1 Corinthians 12:1-11

 

Corinth was a church with a fair share of problems. Many of those problems stemmed from spiritual immaturity and ignorance which led to Christians (both spiritually and intellectually) being too much like nonChristians. I think I may have used the word 'worldly' to describe it at one point.

But the church was alive. This wasn't a church that nobody attended or where a few people did all the work, and everyone else just passively showed up. There was a very active church, where people were anxious to participate in the church's work. Some people were perhaps a little too anxious. 

That brings us to the subject of chapters 12-14: spiritual gifts and their place in church worship.

In verse 1, Paul lays out the general idea. With “now concerning,” he marks the beginning of a new subject. This is another issue the Corinthian church was facing and about which they most likely asked some questions in their letter to him. Paul says that, regarding this point, he does not want them to be ignorant; he wanted them to be knowledgeable and well-informed of the truth.

Interesting, Paul uses some form of this phrase, “I would not have you ignorant,” several times throughout his writing. This makes sense, given that all of his letters, to some extent or another, are written to impart knowledge.

This is a difficult passage, so to make things easier, we will divide it with three questions: WHAT, WHERE, WHY.

What is the subject of this passage? Pneumatikos--the word translated in our text as “spiritual gifts.” But if you're reading a KJV Bible, you'll notice that the word gifts is in italics. That means the word was supplied by the translators. Because 'spiritual' (and its Greek counterpart) is an adjective, and you need to supply a noun for it to modify. However, Paul does refer to gifts in verse 4, so it makes sense to add the word here.

Pneumatikos means 'spiritual' as opposed to material. In reference to man, it means man's rational or religious side as opposed to his physical or animal side. But it can also have the idea of that which comes from God or the Holy Spirit. So it would seem that what we are seeing is something given by God; something that is not, in the normal course of things, part of this world. Verse 7 refers to them as  “the manifestation of the Spirit.”

This becomes clearer if we look at exactly what these gifts or manifestations were. Paul lists at least some of them in verses 8-10. 

First we have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. “Word of” implies the ideas of doctrine and teaching. These were gifts for preaching and teaching. There is no standard agreement about the distinction between wisdom and knowledge here. The general thought is that one refers to more abstract or theoretical knowledge while the other refers to more practical, hands-on knowledge. However, people are not agreed on which is which. 

Next, we have 'faith.' This is an interesting case because obviously, all Christians must have faith in some measure in order to be Christians at all. Faith is part of the fruit of the Spirit, which should be present in all Christians. This may refer to a person who possesses faith of an unusual quality or degree. The vast majority of human beings can run. But most of them cannot run a mile in under 6 minutes. We could say that those who can have “The Gift of Running” even though technically, they are not the only ones capable of running. The same may be true of spiritual things—that God gifts some people to excel specially in some quality which is possessed by all Christians.

But now things suddenly become stranger and more interesting. The next two gifts mentioned are healing and the working of miracles. We see this from very early in church history. In Acts 3—seemingly a very short time after Pentecost—we have this encounter between Peter and John and a disabled man. This is what Peter did: “And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:7-8) This is a miracle of healing and we see this throughout the time of the apostles.

The gift of miracles would seem to include physical manifestations of God's power other than healing. We see many of these in the Bible—the parting of the Red Sea or the miraculous fire on Elijah's offering. The only two I can think of in the apostolic period is the judgments on Elymas and on Ananias and Sapphira. There are also a few cases of exorcism that may fall under this category.

Following miracles, we have the gift of prophecy. A prophet it someone who speaks for God. Peter Kreeft described a prophet as simply a “mouth.” He is the means by which God's word is given to people. This can include both predictive and prescriptive words—prophets can speak both what people ought to do and about what is going to happen; often, what is going to happen to the people if they don't do as they ought. 

Often, when the NT uses the words prophet or prophecy, it emphasizes the idea of prescriptive speaking; it may not always even be supernatural and may be no different from what we mean by 'preaching.' However, given that it is put directly after working of miracles, it is likely that it refers to supernatural and even predictive prophecy. We know this is a gift that was operative at times in the early church. For instance, this moment from the time when Paul was in Antioch: “And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.” (Acts 11:27-28)

After prophecy, we have “discerning of spirits”, which most commentators take to mean the ability to see the unspoken reality of a man's heart, such as when Peter immediately saw the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira. Some take it to mean seeing whether some supernatural manifestation comes from God or from Satan.

And finally, we have tongues and the interpretation of tongues, which we will not define now because we will talk about it when we get to chapter 14.

This is the list (not necessarily exhaustive) of spiritual gifts. The implication is that some, probably all, of these were present in the church at Corinth.

Now, we have to talk about the concept of intervention.

Imagine that there is a line of dominoes set up. If I knock down the first domino in the line, it will knock down the next, and it the next, and so on until the last domino has fallen. But, suppose instead that I reach down into the line and simply knock down the last domino. In both cases, the last domino falls. And in both cases, I am the one ultimately responsible for the fall. But in one case, that fall was one link in a longer chain of cause-and-effect. In the other case, it falls because of intervention--because I directly came into the picture and brought about a result which was not part of the chain.

And here is why all that's relevant. As Christians, we believe that God created the world. Therefore, in a sense, everything that happens happens because of God. God has set the course for the world, and the world is following it. 

However, sometimes God intervenes in this world; sometimes God interrupts the natural course of events to produce some result that the course of events would not have produced. In any event, it is God who does it, but in some cases, God works directly rather than indirectly. We can say that this is when God intervenes.

Whenever a child is born into this world, they have specific personal characteristics which are at least partly determined by their parents and the rest of their ancestors. These characteristics of a child (combined with their environment and the way they are raised) determine their personality and their aptitude. Because of this, certain people are born with a natural talent to do certain things. Some people are born with the aptitude for certain activities or careers. All of this ultimately comes from God, for every good gift comes from above.

But nobody is born with the personal characteristics that lead to them having the ability to prophecy about the future or perform miraculous cures. If someone has such a gift, that means that some power outside the natural order has intervened.

At least some of these spiritual gifts that Paul mentions are supernatural—they are spiritual because they are not of this world. They come directly from God's intervention, not indirectly through natural means. Paul is describing God intervening in the church's life to bestow supernatural gifts. That is the WHAT.

Now we have to ask WHERE: where do these gifts come from? We've already touched on that in our definition, but here we have to stop and consider the strangest verse in this passage, verse 3: “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 

The problem is that this verse doesn't seem to directly tie into the rest of the passage, and also that, if we take it at face value, it isn't true and Paul of all people knew it wasn't true. Paul gives us many warnings about hypocrites and false teachers—he knew very well that some people said that Jesus is Lord but were not truly of God. And, on the other side, why on earth would there be any question about whether someone who is cursing Jesus is or is not led by God? What does this verse mean, and what is it doing here?

We're going to take another detour to answer that. Consider the average man. In this man's life, there are many influences, many voices telling him what he should or must do. Even though he is an adult, his parents still have a part in his life and have certain expectations of him. His wife also has expectations and demands on him. His employer demands specific things from him. His government has some claim on his actions. Even his friends exert some influence over him.

And the critical point to notice is that all these things are different. They are not the same, and often they will not agree. These voices do not speak as one. A man often feels that he is caught in a tug-o'-war, with all these conflicting influences. A man lives in a chamber of different voices, all of which he has at least some necessity of listening to.

And here is the point of this illustration. As Paul reminds us in this passage, most of the Corinthians had been converted from paganism. And in paganism, the gods were like these voices. Olympus did not have a single voice. There were a multitude of gods who did not agree or even get along that well. The spiritual realm was a chaotic no-man's land, with mixtures of good and evil fighting amongst themselves, much like our world. Man stood in a chamber of different voices, all of which he had at least some necessity of listening to.

But Christianity is different. In Christianity, there is only one voice that speaks with authority, and not as the scribes. Vox Christi Vox Dei: The voice of Christ is the voice of God. There is no no-man's land, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Whoever is not for Jesus is against Him, and whoever is not against Him is for Him.

When we think of 'spiritual power,' we shouldn't think of it as some abstract, impersonal force like gravity or magnetism. Spiritual power comes from a spirit—and if it does not come from the Spirit of Christ, it probably comes from the Spirit of Anti-Christ. The spiritual realm is incorrigibly moral. The Holy Spirit and His gifts should always lead to Christ. And if a man is, either literally or metaphorically, cursing Jesus, then he is not being used by the Holy Spirit.

That brings us back to the question of WHERE do these spiritual gifts come from. But really that should be WHO, because these gifts have a spiritual base. Paul repeats this several times throughout this passage. In verse 4-6, he says that these gifts from the Spirit, the Lord, and God, seemingly pointing to the entire Trinity as the source of these gifts. In verse 7, he refers to these gifts as “manifestation of the Spirit.” In verses 8-9, he says that these gifts are given by the Spirit three times. And finally, verse 11: “It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things.” (NET Bible)

And because they have a common source, they have a common goal. If you go out in the wilderness, you will find many plants growing, all sprouting forth by random happenstance. Some might be good for food; others poisonous; others beautiful; others ugly—all growing root and foliage, signifying nothing. But if you look at a garden that has been planted by a man, then every plant that is there is for a reason; each one is to serve the gardener in some way. 

And God has given these gifts for a purpose. That is the WHY. In verse 7, Paul says that these gifts are given “to profit withal.” 'Withal' is an archaic word and I didn't know what it meant until I looked up for this lesson, but it doesn't matter because it's not a great translation anyway. The idea in Greek is that these gifts are given to help collectively. The gifts are not given for the exaltation or even spiritual health of the individual who receives them, but to support the entire church. 

And that brings us to the overarching theme of chapter 12: unity. There were many people within the Corinthian church. They had many different gifts. There may have been no two who had precisely the same spiritual experience. But Paul's emphasis here is that there is a unity that unites them all. On one hand, there is a unity in their source—that is the main thing that Paul says in this passage, repeating it over and over again in slightly different words—all these gifts come from God. They were not like miners wandering around, each digging up their own treasure from their own mineshaft. They had all received a gift from God. And on the other hand, there was unity because all these gifts had a common purpose—to help the church. 

As I've emphasized throughout our study, Corinth was a church full of problems. But we should never forget the other side: this is a church where God was at work. Barclay: “The picture we get is of a Church vividly alive. Things happened; in fact astonishing things happened. Life was heightened and intensified. There was nothing dull and ordinary about the early Church. Paul knew that all this vivid, powerful activity was the work of the Spirit who gave to each man his gift to use for all.”

Now, we have to ask a final question: these pneumatikos that Paul describes—are they an intrinsic part of the church? Because in my own personal experience, I have not seen churches filled with gifts such as working miracles or prophesying.

If these were personal achievements, this would be easy to understand. I would argue that, by in large, the Christian church in America lacks the Biblical and theological understanding she should have. And that is because such understanding is obtained through study, and therefore, when people don't study, they don't obtain it.

Of course, it still comes from God, but it comes indirectly, whereas the pneumatikos seems to have come via direct intervention. And therefore, if God wanted to give these gifts to the church today, He would. And yet, so far as we can tell, He doesn't, not as a general matter. (We don't know how general these gifts were in the first century, but they were seemingly more general than in the church today.) So why?

Perhaps we can answer that by analogy. The Exodus was one of the most critical periods of Old Testament history; it lays the foundation for all the rest of God's work up to the New Testament and arguably still to today. If Israel had not survived—physically and spiritually—that critical forty-year period, there would not have been an Israel for the next thousand years; there wouldn't be an Israel now. 

And what protected and sustained Israel—both physically and spiritually—was a continual series of interventions by God. God didn't just do one or two things for the Israelites. The Exodus is an account of divine intervention after divine intervention. The most interesting of these is the manna.  We have heard this story so many times that we can lose the impact of how bizarre this is. For forty years, the Israelites saw a miracle every morning.  They saw this miracle so many times that they actually got bored with it. And yet notice this: “And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:12) As the Exodus ended, and the Israelites began to posses Canaan, they no longer needed that direct intervention from God and so God ceased to provide it.

The opening period of the church, beginning at Pentecost, is one of the most important periods of NT history; it lays the foundation for all the rest of God's work up to today. If the Christian church had not survived—physically and spiritually—that critical period, there would not have been a church for the next two thousand years; there wouldn't be a church today.

And what protected and sustained the church, among other things, were these gifts, these direct interventions from God. And so, arguing from analogy, it makes sense that God would cease giving these gifts once the church was established and they were no longer needed. This is a belief called CESSATIONISM; the belief that these spiritual gifts were particularly for the early church and that God has ceased to give them to the church.

But there is a crucial point to understand. In Deuteronomy 8:3, Moses explains that God intended to teach the Israelites something through the miracle of the Manna: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”

That was the point. God gave the Israelites miraculous food to remind them that all food came from Him. Man does not live by bread alone—man is not sustained by mere physical accidents—but by the word, the command, the direction of God. And this would be just as true after they entered Canaan and no longer ate manna. But with that came this danger, the danger that they would come to say, “My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.” (Deuteronomy 8:17)

And the point of all that is this: I don't really see miraculous spiritual gifts, generally speaking, within the church. But whatever gifts people have within the church—the gifts that give us preachers and teachers and song leaders and trustees and musicians and maintenance workers—are still gifts from God. They do not come, usually, by a direct intervention by God but through the usual channels of genetics and environment. But they are still gifts from God, and therefore what Paul says here about these spiritual gifts is true of natural gifts as well. They also come from God and are to be used for the good of the church.