21. An eye can’t say to a hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
22. The opposite is true. The parts of the body that we think are weaker are the ones we really need.
23. The parts of the body that we think are less honorable are the ones we give special honor. So our unpresentable parts are made more presentable.
24. However, our presentable parts don’t need this kind of treatment. God has put the body together and given special honor to the part that doesn’t have it.
25. God’s purpose was that the body should not be divided but rather that all of its parts should feel the same concern for each other.
26. If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts share its suffering. If one part is praised, all the others share in its happiness.
27. You are Christ’s body and each of you is an individual part of it.
28. In the church God has appointed first apostles, next prophets, third teachers, then those who perform miracles, then those who have the gift of healing, then those who help others, those who are managers, and those who can speak in a number of languages.