Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 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. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
- 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
We often jump into 1 Corinthians 12 as if it’s a completely new thought without any context before it. While Paul is changing topics a bit here, he really is continuing his point from the end of the previous chapter, which was about unity in the church. Paul just reprimanded the Corinthian church for their practices that promoted disunity – essentially, potlucks where they would separate into cliques, not equally share food among the rich and the poor, and not properly partaking of the Lord’s Supper together.
In this section, Paul begins to discuss spiritual gifts. First, he emphasizes the Holy Spirit as the source of the gifts. In the coming weeks, we’ll see how he promotes unity and diversity among the gifts, how love is a key factor in them, a discussion of some different gifts, and then how worship must have order to it.
Paul does introduce spiritual gifts as another topic, as it appears the Corinthians had asked Paul a question about the gifts. Paul wants them to be informed on this very important topic (verse 1), and we should be informed about it as well.
Paul knows that the first-century believers in Corinth had previously worshiped pagan idols (verse 2). These idols were inanimate and mute; they could not actively work in their lives. But now, the Holy Spirit is not just one more idol to worship; the Spirit is active and present in every believer’s life. Because of that presence, no believer can curse Jesus, and it is only through the Spirit that a person can share their faith that Jesus is Lord (verse 3).
Verses 4-6 are somewhat poetic in their structure, but they also drive home key points about the gifts of the Spirit. These gifts reveal God’s unity and the unity we should have as believers in that one God. There are different gifts that we as believers receive, but they are all from the same Holy Spirit. We use these gifts in different ways, but they are all in service to the same Lord Jesus. We work using these gifts in a variety of ways, but they are all related to God working in our lives.
Paul makes it clear that we weren’t given these gifts just to keep them to ourselves but rather to use them for the good of the body of believers and to bring God glory. These gifts are not given for us to use them selfishly, but for the common good (verse 7). These gifts are mostly focused on use in the Church and within the body of believers, but the focus of the Church is not only to minister to the people who are already believers but also to those who are not yet believers. So, these gifts should be used for the good of all people.
In verses 8-10, Paul provides a list of some of these gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Some scholars believe that Paul lists these in order of importance, with sharing the gospel message of Christ through wisdom and knowledge being the most important. The gift of faith mentioned here is not simply having faith in Jesus, but rather it refers to being faithful to the gospel message and persevering in holding to that faith.
The gifts of healing and miraculous powers were clearly evident in Paul’s life and the lives of the early apostles, as we see multiple accounts in Scripture of them performing miraculous healings and such. The gift of prophecy hints at Paul’s more in-depth discussion of prophecy that’s coming in 1 Corinthians 14. The gift of distinguishing between spirits is also referenced in 1 John 4:1-3, and it is something that all believers should strive to do, though some may have a stronger gifting in that area.
The last two gifts mentioned are speaking in tongues and interpreting them. Scholars disagree whether this refers to unknown languages or simply foreign languages as the apostles demonstrated on Pentecost. However, there are multiple differences between the Pentecost speaking in other languages and the speaking in tongues referred to here. Paul does indicate that any speaking in tongues should have an interpretation. A further discussion of tongues, and whether some of these more “supernatural” gifts are still present today, is outside the scope of this blog post.
Paul concludes this section in verse 11 by saying that, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” It’s not up to us who gets which gifts of the Sprit; it’s up to the work of the Spirit. We should not be jealous of others or cause any sort of disunity based on what gifts we receive or what gifts others receive, as that’s beyond our human knowledge to understand. The Spirit gives the gifts, and the Spirit also causes the gifts to work in our lives.
What spiritual gifts do you have? There are multiple tests available that can help you discern what gifts the Spirit has given you, many of which you can access for free online. For a very in-depth study of the gifts, I highly recommend this resource. It includes a spiritual gifts profile, the Biblical basis for each of the gifts, and discussion questions about how to use them. If you’re interested in going even deeper than that, check out this video course that’s great for a church or small group to go through together.
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