Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant.
1
What I want to talk about now is the various ways God's Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.
2
Remember how you were when you didn't know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It's different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God's Spirit says, "Yeshua is accursed." No one can say, "Yeshua is Lord," but by the Ruach HaKodesh.
3
For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say "Jesus be damned!" Nor would anyone be inclined to say "Jesus is Master!" without the insight of the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
4
God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit.
5 There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord.
5
God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit.
6 There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.
6
God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.
7
Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
8
The variety is wonderful: wise counsel clear understanding
9 to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit;
9
simple trust healing the sick
10 and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
10
miraculous acts proclamation distinguishing between spirits tongues interpretation of tongues.
11 But the one and the same Spirit works all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.
11
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
12 For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Messiah.
12
You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts - limbs, organs, cells - but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all immersed into one body, whether Yehudim or Yevanim, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink into one Spirit.
13
By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain - his Spirit - where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves - labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free - are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
14
I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together.
15 If the foot would say, "Because I'm not the hand, I'm not part of the body," it is not therefore not part of the body.
15
If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so?
16 If the ear would say, "Because I'm not the eye, I'm not part of the body," it's not therefore not part of the body.
16
If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
17
If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell?
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.
18
As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
19 If they were all one member, where would the body be?
19
But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster.
20 But now they are many members, but one body.
20
What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own.
21 The eye can't tell the hand, "I have no need for you," or again the head to the feet, "I have no need for you."
21
Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"?
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
22
As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way - the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach.
23 Those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor; and our unpresentable parts have more abundant propriety;
23
When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons.
24 whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,
24
If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?
25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
25
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't,
26 When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
26
the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
27 Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually.
27
You are Christ's body - that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything.
28 God has set some in the assembly, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
28
You're familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his "body": apostles prophets teachers miracle workers healers helpers organizers those who pray in tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers?
29
But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker,
30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret?
30
not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues.
31 But desire earnestly the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.
31
And yet some of you keep competing for so-called "important" parts. But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.