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Spiritual Gifts

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts,[a] brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.(A) You know that when you were gentiles you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.(B) Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.(C)

Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit,(D) and there are varieties of services but the same Lord,(E) and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.(F) To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,(G) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,(H) 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.(I) 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.(J)

One Body with Many Members

12 For 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.(K) 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.(L)

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would 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. 16 And if the ear would 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. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The 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.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.(M) 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.(N) 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work powerful deeds? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?(O) 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.(P)

The Gift of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.(Q) If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.(R)

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant(S) or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs;(T) it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.(U) It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.(V)

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.(W) 13 And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues

14 Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts and especially that you may prophesy.(X) For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God, for no one understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.(Y) But those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.(Z) Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church. Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.(AA)

Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?(AB) It is the same way with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will what is being played on the flute or harp be recognized? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?(AC) So with yourselves: If in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.(AD) 10 There are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is without sound. 11 If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.(AE) 12 So with yourselves: since you are striving after spiritual gifts, seek to excel in them for building up the church.

13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. 15 What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also.(AF) 16 Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying?(AG) 17 For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up.(AH) 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; 19 nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.(AI) 21 In the law it is written,

“By people of strange tongues
    and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
    yet even then they will not listen to me,”

says the Lord.(AJ) 22 Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the entire church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind?(AK) 24 But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25 After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship, declaring, “God is really among you.”

Orderly Worship

26 What should be done then, my brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.(AL) 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three and each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If someone sitting receives a revelation, let the first person be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged 32 (and the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, 33 for God is a God not of disorder but of peace), as in all the churches of the saints.

34 Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says.(AM) 35 If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.[c] For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.[d] 36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

37 Anyone who claims to be a prophet or spiritual must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command[e] of the Lord.(AN) 38 Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. 39 So, my brothers and sisters, strive to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues,(AO) 40 but all things should be done decently and in order.

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news[f] that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,(AP) through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.(AQ)

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures(AR) and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures(AS) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.(AT) Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.[g] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.(AU) Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.(AV) For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.(AW) 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me.(AX) 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.(AY) 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have died[h] in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.[i](AZ) 21 For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human,(BA) 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.(BB) 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.(BC) 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.(BD) 27 For “God[j] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him.(BE) 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.(BF)

29 Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour?(BG) 31 I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord.(BH) 32 If I fought with wild animals at Ephesus with a merely human perspective, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”(BI)

33 Do not be deceived:

“Bad company ruins good morals.”

34 Sober up, as you rightly ought to, and sin no more, for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.(BJ)

The Resurrection Body

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

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.(BL) 44 It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.(BM) 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is[k] from heaven.(BN) 48 As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will[l] also bear the image of the one of heaven.(BO)

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.(BP) 51 Look, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,[m] but we will all be changed,(BQ) 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.(BR) 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”(BS)
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

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

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.(BU)

The Collection for the Saints

16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia.(BV) On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come.(BW) And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

Plans for Travel

I will visit you after passing through Macedonia—for I intend to pass through Macedonia(BX) and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

10 If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am;(BY) 11 therefore let no one despise him. Send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers and sisters.(BZ)

12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers and sisters, but he was not at all willing to come now. He will come when he has the opportunity.(CA)

Final Messages and Greetings

13 Keep alert; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.(CB) 14 Let all that you do be done in love.(CC)

15 Now, brothers and sisters, you know that members of the household of Stephanas were the first fruits in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints;(CD) 16 I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people and of everyone who works and toils with them.(CE) 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence,(CF) 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. So give recognition to such persons.(CG)

19 The churches of Asia send greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord.(CH) 20 All the brothers and sisters send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Our Lord, come![n](CI) 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.[o]

Footnotes

  1. 12.1 Or spiritual persons
  2. 13.3 Other ancient authorities read body to be burned
  3. 14.35 Gk in a household
  4. 14.35 Other ancient authorities put 14.34–35 after 14.40
  5. 14.37 Other ancient authorities lack a command
  6. 15.1 Or gospel
  7. 15.6 Gk fallen asleep
  8. 15.18 Gk fallen asleep
  9. 15.20 Gk fallen asleep
  10. 15.27 Gk he
  11. 15.47 Other ancient authorities add the Lord
  12. 15.49 Other ancient authorities read let us
  13. 15.51 Gk fall asleep
  14. 16.22 Or Our Lord has come
  15. 16.24 Other ancient authorities add Amen