Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
(12.8–10)
Paul lists nine activities manifesting the Spirit’s work: (1)
wisdom utterance
: pronouncements of God’s wisdom revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus (see 1.30; 2.7–10); (2)
knowledge uterance
: proclamations about the divine nature (see 1.5; 8.7,11; Rom 15.14); (3)
faith
: trustworthy words as opposed to deceitful utterances (see LXX Prov 12.17); (4)
healing
: Jewish traditions mention the healing powers of the patriarchs, Moses, Solomon, and various prophets and rabbis; the traditions also saw healing as a manifestation of God’s power (Gen 20.17; Num 12.13; 2 Chr 30.20;
Sir
38.4–8; 48.23,
T. Reuben
1.7; Philo,
On Agriculture
95–8;
Ant
. 8.42; 4QPrNab ar;
b. Ber
. 34b); (5)
miracles
: attributed to patriarchs, Solomon, various prophets and rabbis, e.g., H
.
oni the Circle Drawer who elicited rainfall (
m. Ta’an
. 3.8); (6)
prophecy
: speech with eschatological, ethical, or mystical insight; (7)
discernment of spirits
: deciding whether a spirit manifested in gifts is demonic or angelic (5.12–6.11); Qumran texts mention “interrogating (
drsh
) their spirits (
rua
ḥ
)” (1QS 5.20–21,23–24; 6.14; 1QSa 2.10); (8)
tongues
: speaking in foreign languages, including the unintelligible language of angels (see 13.1,8; 14.2; Isa 28.11 [xenolalia], Acts 2.4,11; 10.46; 2 Esd 14.40–41;
Gen. Rab
. 28.6;
T. Job
48–50;
1 En
. 71.11); (9)
interpretation of tongues
:
Mek. Bahodesh
9 on Ex 20.15; Plutarch,
Pyth. orac
. 24–25.
12
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.
13
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15
If the foot would 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.
16
And if the ear would 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.
17
If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
18
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19
If all were a single member, where would the body be?
20
As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
21
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.”
22
On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23
and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;
24
whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,
25
that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
26
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
27
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
29
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30
Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
31
But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3
If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,
*
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant
5
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
6
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
7
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
9
For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;
10
but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
11
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
12
For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
*
but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
14
Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.
2
For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.
3
On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
4
Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church.
5
Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
6
Now, brothers and sisters,
*
if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
7
It is the same way with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played?
8
And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?
9
So with yourselves; if in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.
10
There are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is without sound.
11
If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.
12
So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.
13
Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret.
14
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive.
15
What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also.
16
Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying?
17
For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up.
18
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you;
19
nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20
Brothers and sisters,
*
do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.
21
In the law it is written,
“By people of strange tongues
and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people;
yet even then they will not listen to me,”
says the Lord.
22
Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
23
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
24
But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all.
25
After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, “God is really among you.”
26
What should be done then, my friends?
*
When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
27
If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret.
28
But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God.
29
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
30
If a revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let the first person be silent.
31
For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged.
32
And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets,
33
for God is a God not of disorder but of peace.
(As in all the churches of the saints,
34
women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.
35
If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
*
36
Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?)