1 Corinthians 14:12

12 Since you are eager to have the gifts of the Spirit, you must try above everything else to make greater use of those which help to build up the church.

1 Corinthians 14:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:12

Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts,
&c.] Gr. "of spirits"; that is, "of the gifts of the Spirit", as the Syriac version renders it; and we rightly, "spiritual gifts"; the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, for which the apostle does not blame them; these being what he had before exhorted them to covet earnestly, and zealously affect and desire: but then he further advises,

seek that ye may excel, to the edifying of the church:
above all, be desirous of such gifts, and of excelling in them, and abounding in the exercise of them, which may be most profitable and edifying to the members of the church; and what these were, and in what manner to be used, he had before signified: the Alexandrian copy reads, seek that ye may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:12 In-Context

10 There are many different languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.

11 But if I do not know the language being spoken, those who use it will be foreigners to me and I will be a foreigner to them.

12 Since you are eager to have the gifts of the Spirit, you must try above everything else to make greater use of those which help to build up the church.

13 The person who speaks in strange tongues, then, must pray for the gift to explain what is said.

14 For if I pray in this way, my spirit prays indeed, but my mind has no part in it.