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.

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.

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.

The Resurrection of Christ

¹Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel gI preached to you, which you received, hin which you stand, ²and by which iyou are being saved, if you jhold fast to the word I preached to you—kunless you believed in vain.

³For lI delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died mfor our sins nin accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised oon the third day pin accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that qhe appeared to Cephas, then rto the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to sJames, then tto all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, uhe appeared also to me. ⁹For vI am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because wI persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, xI worked harder than any of them, ythough it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, zhow can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, athen not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that bhe raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁷And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and cyou are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who dhave fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If in Christ we have hope2 in this life only, ewe are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact fChrist has been raised from the dead, gthe firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹For as hby a man came death, iby a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²²For jas in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then kat his coming lthose who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he delivers mthe kingdom to God the Father after destroying nevery rule and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign ountil he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶The last enemy to be pdestroyed is death. ²⁷For q“God3 has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸When rall things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that sGod may be all in all.

²⁹Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? ³⁰Why are we tin danger every hour? ³¹I protest, brothers, by umy pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, vI die every day! ³²What do I gain if, humanly speaking, wI fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, x“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” ³³yDo not be deceived: z“Bad company ruins good morals.”4 ³⁴aWake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For bsome have no knowledge of God. cI say this to your shame.

The Resurrection Body

³⁵But someone will ask, d“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶You foolish person! eWhat you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. ³⁸But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. ³⁹For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. ⁴⁰There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. ⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

⁴²fSo is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. ⁴³It is sown in dishonor; git is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. ⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵Thus it is written, h“The first man Adam became a living being”;5 ithe last Adam became a jlife-giving spirit. ⁴⁶But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷kThe first man was from the earth, la man of dust; mthe second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, nso also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹Just oas we have borne the image of the man of dust, pwe shall6 also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Mystery and Victory

⁵⁰I tell you this, brothers: qflesh and blood rcannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Behold! I tell you a mystery. sWe shall not all sleep, tbut we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For uthe trumpet will sound, and vthe dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and wthis mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

x“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵y“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and zthe power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, awho gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸bTherefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in cthe work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord dyour labor is not in vain.

The Collection for the Saints

¹Now concerning1 ethe collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. ²On fthe first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, gas he may prosper, hso that there will be no collecting when I come. ³And when I arrive, I will send ithose whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

Plans for Travel

⁵jI will visit you after passing through kMacedonia, for lI intend to pass through Macedonia, ⁶and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may mhelp me on my journey, wherever I go. ⁷For I do not want to see you now njust in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, oif the Lord permits. ⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until pPentecost, ⁹for qa wide door for effective work has opened to me, and rthere are many adversaries.

¹⁰sWhen Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for the is doing uthe work of the Lord, as I am. ¹¹So vlet no one despise him. wHelp him on his way xin peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.

Final Instructions

¹²Now concerning your brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will2 to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.

¹³zBe watchful, astand firm in the faith, bact like men, cbe strong. ¹⁴dLet all that you do be done in love.

¹⁵Now I urge you, brothers3—you know that ethe household4 of Stephanas were fthe first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves gto the service of the saints— ¹⁶hbe subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. ¹⁷I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for iyour absence, ¹⁸for they jrefreshed my spirit as well as yours. kGive recognition to such people.

Greetings

¹⁹The churches of Asia send you greetings. lAquila and Prisca, together with mthe church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. ²⁰All the brothers send you greetings. nGreet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹I, Paul, write othis greeting with my own hand. ²²If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be paccursed. Our Lord, come!5 ²³qThe grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. ²⁴My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.