressed individually, the KJV and ASV would have “thy body.” If we claim that this indicates “the body of you all” (which it does), we must also admit that it means “the body of each one of you all.”<\/p>\n Romans 6:12 uses plural verbs and pronouns to accompany the phrase “in your mortal body<\/em>. “Your” is plural. The church is not mortal, but the body of each Christian is.<\/p>\n From all these verses, we can see that in I Corinthians 6, we need not twist Paul’s meaning in I Corinthians 6:19 to make him change the subject (use of “body”) unnaturally. Speaking of fornication, I Corinthians 6:18 mentioned a man’s own body twice. The thought continued with the word “or,” beginning in I Corinthians 6:19. Each Christian’s physical body is a “temple of the Holy Spirit<\/em>.” In each mortal body (of them all), each is to glorify God.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Oliver Watts via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 1, March 31, 1990 In the King James and American Standard Versions, “your” is always plural. It means belonging to more than one person spoken to. Unlike how we talk now, when “belonging to one person spoken to” was meant, the word “thy” was used. This fact…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1254,1574,495],"class_list":["post-85488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-body","tag-greek-language","tag-heart"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-paul-talking-about-destroying-the-body-with-food-or-sin-in-i-corinthians-316-17\/","url_meta":{"origin":85488,"position":0},"title":"Is Paul talking about destroying the body with food or sin in I Corinthians 3:16-17?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Corinthians 3:16,17, \"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye.\" Paul talks about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-consist-of-just-one-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":85488,"position":1},"title":"Can a church consist of just one person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a church consist of just one person? Answer: A church is an entity separate and distinguishable from a single individual Christian. This can be seen in the separation of responsibility seen in\u00a0I Timothy 5:16, \"If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7063,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-body-of-christ-more-proper-than-church-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":85488,"position":2},"title":"Is “body of Christ” more proper than “church of Christ”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was recently given some materials about using \"church\" in the name \"Church of Christ\". Apparently, this information came from another congregation, whose minister has been known to be very determined to prove a point or very legalistic. The congregation is also the \"Church of Christ\". The question is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10433,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-church-is-just-me-in-my-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":85488,"position":3},"title":"My church is just me in my room","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: G'day Minister, I just wanted, on impulse, to pay my respects and say what a fantastic premise you operate as a 'church'. No frills, no nonsense, no pretensions - instead, just good old fashioned and solid focus on Scripture. I am most impressed, as I'm sure the Lord must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95575,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/koine-greek-discovered-as-the-new-testament-language-in-the-1890s\/","url_meta":{"origin":85488,"position":4},"title":"Koine Greek – Discovered as the New Testament Language in the 1890s","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Luther Martin via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 1, March 1995 It could be considered one of the most mysterious yet most important detective stories of ancient and modern times. The God of heaven had provided a collection of sixty-six separately written books, designed to instruct mankind in morally upright\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56715,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-knew-hebrew-you-would-see-more-than-what-is-stated-in-the-translations\/","url_meta":{"origin":85488,"position":5},"title":"If you knew Hebrew, you would see more than what is stated in the translations","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In reference to\u00a0Is \"Christian\" supposed to be \"natsarim\"? \"Your friend likes to think of himself as superior because he knows a little bit of Hebrew. As you noted, the Bible proves his various positions wrong. Knowledge of God's teaching does not require knowing Hebrew or Greek. You can understand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Face<\/h2>\n
Heart<\/h2>\n
Body<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n