1 Corinthians 12 - The Gifts of the Spirit!

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Concerning Spiritual Gifts

In the next three chapters, Paul will teaching the Corinthians on role and use of the spiritual gifts. Paul tells them that he does not want them to be "uniformed" about the gifts of the Spirit. Another version says he does not want them to be "ignorant". The most important gift of the Holy Spirit, is the gift the of faith. It is the Holy Spirit who leads to say, "Jesus is Lord!". 

Martin Luther wrote in the Small Catechism of the Holy Spirit's role in our salvation,

 "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith." 

Then, Paul goes on to talk about the gifts of Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of working, and different kinds of service but they all come from one and the same Holy Spirit. Every person is given a manifestation (revelation) of the Holy Spirit to be used for the common good of the church. He goes on to mention several supernatural gifts like: prophecy, miraculous powers, speaking in tongues, and words of knowledge. He ends by saying, 

"All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines."

Note the spiritual gift the Holy Spirit has given you is just as he determined it should be. Just like we are born with natural talents we cannot claim to come from ourselves, so it is with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  

Unity and Diversity in the Body

This is an important topic for Paul to teach the Corinthians, as there was spiritual pride developing around certain types of gifts. Paul likens the church to a body. Just as the eye cannot say to the foot, "I don't need you", so we can't say to a fellow brother or sister in Christ, "I don't need you." Every part of the body works together like a well oiled machine. There are no greater or lesser parts of the body. Though we are all different, we each have a role to play in the church.  

Finally, Paul lists some of the major roles in the church. 

1. Apostles - they were in charge of starting the first church by preaching, teaching, doing signs and wonders.

2. Prophets - they spoke God's Word in ways that convicted people of their need for Christ and also how their lives needed to align with the Word of God.

3. Teachers - they taught God's Word so that the believers could understand what it meant and apply it to their lives. In particular, in the early church they helped the Jewish Christians connect the Old Testament with the New Testament, especially in regard to Jesus being the Messiah. 

4. Miracles - Just as Jesus did supernatural miracles, Jesus told the apostles they would do even greater things than he did. Greater not in power, but in number because of the rapid expansion of the early church. 

5. Healing - Physical healing was another sign of God's kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. Healings also related to miracles but specifically healing restored a person's body, mind and soul. 

6. Serving/Helping - Though this was not as seemingly spectacular as they other gifts but Jesus said, "The greatest among you is a servant!" We are all called to be servants but people with this gift have a supernatural ability to serve without being noticed or recognized. 

7. Guidance/Wisdom - Wisdom is seeing from God's point of view. People with the gift of wisdom/guidance are much needed in the church. People with the gift of wisdom see things that other people might not see and help the church from going off track.

8. Speaking in Tongues. It is interesting Paul lists this gift last, though some might think it is the most spectacular. Why? Because was we will learn in chapter 14, this gift was one of the sources of spiritual pride in Corinth. People who were given this gift had a tendency to believe this gift was a little more "heavenly" than the others. Importantly Paul taught that unless someone could interpret what someone was saying in tongues, it should not be done in a church service. This was because in this case speaking in tongues only edifies the person speaking in tongues, not the whole church. 

So you can see one of the biggest points in this chapter is that we all have different gifts but the purpose is the same to build up the body of Christ to be all that it can be. 

Have you learned about your spiritual gift(s )and been able to discern what your spiritual gift(s) might be? This passage teaches us that the Holy Spirit specifically picked out a gift for you. It would be a shame if the Holy Spirit determined that you should have a specific gift and for you not to use it!