Concerning Spiritual Gifts, Chapter 12

Paul moves from a discussion on orderly worship and approaching the Lord’s Table in a proper fashion to other aspects of worship.  It appears that the Corinthians had issues surrounding the various spiritual gifts.  They had come to devalue some yet over value others.  Chief among their problems was an unreasonable stress upon ecstatic utterances as the most desirable gift of them all.  In this excellent chapter, Paul states two very simple yet profound truths:  First, all gifts come from the same Holy Spirit and they work together; they are not opposed to each other. Second, the importance of all the gifts is compared to the various parts of the human body. 

1.  General Statements, 1:1—3 

The words “now about” indicate that Paul is about tackle another issue which the Corinthians had mentioned in their letter to him.  In the Greek, the word “gifts” does not appear, which has led some Bible scholars to debate the merits of inserting it.  The Greek looks like this:  pneumatika, and is usually taken to mean “spiritual things.”  The common New Testament word for “gifts” is charisma.  It does not, however, appear in the text.  So, the translators have exercised some interpretative  skills by adding “gifts,” and given the context, they are probably  correct to do so, although toward the  end of the chapter,  Paul  does deal with offices within the Church, as well as gifts.

Paul begins his discussion by stressing the importance of spiritual gifts and at the same time warning them against their abuse.  The phrase, I do not want you to be ignorant, suggests they were just that.  Most of the members of this congregation were recent converts, and as one commentator has noted: 

With their ideas of Christian morality but imperfectly shaped, little acquaintance with the Old Scriptures, and the New not as yet having been fully written, it is no wonder the Corinthians were ignorant. (Whedon, p. 91) 

The main reason the Corinthians were ignorant was because of their background of idolatry.  In verse one Paul states that he does not want them to be ignorant.  Then in verse two, he asserts they have some knowledge (“you know that”), but that knowledge was of their old lives, of their old religion.  Their lack of knowledge of their newfound faith was causing dissension and friction in the church. 

Before they became believers, they had been “led astray to mute idols.”  Literally, they were being led around like a condemned prisoner.  The heathen, or “pagan” in the NIV, are pictured by Paul “not as men freely following the gods their intellects fully approved, but as under constraint, as helpless, as men who know no better.” (Morris, p. 176).  But what was leading them astray?  The majority of commentators suggest Satanic activity here.  The idols themselves were simply wood and stone, but the spirit that compelled the people to give themselves over to it was definitely evil.  In  opposition to the Holy Spirit, who is the agent that moves believers in worship, the agent in the pagan ceremonies is Satan, or one of his minions. 

In contrast to that situation, Paul now stresses a two-fold test of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life.  No person full of the Holy Spirit can curse Jesus, and only by the Holy Spirit can one openly testify that Jesus is Lord. 

2.  Different But Divinely Derived Gifts, 12:4—7 

The first three verses serve as Paul’s introduction to the matter.  This group of verses begins his detailed teaching on the subject.  Paul notes that all these gifts come from One Source: the Triune God.  Though these gifts are diverse, God is the One who gives every one of them for the common good of the Church.

In verse 4, we are told that there are “different” kinds of gifts. That word (“diversities” in  the KJV) conveys the idea of distribution, apportionment, or division.  It is clear that these gifts are all on equal footing, each one proceeding from the Holy Spirit. 

They are “gifts,” or charisma.  This is a marvelous word that has the same root as the word for “grace,” charis, and the idea behind this word is that of something given to somebody else.  In this sense, all believers receive gifts from God: we are the beneficiaries of His love, and mercy and grace.  But in a special sense, believers may receive gifts in addition to those directly related to personal salvation.  These special gifts are varied and different from each other, but all come from the Spirit. 

Paul adds in verse 5 that these gifts are for “service.”  The Greek word is diakonia, from the root for “servant.”  The form of the word as it is used here denotes “every service to the good of the church” (Grosheide, p. 283).  In other words, all these gifts are to be used to benefit the church over all. 

In the Church there are “different kinds of service.”  The word for “service” is energematon, which looks a lot like our word “energy.”  The idea is similar; in Corinthians it suggests “an effect produced.”  Again, Paul is saying that anything good that happens within the Church is the result of a move of the Spirit, but he makes it clear that though there may be different things happening, and there may be different individuals exercising different gifts, God is behind it all. 

And finally, the gifts, services and results produced all work toward a single  purpose—to benefit the Church and to bring glory to God.  Therefore, these spiritual gifts are not to cause problems, but to help everybody within the Church. 

3.  The Gifts Enumerated, 12:8—11 

• The Word of Wisdom, verse 8a.  “Word” signifies something that is spoken and “wisdom” comes from the word sophia, meaning “good judgment” or “the ability to make a proper decision.”  It is related to the God-given wisdom of James 1:5, and suggests an ability to use our knowledge properly in making good judgments or practices.
• The Word of Knowledge, verse 8b.  “Knowledge” is from the Greek gnosis, and generally “implies research and investigation and knowledge rooted in character.”  We might almost think of this as an “intuitive” kind of knowledge.  While wisdom comes through the Spirit, knowledge comes according to the Spirit.
• Faith, verse 9a.  By “faith” Paul means a faith that has special, visible results, a faith that enables one to do miracles” (Grosheide, p 285).  This is the type of faith that the Apostle pictures in 13:2—the kind that can move mountains.  Whedon suggests a slightly different approach to understanding this gift. He writes—

[This kind of faith is] the realization of divine realities by which a powerful and heroic Christian character is formed, shown in maintaining truth resistlessly, and suffering for it unshrinkingly. 

• Healing, verse 9b.  There has been much discussion of this gift.  Adam Clark states that this gift “simply refers to the power which at particular times the apostles received from the Holy Spirit to cure diseases” (Clark, p. 174).  It should be pointed out that the apostles did not have this power as a permanent gift, for example, Paul could not cure Timothy nor could he cure his “thorn” in his flesh.  Is this gift to be looked on as operative today?  Most commentators say it should not.  Against this majority opinion is Romans 11:29—

[F]or God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 

• Working of Miracles, verse 10a.  “Miracles” comes from the word dynameon, which stresses a dynamic power.  Calvin thought this miraculous power is seen in Acts 13:11 and Acts 5:1—10.
• The Gift of Prophecy, verse 10b.  In the OT, prophecy contained both prediction and proclamation.  For many, the element of prediction overshadows the proclamation.  Still others downplay the element of prediction and overplay the element of proclamation.  The reality of this gift is a balance between the two.  In the Church, Vincent sees this gift being used to deliver divine exhortations, instructions, or warnings. Grosheide thinks this gift enables an individual to convey special and specific revelations from God to His Church.  But Whedon gives a truly comprehensive definition:  “Inspired preaching; either predicting the future, unfolding mysteries of truth, or searching the secrets of men’s hearts and characters.” 
• Discerning of spirits, vesrse 10c.  Every believer has an ability to “test the spirits,” since they are told to do so, 1 John 4:1.  It is essential that all Christians hone this particular skill.  A very good definition of this gift could be:  The power of detecting the hypocrite, as Peter did Ananias; of distinguishing true and false gifts; of recognizing genuine inspiration. Given the state of the very early Church and especially of the Corinthian church, one can see how important this gift would be.
• Speaking in tongues and Interpretation of tongues, verse 10d.  These are two separate gifts, but they belong together because they seem to be related.  These gifts are gifts of communication and are the gifts that caused the controversy in the Corinthian church.  The word “tongue” can mean either a known language (Acts 2:6, 8, 11) or an unknown utterance (1 Cor. 14:2, 28). In this letter, it can mean either, depending on the context.  In a great metropolis like Corinth, where there were so many languages being spoken, translators were in great demand.  But the Corinthian congregation experienced divine utterances of unknown languages.  This is an act of worship directed to God alone, but when other believers were present, the message needed to be interpreted for the benefit of all.  To promote reverence and order in the worship service, Paul demanded that speaking in tongues be edifying, intelligible, and controlled.

It should be noted, also, Paul writes in the plural:  different kinds of tongues.  This suggests both different kinds of languages and divine utterances.  He credits all these and their interpretation to a working of the Spirit. 

4.  The Key: Unity, 12:12—26 

The Gifts of the Spirit may be diverse, but the Church is a unit.  It is the Body of Christ, and the same Spirit works throughout the entire Body. 

5.  Different Gifts, Different Offices, Each Important, 12:27—31 

As he has spoken about the spiritual unity of the body of Christ, Paul now says that each believer has his own function as part of that body.  He illustrates this by a selective list of church offices and spiritual gifts. 

In verse 18, Paul teaches that it is God who dispenses both offices and gifts to His Church.  The order of the offices and gifts is highly instructive.  The first three mentioned— 

• Apostles
• Prophets
• Teachers

are listed in the same order as they appear in Ephesians 4:11, and set apart from the rest by “then” (epeita), are to be considered of greatest importance.  The following gifts are listed from miracles to the ability to speak in tongues, which, being mentioned last, seems to be of lesser and least importance.  So while all the gifts of the Spirit are beneficial to the whole church, some would appear to be of greater value than others. 

Verse 31 is a telling verse.  Having mentioned tongues and their interpretation, Paul urges Christians to seek the better gifts—not necessarily that of speaking in tongues, which the Corinthians apparently wanted to have more fully.  The possession of specific gifts, teaches Paul, is not so important as the way in which they are exercised.