1 Corinthians 12 - The Message (MSG)

Spiritual Gifts

12 1-3 What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.

4-11 God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

wise counsel

clear understanding

simple trust

healing the sick

miraculous acts

proclamation

distinguishing between spirits

tongues

interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, transparent and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

19-24 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

27-31 You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”:

apostles

prophets

teachers

miracle workers

healers

helpers

organizers

those who pray in tongues.

But it’s obvious by now, isn’t it, that Christ’s church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It’s not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called “important” parts.

But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.

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1 Corinthians 12 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

12 And concerning the spiritual things, brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant; 2 ye have known that ye were nations, unto the dumb idols -- as ye were led -- being carried away; 3 wherefore, I give you to understand that no one, in the Spirit of God speaking, saith Jesus [is] anathema, and no o...
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12 But of spiritual things, brethren, I will not that ye not know [I will not you to unknow]. 2 For ye know, that when ye were heathen men, how ye were led going to dumb maumets. [Soothly ye know, for when ye were heathen men, as ye were led going to dumb simulacra.] 3 Therefore I make known to yo...
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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 cu...
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1 Corinthians 12 - World English Bible (WEB)

12 Now concerning spiritual things, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were heathen,[a] you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, ...
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1 Corinthians 12 - The Voice (VOICE)

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1 Corinthians 12 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Spiritual Gifts for the Body12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed by idols that cannot speak, and you got led astray. [a] 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Ruach Elo...
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1 Corinthians 12 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Spiritual Gifts12 Now concerning spiritual gifts,[a] brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Je...
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12 Now, concerning spiritual things, brothers, I would not have you ignorant. 2 You know that you were Gentiles, and were carried away to the dumb idols, as you were led. 3 Therefore, I declare to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. Also, no one can say that Jesus is ...
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1 Corinthians 12 - New Testament for Everyone (NTE)

The Same Spirit at Work12 Now: about things relating to the spirit’s work, my brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to remain ignorant. 2 You know that when you were still pagans you were led off, carried away again and again, after speechless idols. 3 So I want to make it clear to you that nobod...
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1 Corinthians 12 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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1 Corinthians 12 - New Matthew Bible (NMB)

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1 Corinthians 12 - New Living Translation (NLT)

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