1co01

17. Spiritual gifts I: Unity of gifts (1Co 12:1-11)

Section F. Spiritual gifts (12:1-14:40)

Paul aims at solving the abuse of the spirtual gift of tongues which causes disruptions in worship assemblies. The main argument is in chapter 14 where Paul argues for the absolute need for order and intelligibility of tongues. In these 3 chapters, only tongues is included in every list of "gifts". It is listed last not because it is "least", but because it is "the" problem (13:1, 14:6).

The underlying problem, as throughout this letter, is the difference between Paul and the Corinthians over what it means to be "spiritual". For the Corinthians, tongues is angelic dialects. With using tongues, they consider themselves truly "spiritual" because they are already like angels, thus needing neither sex in the present (7:1-7) nor a body in the future (15:1-58). For Paul, being "spiritual" means to edify the community in worship (ch.12-14), for the perfect has not yet come (13:8-13); and when it does come, it will include the resurrection of the body (ch.15).

12:1-31 two basic characteristics of spiritual gifts: unity and diversity

13:1-13 love is the necessary ingredient for the expression of all spiritual gifts. (chapter 13)

14:1-40 specific teaching on the problem of disorderly use of tongues (chapter 14)

Explanation

Context: Paul explains the nature of spiritual gifts:

12:1-3 Paul gives the basic criterion to distinguish what belongs to the Spirit and what does not.

12:4-11 Paul emphasizes the unity of the spiritual gifts; this is diversity within unity, not uniformity. Diversity within unity has its roots in the character of God himself.

12:1

Paul uses two Greek words for spiritual gifts, charismata when the emphasis is on the manifestation, pneumatika when the emphasis is on the Spirit. In most of ch.12, he uses charismata but here it is pneumatika, better translated as "the things of the Spirit".

12:2
Paul reminds them their pagan past implying their lack of experience with true "inspired speech".

12:3
Since "inspired utterance" itself is not evidence of being "led by the Spirit"; Paul gives them the criterion to test the spirits (like 1Jn 4:1-3) and to judge the authentic from the inauthentic. The ultimate criterion of the Spirit's activity is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord. "Jesus is Lord" is not just verbal confession but true and absolute allegiance to Jesus as one's master.

12:4
Trinity (Spirit/Lord/God) itself is a diversity within unity. In v.4-11, the repetition of "same" stresses unity while the repetition of "each one" stresses diversity.

12:7
Objective of spiritual gifts: "for the common good" or "to build the body of Christ" (Eph 4:12).

12:8
Paul has 6 other lists in this letter (12:28,29-30; 13:1-3,8; 14:6,26), each of which is also ad hoc (simply spun off at the moment for the purpose of the argument); no two of which are exactly alike either in language, number, or character. Thus the lists are neither carefully worked out nor exhaustive; they are merely representative of the diversity of the Spirit's manifestations. The emphasis of this list is on the supernatural manifestation.

(a) message of wisdom: not the wisdom of the Corinthians (ch.1-2) but a message that Christ crucified is God's true wisdom

(b) message of knowledge: a spiritual utterance of some revelatory kind

(d) gifts of healing: the plural probably suggests not a permanent "gift" but that each occurrence is a "gift" in its own right.

(e) miraculous powers (or workings of miracles): all other kinds of supernatural activities beyond the healing of the sick, again the plural probably suggests not a permanent "gift"

(f) prophecy: In Old Testament, the prophet was a person who spoke to God's people under the inspiration of the Spirit. The job is to "foretell" or to "forthtell"; thus prediction is only one element. Evidence in chapter 14 indicates that it consisted of spontaneous, Spirit-inspired, messages, orally delivered in gathered assembly, intended for the edification or encouragement of the people (that is, not the delivery of a prepared sermon).

(g) distinguishing between spirits: probably not testing the spirits (1Jn 4:1) but related to 14:29 where Paul calls for testing or discerning of prophetic utterances (also 1Th 5:20-21)

(h) tongues: Evidence from Ac 2:5-11 and the need for interpretation (14:27-28) probably point to an actual language; yet 14:10-11,14 imply that it is not a known earthly language. Because of the contradictory sayings in ch.14, a suggested solution is that there are two different manifestations of tongues, one of ecstatic languages of praise and prayer (not a known language), another actual languages but unknown to the speaker. In assemblies, tongues can only be used when they are interpreted by the same person or someone else.

(i) interpretation of tongues: because of the unintelligibility, to articulate for the benefit of the community what the tongues-speaker has said; 14:5,13,27-28 indicates that it may be given either to the tongues-speaker or to another.

12:11
Paul emphasizes the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in distributing the gifts.

Discussion

What did we learn so far about spiritual gifts?

A spiritual gift is a manifestation, a disclosure of the Holy Spirit's activity in his church.
There may be diverse gifts but a unity in purpose.
The objective of spiritual gifts is for the benefit of the church (v.7), not primarily for the benefit of the individual believer.
Who has what spiritual gifts is determined solely by the Holy Spirit (v.11).

Are all spiritual gifts still present in the church today?

In reaction to the overemphasis of spiritual gifts in some churches, there has been a spate of literature which tries to justify the limiting of these gifts to the first century church (e.g. using 13:8). But such rejection is not based on sound exegesis.

We should be open to the work of the Holy Spirit (v.11) and never put a limit on what God can do.

Application

There cannot be rivalry or even competition between people with a similar spiritual gift as every gift is for the common good. When one is given a spiritual gift, one is responsible to put it into good use. In the same logic, no one should limit a person with certain spiritual gifts to use them in church.

We can take no credit (thus no boasting) for the gifts that Holy Spirit has freely given us.