The Apostle Paul now turns his attention to the area of Spiritual gifts as the Corinthian church apparently did not understand them completely and were not handling them according to the plan of God. There was chaos and confusion and the Apostle Paul needed to straighten out the misunderstandings and the improper uses of these very important gifts from the LORD.
Verses 1-3 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
In chapter 10, the Apostle Paul stated that he would not have the Corinthians ignorant, and he stated this again in the verse above. He wanted to correct any wrong thinking and wrong acting of this church that had so many problems. Remember again that these believers were not Jews, but were Gentiles, and so they did not have the advantage of Old Testament Scripture which reveals the character of God and the promise of Messiah, Jesus Christ. What they understood was what they had been taught by the Apostle Paul and by any false preachers/teachers that had come along later and presented confusing false doctrine. The epistles that the Apostle Paul wrote which later made up the majority of the New Testament were written predominately to help correct different churches that were straying from the truth. This doctrine of Spiritual gifts was/is an important part of the Christian walk as these gifts are the tools that God has given to His children to help them flourish in a sin filled, devil infested world. The believers in Corinth had turned away from worshiping idols, but they needed these gifts correctly operating in their lives to help them remain faithful to the LORD. The Apostle Paul warns them that if any man claiming to speak by the Spirit of God speaks blasphemy against Jesus, he is a fake as no real, converted Christian believer can speak negatively about their Savior and LORD, Jesus Christ. And only a truly converted Christian can claim Jesus is their LORD.
Verses 4-6 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
The gifts are diverse but they are operated by the Holy Ghost/Spirit. There are different uses of these gifts, but they are all of God and are all for the purpose of glorifying Him through His people. There are diverse ways these gifts operate, but it is God directing them always, and He distributes them according to His will to all His children willing to accept and use them.
Verse 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
Application: There are multiple church denominations today who claim that the gifts of the Spirit were only for the early Church and not for the Church today. These churches do not believe that God heals anymore or that miracles happen. And because of their unbelief, people are not healed and miracles never happen. However, the verse above states that these gifts are given to “EVERY” man (woman too as the Bible is written in the masculine tense) for the purpose of profiting from them. Does that mean to financially profit and get rich or to become famous as a healer? No. It means to profit in the spreading of the Gospel and in bringing unbelievers into the Kingdom of God. People tend to listen to the Word of God when their sickness is healed or when someone sharing the Gospel with them reveals something about them that they have kept secret. These gifts give authenticity and power to the Word of God as it is given out by His people to unbelievers. And these gifts have no timeline attached to them. The Apostle Paul did not say that these gifts as manifested by the Spirit of God were only for the church at Corinth or that they were only for a specific period of time. The promises of God did not end and His promises are continuing today, albeit these gifts are more prevalent in third world countries where the people have been forced to rely upon the LORD for their very subsistence. The Chinese underground Church is a fine example of people receiving and using these gifts from God to advance the Gospel under extremely difficult circumstances. Any man/woman or any church today can receive these gifts by simply desiring them and claiming the promise from God. All nine of these gifts are working today and available to the people of God. They are a package deal. If one of them is no longer operating, then all of them are no longer operating and this would include knowledge and wisdom. So common sense concludes that since the Church still has knowledge given to them and wisdom, the rest of the gifts are available also.
Verses 8-10 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 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:
The Apostle Paul is not confining one gift to one person. One person can have all of the gifts but only use one or two at a time, or use all of them at a time, depending on the situation and the leading of the Holy Ghost/Spirit. For example, a pastor can be using wisdom and knowledge in a counseling situation, at the same time using the gift of faith that the LORD will use him according to His will. He can pray for who he is counseling so that the individual receives divine healing which is also a miracle, and the pastor can bring forth the Word of God as lead by the Spirit and discern if there are any evil spirits affecting the one he is counseling. This is just an example of how these gifts can be used by the servant of the LORD in any situation.
The ability to have wisdom (not worldly wisdom) and to speak words that are wise is a Spiritual gift but it requires the mind of the believer. The ability to have knowledge of both Scripture and of things that are not known but revealed to the believer by the Holy Ghost/Spirit also requires the mind of the believer. But the gift of Faith does not require the mind or the thinking ability of the believer. Faith is of the heart and every believer has a portion of faith or they would not be a Christian believer.
Notice that the gifts of healing is plural. Healing can come by many different means and there are many types of healings: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Miracles is also plural as there are all kinds of miracles happening to God’s children every day. Some are big, and some are small, but they are all gifts of the Spirit of God.
The gift of prophecy does not mean predicting the future. The prophets of God as recorded in the Old Testament brought forth the Word of God. “Thus saith the LORD. . .” was what they spoke and wrote. Yes, there was some prophecy regarding future events such as the coming of Jesus, but the focus was on bringing forth the Word of God. So Bible prophecy is not fore telling, but forth telling. Therefore, every Christian believer who shares the Gospel with others is a prophet and exercising the gift of prophecy. Every Christian believer who preaches the Word of God or who teaches a Sunday school class or a home Bible study is a prophet according to the Bible’s definition of a prophet.
The gift of discerning spirits is very important to have as a believer can, through the Holy Ghost/Spirit, know if another individual is operating with the power of evil spirits or if the individual is truly operating with the Spirit of God. Anyone can present themselves to be a Christian, but there are many false “Christians” in churches today and they need to be exposed and removed from the congregation.
Application: Most churches fail to teach anything about Satan’s religions such as witchcraft so believers are often not aware of the forces at work among them. Witches learn to be “religious” so that they can infiltrate a church and use Biblical terminology and falsely praise and worship with the congregation. Then they cast spells and work at the behest of Satan to cause division in the body. Government agencies such as the CIA in the US train agents to be “good Christians” so that these agents can infiltrate churches and report on their activities and on the people in attendance. Pastors in particular need to desire and pray for the gift of discernment of spirits so that they can protect and shepherd their congregations safely.
Today the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues is basically feared, hated and disregarded in most evangelical, mainstream, organized establishment churches. Pastors teach and congregations believe that these two gifts were only for the early Church and that they are no longer needed or in existence. Yet nowhere in Scripture, particularly in the writings of the Apostle Paul, is it indicated that these were limited to the early Church only. Since the gifts of the Spirit are a package of nine gifts, as already stated above, if one of them is gone and no longer in use today, then all of them are gone. Christian believers cannot pick and choose which gifts they will receive and use. God determines the distribution of His gifts according to His will.
The gift of tongues first appeared on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were in the upper room waiting for the Comforter or the Holy Ghost to come upon them so that they would have power from the LORD to preach and teach the Gospel message to all the World. At that time cloven (split) flames of fire appeared above each believer in the room. Why were the flames cloven or split in two? Because this signified two purposes of the gift of tongues. One purpose was to edify the believer, and the other purpose was to edify the Church and be a witness to unbelievers. As recorded in the beginning of this book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost pilgrims who spoke a language other than Hebrew or Greek heard the disciples praising God in their language and therefore understood what was being said. The disciples were not multi-lingual, but through the gift of tongues, they were witnessing to a crowd of people the truth of the Gospel in multiple languages. The book of James records that no man can tame the tongue. When a Christian believer is speaking in tongues,( legitimate tongues as Satan has a counterfeit), God has control of that believer’s tongue and it is tamed for the moment. When a Christian believer is “lost for words” when in prayer, the gift of tongues can take control of the believer’s tongue and bring forth words of praise and worship to glorify the LORD. And the wonder of this gift is that Satan and his fallen angels cannot understand what is being said by the believer to the LORD. They cannot listen in on this private and personal conversation between the LORD and His child.
Verses 11-13 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
The Apostle Paul states again that it is the Holy Ghost/Spirit that gives and operates these gifts in the Church by giving them individually to every man (or woman as the Bible is written in the masculine tense) as He sees fit. Just as the human body is one body but made up of many different parts both internally and externally, so the Church is one body made up of many people who are different from each other and who can and will use the gifts of the Spirit according to their particular, God given abilities. But all the different people comprise the body of Christ, or the Church. All converted Christian believers when baptized become part of that body regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, social status, and so forth because they are all filled with the Spirit of God. And although all Christian believers may think alike in terms of wanting to be like Jesus and wanting to grow in Christ and walk in His Spirit, they are all different in terms of spiritual maturity and the manner in which they serve the LORD.
Verses 14-17 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
Using the human body as an analogy to the Church or body of Christ, the Apostle Paul is basically pointing out that all parts of the physical body are necessary if it is to function properly. One cannot walk without feet and one cannot think without a brain or eat without a mouth and so forth. God designed mankind and put the physical body together according to His will.
Verses 18-20 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19 And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
Likewise, God has designed His Church and has put His people in place in the Church where He wants them. This is not talking about a physical location or a particular church in any particular geographical location, but this is talking about the Church as a whole which is in every country of the world and incorporates every true, converted, Christian believer. And all of God’s people are different. Not one believer is identical to another believer. All believers think alike about things such as salvation, Heaven, and eternal life as all want these things, and all believers do not want to have anything to do with Satan and his fallen angels. But all believers have varying skills, varying IQ’s, varying cultural norms, varying educational backgrounds, and so forth. So God places His people in His body of believers so that there is only one body, the Church of Jesus Christ which today is the Israel of God, but this body is made up of many different people worldwide.
Verses 21-23 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
The Apostle Paul continues to use the physical body as an analogy to the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. There is no part of the physical body that can be done away with and still have the physical body function successfully. Some parts of the physical body are pampered such as those parts that are visible and that contribute to a societal accepted appearance. Most people want the have firm muscles, clear skin, healthy hair, and just basically look good. But most people go through their day never thinking about their kidneys and livers which filter their blood and allow them to stay healthy and live. And of course, the heart and lungs are essential for life, yet most people never think about the thousands of beats and the thousands of breaths that are taken each day. The Church is like the physical body in that there are some members who stand out and are visible like the external appearance of the physical body, and there are some members who function in the background like the internal organs of the physical body. All are important and necessary. Some members of the Church are strong in their faith and some members of the Church are weak in their faith, but they are all necessary. Some members of the Church are mentally handicapped, or poor, or societal outcasts, yet they are important also and should receive the same honor and appreciation by other members of the Church as those people who are readily accepted. God is no respecter of persons, and God’s people should not be either. No one in His Church is above any other member of His body except the LORD Jesus Christ who is the head of all.
Verses 24-25 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
The Greek word translated as “schism” is “schisma” and it means a rent or tare, a division or dissension. Just as God has put together the physical body so that each part functions with the whole and each part is necessary, so His Church has been/is being put together so that each member functions with the whole and each member is necessary. Therefore, there should never be any division in the Church. If there is, then something is spiritually wrong which needs to be diagnosed and dealt with.
Application: If each Christian believer would consider other believers to be better than they are, there would never be any division or dissension in any church congregation in any part of the world. Plain and simple.
Verse 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
If a church is healthy and functioning as the LORD wills, respecting each other and using the gifts of the Spirit as they are given to each member, then when a member of that church receives blessings, the body will rejoice with them. There will be no envy. And when a member of that church is experiencing tribulation or loss, each member will mourn with them. They will function as one body just as the physical body functions as a whole even though it is made up of many organs systems and parts.
Verses 27-28 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 28 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.
People are placed in the Church with different functions, not positions. An apostle or prophet is not a position like a CEO of a corporation or a chief of police. Apostles establish churches and prophets bring forth the Word of God and teachers expound upon the Word of God and there are many apostles, prophets and teachers in every church congregation. For example, if a man starts a church in a city somewhere, he is an apostle. Then if he pastors that church, he is a prophet and teacher as well. He does not have a business card listing his name as Apostle Smith or Prophet Jones. They are not titles and positions, but functions.
Application: People tend to want titles and want to be honored by others because of their titles and/or positions. Presidents, kings, and queens garner a respect from others simply because of their titles and positions, and not because they are especially decent people or godly people. There is no difference between these titled people and anyone else in God’s opinion except their spiritual condition of being saved or of being lost. In His Kingdom, all are equal in His eyes. Therefore, there are no titles or positions in the Church, just servants. A glaring example of how not to run a church is the institution of Catholicism. There are cardinals and bishops and monseigneurs and a host of other titles and positions that are bestowed on the men of the institution through works or favoritism, but how many of these titled men have been found to be criminals and pedophiles? Jesus Christ is not the head of the Roman Catholic institution, but has been replaced by a Pope or the Bishop of Rome. The Catholic institution is not Christian or Christ-like which is the meaning of the word. The Christian Church has no hierarchy.
Within the Church, God has given the gift of miracles to those who will accept the gift and use it wisely. Miracles are answers to prayers that are not explained by the natural world and are therefore supernatural. They can be as simple as asking the LORD to make a broken refrigerator function again and then have it work well for three more years when the repair man has pronounced it terminal and deceased, or they can be as complicated as healing a broken marriage or cleaning up a drug addict who becomes a contributing member of society. Complementing the gift of miracles is the gifts of healings which today is sorely needed as people are becoming sicker and more riddled with cancer and heart disease than people of previous generations if the statistics are correct.
The gift of helps is rarely spoken about. Not too many people will say that they have the gift of helps, and yet those who do are the first to render assistance to members of the congregation when the need arises, and are the first to organize pot lucks and other social gatherings or to keep church buildings clean and tidy. Most churches could not function well without those quiet people who work behind the scenes being helpful wherever they can.
The diversities of tongues is another overlooked gift or functioning that some people have within their church congregation. These people can get into the depth of prayer and receive blessings from the LORD, and they can give forth a word to the body that is directly from the LORD so that the church members receive a blessing also. The Apostle Paul spoke about speaking with the tongues of men and of angels. Angels have a language which is their own and apparently this language can be given to the individual with the gift of tongues through the power of the Holy Ghost/Spirit. The Christian believer does not know what is being spoken unless there is an interpretation, but God controls the tongue and works with His people through this gift.
The Church has a government established by God so that all things will be done in order and without chaos. The Apostle Paul wrote letters to Timothy and to Titus and addressed some of the issues of Church government so that there would be consistency throughout the churches in how they were organized and how they were to function. Nothing was to be done outside of the Word of God, His Word being the rule book to follow. So God has placed people who know and understand His Word thoroughly so that they can help others functioning in the church to use their gifts according to spiritual knowledge and the will of God and so that they will not wonder off in directions not of God but of the world, the flesh, or the Devil.
Verses 29-31 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. (1 Corinthians 12)
The obvious answer to the Apostle Paul’s question in the verses above is “no”. As stated before, the gifts of God are given to those who want them and who are willing to receive and use them according to the will of God and the circumstances at the time. But everyone can have them if they desire them, and so the Apostle Paul is advising the Christians at Corinth to want the gifts that are best suited for them. The word “best” above is not meant to imply that one gift is more desirable or better than another. They are all equal and all necessary. The word “best” is referring to the suitability of the various gifts so that they will be right or appropriate for a particular person and for a particular purpose or situation. For example, those who are in the medical profession may earnestly seek gifts of healings, whereas those who are teachers by trade may earnestly seek the gifts of wisdom and knowledge.