Spiritual Gifts

¹Now mconcerning1 spiritual gifts,2 brothers,3 I do not want you to be uninformed. ²You know that nwhen you were pagans oyou were led astray to pmute idols, however you were led. ³Therefore I want you to understand that qno one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is raccursed!” and sno one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

⁴Now tthere are varieties of gifts, but uthe same Spirit; ⁵and vthere are varieties of service, but uthe same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is uthe same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷wTo each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of xwisdom, and to another the utterance of yknowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹to another zfaith by the same Spirit, to another agifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰to another bthe working of miracles, to another cprophecy, to another dthe ability to distinguish between spirits, to another evarious kinds of tongues, to another fthe interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, gwho apportions to each one individually has he wills.

One Body with Many Members

¹²For just as ithe body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, jso it is with Christ. ¹³For kin one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—lJews or Greeks, slaves4 or free—and mall 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 sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸But as it is, nGod arranged the members in the body, each one of them, oas he chose. ¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts,5 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 that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow 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 greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵that there may be no division 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, pall rejoice together.

²⁷Now qyou are the body of Christ and individually rmembers of it. ²⁸And sGod has appointed in the church first tapostles, second uprophets, third teachers, then vmiracles, then wgifts of healing, xhelping, yadministrating, and vvarious 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 zearnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

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The Way of Love

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have aprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, bso as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³cIf I give away all I have, and dif I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴eLove is patient and fkind; love gdoes not envy or boast; it his not arrogant ⁵or rude. It idoes not insist on its own way; it jis not irritable or resentful;2 ⁶it kdoes not rejoice at wrongdoing, but lrejoices with the truth. ⁷mLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, eendures all things.

⁸Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For nwe know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but owhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹²For pnow we see in a mirror dimly, but qthen face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as rI have been fully known.

¹³So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

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Prophecy and Tongues

¹sPursue love, and tearnestly desire the uspiritual gifts, especially that you may vprophesy. ²For wone who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. ³On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. ⁴The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but xeven more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

⁶Now, brothers,1 if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some yrevelation or knowledge or prophecy or zteaching? ⁷If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? ⁸And aif the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? ⁹So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be bspeaking into the air. ¹⁰There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, ¹¹but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be ca foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. ¹²So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; dI will sing praise with my spirit, but I will esing with my mind also. ¹⁶Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider2 say f“Amen” to gyour thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. ¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰Brothers, hdo not be children in your thinking. iBe infants in evil, but in your thinking be jmature. ²¹kIn the Law it is written, l“By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” ²²Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign3 not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, mwill they not say that you are out of your minds? ²⁴But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, ²⁵nthe secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, ofalling on his face, he will worship God and pdeclare that God is really among you.

Orderly Worship

²⁶What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has qa hymn, ra lesson, ra revelation, sa tongue, or tan interpretation. uLet all things be done for building up. ²⁷If any speak in sa tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. ²⁸But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. ²⁹Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others vweigh what is said. ³⁰If a revelation is made to another sitting there, wlet the first be silent. ³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, ³²and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. ³³For God is not a God of xconfusion but of peace.

As in yall the churches of the saints, ³⁴zthe women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but ashould be in submission, as bthe Law also says. ³⁵If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

³⁶Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? ³⁷cIf anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. ³⁸If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. ³⁹So, my brothers, dearnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰eBut all things should be done decently and fin order.

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