For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God in grace as in nature (Romans 12:4-5). As the body's many members compose an organic whole, and none can be dispensed with, so those variously gifted by the Spirit compose a spiritual organism-the body of Christ-into which all are baptized by the one Spirit.
Of that one body. So C Delta. But 'Aleph (') A B G g, Vulgate, omit "one."
So also is Christ - i:e., the whole Christ, the head and body. So Psalms 18:50, 'His anointed (Messiah or Christ), David (the antitypical David), and his seed.'
By one Spirit are we all baptized - literally, 'in' in virtue of; in the sphere or element of. The designed effect of baptism realized when not frustrated by man's unfaithfulness.
Gentiles - literally, Greeks. The Greeks had a susceptibility for the gift of tongues (on which the Corinthians prided themselves), the Romans for practical gifts, the Jews for spiritual. all made to drink into one Spirit. 'Aleph (') B C Delta G f g read 'made to drink one Spirit,' omitting "into" (John 7:37); an allusion to the Lord's supper (though including all channels of grace: of, the same Greek verb, 1 Corinthians 3:2), since there is an allusion to baptism in the beginning of the verse. So the 'spirit, the water, and the blood' (1 John 5:8) combine the two outward signs with the inward things signified, the Spirit's grace,
are have been rather as Greek 'were were' (aorists; past time) are ... have been - rather, as Greek, 'were ... were' (aorists; past time).