Making Sense of 1st Corinthians CH12
We’re talking about spiritual gifts today. Holy Spirit stuff. You have spiritual gifts, whether you are aware of them or not—whether you make use of them or not. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. These are some really important ideas, the life of the church depends on this. The unity of the church depends on this. Let’s pray as we get started…
Father in heaven, You sent the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life to dwell in us—to empower us to be the people You saved us through Your Son to be. Help us to get a better understanding of what that’s supposed to look like in our lives and in our church. No matter what preconceived ideas we have, illuminate our minds and help us understand what You have revealed to us in Your Word. We ask this as the church, the people of God in Christ. We ask as followers of Jesus. AMEN.
Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:1-3
Paul has been talking about how the Corinthians were blessed with a lot of spiritual gifts—he said they didn’t lack a single gift of God’s grace, but they weren’t very humble about it. They flaunted their gifts and made rock-stars out of the people who had the coolest, supernatural gifts. It seems they had some misunderstandings about spiritual gifts and he’s going to spend a couple of chapters building the groundwork for laying down the hammer in chapter 14.
This is a mostly Gentile church, and he reminds them that when they used to be pagans they chased after demonic idols. They were gullible. He wants them to have a little perspective and humility. They probably shouldn’t be so sure they have it all figured out.
In fact, he wants to remind them that they wouldn’t be Christians at all if it was left up to them. No one can say Jesus is Lord unless the Holy Spirit gives them faith and makes them spiritually alive. “Jesus is Lord” is the basic confession of all Christians—But we don’t choose Jesus, He chooses us. We were dead in our sin and He makes us alive by the power of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is the ground-level gift of the Holy Spirit—but salvation isn’t the only gift of the Spirit.
“Jesus is Lord” was a dangerous thing to say out loud in the Roman Empire. The Imperial Cult was growing stronger every day—it was considered a standard pledge of allegiance to the Emperor to say “Caesar is Lord.” It got to the point, not long after this letter was written, that all the Roman courts set up a little shrine and when people were accused of being Christians—if the suspect was willing to curse Christ and worship statues of gods and the emperor, they’d let them go. According to a Roman governor named Pliny the Younger, it was “because these were things Christians cannot be made to do.” Anyone who refused to curse Christ and worship the emperor was executed.
We don’t know exactly how the church in Corinth was abusing their spiritual gifts but Paul is making it clear that the Holy Spirit would never curse Jesus. Paul does seem to be especially focusing on the Corinthians misuse of speaking in tongues though.
They used to be pagans, so they would have been familiar with demonic ecstatic speech. We know from other historical documents that the Delphic Oracles spoke in tongues, so did Jewish mystics. According to a book written just as the calendar changed from BC to AD, A woman named Hemera “spoke ecstatically in the angelic dialect, sending up a hymn to God in accord with the hymnic style of the angels.” Another woman named Kasia’s “mouth took on the dialect of the archons and she praised God for the creation of the heights.” An oracle named Amaltheia “spoke ecstatically in the dialect ...of the cherubim, glorifying the Master of virtues.” This is all pre-Christian demonic weirdness. The temple of Dionysus in Corinth specifically was famous for its worship including ecstatic speaking and chanting.
I mentioned all that because I don’t think most people know the historical context. This is probably why the church in Corinth was so confused about speaking in tongues.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
First of all, notice the Trinity. The Spirit, the Lord, and God. Don’t let anyone tell you that the early Christians didn’t know anything about the Trinity—they didn’t use that word, but they definitely understood that God is the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and God the Father.
Paul’s about to explain that God gives the church many different kinds of spiritual gifts. All of them are for the same purpose: to build up the church, encourage the people of God by pointing to Jesus, glorifying Jesus, reminding us of God’s Word, and helping us love and serve each other. Your spiritual gifts are not for you—not even a little bit. God gives them to you for the other people in your church.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
That was a little sample list of different spiritual gifts. Gifts of grace. There are other lists of spiritual gifts in the Bible. God gives each congregation the gifts they need to do the work He has called it to do. He’s given you the spiritual gifts that your church needs. The church is like the X-Men, and your spiritual gift are the superpowers you bring to the team.
Let’s look briefly at the gifts he mentions here. Remember, these are gifts to be given away, not personal accomplishments to keep to ourselves.
First, not surprisingly, he lists “word of wisdom” and “word of knowledge.” In chapter one he said the Corinthians had been especially enriched by the Gospel “in all speech and all knowledge.” God’s wisdom and knowledge are found in the Gospel of Christ crucified. That’s the most important spiritual gift. It has applications of giving wise Biblical counsel to people when they need it. Wisdom being the application of the Christian faith and knowledge being the teachings of the faith itself.
The idea of the “word of knowledge” has been abused by a lot of people, especially in charismatic circles. Sometimes people will walk up to someone and say something like, “The Lord gave me a word for you.” Then tell you something like “God wants you to move to another state” or “you should move into an apartment on Beechnut Street.” Be careful when someone claims to have a word from the Lord. I’m not saying it can’t happen—both of the examples I gave are things that happened to Kim and me (and they were right). But God doesn’t promise to give special words of knowledge. Sometimes He does and other times people are just being goofy.
The gift of faith is in addition to saving faith. We receive salvation by faith, so this has to be a greater measure of faith—not for yourself, but so you can encourage someone else. You see how this works? Your spiritual gifts are not for you.
Gifts of healings. Miraculous powers. There was a time when Paul’s handkerchief would heal people. Peter’s shadow would heal people. They raised people from the dead. There was a lot of this going on in the early church. Sometimes when the Gospel is first going into a new territory, these kinds of supernatural things happen—probably as confirmation for the people, powers, and principalities of that area. Once the Gospel is established, these things typically become more rare. The purpose of miraculous healing and miracles is the same as the other gifts: to point people to Jesus, glorify God, and encourage the church. Not to keep Christians from getting sick or dying. Jesus promises that when we die, we will be raised from the dead just like He was—so we’re going to have to die first. But yeah, God still heals out of His kindness and mercy for us. We pray it every week
“This is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14
Miracles still happen, they’re just not promised.
Prophesy. God speaking through one of His people. This isn’t the same thing as preaching and teaching what God has already revealed to us in His Word. This is direct revelation—might be about the future or the past or the present. This was a very important spiritual gift in the early church because they didn’t have the complete New Testament yet. Some would argue that prophesy stopped happening once the Bible was complete. I don’t know about that but I will say this—no prophesy that comes from the Holy Spirit will ever contradict Scripture. That’s why Paul immediately pairs it with “discerning of spirits.” The ability to “test the spirits” because of the danger of being taken in by false prophets. In 1 John 4:1-3 it says,
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”
Sometimes if I doubt something someone says, I’ll ask them if Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. They never get it. Bible nerd joke.
And then, last in this little list is the one that seems to be causing the most problems. Speaking in various kinds of tongues. Oh boy, here we go.
First of all, you should know that I came from a denominational background that was all about speaking in tongues. I went to one of their Bible colleges to become a pastor in one of their churches. I’ve seen some things.
I was at a prayer meeting one time and a girl had her hands raised, she was praying in tongues, and she kept repeating this phrase, “See-a my thigh-a, way up high-a…” I told that story to Kemper the other day and he told me about a time he was playing a concert at a charismatic church and the pastor wanted to pray with the band. They bowed their heads and in a booming voice the pastor said, “Moondo-Rama!” I’m convinced demons have a weird sense of humor.
I’ve been to meetings where the minister encouraged the people to “just let go of your words and start talking, let the Spirit give you utterance.” Encouraging them to get in a trance-like state and start talking gibberish. Anyone who didn’t do it would feel less spiritual than the ones who did. So to fit in, people would fake it, which would eventually make them doubt if anything about their faith was real. This is not what it means to encourage the church and build up people’s faith.
I left that denomination because of all this stuff.
So, what do we do with the Bible including “various kinds of tongues” and “the interpretation of tongues” in this list of spiritual gifts?
First, let’s talk about what it is. Basically, speaking in tongues (or languages) is a supernatural ability to say something in a language that the speaker doesn’t actually know. In Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began preaching the Gospel. Everyone who was there heard it in their own native tongue. It’d be like if someone from India walked in the door right now and all of a sudden I began speaking perfect Hindi so they could understand the sermon. That would be impressive. We would all be greatly encouraged in our faith and tell our friends about it.
But if I just started speaking in gibberish. “Moon-Do-Rama. See My Bowtie. Tie my Bowtie. Way up high-a.” You’d all just think I was nuts. You might still tell your friends, but not in a good way.
Paul will come back to the speaking in tongues thing in chapter 14, here’s a spoiler, verse 23,
“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” 1 Corinthians 14:23
Some people make the argument that speaking in tongues is only referring to speaking in a known human language that they haven’t personally learned but Paul mentions the tongues of angels as a possibility. Since no one knows any angelic languages, that’s where the gibberish comes in. Who’s to say they’re not speaking in a language of heaven? “Moon-Do-Rama!”
Paul is going to insist that if someone blasts the congregation with some unknown tongue, then someone else better be ready to give the interpretation.
And in my old denomination, they were all about it. Someone would stand up and say a bunch of gibberish. Then someone else would stand up and do an impromptu “pseudo-Psalm.” Something like, “The Lord would say unto ye, the mountain of the Lord has come neigh, thou art in the presence of a holy God.” It was always in the King’s English. It was always some bland mashup of something that sounded like a Psalm—maybe with a call to repent and fall on our face. You know, the kind of thing God might say. It always seemed like flim-flam to me.
Do I think speaking in tongues is a real thing that can still happen? Maybe. Probably. Has it been abused and caused more doubt than faith? I’m pretty sure it has.
All the gifts come from the Holy Spirit, given to the members of the church to be used to help other members of the church. He’s going to explain what he means by this using a common analogy from Roman culture. The philosophers called the people of Rome the Body of Rome—everyone was familiar with the concept.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14
I could spend an entire sermon on this little section. Paul had set up baptism in the previous chapter as an objective means of God’s grace, then he talked about the Lord’s Supper for the rest of the chapter. Now he finally comes to baptism again. For the sake of time, I’m only going to say this: Baptism is done by the Holy Spirit and is how we are made members of the Body of Christ. God does the baptizing. It is how we become members of the church—not the local church, the one holy Christian and apostolic church. Everyone comes in the same way, no matter who you are. Jew or Gentile. Slave or free. There is only one baptism. As it says in
Ephesians 4:5-6 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all...”
Sometimes people talk about a second baptism for the really super spiritual. No. There is one baptism. That one baptism is when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He comes to dwell in you. There is no second blessing. There is no baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. Every time a Christian prays they are refilled with the Holy Spirit—not re-baptized.
People say, “We’re a FULL Gospel church.” “We’re a spirit-filled church.” This is exactly what Paul is saying not to do. No part of the body should think it is more special than the other parts because of the spiritual gifts they were given, or the function they serve in the body. I don’t understand how people can get this so wrong.
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” 1 Corinthians 12:14-21
Now, keep in mind, we’re actually talking about the members of a local church. The way each of us serves the church. The abilities the Holy Spirit gives each of us to function in the church, get the ministry done, encourage each other...
In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. (Yes, he’s talking about exactly what it sound like he’s talking about. Naughty bits.) So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 1 Corinthians 12:22-26
It would be strange if I complimented your eyes but since you had to hear the compliment through your ears, they got jealous and stopped listening. Obviously that’s not the way our body works—when one part is honored we feel honored as a person. If one part is in pain then we’re in pain.
Now he’s going to make it clear that he’s talking about the different things people do in the ministry of the local church. They’re all important. It’s foolish to be envious of someone else’s role.
All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:
first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in various kinds of tongues. 1st Corinthians 12:27-28
I’m running out of time here. Apostles were people who were with Jesus in His earthly ministry and after the resurrection, He personally sent them to plant churches. In that specific sense, there are not apostles anymore. Prophets are people who receive a direct revelation from God and speak on His behalf—in this specific sense, prophecy is rare now that the Bible is complete. The role of an apostle nowadays is more like a church-planter or missionary. The role of a prophet is to point people to what God has already revealed—maybe to give specific direction in how to apply the general principles of Scripture. Miracles still happen, they’re rare, that’s why they’re called “miracles.” Healing still happens, usually through the vocation of medicine.
But look what comes next. Helping others. Right after healing and just before leadership. The Holy Spirit gives people in the church the power to help each other. Blessed to be a blessing. You say, “I don’t feel like I’m really super-spiritual.” Can you help someone? Can you show up early for setting up? Can you hang around for a few minutes and help put stuff away? Spiritual gifts waiting to be used.
Then he asks some rhetorical questions. The answer to all of these is supposed to be “no.”
Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in various kinds of tongues? Do we all interpret? Of course not! So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:29-31
Ask these questions to a Pentecostal and they’ll be like: Are all apostles? No. Prophets? No. Teachers. No. Miracles? No. Gift of healing? No. Are we all supposed to speak in tongues? Yes.
Paul says no. We are all given different gifts by the Holy Spirit in order to build up the church—build each other up. Encourage each other. Do the ministry of the church. That’s what all these gifts are for. Earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. The higher gifts. Do you wonder what those are? Paul’s going to tell us in the next chapter.
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:31
So the church is the body of Christ. It’s made up of various parts that all serve together, doing their specific function so that it benefits the whole body. The Holy Spirit gives each of us gifts, powers, abilities, roles.
We’re like the X-Men. Somehow we’ve all been given superpowers that work together and complement each other to defeat whatever world-threatening bad guy shows up—except we all just point to Jesus. The Spirit flows through us and does all the heavy lifting and saves the day every time.
We’re like an orchestra. We all play different instruments, it all comes together to make one glorious piece of music. A composition that God wrote for us to play as a blessing to the world.
The Holy Spirit is the One who gave us these gifts, powers, abilities, and roles—as the church—with the gifts of grace to do His work in the world. To point to Jesus, to glorify Christ, and to love and serve each other as we live out the Gospel wherever we are. AMEN
Prayer: Father in heaven, fill us with the Holy Spirit, empower us to be the people You saved us to be. Help us serve each other, love each other, and encourage each other. Help us point to Jesus in everything we say and do, give Him glory and honor. Help us to hear Your Word and walk in humility. AMEN.