If Your Brother Sins Against You

^15 (A)“If your brother sins against you, ^(B)go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have ^(C)gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established ^(D)by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, ^(E)tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^(F)let him be to you as ^(G)a Gentile and ^(H)a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly, I say to you, ^(I)whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed^[a] in heaven. ¹⁹ Again I say to you, if two of you ^(J)agree on earth about anything they ask, ^(K)it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are ^(L)gathered in my name, ^(M)there am I among them.”

One Body with Many Members

¹² For just as ^(A)the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, ^(B)so it is with Christ. ¹³ For ^(C)in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—^(D)Jews or Greeks, slaves^[a] or free—and ^(E)all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ For the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot should 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 should 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 be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? ¹⁸ But as it is, ^(F)God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, ^(G)as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts,^[b] 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 parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴ which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵ that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, ^(H)all rejoice together.

²⁷ Now ^(I)you are the body of Christ and individually ^(J)members of it. ²⁸ And ^(K)God has appointed in the church first ^(L)apostles, second ^(M)prophets, third teachers, then ^(N)miracles, then ^(O)gifts of healing, ^(P)helping, ^(Q)administrating, and ^(R)various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ But ^(S)earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Taming the Tongue

3 ^(A)Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹⁷ I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles ^(A)contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; ^(B)avoid them. ¹⁸ For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but ^(C)their own appetites,^[a] and ^(D)by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.