Spiritual Gifts And I Corinthians 12

We are looking carefully at the primary passages used in current discussions of spiritual gifts. We examined Romans 12. We move on now to the second '12' passage, I Cor. 12. I discussed that chapter in an earlier post about psychics and mediums. Much remains to be said, especially about the Apostle Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts.

As in his letter to the Romans, chp. 12, Paul emphasizes that faith in Jesus as the LORD (YHWH of the OT—Exod. 3:13-14, etc.) is God's gracious and good gift. Jesus Himself taught this to Nicodemus as He emphasized the need for rebirth from above (John 3:3-6). Everything depends upon God's gracious gift of life in the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 12:3). After creating new life in Christ the Spirit empowers believers to offer their entire lives as living sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

OK. Fundamental. But there's more to be said. So now, let's take a look at three distinctions or parts of this life in Christ among the members of Christ's body. How is this life in the Spirit divided, apportioned, distributed and sorted out among the members of the body (Luke 15:12)? It all depends upon the Spirit who does the empowering and manifesting of His life for the good of the entire body of Christ. Paul emphasizes three things. There are varieties or different kinds of . . .

• gifts (charismata)
• service (diakonia)
• activities or energies (energmata)

And all of it is the gracious gift of the same Spirit, Lord and God—Holy Spirit, Son and Father—revealing and manifesting themselves in the life of the Body for the good of all members (1 Cor. 12:4-7). Having said that, the Apostle will now demonstrate how this life of the Spirit works out among the members of Christ's body here on the earth.

Through, according to and by the same Spirit one or the other member of the Body is given . . .

• the utterance of wisdom
• the utterance of knowledge
• gifts of healing
• working of miracles or mighty works (Mark 6:5)
• prophecy 
• ability to distinguish between spirits
• various kinds of tongues
• the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 12:8-10)

Paul doesn't say who gets what gift and when. That's the Spirit's work. He doesn't say that the gifts are given permanently. That may be implied, but certainly not taught. Nor does He even say that a believer is to discover and own his gift. He simply says that all members of the Body, regardless of race or social status, drink from the same fountain, the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). The Spirit energizes and empowers each member to serve in whatever manner, whenever and wherever He chooses.

And he points out that the Body needs every member, just as our individual bodies need eyes, ears and noses. In fact, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker or unpresentable are indispensable. The Body needs each and every member. We are all the Body of Christ and individually members of it (1 Cor. 12:27).

Finally, Paul points out that God has first (prohtos in Greek) appointed apostles in the church, second prophets and third teachers (1 Cor. 12:28-29). The Apostles are first in rank, influence and honor. They are part of the church's foundation. They are the ones who were with Jesus Himself, heard Him teach, witnessed His power and His resurrection (Acts 1:13-26). They received the Holy Spirit through Him (John 20:21-23). Consequently, whenever apostles and prophets are listed, the Apostles are always listed first. So we read . . .

• . . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, - Eph 2:20 ESV
• And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherd-teachers, - Eph 4:11 ESV

The Apostles now serve the Body with the Word, the Gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. They demonstrate and proclaim Jesus as the fulfillment and center of all the teachings and prophecies of the Old Covenant. Now the Spirit works through the Word of the Apostles to create and sustain faith. That's why these gifts and these gifted people are so vital to the on-going life of the Body.

The prophets, evangelists and shepherd-teachers follow the Apostles in rank and importance, especially since theirs' is also the service, ministry and gift of teaching and proclaiming the Apostolic Word. We don't have room here to discuss what the Apostle Paul means here by the higher or greater gifts (charismata ta meizona in Greek). That would require us to move into chapter 13. Such a study will have to remain for another time. Instead from here we move on to the first of the two '4's', Ephesians 4.