Chapter 12 might look to some as a right turn in the letter—Paul introducing a totally new subject that has nothing to do with what came before. Although it appears to an answer to yet another question from the Corinthians, the undertone of the letter continues—“let the gospel shine brighter than you”. There is no greater area of Christian worship than spiritual gifts where this can either happen spectacularly or be a spectacular failure.
In the last part of Chapter 11 Paul chided the Corinthians for letting class divide them into the “haves” and “have nots” of material wealth when it came to celebrating communion. Here Paul addresses what had also divided the church—the “haves” and “have nots” of spiritual gifts.
I can think of few things that have split congregations, denominations, and individual Christians than spiritual gifts. I hope as we study chapters 12, 13, and 14, that we see the true purpose of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ—always with the end of building up Christians so they can serve—bringing the story of God’s love to a lost culture.
First – a little background on the Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of humans. In Old Testament times, prior to Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came “upon” people at various times serially (one at a time). They then spoke or acted in special ways (think Sampson, and even Mary in Luke 1).
But in Joel (2:28-29) God promised something different:
“After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.
29 I will even pour out My Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days.”
Jesus spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit in terms of guidance and comfort. Then in Acts 1 He said this just before He ascended:
Acts 1:4-8 While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. "This," He said, "is what you heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, "Lord, at this time are You restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
So then in the next chapter the Holy Spirit is poured out not just on individuals but collectively on the church. It is awesome and wonderful but also sets us up for problems.
The mistakes we make about the gifts of the Holy Spirit include:
It is focused on you
It is for our benefit
Which gift(s) we have make us more or less important in the body of Christ
It is like “The Force” in Star Wars, a “power” we tap into at will whenever we feel like it.
They are “gifts” (charis) we don’t earn, choose, or determine their use.
It is all about the gospel. God speaking and show His love through the church in a dynamic way.
1
Paul first says “I don’t want you to be unaware”. The Greek word is agnoe’o and basically means “to not know through lack of intelligence or information.” We get the word “agnostic” from it. I think we could say the same thing today to folks on both sides of the spiritual gift divide. Those that claim spiritual gifts don’t exist today haven’t read their Bibles and suffer from a lack of information and those like the Corinthians, who misuse the gifts, suffer from a lack of understanding.
2 – 3
Prior to coming to belief and trust in Jesus Christ, the Corinthians were “pagans” who listened to, and obeyed the “ecstatic” voices of their idols, which in and of themselves cannot say anything. Behind the idols were real demons, however, who “inspired” the words they spoke, which is the counterfeit of speaking in tongues. These new believers needed to be able to tell the difference—and Paul says they can judge them by the words they speak. No one inspired by a demon will declare the lordship of Jesus, except under duress (ie: “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord” Philippians 2:10-11 – paraphrased here). They will, however, lambast Jesus. This is not from God. Conversely, if someone declares that Jesus is Lord, it is the Holy Spirit inspiring those words like He did for Peter in Matthew 16:16-17.
Side note: Lest we think that we are more sophisticated and smarter than those in the 1st century, our culture’s values machine is just like the “dumb idols” who lead us astray into false thinking about God.
4 – 6
Though we don’t know the exact question the Corinthians had—it was evident that the gifts of the Spirit were causing division—especially as each one tried to “best” the other. “My spiritual gift can beat up your spiritual gift any day!” J Paul says that though the gifts differ, the use of the gifts differs, and the way the gifts affect others is different—God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the source, owner, and operator of the gifts. God chooses people for gifts, people do not choose their own, and they are for a very specific purpose—to build up the body to be used in service of the gospel. It’s like a never ending Swiss Army knife.
7 – 11
Notice first verse 7. The purpose of the gift was to be “beneficial.” Sadly, that is often not how the gifts are used today (we’ll get to that in a moment).
Paul’s list was meant to suggest types of gifts, not give us every one. There are other lists of gifts later in this chapter, also in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. His point is the variety of giftings and their purpose in the body.
Let’s take a look at these individually:
Wisdom – not mentioned in the other lists. We don’t know what this one is exactly, but it could refer to a supernatural ability to discern the wisdom of the cross as opposed to the wisdom of this world. See 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.
Knowledge – The Greek root gno’sis means “intelligent comprehension” and emphasizes understanding rather than sensory perception. It is a perception of how things are, rather than an opinion about them.
Faith – Faith is pis’tis which is a supernatural ability to trust in the Holy Spirit—“persuasion” is how the word can be translated. In Chapter 13 Paul describes a working of this gift as to “move mountains.”
Gifts of Healings – Literally the power to heal others.
Performing of Miracles – Two Greek words: energema (operation) and dunamis (force) usually supernatural.
Prophecy – which is basically “truth telling” – and it means “to speak forth.” Verbalizing God’s truth in a powerful way.
Distinguishing between Spirits – The Greek word means “differentiation”. The idea is that by listening to someone speak you can tell if they speak from the Holy Spirit or not. This gift was given especially to help determine whether a vocal manifestation of prophecy in the worship service was valid.
Languages – Tongues can mean either human or angelic languages. Some feel that this gift only applies to heavenly languages. This gift should be used according to guidelines set forth in chapter 14 and is not a sign of salvation or God’s blessing. Without interpretation, it should be between you and God!
Interpretation – The ability to supernaturally know what someone speaking in tongues is saying in your native language.
The gifts are diverse but the source and purpose is one: the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through the believer for the benefit of the church.
Conclusions
So how do we misunderstand and misuse the gifts of the Spirit?
Show Off
Show ourselves more worthy
Demonstrate that we’ve got power others don’t have
Get an emotional high from the experience
Test God (ie: Mark 16, snake handlers)
Each person has a gift, but the Corinthians thought everyone should speak in tongues. Later on Paul addresses that more clearly.
We won’t always know our gift.
It won’t often show up in a dramatic way.
It’s good to know your gifts, but don’t stress over it
Let God use the gift in you for His purposes in His time
The gifts should be fairly invisible except when needed, and always pointing to the Lord, not us:
John 16:13-15 When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you.
So next time we see how the body of Christ fits together and operates as one, no matter how “flamboyant” a gift the person has.
