1 Corinthians 12–13 | Day 21

1 Corinthians 12 (NIV 1984)

¹ Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
² You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
³ Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
¹⁴ Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
¹⁵ 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.
¹⁶ And 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.
¹⁷ If 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?
¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be?
²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, guidance, and different kinds of tongues.
²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
³¹ But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13 (NIV 1984)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
¹⁰ but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.