Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 - New International Version (2024)

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Listen to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Unity and Diversity in the Body

¹²Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body,^(A) so it is with Christ.^(B) ¹³For we were all baptized^(C) by^[a] one Spirit^(D) so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free^(E)—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.^(F) ¹⁴Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.^(G)

¹⁵Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has placed^(H) the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.^(I) ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.^(J)

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ,^(K) and each one of you is a part of it.^(L) ²⁸And God has placed in the church^(M) first of all apostles,^(N) second prophets,^(O) third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing,^(P) of helping, of guidance,^(Q) and of different kinds of tongues.^(R) ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues^[b]?^(S) Do all interpret? ³¹Now eagerly desire^(T) the greater gifts.