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1 Corinthians 12

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;

and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

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?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

If all were a single member, where would the body be?

As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,

which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?

Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Scripture quotations marked “ESV” are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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1 Corinthians 12

First Corinthians 12 introduces Paul's extended treatment of spiritual gifts, establishing from the outset that the criterion of genuine Spirit-activity is the confession of Jesus as Lord, over against the dumb idols that once led the Corinthians wherever they were driven. The threefold repetition of variety — varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, varieties of service but the same Lord, varieties of activities but the same God — grounds the gifts' diversity in the unity of the Triune God rather than in competition or hierarchy among the recipients. The list of gifts — wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues — is not exhaustive but illustrative of the Spirit's sovereign distribution to each one individually as he wills, the emphatic conclusion that prevents the gifted from claiming personal credit. The body analogy is the chapter's theological heart: one body, many members, the ear cannot say to the eye I do not belong to the body any more than the Gentile or slave can say they are not part of the one body baptized in one Spirit. God has arranged the body giving greater honor to the less presentable members so that there is no division, and so that the members have equal concern for one another — if one member suffers all suffer, if one is honored all rejoice. The second gift list (apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, helping, administrating, tongues) is arranged in ordered sequence, the rhetorical questions (are all apostles? are all prophets?) establishing that no gift belongs to all and that the body's health depends on its diversity rather than its uniformity. The chapter ends by directing the Corinthians to earnestly desire the greater gifts, then pivots to the still more excellent way of chapter 13 — love as the context within which all gifts derive their meaning and without which they profit nothing.

1 Corinthians 12:30

Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? — the questions escalate, reaching the gifts most coveted by the Corinthians (tongues, interpretation); Paul's expects negative answer—not all speak in tongues, and not all interpret—directly challenging the Corinthian assumption that tongues-speaking is the sign of spirituality.

1 Corinthians 12:31

Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way — Paul commands zeleute (be zealous, eager) for the charismata meizones (greater gifts), which he has just ranked (apostolic authority, prophecy, teaching); then he promises to reveal 'a more excellent way' (kath' hyperbolēn hodon), which is love, the gift that transcends all other gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:2

You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols — Paul reminds the Corinthians of their pre-Christian past, when they were ferried along (apago) by demonic forces toward dumb (aphōna) idols; the contrast prepares for the true nature of spiritual speech and discernment in Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:3

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is cursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit — Paul provides a test of authentic spiritual speech (logos pneuma); the anathema Jesus is demonic or idolatrous speech, while 'Jesus is kyrios' is the fundamental Christian confession that only the Holy Spirit can produce, making Christological affirmation the measure of genuine spiritual experience.

1 Corinthians 12:4

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them — Paul establishes the principle of unity-in-diversity: the charismata are diverse (diairomai, divided out) but originate from a single source (to auto pneuma), preventing both uniformity (everyone has the same gift) and fragmentation (the gifts belong to different spirits).

1 Corinthians 12:5

There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord — the diakoniai (ministries, services) are manifold but ordered under the one Lord (kyrios), Christ; this shift from Spirit to Lord emphasizes that gift-expression is service (diakonos, slave/servant), not self-glorification.

1 Corinthians 12:6

There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all people — the energemata (workings, operations) are varied, yet God (the Father) is the energeia (the energy, the power) working all things; this Trinitarian structure (Spirit, Lord, God) frames gifts as theonomous, directed by and toward God's purposes.

1 Corinthians 12:7

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good — the phanerōsis (revelation, manifestation) of the Spirit is given to each (hekastō) for the sympherousa koinōn (the advantage of all), not for private spiritual experience; this is the revolutionary principle Paul will defend against the Corinthians' misuse of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:8

To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit — logos sophias and logos gnōseōs represent distinct gifts: wisdom (sophia) is the capacity to speak divine truth with depth and application, while knowledge (gnōsis) is the apprehension of revealed truth; both are logoi (utterances) given through the one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:9

To another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit — pistis here is not saving faith but a faith-gift (perhaps the faith to move mountains, as in 13:2), an extraordinary trust in God's power; healing gifts (iamata) are Spirit-distributions that manifest divine power restoring wholeness.

1 Corinthians 12:10

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 — the gifts escalate in Paul's list: dynamis (power works), prophetic utterance, diakriseis pneumatōn (discernment of spirits, crucial for testing utterances), glossai heterai (other languages, ecstatic speech), and hermeneia glossōn (the interpretation that makes tongues intelligible to the assembly).

1 Corinthians 12:11

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines — Paul returns to unity: the one Spirit (to hen pneuma) distributes the diverse gifts according to his own will (diairōn), not human preference or effort; the Spirit's sovereignty prevents both envy (you got a better gift) and pride (I earned my gift).

1 Corinthians 12:12

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ — Paul introduces the soma (body) metaphor that will dominate the section; the body is a unity (hen soma), yet composed of many members (melē), and this applies to the congregation as 'the body of Christ' (soma Christou), a shocking identification.

1 Corinthians 12:13

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 — baptism into the one Spirit creates the one body, dissolving all status distinctions (Jew/Gentile, slave/free); the phrase 'given the one Spirit to drink' evokes both the Supper and the Spirit as the water of life, unifying baptism and Eucharist under pneumatic participation.

1 Corinthians 12:14

Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many — Paul establishes the necessary pluriformity of the body; a body with one part is not a body at all but a mere fragment, making multiplicity of members essential to what a body is.

1 Corinthians 12:26

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it — the sympa theia (suffering together) and synchairō (rejoicing together) create an organic solidarity where joy or pain in one member is immediately felt throughout the body; this is not sentimentality but the actual physiology of the mystical body.

1 Corinthians 12:16

And if the ear says, '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 — the same logic applies to the ear: its non-visual function does not diminish its membership; Paul is clearly addressing Corinthian status anxiety about gifts and their social weight.

1 Corinthians 12:17

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? — Paul's reductio shows that a body composed entirely of one type of member would be dysfunctional (autos); the very diversity that creates anxiety is essential to the body's health and perception.

1 Corinthians 12:18

But in fact, God has placed each part in the body, just as he wanted them to be — God (ho theos) has arranged (tithēmi) the members according to his will and wisdom, not human preference; this is radical: your particular gift is God's deliberate placement, not your achievement or the body's democratic choice.

1 Corinthians 12:19

If they were all one part, where would the body be? — the hypothetical continuation of the reductio: if all members were identical, the body (soma) itself would disappear; there would be no integrated whole, just a collection of identical parts, making the body itself parasitic on diversity.

1 Corinthians 12:20

As it is, there are many parts, but one body — Paul concludes the body logic: the actual situation is polyphony, many members in one soma, which is precisely what creates the living, functioning body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:21

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!' — the anthropomorphism continues, now with hierarchy: even the seemingly superior members (eye as head-analog, head itself) cannot claim independence from subordinate members; the interdependence is mutual and non-negotiable.

1 Corinthians 12:22

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable — Paul startles with a reversal: the members seeming asthenes (weak) are not dispensable but anagkaios (necessary, indispensable); the body's true logic inverts worldly assessment of strength and honor.

1 Corinthians 12:23

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 — Paul refers obliquely to the body's hidden and shameful parts (genitals, bowels); these receive protective covering (perikalypto, to cover around) precisely because they are less honorable in appearance; the covering paradoxically grants them honor.

1 Corinthians 12:24

While our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it — the visible parts need no protective covering, while the shameful parts receive it; this is how the body (organized by God) works: honor is distributed inversely to natural exposure and prestige, elevating the weak.

1 Corinthians 12:25

So that there should be no division (schisma) in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other — Paul's purpose clause reveals the theological goal: the body's arrangement prevents schism and creates isopsychos (equal-minded, mutual concern); the dignity given to humble members is for the sake of the body's unity and mutual love.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it — Paul applies the metaphor directly: the gathered congregation at Corinth is not merely like a body; it is soma Christou (the body of Christ), a staggering claim that their fractured assembly is Christ's very body, making their divisions a tearing of Christ himself.

1 Corinthians 12:28

And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues — Paul now ranks (prōton, deuteron, triton) the gifts hierarchically: apostles, prophets, and teachers are positioned first, with miracle-workers and healers following, then helpers and administrators, with tongues last; this ranking directly contradicts the Corinthian elevation of tongues as the supreme gift.

1 Corinthians 12:29

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? — the series of rhetorical questions (all with expected 'no' answers) reinforces that gifts are distributed, not universal; no one receives all the gifts, preventing any individual from claiming complete spiritual authority.

1 Corinthians 12:15

Now if the foot says, '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 — Paul personifies the members, giving voice to the foot's anxiety: its lack of hand-like function does not exclude it from the body; the logic is reductio ad absurdum of any member's claim to exclusion based on different function.

1 Corinthians 12:1

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed — Paul turns to the charismata (grace-gifts), the manifestations of the Spirit in the congregation; the plural pneumatikoi (things of the Spirit) indicates the variety and multiple expressions of the one Spirit's work.