Chapter 12

¹About spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be misinformed. ²You know that when you were heathen you would stray off, as impulse directed, to idols that could not speak. ³Therefore, I must tell you that no one who is speaking under the influence of the Spirit of God ever says, “Curse Jesus!” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord!” without being under the influence of the holy Spirit.

⁴Endowments vary, but the Spirit is the same, ⁵and forms of service vary, but it is the same Lord who is served, ⁶and activities vary, but God who produces them all in us all is the same. ⁷Each one is given his spiritual illumination for the common good. ⁸One man receives through the Spirit the power to speak wisely, another, by the same Spirit, receives the power to express knowledge, ⁹another, from his union with the same Spirit receives faith, another, by one and the same Spirit, the ability to cure the sick, ¹⁰another, the working of wonders, another, inspiration in preaching, another, the power of distinguishing the true Spirit from false ones, another, various ecstatic utterances, and another, the ability to explain them. ¹¹These are all produced by one and the same Spirit, and apportioned to each of us just as the Spirit chooses.

¹²For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, many as they are, form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For we have all—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free men—been baptized in one spirit to form one body, and we have all been saturated with one Spirit. ¹⁴For the body does not consist of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot says, “As I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear says, “As I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If all the body were eye, how would we hear? If it were all ear, how could we have a sense of smell? ¹⁸As it is, God has arranged the parts, every one of them in the body as he wished them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” or the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” ²²On the contrary, the parts of the body that are considered most delicate are indispensable, ²³and the parts of it that we think common, we dress with especial care, and our unpresentable parts receive especial attention ²⁴which our presentable parts do not need. God has so adjusted the body and given such especial distinction to its inferior parts ²⁵that there is no clash in the body, but its parts all alike care for one another. ²⁶If one part suffers, all the parts share its sufferings. If a part has honor done it, all the parts enjoy it too. ²⁷Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. ²⁸And God has placed people in the church, first as apostles, second as inspired preachers, third as teachers, then wonder-workers; then come ability to cure the sick, helpfulness, administration, ecstatic speaking. ²⁹Is everyone an apostle? Is everyone an inspired preacher? Is everyone a teacher? Is everyone a wonder-worker? ³⁰Is everyone able to cure the sick? Can everyone speak ecstatically? Can everyone explain what it means? ³¹But you must cultivate the higher endowments.