The Gifts Of The Spirits
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For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The various gifts are all given by the Spirit, which indicates that they are all useful. They are bestowed on man according to God’s sovereign will, not according to man’s desires. Verses 8–10 present a list of nine gifts. All are given through the Spirit. God grants the gifts, but He does this through the Holy Spirit, who was the special Director of the Church after Pentecost. The Holy Spirit also determines the character of the gifts (Rom. 5:5; 8:12; Eph. 4:4; 1 Thess. 4:8).
1. The Word of Wisdom
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
Word signifies an utterance or something spoken. Wisdom (sophia) means:
“Good judgment in the face of the demands made by human and specifically by the Christian life.”
“Good judgment in the face of the demands made by human and specifically by the Christian life.”
It is this practical wisdom that James regards as a gift of God (Jas. 1:5).
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
In this sense “wisdom is the capacity for applying our knowledge in judgments or practice.”
2. The Word of Knowledge
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
Knowledge (gnosis) “implies … research and investigation, although knowledge too should not be taken in a purely intellectual sense; it has an existential character.”
Paul also associates knowledge with a kind of supernatural mystical awareness, and relates it to mysteries, revelations, and prophecy (13:2; 14:6).
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
While wisdom comes through the Spirit, knowledge comes according to the Spirit.
3. Faith (12:9a)
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
By the term faith the apostle here means a “faith that has special, visible results, a faith that enables one to do miracles.”
This is the type of faith that Paul pictures in 13:2
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
—the faith that could move mountains.
Whedon suggests a different idea when he writes that this kind of faith is “that realization of divine realities by which a powerful and heroic Christian character is formed, shown in maintaining truth resistlessly, and suffering for it unshrinkingly.”
The gift of faith enabled the Christians to become uninhibited witnesses and fearless martyrs.
4. Healing (12:9b)
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
The power to perform miracles of dramatic restoration to health was one of the gifts given by the Spirit to the Primitive Church.
Adam Clarke states that this gift “simply refers to the power which at particular times the apostles received from the Holy Spirit to cure diseases.”
He points out that the apostles did not have this power as a permanent gift which was effective on all occasions.
Paul could not effect a cure in Timothy, nor could he remove his own thorn in the flesh.
Healing is plural in the Greek text, which would indicate that there were different “healings” for various kinds of sickness and disease.
5. Working of Miracles (12:10a)
Miracles (dynameon) emphasizes the element of power.
It may refer to the ability to perform extraordinary physical exertion (2 Cor. 11:23–28).
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
John Calvin relates this type of miraculous power to such events as the smiting of Elymas with blindness (Acts 13:11) and the sudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–10).
And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
Acts 5:1-10 Ananias and Sapphira
6. Gift of Prophecy (12:10b)
In the OT, prophecy contained both prediction and proclamation.
To many people, the element of prediction overshadows that of proclamation.
Others tend to minimize the element of prediction, regarding prophecy as only a declaration of God’s message for one’s own time.
Both elements are present, although the major emphasis of prophecy, even in the OT, was the direct presentation of God’s message for the people of the day in which the prophet lived.
In the NT prophecy might be occasional (Acts 19:6), or a permanent office (1 Cor. 12:28).
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Prophecy in the NT “is that special gift that calls and enables certain persons to convey revelations of God to His church.”
22 Another scholar interprets it as “delivering inspired exhortations, instructions, or warnings.”
Whedon gives a comprehensive definition: “Inspired preaching; either predicting the future, unfolding mysterious truth, or searching the secrets of men’s hearts and characters.”
24 Paul holds the office of prophecy in high regard, as indicated by the comparison of prophecy and speaking in tongues in c. 14.
7. Discerning of Spirits (12:10c)
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
Every Christian must have, to a certain degree, the ability to “try the spirits” (1 John 4:1).
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Otherwise he becomes a victim of false impressions from without or of ruinous pressures from within.
The original text here speaks of discernings, which means that the Christian must continually be alert to the direction of the Holy Spirit.
But apparently some have the gift of special spiritual insight and knowledge, having the ability to distinguish between prophetic utterances, to know whether they proceed from true or false spirits.
Paul believed that there were evil spirits working in the Gentile churches and among the Gentile Christians (1 Thess. 2:2).
But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
In some instances these spirits manifested themselves not only in false prophecies but also in the performing of miracles (Acts 19:13–16).
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
“In general there was a devilish imitation of the charismata and of the work of Christ.”
An excellent description of the discerning of spirits is: “The power of detecting the hypocrite, as Peter did Ananias; of distinguishing true and false gifts; of recognizing genuine inspiration.”
The problem of the Early Church was not that of a secularized society but of paganized religions.
With so many claims to divine direction, it was essential that the Church distinguish between true and false claims.
8. Speaking in Tongues (12:10d)
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
The excessive concern for the gift of divers kinds of tongues was the core of the whole problem in this section.
Tongues (glosson) is given various interpretations: the speaking tongue, or the tongue in action; rare, provincial, poetic, or archaic words; a spiritual language, unknown to man, uttered in ecstasy;28 a known language or dialect.
Among the older commentators it was customary to interpret both the tongues at Pentecost and the tongues at Corinth as known languages. Such writers as Lange, Calvin,31 Adam Clarke, and Matthew Henry33 held this position. Recent writers tend to make a distinction between the two kinds of tongues. One who accepts the tongues of Pentecost as spoken languages writes of the tongues at Corinth: “Others possessed a strange gift called the gift of tongues. It is not clear what it was; but it seems to have been a kind of tranced utterance, in which the speaker poured out an impassioned rhapsody by which his religious feeling received both expression and exaltation.” A contemporary writer states that “the lack of any need for interpretation [at Pentecost] makes it difficult to identify the situation with that which Paul seeks to regulate in the Corinthian Church.”35
It appears from Paul’s discussion of the Corinthian situation that the problem was that of ecstatic utterance. From Paul’s treatment it is certain that the gift was not to be regarded as part of the evangelistic work of the Church. Nor was it to be regarded as highly significant, when compared with other gifts. While the entire matter is a delicate one, it is the author’s opinion that there was a valid gift of languages in the Early Church, and that Paul was aware of the true Pentecostal gift of speaking in known languages. But the tongues known in Corinth were not of this kind. It is quite possible that the genuine gift of languages related to Pentecost could have degenerated into unintelligible utterance in the lives of the unstable Corinthian Christians.
9. The Interpretation of Tongues (12:10e)
Two explanations are given for the special gift of interpretation of tongues. One idea is that “this was the gift whereby God made intelligible what was hidden from all in the ecstatic utterances.” Another view is suggested by Adam Clarke: “It was necessary that while one was speaking the deep things of God in a company where several were present who did not understand, though the majority did, there should be a person who could immediately interpret what was said to that part of the congregation that did not understand the language.”
Verse 11 again emphasizes the main point of the whole discussion, namely, that all the gifts come from one Spirit. The verb worketh is present tense and “implies that the Spirit gives these gifts continually.” The unity and consistency of divine purpose are revealed in the expression that one and the selfsame Spirit. Different gifts do not indicate different divine purposes. God does not oppose himself nor does He cause friction in the way He distributes gifts. Every man severally indicates that God deals with man on a personal, individual basis. As he will means that the sovereign God bestows the gifts in harmony with His purpose. It is God, not man, who selects the gift to be given. Therefore man should not dictate which gift he would choose, though Paul admonishes us to “covet earnestly the best gifts” (12:31). Certainly no one gift should be regarded as an evidence of superior spirituality. Nor should any particular gift be selected as the exclusive manifestation of the Holy Spirit. To do so would be to distort the work of the Spirit and to disrupt the divine unity.