Lesson 25 – 1 Corinthians Chapter 12:4-12

As we embark on the topic of spiritual gifts, know that the purpose of spiritual gifts is to promote “the common good” of the body of Christ, and to build up the church. In no way are the spiritual gifts to be used to draw attention to oneself or put on a showy display. This was part of the problem at the church in Corinth.

The believers were exercising their spiritual gifts to edify themselves without regard to what anyone else was doing, and their methods resulted in chaos in the church service. Any gift used for personal gain or without love is like a harsh noise to God and the church.

We’ve all heard about dysfunctional families, and perhaps dysfunctional is a word we can use to describe our own families, but dysfunctional most definitely expresses what was taking place in Corinth.

The Corinthian believers quarreled, became factious instead of unified, dragged each other into court, collapsed into immorality and idol worship, corrupted marriage relationships, abused their freedoms, were self-centered, overconfident, and downright worldly in their behaviors. Did I leave anything out? So, it’s no wonder they were messed up when it came to using the spiritual gifts God blessed them with.

1 Cor. 12:4:
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.”

Gifts… the Greek word is “charisma” and it means the “gift of divine grace” or “free gift.”

Peter uses the same word…

1 Peter 4:10:
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Peter calls it a special gift of God.
As mere humans, natural talents and abilities should be considered as gifts from God, but spiritual gifts are not talents… spiritual gifts come only as a result of our salvation.

Varieties of gifts is important; it would be silly if everyone in the church had the same gift. It would be just like all the players on a football team wanting to be the quarterback, everyone would throw the ball with nobody to catch it.

There are two general types of spiritual gifts; gifts for speaking and gifts for service.

1 Peter 4:11:
“Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

It’s important as we examine spiritual gifts that we don’t try to pigeonhole people into specific gifts. In other words, don’t over-define the gifts by making them black and white. Someone might have the gifts of teaching and preaching, and another person might not be strong in one particular gift, but have a portion of numerous gifts.

1 Cor. 12:5:
“And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.”

Varieties of ministries… take teachers for instance, one person might really be able to reach children in a unique way, whereas another person would be awkward around kids, but very good with seminary students.

One pastor writes, “Spiritual gifts are not given as badges of privilege or prestige, but as tools for ministry.”

Ministries… is from the same basic Greek term as serve, servant, and deacon.

Mark 10:45:
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus came to minister to us for the Father, and the Holy Spirit gives gifts to His people so they can do the same.

John 14:12:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”

What is meant by “greater works” is that we will have more time and opportunities to serve in ministry and do more, while Jesus’ life was cut short.

No gift we are given is meant for self-serving purposes, but it is given so we can help others. Again, let’s look at what Peter said.

1 Peter 4:10:
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Peter also expresses to us that every one of us is given a gift, nobody is left out. Also, every believer is unique, in that we have our own special way of serving others for Christ, which is distinctive to only us… there are no two Christians alike.

1 Cor. 12:6:
“There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.”

In verse 4,5, and 6 we have a picture of the Trinity, “but the same Spirit,” “and the same Lord,” “but the same God.”

The word “effects” is pretty cool, (en-er’-gay-mah) it literally means “what is worked out or energized.”

God is the One who gives His gifts, and as He does, He supplies the energy and power we need, as well as the faith to make them effective.

Romans 12:3b:
“As God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”

This is God’s work for His church, spiritual gifts are given supernaturally and they are energized supernaturally as well. No Christian man or woman is to be an island unto themselves, we are never left alone. Just as God gives no commands for which He does not also give the ability to obey, He supplies our needs as He directs our steps.

To recap our last three verses, there are various gifts, ministries, and effects… all directed by the Holy Spirit. Here’s a sobering thought, if we don’t use our gift, no one else will; as well as if we do not fulfill our ministry, it will not be fulfilled. God wants to use you, if you are willing!

1 Cor. 12:7:
“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

The word manifestation means “to make known.” The gifts, ministries, and effects are made known through our lives so that we will bless others… all through the Trinity. The idea of “to make known” is the opposite of hidden or private.

It would be a shame to not use the gift God has given you, our gifts should never be hidden or used privately. It’s not much different than if you gave your child a gift and they didn’t even unwrap it, they just put it on the shelf. How would that make you feel?

For the common good…

This means it’s “mutually beneficial or profitable” to the church, and that it would also edify by building up the church. As we use our gift, it becomes a witness to other believers. For example, the pastor who faithfully preaches and teaches his flock, not only edifies them spiritually by building them up in the Scriptures, but prepares them to be better stewards of their own gifts.

Eph. 4:11-12:
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

The believer who exercises the gift of “helps” not only serves someone, but it encourages others to do the same. The one who ministers the gift of mercy helps their fellow believers to be more merciful to others. God uses everything we do for His glory.

God never intended for the ministry of His church to be carried on by a few professionals or highly talented men, while everyone else sits back and watches… gifts are meant to be used!

When the Jerusalem church, including the new converts, began to faithfully and sacrificially exercise their various gifts, it says in Acts 2:47b, “The Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

A church that faithfully uses its gifts through the power of the Holy Spirit, will experience a sense of unity, love and fellowship.

1 Cor. 12:8:
“For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;”

John MacArthur, “A thorough examination will yield the truth that spiritual gifts fill two major purposes; the permanent gifts edify the church and the temporary gifts are signs to confirm the Word of God. God will continue to give the permanent gifts to believers for the duration of the church age, and those gifts are to be ministered by His people at all times in the life of the church.”

The word of wisdom… this doesn’t come from someone being able to figure out some problem or situation, it’s supernaturally given to answer a question or solve a problem.

Wisdom… (sophia) no it’s not the actress Sophia, but it’s the ability to understand God’s will and apply it obediently. This wisdom is to apply truths discovered, and then have the ability to make skillful and practical application of the truth to life situations.

Some people misuse the word of wisdom… and the word of knowledge. Those who use these gifts in the wrong way will often say something to the effect of, “I have a word from the Lord for you.” And in doing so, they claim to be speaking on behalf of God, and claim that their words are to be strictly obeyed… that is a very “unwise” thing to do.

This is not to say that God never uses another person to speak to us. If we often need direct messages from God through other people in order to live our lives, we must ask, is God’s Word truly sufficient, as it declares itself to be?

2 Tim. 3:16:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”

The word of wisdom – The fact that this gift is described as the “word” of wisdom indicates that it is one of the speaking gifts. This gift describes someone who can understand and speak forth biblical truth in such a way as to skillfully apply it to life situations with discernment.

James 3:17:
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”

The word of knowledge – Also a speaking gift, which involves understanding truth with an insight that only comes by revelation from God. Those with the gift of knowledge understand the deep things of God and the mysteries of His Word.

God gives to some of His saints a special ability to study His Word and discover the full meaning of the text and context, along with related passages and truths… all to help provide greater understanding for others. The gifted person is supernaturally enabled not only to discover truths from the facts of Scripture, but able to explain and interpret those truths in order to help others have a better understanding.

1 Cor. 12:9:
“To another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,”

Spirit given faith… is interesting, that “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Bible commentary writes, “This sovereign, Spirit-given faith obviously is distinct from saving faith or the daily faith by which every believer lives. This category of giftedness is limited to certain Christians, and has to do with an intensive ability to trust God in difficult and demanding ways. It is the ability to trust Him in the face of overwhelming obstacles and human impossibilities.”

Paul had the gift of faith; we saw it when he was on a ship that was about to capsize during a great storm.

Acts 27:22-25 (NLT):
“But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said.”

Hudson Taylor believed God would win many Chinese converts through him, and without any money or support, refusing to ask for a penny of help, he began what became the great and fruitful China Inland Mission.

George Mueller, solely through trusting God in prayer, continually saw him provide for his orphanage in miraculous ways.

These men had what could be described as the gift of faith, an unshakeable faith.

And to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit…

I used to pray for the gift of healing, and then imagined how I would use that gift. If you give it some thought, many things come to mind of all the different people you would heal. I also think that it would be too easy to misuse that gift as well.

There are differing thoughts about the gift of healing among Bible scholars today.

One pastor says when it comes to the word “gifts,” pertaining to healing, that it is plural. “I do not believe that anyone has a singular gift of healing whereby he can line people up and heal them all. I do believe, however, that there are individual gifts of healing distributed through a person or through a group of people.”

Because this verse provides no definition of the gift of healing, many interpretations exist. However, it appears clear that the miraculous healings by the apostles fall into this category. For example, in Acts 3 Peter healed a man disabled from birth. Paul also healed some people. In Acts 19:11-12 we read, “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”

These healings were used both to authenticate the message and the messenger of the gospel to new people groups where Christianity had not yet reached. As a result, some believe this gift no longer operates today, but served as a temporary sign gift.

Another view suggests that a person can still have the gift of healing today. However, this has been difficult to prove and has also been challenging, due to occasions involving fake healings or attempts to provide “proof” of those who have been healed. If you see a revival tent along the way, and it has a sign that says, “Healings tonight,” be sure to stay clear.

The apostles handled the gift of healing with precision and grace. For that gift to go on through the generations, would quickly turn into a misuse of epic proportions. The Great Commission does not include a call to heal bodies, but only the call to heal souls through the preaching of the gospel.

John MacArthur writes, “Medical work has long been a God-blessed part of Christian service and is one of the cutting edges of modern missions. But God’s healing work, whether through medicine or miracle, is no longer an authenticating sign, and He no longer endows His church with such gifts.”

The Corinthian church may have seen God perform healings through Paul or others who had healing abilities, and in that case, Paul mentions them here simply to remind the Corinthians of the different ways in which God equips His people to do His work.

Paul healed people, but only as the Holy Spirit led him. Paul had his own personal physical issues, but he never asked the other apostles to heal him. When Timothy told Paul about his stomach troubles, Paul didn’t heal him, but told him to drink a little wine.

As believers, we have every right to pray to God and ask Him to heal us from our diseases and sickness… but God isn’t obligated to heal us, then again, there are times when He blesses in ways we didn’t even ask for.

1 Cor. 12:10:
“And to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.”

The effecting of miracles…

A miracle is an act of God that is contrary to the ordinary working and laws of nature, an act that only He could accomplish by overruling nature and that could not otherwise occur through any circumstances.

On this subject of miracles, I have a lengthy commentary from Jon Courson that bears repeating.

“When Jesus talked about the miraculous… drinking poisons that would not hurt, handling deadly serpents that would not harm, speaking with new tongues, laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover… it’s important to see that these wonderful, miraculous operations and expressions where all in connection with the Great Commission (Mk. 16:15).

Therefore, I believe one of the best ways to see the miraculous happen to a greater degree is to be involved in radical evangelism. The miracles of Mark 16 are not intended for us to huddle together in the sanctuary so we can see a miracle. No, it’s as we’re going into the jungles, into the inner city, throughout the community sharing the Lord that He will confirm our message with miracles.

As you study the book of Acts, you see the operation of miracles most closely linked with the office of evangelism because the operation of miracles is primarily for the unbeliever. Why? Because the believer’s faith is not increased by seeing miracles. In fact, it’s stunted. The Lord dedicated an entire segment of history to prove this point. Read Exodus and Numbers, and you will see God continually performing signs and wonders for His people. The Red Sea parted before them. Manna came down from heaven to them. They were directed by a huge cloud each day and a pillar of fire every night. They were bitten by poisonous snakes and miraculously preserved. The earth opened up and swallowed the rebellious among them. They were a people who witnessed miracle after miracle daily. And yet what was the end of the story? They couldn’t enter the Promised Land because of unbelief.

People think if they could see a miracle or two, their faith would soar. Not so. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). For the believer, the way to grow in faith is not to see the miraculous, but to take in the Scriptures. It is for the unbeliever that God will confirm His Word with signs and wonders. That is why it’s as we’re involved in missions, in evangelism, in service to the unbeliever and the skeptic, that the Lord will most often confirm His Word through the arena of the miraculous.”

Why miracles?

John 20:30-31:
“Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Our flesh wants to see miracles because we want to be amazed. A faith based on miracles is not a mature faith.

Jesus performed miracles to prove that God was being revealed in Him, that is, in Jesus.

Acts 2:22:
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”

Does God still perform miracles?

Hebrews 2:4:
“God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

In this sense, miracles are no longer necessary, as the message of Jesus and His apostles has already been attested to and accurately recorded in the Scriptures. Yes, God still performs miracles, but at the same time, we should not necessarily expect miracles to occur today as they did in Bible times.

And to another prophecy…

To some believers, God has given the gift of prophecy. There has also been differing opinions among Bible scholars as to whether or not prophecy is a continuing, permanent gift or, like healings and miracles, passed away with the apostolic age.

Prophecy… (prof-aye-ti’-ah) meaning the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets. It also means “to speak forth, or to proclaim.” This definition assumes the speaker is before an audience, and could mean “to speak publicly.”

As with the other gifts, there are those who like to latch on to the title of prophet, to give themselves a sense of self-importance. I don’t think God looks at that very favorably.

Paul gives a pretty good definition in 1 Cor. 14:3:
“But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.” (NLT)

To be clear, prophecy must never deviate from the written Word of God. What it really comes down to is, the gift of prophecy is the Holy Spirit’s special empowerment of a Christian to testify of Jesus.

1 Thess. 5:20:
“Do not despise prophetic utterances.”

And to another the distinguishing of spirits…

This is all about discernment. When it comes to the gift of discerning spirits, every believer has a certain amount of discernment, which increases as the believer matures in the Spirit.

Hebrews 5:14:
“But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

This is a gift worth praying for… to have discernment. On this note, all Christians should judge carefully what they hear and what they read, because satan is out there to deceive us any way he can.

1 John 4:1 :
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

This is important for pastors caring for people, sharing with people, and helping people… they need to discern if what they’re saying is coming from the Lord, the influence of demons, or simply the result of their own human wisdom.

To another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues…

The gifts of tongues are controversial to say the least, and some people are enamored with them. When we get into chapter 14 Paul goes into greater detail with these gifts, but for now, we can say these gifts for the most part are included as the temporary gifts. Not surprisingly, the Corinthians were abusing these gifts as well.

1 Cor. 12:11:
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.”

This is about God’s sovereignty… every gift comes exclusively from the Holy Spirit, as these gifts are a manifestation of God’s grace and divine empowerment in the life of a believer.

Those with gifts are not part of some spiritual elite club, but they make up the whole church, the entire body of Christ.

All of us are gifted, and all of us are called by God to minister the gifts He has given us.

The same Spirit works all these things…

Works… is the same word we saw in verse 6, meaning energize.
When we allow God to work through us through the power of the Holy Spirit, He will energize us, He will empower us. Left to our own, we would fall flat, relying on human effort; we would have good intentions, but it just wouldn’t fly.

Bible commentary says, “When the church today does not understand the pattern and intent of God’s spiritual gifts, but rather attempts to grade them according to human standards, exalts certain gifts above others, and seeks gifts other than those that have been given… the Corinthian confusion returns.”

1 Cor. 12:1:
“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.”

Way back in chapter 1, Paul chastised the Corinthians for the factions and divisions that were taking place. Here, Paul ratchets it up a notch teaching them that they are indeed members of the body of Christ. Even though they all had different ministries and different giftings, they were still one creation, one union, and one body… all in Christ.

These unifying realities that Paul has been laying down all along, bring Paul to discuss with them the oneness within the redeemed community.

Paul is very good at using the human body to relate to the body of Christ, always pointing out how a human body suffers great loss when parts go missing.

Within the church, there are many denominations, agencies, clubs, and groups of every kind, but there is only one church, of which every true believer in Jesus is a member. With this in mind, we can no more separate Jesus from His church than we can separate a head from a body… there would be no life in it.

Just as the human body has a diversity of parts that make one body, so it is with the body of Christ. Just as there are no two snowflakes alike, there are no two Christians alike.

We’ll close as Jesus speaks of the vital oneness of the church in John 15,

John 15:1:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

The church cannot survive without Jesus, and neither can we. When we meet again, Paul will speak to us in greater detail about the relation of the human body vs. the body of Christ.