1 Corinthians 12:31
31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
If coveting is wrong, why does Paul encourage coveting the best gifts?
PROBLEM: One of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Yet Paul encourages the Christian church at Corinth to “covet earnestly the best gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31, KJV).
SOLUTION: “Covet” is used here in the good sense of “earnestly desire” (NKJV), rather than in the bad sense of an unlawful craving of what does not belong to us.