1 Corinthians 12
12
Diversity of Spiritual Gifts
1Now concerning what comes from the Spirit: # Or concerning spiritual things, or spiritual gifts brothers, I do not want you to be unaware. 2You know that when you were pagans, you used to be led off to the idols # 1Co 8:4 that could not speak. # Ac 8:32; 1Co 14:10; 2Pt 2:16 3Therefore I am informing you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4Now there are different gifts, # Rm 12:6; 1Co 14:1; Eph 4:8; Heb 2:4; 1Pt 4:10 but the same Spirit. 5There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6And there are different activities, but the same God activates each gift in each person. # Lit God acts all things in all 7A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person # Jms 4:5 to produce what is beneficial:
8to one # Rm 12:7-8; Eph 4:11; 1Pt 4:11 is given a message of wisdom # 1Co 2:6-7
through the Spirit,
to another, a message of knowledge
by the same Spirit,
9to another, faith by the same Spirit,
to another, gifts of healing # Lk 13:32; Ac 4:22,30; 10:38 by the one Spirit,
10to another, the performing of miracles, # Ac 19:11
to another, prophecy, # 1Co 13:2
to another, distinguishing between spirits, # 1Jn 4:1-3
to another, different kinds of languages,
to another, interpretation of languages.
11But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills.
Unity Yet Diversity in the Body
12For as the body is one # Jn 11:52 and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body — so also is Christ. # Eph 4:4 13For we were all baptized by # Or with, or in one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. # Gl 3:28; Eph 2:13-18; Col 3:11 14So the body is not one part but many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. # Ps 143:10; Pr 16:9; Jn 5:30; Gl 1:4; Eph 1:9; 1Jn 2:17 19And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 20Now there are many parts, yet one body.
21So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you! ” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you! ” 22But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. 23And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, # Mk 6:4; 1Pt 2:7 we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. 24But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25so that there would be no division # 1Co 1:10 in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27Now you are the body of Christ, # Eph 1:23; Col 1:18 and individual members of it. 28And God has placed these in the church: # Mt 16:18; 1Co 14:4; Rv 1:4
first apostles, second prophets,
third teachers, # Eph 4:11; Jms 3:1 next miracles, # Mk 13:22
then gifts of healing, # 1Co 12:9 helping,
managing, various kinds of languages.
29Are all apostles? Are all prophets?
Are all teachers? Do all do miracles?
30Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in other languages?
Do all interpret? # Lk 24:27
31But desire # Nm 25:13; Jms 4:2 the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 12
12
The different functions of the Spirit
1Now as to the phenomena of your faith which show in a special way the presence of God and the action of the Spirit. Recollect this Spirit is one. Many of you are moved far beyond your ordinary capacity, and do things which in your own strength would be utterly impossible to you, — you prophesy, teach, heal, speak with tongues, and perform wonders, marvels — and this is not yourselves, it is the Spirit by which you are possessed. 2But recollect, my brethren, there is nothing in this similar to those possessions by spirits you were once familiar with in the old religions. At one time that worship was part of your life. You were carried away willy-nilly as you were led in the service of these dumb idols. 3-5And because this type of worship was so familiar to you, I bid you remember that, if anyone is possessed and cries out a curse on Jesus, such possession you will know comes not from God, whilst on the other hand to acknowledge Jesus as Lord can never be done except by those to whom the Spirit has been imparted. Now this Spirit, as I say, is one, absolutely one, throughout all its manifestations, and that is why all those phenomena which represent to us its operations are so mutually harmonious and complementary. 6-8One man may evidence one kind of gift or service, one man’s sphere of usefulness or inspiration may differ entirely from another’s, but he will not differ in the spirit.
The oneness of the Spirit
9It is the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God which imparts, ordains, inspires, possesses. 10The word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, faith, gifts of healing, inspiration and genius, prophecy, spiritual insight and discernment, tongues and the interpretation of tongues — 11these all proceed in varying degrees displayed by different individuals from the one infinite Spirit. He, that Spirit, is all in all, and one, and all these gifts are constituted in His action and operation. 12The Christ is as it were one infinite body, wherein all the parts and members are mutually helpful and interdependent. 13In the unity of the same organism there cannot be inharmonious contradictory parts. 14-16Hand cannot say to foot, I have no need of you. Ear and eye are different members and have different functions, but what if the ear said to the eye, “because I am different from you, we belong to different bodies,” would it be true? And so all of us were baptised into one vast body, the infinite Christ, — Jews, Greeks, slaves, and free — and we all drank the wine of the one Spirit. Hence these different gifts, functions and offices which operate in us. This very variety constitutes the essential being of the Spirit, because the Spirit includes all. 17If the body were all eye, where would the hearing be? If it were all ear, where would the eyebrow be? 18-21Every part is beautifully formed to assist and be complementary to the others; none is otiose, negligible or useless, 22but on the contrary those very parts which are held in least honour often have the most important functions, 23-25and the visible parts of the body which form its beauty are the most dependent on the organs which are not seen and are less esteemed. 26If one member suffer, all suffer with it, and no one part of the body can be affected, for good or ill, without all the others feeling it. 27So is it in that infinite spiritual body of the Christ, which we together constitute, of which we are all members. 28Whether in the church there be those that are called apostles, prophets, teachers, healers, helpers, officers, speakers with tongues — what is this but the activity of one life? 29Because it is one thing, all are not therefore apostles, nor all prophets, nor all teachers, 30nor all healers, nor all speakers with tongues, nor all interpreters. 31True, some gifts are greater than others, and it is right to wish for the greatest gifts of all, and in that respect, I will point out to you a way that is better than all others.
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.