1 Corinthians 12:1 - Meaning and Application

The apostle now turns to spiritual gifts, which were common in the Corinthian church, but badly misused. He explains these gifts more fully later in the chapter. They were extraordinary powers and offices given to ministers and early Christians, so they could persuade unbelievers and spread the gospel.

Gifts and grace are not the same, though both come freely from God. Grace is given for the salvation of the one who receives it. Gifts are given for the good and salvation of others. A person may have great gifts and still have no true grace, no real saving life from God. Gifts show God’s kindness to people, but by themselves they do not prove that he is pleased with them.

This church was rich in gifts, yet many things in it were badly out of order. So Paul tells them that he does not want them to be ignorant about these spiritual gifts, meaning the special powers they had received from the Spirit. They came from God, and they were meant to be used for him. If people misunderstand either their source or their purpose, they will go badly wrong. Clear knowledge is very helpful in every area of Christian life.

He also reminds them of the dark condition they had come out of: “You were Gentiles, carried away to dumb idols, even as you were led” (1 Corinthians 12:2). While they were in that state, they could not claim to be spiritual people, and they could not have spiritual gifts. If they were once under the rule of pagan religion, they could not then be led by the Spirit of Christ. Remembering what they were before should have made it plain that all true spiritual gifts come from God.

They were Gentiles, not God’s special covenant people. The Jews had been set apart by God’s favor, and the knowledge and worship of the true God had largely been found among them. The rest of the world had been outside the covenant promise, cut off from Israel’s blessings, and in a sense without God (Ephesians 2:12). The Corinthians had once belonged to that world before they became Christians. What a change that was, and how useful it is for believers to remember what they once were.

They had also been “carried away to dumb idols, even as you were led.” They were driven into the worst kind of idol worship, even worshiping wood and stone. This came through empty imagination and through priests who took advantage of their ignorance. Whatever the philosophers thought, this was what ordinary people practiced. They bowed down to idols that had ears but could not hear, and mouths but could not speak (Psalm 115:5-6). It was a miserable and shameful state. Even those who mocked such crude worship often supported it by their own actions.

Paul then shows how to tell whether a gift really comes from the Spirit of God. “No one speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus is accursed.’” Both Jews and Gentiles did this. They blasphemed Christ as a false teacher and treated his name as hateful. Yet some Jews, including exorcists and magicians, claimed to work wonders by God’s Spirit, and many among the Gentiles claimed inspiration too. Paul says that no one can truly act by the Spirit of God while denying and insulting Christ. The Spirit had already given clear witness to Christ through prophecy, miracles, his resurrection, the spread of his teaching, and its power over people’s lives. The Spirit would never contradict himself by declaring Christ accursed.

On the other hand, “no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.” This means more than simply repeating the words. It means living in faith, submitting to Christ, and, when needed, standing for him even to death. No one can truly do that without the Holy Spirit’s work. No one can confess Christ with real belief and loyalty unless the Spirit gives that faith. No one can stand firm in trial unless the Spirit strengthens him. Just as we depend on Christ’s mediation, his acting as our go-between, for reconciliation with God, so we depend on the Spirit for holiness and perseverance. No evil spirit would help spread a message that ruins the devil’s kingdom.

So Paul’s point is this: whatever claims people made about inspiration or miracles, if they were enemies of Christianity, those claims could not come from the Spirit of God. But no one could truly believe in Christ, or prove by a miracle that Jesus is the Messiah, except by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the extraordinary powers among believers did come from the Spirit of God.

Paul adds that these gifts, though they come from the same Spirit, are varied. One source can produce many different effects, and one giver can share many different gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4). There are different kinds of gifts, such as revelation, tongues, prophecy, and interpretation of tongues, but they all come from the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, or offices, with different duties and arrangements, but the same Lord appoints them all (1 Corinthians 12:6). There are also different kinds of working, or miraculous powers, but it is the same God who works all in all.

So there are many gifts, services, and workings, but they all come from one God, one Lord, and one Spirit, that is, from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the source of every spiritual blessing. Different as these gifts are, they all come from the same fountain and the same author. Paul then begins to name several of these gifts in the verses that follow (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Different people had different gifts, some one kind and some another, but all came from the same Spirit. To one was given the word of wisdom. Some think this means a clear knowledge of the mysteries of the gospel and the ability to explain them well, along with a full grasp of the purpose, nature, and teachings of the Christian faith. Others think it means speaking weighty, wise sayings, like Solomon’s proverbs. Some limit it to special revelations given to and through the apostles.

To another was given the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. Some take this to mean knowledge of mysteries, as in (Colossians 2:3), truths wrapped up in the prophecies, symbols, and histories of the Old Testament. Others think it means a skillful readiness to give advice and counsel in difficult cases.

To another was given faith by the same Spirit. This may mean miracle-working faith, or such trust in God’s power and promises that believers could rely on him in any crisis, keep doing their duty, and openly confess the truth of Christ no matter the danger. To another was given the gift of healing by the same Spirit. That is, the power to heal the sick, whether by laying on hands, anointing with oil, or even by a spoken word.

To another was given the working of miracles, works of power such as raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, speech to the mute, hearing to the deaf, and strength to the lame. To another was given prophecy, either the ability to predict future events, which is the more common meaning, or a special gift for explaining Scripture by the Spirit. See (1 Corinthians 14:24).

To another was given the discerning of spirits, the power to tell true prophets from false ones, to see whether someone really had the inward qualities needed for an office, or to uncover the hidden thoughts and motives of a person by the Holy Spirit, as Peter did with Ananias in (Acts 5:3). To another were given different kinds of tongues, that is, the ability to speak languages by inspiration. To another was given the interpretation of tongues, that is, the ability to translate foreign languages clearly and properly into their own language. In this way, the first ministers and churches were richly blessed with many different spiritual gifts.

The purpose of these gifts was that the Spirit’s work would be seen, and that every person would use them for the good of others. They were not given for the honor or advantage of the people who had them, but for the benefit of the church, to build up the body and spread the gospel. Whatever gifts God gives anyone, he gives them so that they may use them to do good, whether they are ordinary gifts or spiritual ones. His outward gifts are to be used for his glory and for helping others. No one has them only for himself. They are a trust placed in his hands, to be used for the good of others. The more he helps others with them, the more they will count for his own good in the end, as in (Philippians 4:17).

Spiritual gifts are given so that people may use them to help the church and advance Christianity. They are not given for display, but for service. They are not given for show and pride, but to build others up. They are not meant to make the gifted person great, but to strengthen the church.

All these gifts are worked by one and the same Spirit, who gives to each person as he chooses. This is according to the free choice of the giver. What is more free than a gift? And will not the Spirit of God do what he wants with what is his own? May he not give to whichever people he pleases, and in whatever measure he pleases, one gift to one person and another to another, more to one and less to another, as he sees fit? Is he not the best judge of how his purpose will be served and how his gifts should be distributed?

It is not according to human will or human judgment, but according to the Spirit’s pleasure. The Holy Spirit is a divine person. He works divine effects and gives divine gifts as he wills, by his own power and according to his own pleasure, without dependence or control from anyone else. Yet though he gives these gifts freely and with full authority, he gives them, not for private honor or advantage, but for public good, for the building up of the church.