1 Corinthians 12:12-27

International Standard Version

The Unity and Diversity of Spiritual Gifts

¹² For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, form a single body, so it is with the Messiah.^{[a] 13} For by^[b] one Spirit all of us—Jews and Greeks, slaves and free—were baptized into one body and were all privileged to drink from one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body^[c] were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has arranged the parts, every one of them, in the body according to his plan.^{[d] 19} Now if all of it were one part, there wouldn’t be a body, would there? ²⁰ So there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or the head to the feet, “I don’t need you.” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable, ²³ and the parts of the body that we think are less honorable are treated with special honor, and we make our less attractive parts more attractive. ²⁴ However, our attractive parts don’t need this. But God has put the body together and has given special honor to the parts that lack it, ²⁵ so that there might be no disharmony in the body, but that its parts should have the same concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is praised, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the Messiah’s^[e] body and individual parts of it.