Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 153
12:1-26
1 C o ri n thia n s
141
Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special
abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. You
know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along
in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord,
except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the
source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the
same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does
the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one
person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same
Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great
faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the
ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether
a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another
person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is
given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit
who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person
should have.
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one
whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are
Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized
into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says,
“I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make
it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body
because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If
the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body
were an ear, how would you smell anything?
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where
he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there
are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I
don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are
actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are
those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts
that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require
this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor
and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If
