12 Now, my Christian brothers, I want you to know something about the gifts given by the Holy Spirit.

² You know that before you believed in God, you were led by other men to believe in idols that could not talk.

³ Therefore, I want you to understand this. No person who has the Spirit of God ever curses Jesus. And no one can say, `Jesus is Lord,' if he is not controlled by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different gifts, but there is only one Spirit.

⁵ There are different kinds of work, but there is only one Lord.

⁶ There are different ways of working, but there is only one God. He works in all people and does it all.

⁷ And the Holy Spirit gives each one a gift so that all people may be helped.

⁸ The Spirit gives one person wise words to say. The same Spirit gives another person words of good understanding.

⁹ To another person the same Spirit gives faith, and to another person he gives the power to heal people.

¹⁰ To another person the Spirit gives the power to do big works. Another can speak words from God. To another person he gives the power to know the difference between spirits. To another person he gives the gift to speak the words of God in other tongues or languages, and to another the meaning of these different tongues.

¹¹ And the same Spirit gives the power for all these things. He gives each person what he wants to give to them.

¹² A person has only one body, and the body has many parts. It is the same with Christ.

¹³ The one Spirit baptized us all to make one body. It made no difference whether we were Jews or Greeks, whether we were slaves or free men. We were all given to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ I say again, the body is not all one part, but has many parts.

¹⁵ Perhaps the foot says, `I am not the hand, so I do not belong to the body.' But it is still a part of the body.

¹⁶ Perhaps the ear says, `I am not the eye, so I do not belong to the body.' But it is still a part of the body.

¹⁷ If all of the body were an eye, how could we hear? If all the body were an ear, how could we smell?

¹⁸ The way it is now, God has put each part in the body in the place he wanted it.

¹⁹ If they were all one part, how could it be a body?

²⁰ The way it is now, there are many parts, but it is one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, `I do not need you.' And the head cannot say to the feet, `I do not need you.'

²² No, that is not so. Some parts of the body are not as strong as others. Yet we could not live without them.

²³ And we look after some parts of our body more than others because they need it. The parts of our body that are not so fine in one way are made more fine in other ways. But the parts which are fine already do not need to be made fine. God made the body and has given more care to the parts that need it.

²⁴ He did this so that the body would not be divided into groups, but all the parts would help each other. 26 ) If one part has trouble, then all the other parts are troubled too. If one part is praised, then all the other parts are glad with it.

²⁵ Now, all of you together are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

²⁶ God has given each person their right place in the church. First, there are the apostles. Second, there are prophets who speak words from God. Third, there are those who teach. Then there are those who do big works. Then there are those who have the gifts to heal people, those who help in the work of the church people, those who lead and guide others, and those who speak God's words in different kinds of tongues or languages.

²⁷ Are all the people apostles? Can they all speak words from God? Can they all teach? Can they all do big works?

²⁸ Do they all have the gifts to heal the sick people? Can they all speak in different tongues? Can they all tell the meaning of these tongues?

²⁹ You should seek after the best gifts. But I will show you a way that is much better than any of them!