To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
Paul is writing to the church in Corinth — a diverse, sometimes turbulent early Christian community — about spiritual gifts: specific abilities that God distributes to different people for the benefit of the whole community. This verse lists several of those gifts: miraculous powers, prophecy (speaking God's truth into a situation), discernment (the ability to recognize what is spiritually genuine versus counterfeit), speaking in tongues (languages, possibly unknown or spiritual ones), and interpreting those tongues for others. Paul's larger argument throughout this chapter is that these gifts all come from the same Spirit, and that no single gift is more important than another — every person and every contribution is needed.
Lord, thank you for not concentrating everything in one person — including me. Show me clearly what you've placed in me, and give me the courage to offer it without comparing it to what others have. Help me see and genuinely celebrate what you've put in the people around me. Amen.
Here's the irony: Paul wrote this entire chapter to stop arguments about spiritual gifts, and Christians have managed to keep those arguments going for two thousand years. Which gifts are still active today? Which were only for the early church? Are tongues real, and what exactly are they? You can spend so long debating the list that you completely miss Paul's actual point — which is quietly radical: God distributes gifts across the body. Not concentrated in one person. Not hoarded at the top. Spread out, intentionally, so that nobody has everything and everybody has something. That might be the most freeing thing in this passage if you've ever sat in a room of apparently gifted people wondering what on earth you contribute. Your presence in the community of faith isn't decorative — it's structural. The body Paul describes in this chapter doesn't function without every part. So the question worth sitting with isn't the abstract "do I have a spiritual gift?" It's more specific and more urgent: what has God actually placed in you that the people in your life need from you right now — and are you offering it?
This verse lists gifts like prophecy, miraculous powers, and tongues — gifts that can feel unfamiliar or even controversial. What is your honest reaction to this list, and what has shaped that reaction over time?
Do you feel like you know what spiritual gifts you have? If yes, are you actively using them in community? If not, what would help you discover or confirm them?
Paul argues that no gift is more important than another — but in practice, do churches tend to value certain gifts over others? What effect does that unspoken hierarchy have on people whose gifts go unrecognized?
Think of someone whose gifts look very different from yours — perhaps someone you've underestimated or not made room for. How could you actively affirm what they bring to the people around them?
What would change about how you show up in your church, family, or friendships if you genuinely believed your specific contribution was structurally necessary — not optional, not replaceable, but actually needed?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
John 14:12
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1 Corinthians 13:8
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:28
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Acts 2:17
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:4
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:17
and to another the working of miracles, and to another prophecy [foretelling the future, speaking a new message from God to the people], and to another discernment of spirits [the ability to distinguish sound, godly doctrine from the deceptive doctrine of man-made religions and cults], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.
AMP
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
ESV
and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another [various] kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
NASB
to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
NIV
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
NKJV
He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
NLT
miraculous acts proclamation distinguishing between spirits tongues interpretation of tongues.
MSG