Intro
We are examining the gifts of the Spirit. Last week, we talked about the purpose of the gifts. The gifts of the Spirit are not designed to entertain the saints or make church more exciting. The gifts of the Spirit are to build up the saints so they can do the work of the ministry. The gifts of the Spirit have two fundamental objectives:
(1) Relieve human suffering and
(2) Advance the kingdom of God.
This is done by (a) strengthening the saints for the work of the ministry and (b) confirming the resurrection of Jesus through supernatural manifestations by the Holy Spirit so that people may believe the message of the gospel.
Today, we will talk about the nature of these gifts. How do we know that it is the gifts of the Spirit in operation? What are the biblical characteristics of these gifts? We take our text from 1 Cor. 12:1-11.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”1
We identify eight characteristics of these gifts from that passage.
(1) In the first verse, we learn that they are “spiritual,” not natural.
(2) in verses 2-3, we see that they are Christ-exalting
(3) Verse 4 tells us they are “gifts,” not something earned.
(4) In verses 4-7 we see that they are diverse in their expression
(5) Verses 4-11 tell us they come from God alone, not various spirits. Although the manifestations are diverse, they come from one source: the Holy Spirit.
(6) Verse 7 calls them “manifestation” of the Spirit.
(7) Verse 7 also tells us they are given for the common good of God’s people.
(8) Verse 11 tells us they are distributed as the Holy Spirit wills, not by the will of man. I will deal with some of these characteristics at length this morning, and I will only make a few comments on others which will be dealt with more fully later on.
I. These gifts are “SPIRITUAL,” not natural endowments.
In verse 1 the word “gifts” is not in the Greek. The word gifts is borrowed from verse 4 by the translators to make the meaning easier to follow in English. That’s perfectly legitimate, although it would have been clearer to borrow “manifestations” from verse 7. I suspect they took gifts because of its closer proximity. So Paul introduces his subject by simply saying, “Now concerning pneumatikos .…” The Greek is in the plural. So here is Paul’s introduction to this subject, “Now concerning spirituals….” The UBS Greek Dictionary defines pneumatikos as, “spiritual, pertaining to the spirit; spiritual person; spiritual thing, spiritual gift; supernatural or spiritual.”2 Pneumatikos stands in contrast to psuchikos which means natural3 or soulish. It relates to the mind. We get our word psychology from psuchikos.4 Paul did not use the word psuchikos, but the word pneumatikos.
I’m going into this kind of depth to clear up a misunderstanding about the gifts that is very common among Christians: the confusion between a supernatural, spiritual manifestation verses natural God-given abilities of the soul. Let me give a few examples. A lot of people confuse wisdom with the “word of wisdom” in verse 8. There are some very wise people in Christian circles who do not operate in the supernatural gift of a “word of wisdom.” That person may be considered wise because he has studied the Bible for many years and has embraced biblical truths in his value system. That is a wonderful thing. But it is not a supernatural “word of wisdom.” The person may have a lot of insight and sound counsel because of extensive life experience. That, too, is wonderful, but it is not the “word of wisdom.” A word of wisdom is a supernatural impartation of wisdom for a specific occasion. It is not just wisdom in general.
The same confusion exists concerning the “word of knowledge.” A person with a lot of knowledge may have never operated in the supernatural gift of a “word of knowledge.” I have heard people say, “Well I don’t have the gift of tongues, but I have the gift of wisdom or I have the gift of knowledge.” They are confusing psuchikos with pneumatikos. Paul is introducing the subject of supernatural, spiritual manifestations. He is not talking about having personal qualities of wisdom or much knowledge.
I am grateful for people in the healthcare industry. I have a Christian doctor who is a very precious man of God. We enjoy talking with each other about the Lord. We pray for one another. He administers healing to many people. What a wonderful investment of a person’s life. However, healing through medical science is very different from the gifts of healing that Paul talks about in this chapter. Paul is not talking about something that happens through natural means. He is talking about supernatural, spiritual manifestations of healing.
Notice in our text how often Paul uses terms like “by the Spirit.” The fact that these manifestations come by the divine activity of the Holy Spirit must not be overlooked if we are to understand Paul’s subject in the text.
The gifts of the Spirit in 1 Cor. 12 are spiritual, supernatural manifestations of the Spirit. They are not natural endowments that an individual may possess, as admirable as those endowments may be. “Now concerning spiritual gifts….”
II. These manifestations always HONOR JESUS as Lord.
Verse 2-3 “You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” Paul is talking to Gentile Christians who experienced spiritual manifestations in their pagan worship prior to being saved. Paul says, “You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led….” Evil spirits had led them to worship dumb idols before their conversion. He says you were “carried away” (the Greek is “apago”) (NIV says ‘influenced and led astray’) in whatever direction those false spirits would take you. As long as it was spiritual and exciting, you followed.
But now you must be discerning. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to call Jesus accursed. The Holy Spirit always exalts Jesus as Lord. The issue is not just how exciting, stimulating, and spiritual it is. The substance of what is being said is crucial. It has to be biblical. It has to be in accordance with the truth. We may talk later about how to judge the authenticity of spiritual gifts. But for now we will move to characteristic number three.
III. Verse 4 calls these “GIFTS."
The Greek is “charisma.” We are called Charismatics because we emphasize these gifts of the Spirit in ministry. Paul refers to these manifestations as “gifts” because they are given to us by the grace of God as “a favor received without merit on the recipient’s part.”5 It is undeserved. It is not earned. It is simply given as a gift by the Lord. Fasting and praying may position you well to hear God’s voice, but it does not earn you the right to be used in the gifts of the Spirit. God freely gives these gifts as it pleases Him. One reason discernment is so important is that the gifts are not necessarily distributed to the people who deserve them or who have the highest level of character. The operation of these gifts does not necessarily verify the character of the person expressing them. We’re talking about something undeserved and unearned.
Sometimes, people assume these gifts are given out for the person to keep because that is often the way we use the term gift. But these are momentary gifts, manifestations for the moment. They are not endowments that a person has and can use whenever he chooses to do so. The gifts of the Spirit belong to the Holy Spirit, not the person being used. They are manifestations through a person for the common good. They are given to the individual at that moment for the benefit of the whole congregation. So, in that sense, they are given to the congregation through a person. They come in a flash to meet the need at hand.
So it’s not technically accurate to say, “I have the gift of discerning of spirits or I have gifts of healing.” It’s not something that belongs to you. It is not something that permanently abides in you. The Holy Spirit permanently abides in you and He may manifest Himself through you in any of these gifts as He chooses. So it would be better to say, “The Lord has often used me in discerning of spirits or I have often been privileged to be used in gifts of healings.” That’s why I think the term manifestations is easier to understand than gifts. It is a gift because God distributes it by His grace, not based on human merit.
IV. Notice in verses 4-7 the emphasis on DIVERSITY.
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”
This is a significant theme throughout the remainder of this chapter. Paul will use the analogy of the human body to illustrate this in the latter part of 1 Cor. 12. It is possible that the Corinthian Church was emphasizing a few of the gifts to the neglect of others. Paul’s teaching in chapter 14 seems to indicate they have an inordinate fixation on the gift of tongues. Paul does not tell them to stop speaking in tongues. In fact, he tells them that he speaks in tongues more than any of them. But it all needs to be put in proper perspective. All the gifts are important, and they should operate in them all as a community of believers. Commentaries try to determine which gifts are better than the others. That depends upon the objective. If a person is edifying himself in preparation for ministry, tongues might be most important for that purpose.6 If the object is to strengthen and encourage others, prophesy is more effective than tongues. All the gifts are from the Holy Spirit and are precious. The best gift is the one needed at the time. If you need water turned into wine, the best gift is a miracle. If you need to recover from an illness, the best gift is healing. The diversity is needed in order to fulfill God’s purposes and meet people’s needs.
The diversity is more than just nine gifts of the Spirit. First, Paul does not necessarily say this is an exhaustive list. Second, Paul interfaces these nine gifts with the type of ministry they’re being expressed in and the energy released by the Spirit in their manifestation. Verse 5 “There are differences of ministries, (diakonia). (Diakonia means service or office. We get our word deacon from it) but the same Lord.” The way these gifts would be expressed through someone ministering as a deacon might look different than their expression through someone operating as an evangelist. A deacon might need a word of wisdom in deciding how best to lay out the construction of a new church facility. An evangelist might need a word of wisdom to determine how to communicate the plan of salvation to a particular individual. The gifts are expressed differently through different personalities doing different kinds of service. “There are differences of ministries….” Verse 6 “And there are diversities of activities,(energema). We get our word energy from this word. NIV translates it “working”; This is a Greek word for power that emphasize final results.7
So, the way a manifestation of a particular gift looks may also depend on what the Holy Spirit is seeking to accomplish by releasing that power. For example, in Acts 8, when Philip went to Samaria and preached to the unbelievers there, healings seemed to be rather spectacular. God’s primary purpose was to get their attention and demonstrate the reality of Jesus’s resurrection so that multitudes in that city could be saved. Tremendous, spectacular demonstrations of the Spirit were needed in order to turn that city upside down. On the other hand, in Luke 12, Jesus ministered healing to ten lepers by simply telling them to go show themselves to the priests. At that moment, there was no visible evidence that anything was happening. The Bible says they were healed as they went. The purpose here was to bring testimony to the priests and comply with Old Testament statutes. The visible demonstration of power in those two situations was very different, yet the gifts of healing were in operation in both.
The big takeaway here is that the manifestations of the Spirit do not have to be outwardly spectacular to the eye in order for them to be supernaturally inspired by the Holy Spirit. What you see often depends upon what God wants to accomplish through the demonstration of those gifts. There is vast diversity in how the gifts are expressed.
V. In verses 4-11, we learn that all these gifts come from one SOURCE: the Holy Spirit.
In their pagan religions, these Corinthians were dealing with a variety of spirits. In 1 Cor. 10:20, Paul says that pagan worshippers who sacrificed to idols were actually sacrificing to demons; they were interacting with demonic spirits. In contrast, the diversity in the manifestations of the Spirit is not because there are various spirits involved. It is simply because God manifests Himself in a variety of ways.
So listen to how Paul repeats the phrase. “but the same Spirit” in verses 4-7 “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.” He continues with that same emphasis in verses 8-11 “ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” So there is only one source behind these gifts of the Spirit, and that is the Holy Spirit.8
VI. Verse 7 calls these “MANIFESTATION” of the Spirit.
This is the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself among God’s people. It is the supernatural Holy Spirit expressing Himself for the benefit of all. So a word of wisdom is a manifestation of wisdom from the Holy Spirit. A word of knowledge is a revealing of a fact by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus told the woman at the well that she had had five husbands and the man she was currently living with was not her husband, He was operating in a word of knowledge. He was not operating as the divine Second Person of the Trinity. Philippians 2 tells us He had laid that aside.
He was operating as a man full of the Holy Spirit.9 The Holy Spirit gave Him that piece of knowledge. It was not a guess. It was revealed to Him by the Spirit. When these supernatural gifts are in operation, we are getting a glimpse of God’s activity in our midst. We know the Holy Spirit is present when these supernatural expressions are happening.
So Paul refers to these supernatural expressions of the Spirit as gifts because they are feely given. They are not earned. He calls them manifestations because they are a supernatural expression of the spiritual realm, specifically the activity of the Holy Spirit.
Notice how often Paul says “by the Spirit” in verses 7-11. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” These are not natural endowments. These are supernatural expressions or manifestations of the Spirit.
VII. Also notice in verse 7 these manifestations of the Spirit are given for the COMMON GOOD of God’s people.
They are not given to verify the person being used or demonstrate how spiritual a person is. They are given to help and empower the community of believers. I talked about that last week, so we will move on to number eight.
VIII. Verse 11 tells us they are distributed as the HOLY SPIRIT WILLS, not by the will of man.
First Cor. 12:11: “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” As who wills? As the Holy Spirit wills! All the manifestations of the Spirit are initiated by the Holy Spirit. We cannot operate them just because we want to. We can position ourselves to be used by God. We can open ourselves to His influence. We must step out in faith and obey His promptings if we are to participate in the gifts of the Spirit. But He is in charge. We simply respond to His initiative. We will talk later about how we can cooperate with the Spirit in these gifts. That is the practical value of this study. But we have to know what we’re talking about before we can have that discussion.
Conclusion
So, what is the nature of the gifts of the Spirit? The gifts of the Spirit are supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit to meet the immediate need. They are not natural endowments; they are activities of the Spirit expressed at the moment through a Christian for the benefit of the whole congregation.
ENDNOTES:
1 All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
2 Bible Works 6 software.
3 NT:5591, Strong’s Concordance.
4 Through French “psych” which came from the Greek. Webster’s first definition of psychology” “the science of mind and behavior.”
5 Vincent’s New Testament Word Studies (note at I Cor. 12:4 and Rom.1:11).
6 1 Cor. 14:4
7 David Lim, Spiritual Gifts: A Fresh Look (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1991) p. 61. Paul’s use of energema rather than dunamis helps us see the importance of end result in this sentence.
8 In the church today, monotheism is widely accepted. But at the time Paul wrote this and in the pagan background of these Corinthians, polytheism was the prevalent thought, and it needed to be countered by Paul.
9 Acts 10:38. To understand the gifts of the Spirit operating in Jesus’s ministry, we must understand that He was not operating out of His divine prerogative as God, the Son. By operating as a man full of the Holy Spirit, He paved the way for believers to carry on His ministry after His ascension (John 14:12, 16).
