₁₂Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. ₁₃In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink.

₁₄For the body itself is not made up of only one part, but of many parts. ₁₅If the foot were to say, “Because I am not a hand, I don't belong to the body,” that would not keep it from being a part of the body. ₁₆And if the ear were to say, “Because I am not an eye, I don't belong to the body,” that would not keep it from being a part of the body. ₁₇If the whole body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it were only an ear, how could it smell? ₁₈As it is, however, God put every different part in the body just as he wanted it to be. ₁₉There would not be a body if it were all only one part! ₂₀As it is, there are many parts but one body.

₂₁So then, the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don't need you!” Nor can the head say to the feet, “Well, I don't need you!” ₂₂On the contrary, we cannot do without the parts of the body that seem to be weaker; ₂₃and those parts that we think aren't worth very much are the ones which we treat with greater care; while the parts of the body which don't look very nice are treated with special modesty, ₂₄which the more beautiful parts do not need. God himself has put the body together in such a way as to give greater honour to those parts that need it. ₂₅And so there is no division in the body, but all its different parts have the same concern for one another. ₂₆If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it; if one part is praised, all the other parts share its happiness.

₂₇All of you are Christ's body, and each one is a part of it. ₂₈In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues. ₂₉They are not all apostles or prophets or teachers. Not everyone has the power to work miracles ₃₀or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said. ₃₁Set your hearts, then, on the more important gifts.

Best of all, however, is the following way.