1Corinthians 12
Sunday Evening Bible Study
March 5, 2000
Introduction
Paul continues to deal with specific issues that have been raised by the church in Corinth.
1Corinthians 12
:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
God doesn’t want you ignorant of spiritual gifts. He wants you educated in them.
: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.
Some people are afraid of letting go and allowing God to work in them. They are afraid that they might be opening themselves up to something strange, like demons.
Some of the Corinthians had experienced this as pagans.
Even today, every once in a while some rumor will go around about someone speaking in tongues, and there was some language expert present who said that they were saying horrible, blasphemous things about Jesus. Rumors.
Paul assures them that they have nothing to be afraid of.
Lesson
God gives good gifts.
(Luke 11:9-13 KJV) And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. {10} For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. {11} If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? {12} Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? {13} If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
God doesn’t give yucky things to His kids. He gives only good gifts.
:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
A "gift" is just that, a gift from God. A spiritual gift is an ability to do something that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to do, apart from the working of the Holy Spirit.
:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
The "administration" is how a gift is used. It’s the ministry in which you operate your gift.
:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
The "operation" is the "effect", it’s the result of what happens as you do your ministry.
Note: The entire Trinity was mentioned in these three verses. The entire Godhead is involved in ministry.
Lesson
Don’t compare yourself to others.
You may not have the same gifts as they do. Even if you have a similarity in gifts, God may not have you in the same type of ministry as another person. And even if you are in the same type of ministry as another person, don’t compare results. The results are from God. The work is from God.
:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
Spiritual gifts are given for the sake of all of us. For the sake of the entire church.
:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
word of wisdom – a supernaturally correct solution to a sticky situation.
Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees about whether or not to pay taxes to Rome.
(Mat 22:18-21 KJV) But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? {19} Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. {20} And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? {21} They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
word of knowledge
– the special knowledge of persons, places, or things that you didn’t acquire by natural means.Jesus met a woman at a well.
(John 4:16-19 KJV) Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. {17} The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: {18} For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. {19} The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
faith – because of the context here, I believe this is a special kind of faith, the ability to trust God for something incredible, something extraordinary. Like when Peter saw the cripple man and reached out and lifted him to his feet (Acts 3).
gifts of healing – the words are plural here and may not refer just to a person who has the ability to bring healing to others, but may in fact refer to the healing that each person receives.
:10 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:
miracles – to see God perform some supernatural phenomena. Jesus healed, walked on water, fed five thousand, etc.
prophecy – to be a spokesman for God. This may involve telling the future, but only because God knows the future.
discerning of spirits – to be able to tell if something is from the Lord or not. I believe this also may involved knowing about a person’s motives or attitude. When Philip was leading a revival in Samaria, a former sorcerer named Simon came to know the Lord –
(Acts 8:18-23 KJV) And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, {19} Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. {20} But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. {21} Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. {22} Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. {23} For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
tongues
– the ability to speak in a language that you did not know by ordinary means. The language may be human or angelic (1Cor. 13:1).interpretation – not to "translate" an unknown tongue, but to give the meaning. An "interpretation" may not be the same length as the tongue. Its emphasis is not to translate, but to give the understanding.
:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
It is the Holy Spirit’s job to give gifts as He wants to, to whom he wants to.
:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
baptized – baptizo – to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk); to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one’s self, bathe; to overwhelm.
Some have confused this with the "baptism with the Holy Spirit".
John the Baptist said,
(Mat 3:11 KJV) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Compare this verse with 1Cor. 12:13. Compare "who" does the baptizing and into "what" a person is baptizing.
With the baptism of the Spirit, Jesus does the immersing, and we are immersed in the Holy Spirit.
With the baptism here (1Cor. 12:13), it’s the Spirit that does the immersing, and He immerses us into the Body of Christ.
This "baptism by the Spirit" takes place when we become believers. The Holy Spirit comes and dwells inside us and we now become a part of the "body", the church.
:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
The body is made up of many parts. This is to be a picture of the church.
:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
Lessons
1. Your sense of "belonging" doesn’t depend on you being "like" another person.
When we were teenagers, we felt like we "belonged" to a certain crowd because we acted or dressed like them. But in the church it’s different. We belong because we have Jesus, not because we learn to talk, act, or dress like other people.
2. We need each other’s differences.
Learn to take advantage of the fact that we’re all different. If you can’t do something, stop trying to force it, find someone who is gifted in doing it!
:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
We need each other. God doesn’t make "Lone Ranger Christians".
:22-25 …That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
(1 Cor 12:22-25 NLT) In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. {23} And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen, {24} while other parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. {25} This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other equally.
We take care in our own bodies to give honor to "uncomely" parts by giving them special clothes. Our "comely" parts, the things that we allow to be most visible, we don’t bother covering up. The point is that in our bodies, we naturally take care to give honor to certain parts of the body that are "feeble" or "uncomely".
Yet in the church we often have it backward. We often are giving special honor to those "up front" like pastors and musicians, when they already have all the honor they need. Perhaps we ought to be giving more honor to the more "hidden" parts of the body, like those who clean the bathrooms, those who teach the Sunday School classes, those who change diapers in the Nursery, those who make the tapes, those who do the accounting and secretarial work, those who quietly pray.
:28 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.
Paul sets up here an order of importance of the ministries in the church. Those who want to exalt the gift of tongues ought to be careful here. Tongues are wonderful and very beneficial, but keep in mind, it’s at the end of the list.
:30 …Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
In the Greek, Paul is asking a question that demands a "no" answer. It’s the obvious answer. It’ s not because the Corinthian church was carnal that everyone didn’t speak with tongues, it’s because God gives gifts to whomever He wants.
I do not believe that everyone can have all the gifts. The only person that has had "all the gifts" was Jesus. When the church is together, we form the "Body of Christ", and all of our gifts put together is like having Jesus with us.
:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.
It has been said that the thing that determines what the "best gifts" are, is the need of the moment. If you have a sick friend, you would desire the gift of healing. If you are facing a difficult situation and don’t know what to do, the "word of wisdom" is the best.
Spiritual gifts are very, very, very important. God doesn’t want us ignorant of them (1Cor. 12:1). But don’t be mistaken to think that spiritual gifts determine maturity in a church. The Corinthians had all the gifts (1Cor. 1:7), yet Paul called them "babes" (1Cor. 3:1) in their maturity.
What’s best? Love (1Cor. 13).