Glory Message for October 15, 2013 - I Corinthians 12 & 13 from The Tree of Life Bible
Spiritual Gifts for the Body
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed by idols that cannot speak, and you got led astray. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Ruach Elohim says, “Yeshua be cursed,” and no one can say, “Yeshua is Lord,” except by the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
4 Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Ruach. 5 There are various kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are various kinds of working, but the same God who works all things in all people. 7 But to each person is given the manifestation of the Ruach for the benefit of all. 8 For to one is given through the Ruach a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Ruach, 9 to another faith by the same Ruach, to another gifts of healings by the one Ruach, 10 to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Ruach activates all these things, distributing to each person individually as He wills.
12 For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of the body—though many—are one body, so also is Messiah. 13 For in one Ruach we were all immersed into one body—whether Jewish or Greek, slave or free—and all were made to drink of one Ruach.
14 For the body is not one part, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” is it therefore not part of the body? 16 And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” is it for this reason any less part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the parts—each one of them—in the body just as He desired. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot tell the hand, “I don’t need you!” or in turn the head to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be less important are indispensable. 23 Those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe with greater honor; and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty; 24 but our presentable parts have no such need. Rather God assembled the body, giving more honor to those who are lacking, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but so that the parts may have the same care for one another. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer together. If one part is honored, all the parts rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually. 28 God has put into His community first shlichim, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then healings, helps, leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 All are not shlichim, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All do not work miracles, do they? 30 All do not have gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak in tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And still I show you a far better way:
The Superior Way of Love
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels
but have not love,
I have become a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy
and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains
but have not love,
I am nothing.
3 If I give away all that I own
and if I hand over my body so I might boast
but have not love,
I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient,
love is kind,
it does not envy,
it does not brag,
it is not puffed up,
5 it does not behave inappropriately,
it does not seek its own way,
it is not provoked,
it keeps no account of wrong,
6 it does not rejoice over injustice
but rejoices in the truth;
7 it bears all things,
it believes all things,
it hopes all things,
it endures all things.
8 Love never fails—
but where there are prophecies,
they will pass away;
where there are tongues,
they will cease;
where there is knowledge,
it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when that which is perfect has come,
then that which is partial will pass away.
11 When I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
I put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully,
even as I have been fully known.
13 But now these three remain—
faith, hope, and love.
And the greatest of these is love.