1 Corinthians 12:1-13 - Spiritual Gifts

INTRODUCTION

Please open your Bible with me to the 12th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians.

I will read the first 13 verses of the chapter, and I invite you to follow along.

While I will only read the first 13 verses of this chapter, the discussion of our subject today continues all the way through chapter 14.

And this includes the 13th chapter which is devoted to a description of love.

That, we will see, is no accident or digression -

It speaks directly to the Holy Spirit’s teaching through the apostle here.

[READ 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-13]

In my life since coming to Christ, I think the subject I have heard argued about most often is the subject of Spiritual Gifts.

It ranks even above eschatology and Calvinism in my admittedly un-scientific survey of arguments.

Probably because the subject affects us in the here-and-now,

With the realities of the gifts from the Spirit of God affecting us in our lives now.

But the really tragic thing is that the popular mis-interpretations of these chapters have caused many to make a shipwreck of their faith,

By training them to trust in themselves rather than depending on God.

By promulgating that oldest lie that we “will be like God...”

And by casting people into fakery as they try to manifest the miraculous by the exercise of their faith,

And creating a spiritual hierarchy of those who seem to be more spiritual because they speak in nonsense words or purportedly heal people.

Exactly what the apostle is warning the Corinthian believers not to allow themselves to do.

It’s for this reason I chose this subject for the second of the “Difficult Passages” series we are pursuing right now.

It’s not difficult because the words are unclear;

This passage is difficult, as many are, because of the century of false interpretations and errant doctrines that have covered these chapters like kudzu.

So I would ask this morning especially that you would pray for me to speak charitably as I may provide illustrations of the errors;

I have many friends that are active in churches that propagate these problematic interpretations.

I would have them convinced from Scripture of the truth rather than being offended away from it by my tone.

Therefore, I will try this morning to offer an accurate explanation of what we see in these three chapters,

Praying we will find application to each one of us as we “church” together.

WHAT IS “SPIRITUAL”?

The first thing we come to in verse 1 is this:

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

Except in the original Greek text, the word “gifts” isn’t in that verse.

We don’t find the word “gifts” -

In Greek charismaton - until verse 4.

So it reads literally:

Now concerning spiritual, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

(The commas are appropriate because of the neuter adjective “spiritual” and the masculine noun “brothers” - “spiritual” would not modify “brothers”, but stand alone.)

And lest you think this might just be a typo or a copy error, the same form is used in 14:1 - “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the “spiritual”.

Paul is using the adjective “spiritual” as a noun here - we might even say “THE Spiritual”

Now before your eyes glaze over, look back at the flow of the letter immediately before this:

Scan the section headings from the first of the letter until now.

He has dealt with questions on worship, marriage, food sacrificed to idols, lawsuits, and more -

Important questions that answer very practical problems for believers.

But now, he is getting to where he wants the church to go - to the Spiritual - to the things of the Holy Spirit.

And the gifts the Spirit gives to the church are just one part of His grace poured out to the church.

That’s why the chapter on LOVE is right here in the middle of this section.

It’s not just written to be recited at weddings, although there’s nothing wrong with that.

This is the love the SPIRIT gives the church in His work.

So if I may outline for you how I see these chapters lining up:

12:2-3 - The Holy Spirit, first of all, exalts Jesus Christ.

And then in the sections that follow, we see the work of the Spirit among the church:

12:4-11 - The Holy Spirit appears in every believer.

12:12-31 - The Holy Spirit knits together the body of the church.

13 - The Holy Spirit gives love.

14:1-25 - The Holy Spirit proclaims the gospel clearly.

14:26-40 - The Holy Spirit puts the church in order.

So this section is not just a treatise on miraculous gifts, like tongues and healings and prophecy,

But it’s a much bigger discussion of how the Spirit of God preserves His people, the church, until the Appearing of Jesus Christ.

Which, not accidentally, is the next subject in this epistle, found in chapter 15.

So let’s look at the following questions and the answers this passage provides:

1. What are spiritual gifts?

2. To whom does the Spirit give these gifts?

3. What about Tongues? - because that one seems to be the most problematic.

WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL GIFTS?

At the most basic definition, Spiritual gifts are gifts and graces given by God’s Spirit to His people.

I don’t mean that to sound circular, but it’s important that we understand these gifts are the way the Holy Spirit builds and sanctifies the church.

Some of these gifts will be in the form of characteristics:

Wisdom, knowledge, discernment

Some will be in the form of abilities:

Prophecy, preaching, teaching

And some will move into the realm of the miraculous:

Healing, speaking properly in unknown languages (tongues), understanding unstudied languages (interpretation of tongues)

Some will be people gifted to us for a time:

Pastors, teachers, evangelists

This is not an exhaustive list here - Paul is giving examples in vv. 8-10 of the gifts of the Spirit.

We can also include other gifts the Spirit has given that we might call “concrete”

These would be things like surplus of food or money or time or other things.

We might not consider our offerings to the church or aid to a brother or sister in their need to be “spiritual”,

But how can it fail to be Spiritual if the Spirit Himself has given to us the means to help our brother?

How can it fail to be Spiritual if the Spirit is using YOU to answer their private prayer?

In 2 Corinthians 8:14–15 we read: “your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.””

Remember verse 15 - we will return to it shortly.

But let’s not get lost in listing the types of gifts there are - there are many more than we could name.

The point the apostle is making here, though, is that they all proceed from the SAME Holy Spirit.

They all have the same source.

And so they all have the SAME purpose.

The purpose of these gifts is to build the church of Jesus Christ, sanctifying her here on earth.

TO WHOM DOES THE SPIRIT GIVE THESE GIFTS?

2. To whom does the Spirit give these gifts?

Upon whom, through whom, are they given?

Some may look at the preacher, or the teacher, or the deacons, or some other high-profile person in the church,

And think: that’s who the Spirit is gifting.

But 12:7 says: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

To whom?

To EACH.

He doesn’t even say “to the church is given...”

To EACH is given the manifestation of the Spirit FOR THE COMMON GOOD.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, YOU have been given a manifestation - that means an actual appearance of the Spirit of God - in our church.

YOU have been given a gift that the all-knowing God has determined WE ALL need, and YOU are the one to bring it.

Almost the entire rest of this chapter is taken up describing the church as a body - the body of Christ.

Every single member bringing something vital to the body.

Every single member providing for the rest of the body what that member has been gifted to be able to provide.

That’s why the Scriptures don’t give any real examples of believers who are not attached to a church.

We might not know the church that received the Ethiopian eunuch, but we do know there is an ancient congregation in Ethiopia today that predates the church in Europe.

One quite likely begun by his testimony to the gospel.

A Christian may not for long survive detached from a body of believers - both for his sake and theirs;

Every believer has gifts and needs that bind us all together.

No one has all the gifts;

No one even has more than they can use.

Remember that verse in 2 Corinthians - “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

That’s quoted from Exodus 16:18.

There, it was describing the manna that God had provided in the wilderness.

And we find a great parallel in the Spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit lavishes on us today.

There is none who has excess;

And there is none who has nothing.

Now some might envy another’s gift, but that envy is dealt with in chapter 12 as well:

1 Corinthians 12:17–18 “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.”

The Spirit distributes gifts to any as He sees fit.

Not always equal, but always right and good.

Hardly ever miraculous (more of that in a few minutes),

But always designed to build your faith, which is the heart of sanctification.

When our Lord described the Spirit to Nicodemus, He said this:

John 3:8 “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.””

The Spirit has His own purpose in the heart of our Triune God, and every appearance in the life of a believer is an incredible gift of grace.

And each appearance is for the common good of the body, the church.

But nothing in any discussion of the gifts of the Spirit indicates that these gifts are bestowed on a permanent basis.

It is completely expected that a word of God’s wisdom could be given by His Spirit to the church through any believer at any time.

Certainly abundance and need in all areas of life can be given by the Spirit to any of us at any time.

And BOTH are truly given by the Spirit to us for the common good.

We certainly pray that the one who preaches conveys some knowledge or wisdom,

But I would be foolish indeed to believe I had the corner on the market.

In fact, if I thought anything like that, my pride and hubris could easily overshadow the word of God, and I would be in sin.

Because it would be a sin to withhold what the Spirit has expressly given you for the sake of someone else.

It would be tantamount to the sinful attitude James describes in:

James 2:15–17 “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

To James, that response to a brother is unthinkably sinful;

I pray it is to us as well.

WHAT ABOUT TONGUES?

Which brings us to perhaps the most controversial part of this: What about Tongues?

For that matter - any of the un-natural gifts - tongues, predictive prophecy, healing, and the like.

Should we be seeing those in the church today?

1. Tongues was for a specific time and specific purpose, so that they are not commonly needed any more.

I simply don’t have time, and can do no better than what Paul says in chapter 14 of this epistle.

He spends the entire chapter rebuking the Corinthian church for their exaltation of this gift over the others.

It is really prevalent in the book of Acts - make no mistake.

But Paul considered it among the least of the Spirit’s gifts,

Going so far, with the Spirit’s guidance, as to tell the church to REFRAIN from using the gift unless it was CLEARLY appropriate:

That is - that there was someone there who spoke that language, but did not speak the common language.

Because 2. Tongues, the true gift of the Spirit, is in EVERY case a real HUMAN language.

What we have translated “tongues” is nothing more than the Greek word for “languages”.

So it has nothing to do with meaningless babble or realistic language sounds that have no meaning.

Remember why the Spirit gives gifts - for the exaltation of Jesus and the sanctification of the church.

Babble accomplishes neither.

1 Corinthians 14:23 “If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?”

Paul didn’t even consider babbling or non-language “tongues” -

Here, he was warning against speaking in real languages with no native speaker in the assembly.

3. Interpretation of tongues is not some hyper-spiritual connection where two people are on the same spiritual wavelength.

Interpretation of languages is simply another way the Spirit might allow the church to understand a native speaker of a foreign language when they had no language in common.

4. But then the big one - does the gift of tongues exist today.

No, not in the way most people I have known practice it.

Most practices are not bona-fide languages as attested by a native speaker, although I have had friends defend their practice by saying that it was the language of angels.

Where, except in a hyperbole in 13:1, would we even think that is a thing?

If you read some ancient church fathers, you will find this gift ceased in any normative way not long after the days of the apostles.

In the 300’s, John Chrysostom said this in his sermon on 1 Corinthians 12:

1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators (1) John Chrysostom

This whole passage is hard to understand because we do not know the situation in those times and how this differs from our own experience.… What was it? When people were baptized, right away they would speak in tongues. Not only this, but in addition many would prophesy, and some displayed other powers as well. Because they were not raised on the ancient Scriptures but had worshiped idols, their understanding was insufficient. When they were baptized they immediately received the Spirit, yet they could not see the Spirit, who is invisible. So by divine grace they were given obvious evidence of the Spirit’s activity. One would suddenly speak in Persian, another in Latin, another in the language of the Indians or of some other people (see

I have no problem with his explanation of the grace of God working in those baptized into the Holy Spirit,

But I would also point out that in the apostolic period, there were a great many false teachers who would appeal to the Scriptures of the Old Testament,

And make false claims that denied Jesus was the Christ, or that He came in the flesh, or that He was very God of very God.

And so the Spirit used these miraculous gifts as SIGNS to authenticate the word of His authentic messengers.

It is similar to Nicodemus’s opening statement to Jesus:

John 3:2 “This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.””

When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, He sent him with SIGNS.

When God spoke through the prophet Elijah, He had SIGNS.

But now, when the Scripture is not being written, but stands complete, we can validate the message of a teacher by the Scripture without God providing a sign.

We can be Berean, searching the Scriptures for the truth.

You know, every synagogue Paul and his companions went to had a copy of the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

But I suppose the Bereans were more noble because they actually took those Scriptures out and searched them, not simply reserving them for the Sabbath gathering.

There is simply no need for these miraculous signs today to authenticate the word of the teacher when we have the written word of God compiled and ready for our search.

SUMMARY

So to summarize:

While miraculous signs are not the normal work of the Holy Spirit today,

The Holy Spirit still gives gifts to EACH believer to be used in the building up of the church.

We shouldn’t despise them because we consider them “ordinary”:

Like “He just gave me the gift of prayer”.

That is a powerful gift, and one needed by your brothers and sisters here.

There is no gift, however small we may think it, that is unnecessary - the Holy Spirit has given it for a reason.