Passage: 1 Corinthians 12 (RSV)


1 Corinthians 12


1Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed.
2You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved.
3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.
7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
18But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19If all were a single organ, where would the body be?
20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
24which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,
25that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
31But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.



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