Beginning
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!
13 If I talk with the tongues of men and even of angels, but if I do not love people, then I am only like the sound of a big horn or a loud bell.
2 If I speak words from God, if I can understand all secrets, and know everything, if I can move mountains by believing, but if I do not love people, I am nothing, even though I can do all of these things.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I give my body to be burned, but if I do not love people, I get nothing out of it.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not proud and does not boast.
5 Love does not do things that are not nice. Love does not just think of itself. Love does not get angry. Love holds no wrong feelings in the heart.
6 Love is not glad when people do wrong things. But it is always glad when they do right.
7 Love forgives everything. Love is always trusting, and always hoping, and never gives up.
8 Love never ends. The gift of speaking words from God will end. The gift of speaking in different tongues or languages will stop. The gift of knowing many things will end.
9 Now we know only a little, and we can speak only a little of God's words.
10 But when everything becomes perfect, that part will come to an end.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child. I understood like a child. I thought like a child. But when I became a man, I stopped doing things like a child.
12 Now it is like looking in a looking-glass which does not make things clear. We cannot see and understand things plainly. But when things become perfect, then we shall fully know and understand everything, just as God knows.
13 These three things will remain for ever. They are faith, hope, and love. And love is the greatest of them.
14 Love is the thing you should want more than anything else. But you should also want other things the Spirit gives. You should want very much to be able to speak words from God.
2 The person who talks in tongues of a different language does not talk to people, but to God. People do not understand what he says. But he is saying secret things by the Spirit.
3 But the person who is a prophet speaks words from God to people plainly. He helps them to believe and to be strong, and he comforts them.
4 The person who talks in a different tongue helps himself. But the one who tells forth God's word helps all the people in the church.
5 I wish that you could all talk in different tongues. But I want even more that you should speak words from God for all to hear and understand. The person who speaks words from God is greater than the person who talks in tongues - unless he is able to tell the meaning of his words, so that he helps all the people in the church.
6 My brothers, if I come to you and talk in tongues of a different language, how can I help you? I cannot help you if I do not tell you something God has shown to me, or something I know, or God's word, or some teaching.
7 Such things as horns or harps have no life, but they make sounds. Now if they don't make the right noise, no one will know what the sound means.
8 If the war drum gives a sound that has no meaning, then no one will get ready to fight.
9 If you say words that people cannot understand, they will not know what you say. You talk for nothing!
10 There are no doubt many different languages in the world. And every one of them has a meaning.
11 But if a person talks in a language and I do not know the meaning of it, I will be like a stranger to him and he will be like a stranger to me.
12 So it is with you. You want the gifts of the Spirit. Then you should want the gift which will make you better able to help the church people.
13 So then, the person who talks in a tongue of a different language, should ask God to help tell the meaning of the tongue.
14 If I pray to God in a tongue of a different language, then I am talking with my spirit, but I do not use my mind.
15 What then shall I do? I will talk to God with my spirit and I will talk to God with my mind. I will sing with my spirit and I will sing with my mind.
16 If you thank God with your spirit only, an ordinary person cannot say, `Amen, it is so!' He does not know what you say.
17 The way you thank God is good, but it does not help an ordinary person.
18 I thank God that I can talk in tongues more than any of you.
19 But in the church meeting it is better for me to say five words with my mind, so that I will teach other people also. This is better than to say ten thousand words in a tongue of a different language.
20 My brothers, do not be like children in your thinking. When it comes to doing wrong things, be like small babies. But in your thinking be grown up people.
21 The holy writings say, `I will talk to these people by strangers and by people who talk in strange tongues. And yet, they will not listen to me.' This is what the Lord says.
22 So then, tongues are a sign to people who do not believe God. They are not a sign to those who believe him. But speaking words from God like a prophet is a sign to those who believe. It is not a sign to those who do not believe.
23 Sometimes all the people of the church may be gathered together. If everyone talks in tongues, and if some people who do not know or believe come in, they will say that you are crazy.
24 But what happens if everyone speaks words from God? If such people come in, then the words from God will prove to them that they have done wrong. They will all speak to the heart.
25 Such a person sees everything that has been hidden in his heart. Then he will kneel down and worship God. He will say, `It is true. God is here among you.'
26 What shall we do about it, my brothers? When you meet together, every one of you has something to help the other. One has a song to sing. One has something to teach people. One has something which God has shown to him. One has something to say in a tongue. One can tell the meaning of a tongue. Do all of these things to help one another.
27 If any people talk in a tongue, only two or not more than three should talk. They must talk one at a time and someone must tell the meaning.
28 But if there is no one to tell the meaning, a person must not talk in a tongue of a different language in the church meeting. He should talk to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets may speak words from God and the others should say what they think about it.
30 But if another person is sitting by and God gives him something to say, then the first person should stop talking.
31 One by one you may speak words from God. In that way, all will learn something and all will be stronger in faith.
32 Those who speak words from God are able to keep their own spirits quiet.
33-34 God does not want things to be out of order. He wants peace in the church meeting. In all the churches of God's people, the women should be quiet in the church meetings. They must not be allowed to talk. They must obey. The holy writings say this also.
35 If the women want to know something, they should ask their own husbands at home. It is a shame for a woman to talk in a church meeting.
36 Do you think that you were the first ones to tell the word of God? Or do you think that you are the only people who have it?
37 Perhaps someone thinks, `I am the one to speak words from God,' or, `I have the Spirit.' Then know this, the Lord has told me to write these things.
38 If anyone does not know this, then God will not know him.
39 So, my brothers, the thing you should want is to speak words from God. But at the same time, do not stop anyone from talking in tongues.
40 But everything should be done in the right way and in good order.
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