1Cor 12:4-11 | KingComments | STEP | This new chapter deals with a new and again important issue. It is about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit and the task each believer has. In His wisdom God first spoke about the Table of the Lord and the Lord's Supper in the previous chapters. You have seen how each believer can take his place at the Table of the Lord and how he can partake of the Lord's Supper, at least, if there is no mention of a sin that is not judged in the believer's life. The gifts of the Spirit have got nothing to do with that. That means: it is not important at all what gift you have if you want to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Nevertheless, the gifts of the Spirit are important. Only you should see them in the right place and that is what Paul will make clear in this chapter. . He starts to point the Corinthians to the spiritual gifts. They were familiar with them. When they were unconverted they saw many spiritual manifestations and also experienced them. Now they are converted they also have got to do with spiritual manifestations. What they should learn is that the spiritual manifestations in the church of God are from a totally different source and that they are for other purposes than the spiritual manifestations from the past. What they needed, was to learn to see the difference between, on the one hand, the Holy Spirit Who now dwells in them and Who works in the church, and on the other hand the evil spirits or demons by whom they were guided in their unawareness and ignorance in the past. . In the past they went to “the mute idols”. That's where they brought their sacrifices and in the service that went together with that, they went into a trance, out of self-control. Indeed the idols were mute, they could not speak, but, as you remember from chapter 10: behind these idols evil spirits, demons, are hidden. These demons use the imagination of the ones who bring the sacrifices and take possession of their spirit. The more people surrender themselves to these demons the more they get into a trance. When they were pagans, when they were unconverted, they “[were] led astray” to these mute or dumb idols. Then they were will-less people, who were led by their own impulses. They were not aware of that then. They thought that they were free to choose how to live their own life, without being aware that they were led by the prince of the world, satan. It is still like that today. Each person who is unconverted is a person who is led by the devil. He thinks he is free and that he can decide how to live his life, but he is not aware that satan leads him to the cinema, the disco, the gambling house or the stadium. It happens often enough in a conversation with an unconverted, that he even denies the existence of the devil. You see how subtle the devil is. His biggest trick is to let people believe that he does not exist. Then he can deceive them most easily. A striking example of being carried away to the mute idols and to get into a trance you find in 1 Kings 18. You get impressed by how the idol priests excite and torment themselves to get their god, Baal, to act ( ). After that you get impressed far more when Elijah calls to God only once and He proves Himself to be the living God ( ). . To demonstrate to the Corinthians the difference between the past and now, Paul uses the Name of the Lord Jesus as the touchstone. In the church it is impossible that the Spirit of God would do something that dishonors the Lord Jesus. The demons will make every effort to make the Name of the Lord Jesus despicable. They want nothing more than to curse that Name. They succeed if they can cause believers to live a sinful life. The Holy Spirit on the contrary will do everything to honor the Lord Jesus and to give Him the glory He is worthy of. He will make it possible for the believers to surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus in full obedience. Demons do not acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Lord. In the Gospels we come across several confrontations between demons and the Lord Jesus. It is striking that they never address Him as ‘Lord’. When He shall reign in the millennial kingdom of peace over the universe, they will be constrained to acknowledge Him as Lord. You can read that in Philippians 2 where those who are “under the earth” mean the demons ( ). Also unbelievers do not acknowledge Him as Lord. They do not consider His authority, but they live their own life. In Matthew 7 you read that there are people who say “Lord, Lord” ( ), but have not considered His will in their life. They only want to be named Christian, but control their own life. Where this is found, you are not dealing with the work of the Holy Spirit, but with the work of demons. A born-again Christian will speak respectfully about Jesus and therefore would prefer to call Him ‘Lord’ Jesus. From his life it will be apparent that his faith is not only a lip-confession, but he considers the authority of the Lord Jesus in every aspect of his life. Where this is found you are not dealing with the work of demons, but with the work of the Holy Spirit. . The next difference between the manifestations of demons and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, is that the varieties of gifts is not the work of different spirits, but of one and “the same Spirit”. With the demons there are more spirits. In Mark 5 a legion of demons took possession of a man ( ). In Mark 16 there is a mention of seven demons that have resided in Mary, but they were cast out by the Lord Jesus ( ). In paganism each idol has, whether it is the sun, the moon or a tree, its own demon or a multitude of demons. What the Corinthians absolutely should not think when they see the diversities of gifts, is that those diversities are inspired by different spirits. They are all from the same Spirit. . It is also one and “the same Lord” Who gives orders for using the different gifts. Therefore every person needs to practice his gift in dependency on Him and is not allowed to work with the gift as it pleases himself. . Finally it is one and “the same God” Who works through the gift. He works in him who practices the gift and He works in those who are served through the gift. . Each member of the church has received a gift. No one has received all the gifts and there is no one who has received no gift. That means that we all need one another, just as the members of a body need each other. Further on in this chapter you will see how this works. You too have received a gift. You have not received it for yourself, but to serve others with it, for “to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”. The particular thing about this section is that the Holy Spirit is present and works in the church. That is something that always will amaze you and you can profit by it to the honor of the Lord Jesus, for you want to live to His honor, right? God the Holy Spirit dwells now on earth in the church. He has not come to glorify Himself, but the Lord Jesus ( ). How wonderful that would be when the believers in the local church let Him direct everything to the glory of God and His Son! Now read 1 Corinthians 12:1-7 again. Reflection: What are you used to: saying ‘Jesus’ or ‘Lord Jesus’? Why?

‏ 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

The Holy Spirit

This new chapter deals with a new and again important issue. It is about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit and the task each believer has. In His wisdom God first spoke about the Table of the Lord and the Lord's Supper in the previous chapters. You have seen how each believer can take his place at the Table of the Lord and how he can partake of the Lord's Supper, at least, if there is no mention of a sin that is not judged in the believer's life.

The gifts of the Spirit have got nothing to do with that. That means: it is not important at all what gift you have if you want to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Nevertheless, the gifts of the Spirit are important. Only you should see them in the right place and that is what Paul will make clear in this chapter.

1Cor 12:1. He starts to point the Corinthians to the spiritual gifts. They were familiar with them. When they were unconverted they saw many spiritual manifestations and also experienced them. Now they are converted they also have got to do with spiritual manifestations. What they should learn is that the spiritual manifestations in the church of God are from a totally different source and that they are for other purposes than the spiritual manifestations from the past. What they needed, was to learn to see the difference between, on the one hand, the Holy Spirit Who now dwells in them and Who works in the church, and on the other hand the evil spirits or demons by whom they were guided in their unawareness and ignorance in the past.

1Cor 12:2. In the past they went to “the mute idols”. That's where they brought their sacrifices and in the service that went together with that, they went into a trance, out of self-control. Indeed the idols were mute, they could not speak, but, as you remember from chapter 10: behind these idols evil spirits, demons, are hidden. These demons use the imagination of the ones who bring the sacrifices and take possession of their spirit. The more people surrender themselves to these demons the more they get into a trance.

When they were pagans, when they were unconverted, they “[were] led astray” to these mute or dumb idols. Then they were will-less people, who were led by their own impulses. They were not aware of that then. They thought that they were free to choose how to live their own life, without being aware that they were led by the prince of the world, satan.

It is still like that today. Each person who is unconverted is a person who is led by the devil. He thinks he is free and that he can decide how to live his life, but he is not aware that satan leads him to the cinema, the disco, the gambling house or the stadium. It happens often enough in a conversation with an unconverted, that he even denies the existence of the devil. You see how subtle the devil is. His biggest trick is to let people believe that he does not exist. Then he can deceive them most easily.

A striking example of being carried away to the mute idols and to get into a trance you find in 1 Kings 18. You get impressed by how the idol priests excite and torment themselves to get their god, Baal, to act (1Kgs 18:26-30). After that you get impressed far more when Elijah calls to God only once and He proves Himself to be the living God (1Kgs 18:36-38).

1Cor 12:3. To demonstrate to the Corinthians the difference between the past and now, Paul uses the Name of the Lord Jesus as the touchstone. In the church it is impossible that the Spirit of God would do something that dishonors the Lord Jesus. The demons will make every effort to make the Name of the Lord Jesus despicable. They want nothing more than to curse that Name. They succeed if they can cause believers to live a sinful life. The Holy Spirit on the contrary will do everything to honor the Lord Jesus and to give Him the glory He is worthy of. He will make it possible for the believers to surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus in full obedience.

Demons do not acknowledge the Lord Jesus as Lord. In the Gospels we come across several confrontations between demons and the Lord Jesus. It is striking that they never address Him as ‘Lord’. When He shall reign in the millennial kingdom of peace over the universe, they will be constrained to acknowledge Him as Lord. You can read that in Philippians 2 where those who are “under the earth” mean the demons (Phil 2:9-11).

Also unbelievers do not acknowledge Him as Lord. They do not consider His authority, but they live their own life. In Matthew 7 you read that there are people who say “Lord, Lord” (Mt 7:21), but have not considered His will in their life. They only want to be named Christian, but control their own life. Where this is found, you are not dealing with the work of the Holy Spirit, but with the work of demons.

A born-again Christian will speak respectfully about Jesus and therefore would prefer to call Him ‘Lord’ Jesus. From his life it will be apparent that his faith is not only a lip-confession, but he considers the authority of the Lord Jesus in every aspect of his life. Where this is found you are not dealing with the work of demons, but with the work of the Holy Spirit.

1Cor 12:4. The next difference between the manifestations of demons and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, is that the varieties of gifts is not the work of different spirits, but of one and “the same Spirit”. With the demons there are more spirits. In Mark 5 a legion of demons took possession of a man (Mk 5:9). In Mark 16 there is a mention of seven demons that have resided in Mary, but they were cast out by the Lord Jesus (Mk 16:9).

In paganism each idol has, whether it is the sun, the moon or a tree, its own demon or a multitude of demons. What the Corinthians absolutely should not think when they see the diversities of gifts, is that those diversities are inspired by different spirits. They are all from the same Spirit.

1Cor 12:5. It is also one and “the same Lord” Who gives orders for using the different gifts. Therefore every person needs to practice his gift in dependency on Him and is not allowed to work with the gift as it pleases himself.

1Cor 12:6. Finally it is one and “the same God” Who works through the gift. He works in him who practices the gift and He works in those who are served through the gift.

1Cor 12:7. Each member of the church has received a gift. No one has received all the gifts and there is no one who has received no gift. That means that we all need one another, just as the members of a body need each other. Further on in this chapter you will see how this works. You too have received a gift. You have not received it for yourself, but to serve others with it, for “to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”.

The particular thing about this section is that the Holy Spirit is present and works in the church. That is something that always will amaze you and you can profit by it to the honor of the Lord Jesus, for you want to live to His honor, right? God the Holy Spirit dwells now on earth in the church. He has not come to glorify Himself, but the Lord Jesus (Jn 16:13). How wonderful that would be when the believers in the local church let Him direct everything to the glory of God and His Son!

Now read 1 Corinthians 12:1-7 again.

Reflection: What are you used to: saying ‘Jesus’ or ‘Lord Jesus’? Why?

The Gifts of the Spirit

1Cor 12:8. There is no man who can convey a certain gift to another person. The source, the origin of all the gifts is not found in a man, but in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives and distributes. The gifts come from Him. Thereby the Holy Spirit considers the natural abilities of the believer.

A beautiful illustration of that you find in Matthew 25 (Mt 25:15). In the parable of the talents the Lord Jesus is telling there, He compares Himself with a man who went abroad and gives talents to his slaves. These talents represent the gifts each person receives to work with. You see that there is a distinction in the number of talents that each person receives, just as there is a distinction in the gift that each person receives from the Spirit.

Then you read further that these talents are given “each according to his own ability”. That refers to the natural abilities that each person is born with. As long as a person is not converted, he uses that natural ability for himself, to his own glory. After his conversion he can use that natural ability to serve the Lord, while he constantly ought to be alert not to take the credit for using his abilities.

A person, who is naturally capable to put something well into words, might receive the gift from the Spirit to serve others with the Word. A person who is caring and considerate will receive in many cases a pastoral gift from the Spirit. There are many examples like that, whereby the spiritual gift is related to the natural ability. In most cases it happens like that.

I can hardly imagine that, if you have no ability to work with children, you will receive a task to do children’s work. Nevertheless, in this respect we should not try to control the freedom of the Spirit in distributing to whom He wants. I believe that you might have a gift, which, according to your feeling, doesn’t directly connect to your natural capabilities. I know of someone who thought that he had no ability to work among children. However, once he began this work, it became apparent that he, on the contrary, could deal very well with children. By opening up yourself to His guidance you will discover which gift you have.

The gifts that are mentioned in 1Cor 12:8-10, are not a complete list of all gifts. It is important to pay attention to the sequence of these gifts. Paul summarizes the gifts according to their importance for the edification of the church. The Corinthians were proud of the so-called miracle [literally: works of power] gifts, especially speaking in tongues, which they held in high esteem. However, Paul doesn’t start with the gifts that impress people, but puts speaking in tongues and their interpretation at the bottom of the list. In chapter 14 he will deal with speaking in tongues in great detail and will clarify that this gift is not that important as the Corinthians thought it was.

The first gift that he mentions is “the word of wisdom”. In the church there may be situations, where it is not always clear what ought to be done. Wisdom is then the only way to deal with it. The definition of wisdom is the capability to discern between good and evil and then to choose the good. Someone with this gift will then be able to tell the church what to do.

Another person has “the word of knowledge”. The believers of the church need to learn God’s thoughts, otherwise they will operate on their own understanding and the church will lose its character as a church of God. You can gain knowledge by being zealous in studying God’s Word.

1Cor 12:9-10. “Faith” is another gift. It is about a gift to a believer here; thus, it cannot refer to the saving faith. The saving faith is not a gift that is given to only a few. A believer who has the gift of faith, will always firmly trust in what God has said in relation to a certain task He has given, in spite of how many obstacles may come his way, while others have long since dropped out.

The “gifts of healings” and the “effecting of miracles [literally: works of power]” served to confirm the Word of God (Mk 16:20; Heb 2:3-4).

“Prophecy” is the gift to pass on God’s thoughts concerning the church, with regard to the present and the future. The basis of prophecy will always be the Word of God and will never contradict it. Therefore prophecy will never be based on speculation or imagination, but will always be testable to the Bible. In chapter 14 this gift is compared with the gift of speaking in tongues.

Another person may have the gift of “distinguishing of spirits”. You may relate this to what happens in the church. A person with this gift will be able to discern whether something comes from the Holy Spirit or comes from demons. In the last section you have seen that it is often quite difficult to determine from which source a certain message comes.

Speaking in “tongues” was important in case a stranger joins the gathering of the church. When such a person would suddenly hear a person speaking about God and the Lord Jesus in his own language, that could be his salvation for eternity, when he may be converted. The “interpretation of tongues” was necessary with a view to the church because otherwise people would not understand anything about what is said. After all, the gifts were given to the profit of the whole. As it is said, in chapter 14 Paul deals in great detail with speaking in tongues in church.

1Cor 12:11. You see that there are many various gifts and yet there is still a unity. That’s because one and the same Spirit works all these things. He distributes to each one individually as He wills. He determines which place each person has in the body. No theological training can work this. Only the Holy Spirit determines that.

One more thing. You can learn from the last three words of 1Cor 12:11 that the Holy Spirit is God, for in 1Cor 12:18 the same thing is said about God. Thus He is a Person, and surely a Divine Person, and not just an influence or a power, for only a person has a will.

1Cor 12:12. In this verse an example of a body is given to clarify what is previously said about the diversities of the gifts. A body has a couple of characteristics. Two of them are brought forward here. First, a body forms a unity. Second, a body consists of a number of different members.

You might then expect it to be written: so also is the church. After all it is about the church. However, it is said “so also is Christ”. This makes it clear that Christ and the church are one. What goes for the church also goes for Christ.

This is what Saul, who is later called Paul, has already faced when he is still a persecutor of the church. In Acts 9 is told that, while he is on his journey to Damascus to bring the disciples of the Lord bound to Jerusalem, a voice from heaven says to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). By persecuting the church he, in fact, persecuted Christ in heaven. In such a unity Christ is with His own on earth.

1Cor 12:13. All members of the church form together the one church. Each member of the body has its own function. It is about the unity of the body and about the many members, in which Christ is seen on earth. As a member of the body your origins or social status are insignificant, “for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”.

From that same Spirit you may now drink to properly perform your function in the body. From your own you have no power to function. Only when you allow the Holy Spirit to drench your life, so to speak, that He infuses you completely, you will be able to function in your own place in the church.

Now read 1 Corinthians 12:8-13 again.

Reflection: Who is the Holy Spirit to you? How do you experience His presence in the church?