1 NOW ABOUT the spiritual gifts (the special endowments of supernatural energy), brethren, I do not want you to be misinformed.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led off after idols that could not speak habitually as impulse directed and whenever the occasion might arise.
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit of God can ever say, Jesus be cursed! And no one can really say, Jesus is my Lord, except by and under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments (gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in their souls by the Holy Spirit) and they vary, but the Holy Spirit remains the same.
5 And there are distinctive varieties of service and ministration, but it is the same Lord Who is served.
6 And there are distinctive varieties of operation of working to accomplish things, but it is the same God Who inspires and energizes them all in all.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit the evidence, the spiritual illumination of the Spirit for good and profit.
8 To one is given in and through the Holy Spirit the power to speak a message of wisdom, and to another the power to express a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same Holy Spirit;
9 To another wonder-working faith by the same Holy Spirit, to another the extraordinary powers of healing by the one Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose); to another the ability to discern and distinguish between the utterances of true spirits and false ones, to another various kinds of unknown tongues, to another the ability to interpret such tongues.
11 All these gifts, achievements, abilities are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same Holy Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually exactly as He chooses.
12 For just as the body is a unity and yet has many parts, and all the parts, though many, form only one body, so it is with Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
13 For by means of the personal agency of one Holy Spirit we were all, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, baptized and by baptism united together into one body, and all made to drink of one Holy Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one limb or organ but of many.
15 If the foot should say, Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not a part of the body?
16 If the ear should say, Because I am not the eye, I do not belong to the body, would it be therefore not 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, God has placed and arranged the limbs and organs in the body, each particular one of them, just as He wished and saw fit and with the best adaptation.
19 But if the whole were all a single organ, where would the body be?
20 And now there are certainly many limbs and organs, but a single body.
21 And the eye is not able to say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 But instead, there is absolute necessity for the parts of the body that are considered the more weak.
23 And those parts of the body which we consider rather ignoble are the very parts which we invest with additional honor, and our unseemly parts and those unsuitable for exposure are treated with seemliness (modesty and decorum),
24 Which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so adjusted (mingled, harmonized, and subtly proportioned the parts of) the whole body, giving the greater honor and richer endowment to the inferior parts which lack apparent importance,
25 So that there should be no division or discord or lack of adaptation of the parts of the body to each other, but the members all alike should have a mutual interest in and care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the parts share the suffering; if one member is honored, all the members share in the enjoyment of it.
27 Now you collectively are Christ's body and individually you are members of it, each part severally and distinct each with his own place and function.
28 So God has appointed some in the church for His own use: first apostles (special messengers); second prophets (inspired preachers and expounders); third teachers; then wonder-workers; then those with ability to heal the sick; helpers; administrators; speakers in different (unknown) tongues.
29 Are all apostles (special messengers)? Are all prophets (inspired interpreters of the will and purposes of God)? Are all teachers? Do all have the power of performing miracles?
30 Do all possess extraordinary powers of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
31 But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way one that is better by far and the highest of them all--love.