1 Corinthians 12:12-13
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Unity Yet Diversity in the Body
12 For as the body is one(A) and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.(B) 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.(C) 14 So the body is not one part but many. 15 If 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. 16 And 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. 17 If 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? 18 But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted.(D) 19 And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 20 Now there are many parts, yet one body.
21 So 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!” 22 But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable,(E) we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. 24 But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division(F) in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ,(G) and individual members of it. 28 And God has placed these in the church:(H)
first apostles, second prophets,
third teachers,(I) next miracles,(J)
then gifts of healing,(K) helping,
managing, various kinds of languages.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets?
Are all teachers? Do all do miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healing?
Do all speak in other languages?
Do all interpret?(L)
31 But desire(M) the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.
Love: The Superior Way
13 If I speak human or angelic languages
but do not have love,(N)
I am a sounding gong(O) or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy(P)
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith
so that I can move mountains(Q)
but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor,
and if I give my body in order to boast[b]
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient,(R) love is kind.
Love does not envy,(S)
is not boastful, is not conceited,(T)
5 does not act improperly,
is not selfish,(U) is not provoked,(V)
and does not keep a record of wrongs.
6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness
but rejoices in the truth.(W)
7 It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures(X) all things.
8 Love never ends.(Y)
But as for prophecies,
they will come to an end;
as for languages, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
9 For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part.
10 But when the perfect 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 a man,
I put aside childish things.
12 For now we see indistinctly,[c] as in a mirror,[d]
but then face to face.(Z)
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully,(AA)
as I am fully known.(AB)
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 Or with, or in
- 1 Corinthians 13:3 Other mss read body to be burned
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 Or indirectly
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 Ancient mirrors were normally made out of polished metals and were not as clear as modern ones.
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