Book of Common Prayer

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 When Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him. They called out, `Son of David, help us!'

²⁸ When Jesus came into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus asked them, `Do you believe that I can do this?' They said, `Yes, sir.'

²⁹ Then Jesus touched their eyes. He said, `As you believed, so will it happen to you.'

³⁰ Then they were able to see. Jesus said to them, `Take care, do not tell anyone about this.'

³¹ But they went away and told everybody in that part of the country about him.

³² As they were leaving, people brought a man to Jesus. This man could not talk He had a bad spirit in him.

³³ Jesus drove the bad spirit out of the man. Then he could talk. The people were very much surprised. They said, `Nothing like this has ever been seen in the country of Israel.'

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, `He drives bad spirits out of people by the power of the chief of bad spirits.'