μέλος

μέλος — mélos

μέλος, μελους, τό (from Homer down), a member, limb: properly, a member of the human body, Rom 12:4; 1Co 12:12; 1Co 12:14; 1Co 12:18-20; 1Co 12:25; Jas 3:5; τά μελα τοῦ σώματος, 1Co 12:12; 1Co 12:22; μου, σου, ἡμῶν, ὑμῶν, Mat 5:29; Rom 6:13; Rom 6:19; Rom 7:5; Rom 7:23; Col 3:5; Jas 3:6; Jas 4:1; πόρνης μέλη is said of bodies given up to criminal intercourse, because they are as it were members belonging to the harlot's body, 1Co 6:15. Since Christians are closely united by the bond of one and the same spirit both among themselves and with Christ as the head, their fellowship is likened to the body, and individual Christians are metaphorically, styled μέλη — now one of another, ἀλλήλων: Rom 12:5; Eph 4:25; Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 46, 7 [ET] (cf. Fritzsche, Commentary on Romans iii., p. 45) — now of the mystical body, i. e. the church: 1Co 12:27; Eph 5:30 (cf. WH marginal reading); τά σώματα of Christians are called μέλη, of Christ, because the body is the abode of the spirit of Christ and is consecrated to Christ's service, 1Co 6:15.