Bible School · Ministry and the church's offices · Class 7 of 27

One Spirit, one body, many gifts: 1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 12 · about 18 minutes · One body, many gifts

By the end of this class you should be able to

Explain why Paul begins the discussion of spiritual gifts with the confession 'Jesus is Lord' and with the Trinitarian pattern of verses 4 to 6.
List the nine manifestations of verses 8 to 10 and the list of verse 28, and say what the New Testament elsewhere shows about apostles, prophets and teachers.
Trace the argument of the body picture in verses 12 to 26 and how it answers pride and inferiority in the Corinthian church.
Describe the debates over baptism in the Spirit (verse 13), the questions of verses 29 and 30, and whether the gifts continue.
Show how the chapter points to Christ as Lord, as the one whose body the church is, and as the one who honors the weak.

Read the passage

12Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. ²You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³Therefore I inform you 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. ⁴There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵There are different ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people. ⁷Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines. ¹²The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.” ²²On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, ²⁴whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. ²⁸And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

Open 1 Corinthians 12 in the reader (BSB)

01Background

First Corinthians is a letter of Paul to the church he founded at Corinth about AD 50 to 51 (). He wrote it from Ephesus (, ), most likely in AD 53 to 55. Its authorship is almost universally accepted. Corinth was a Roman colony and a port city, wealthy, mixed in population and religion, and the temples of its many gods were part of daily life. The church there was gifted () and divided (), proud of its speech and knowledge, and unsure how to live among its pagan neighbors.

Paul was responding to reports from 'Chloe's people' () and to a letter the Corinthians had sent him. The phrase 'Now about' marks the questions of that letter: marriage (), food offered to idols (), spiritual gifts () and the collection (). to 14 form one unit. deals with the source and diversity of gifts and the unity of the body. says that without love the gifts are worth nothing. gives instruction about prophecy and tongues in the assembly.

The background to is a church that prized dramatic gifts and ranked its members by them. Paul reminds them of their past: they had been led astray by 'mute idols' (). The picture of a body was already used in the Greek and Roman world to urge citizens to accept their place in the city; the Roman historian Livy tells the fable of the belly and the limbs, told by Menenius Agrippa to end a revolt. Paul uses the picture and turns it: no part is dispensable, and God gives more honor to the part that lacks it.

02Outline

The test of the Spirit: 'Jesus is Lord'
Different gifts, one Spirit, Lord and God; given for the common good
One body, baptized in one Spirit
Many parts: no member can say 'I do not belong'
No member can say 'I do not need you': honor and shared suffering
You are the body of Christ: the appointed ministries and the more excellent way

03How to read it

First Corinthians is an occasional letter. Paul writes to correct and to answer, and what he says about gifts must be read as an answer to a church that had turned gifts into a contest. is therefore mainly about unity and diversity, and it is not a full list of every gift or a manual for gift discovery. The chapter must be read together with and 14.
The last words, 'the most excellent way', point to , and the argument continues without a break.

The opening phrase 'about spiritual gifts' translates a Greek word (pneumatikon) that can mean 'spiritual things' or 'spiritual persons'. Paul soon uses 'gifts' (charismata, ), so most take the sense as spiritual gifts. The lists of to 10 and 28 differ, and neither is complete, since and add others.

The body picture is a metaphor, and the point is the comparison Paul draws, not every detail. He draws two: the body is one though made of many, and the parts need one another.

04What the text says

to 3. Paul does not want the Corinthians 'uninformed'. They had been pagans, drawn toward idols that could not speak. In contrast, the Spirit leads to a confession. '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.' The test of the Spirit is the confession of Jesus (compare ). Whatever claims to be of the Spirit but does not honor Jesus as Lord is not from him. The Greek word for Lord, kyrios, is the one used in the Greek Old Testament for the name of God.

to 6. Three triplets run in parallel. 'There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. There are different ways of working, but the same God.' The words are charismata (gifts of grace), diakoniai (services) and energemata (workings). The Spirit, the Lord and God are named together, and the unity of the giver stands against the diversity of the gifts.

to 11. 'To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.' The word 'common good' (sympheron) is the key: gifts exist for the benefit of the community. Paul names nine: a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Paul varies the Greek words for 'another' (allos and heteros), which most scholars take as style, not a difference of kind. The gifts are not earned: 'the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines' ().

Verses 12 and 13

'The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts... So it is with Christ.' The comparison is with the church's relation to Christ. 'In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.' The 'we all' includes every Corinthian believer, Jew or Greek, slave or free, and the 'one Spirit' is both the agent and the element in which they were immersed. Since the verse says 'all', many interpreters read it as a description of what happens to every Christian at conversion. The same unity across social lines is stated in and .

to 20. Paul imagines the foot and the ear complaining that they are not the hand or the eye. The complaint would not remove them from the body. Then he asks what an all-eye or all-ear body would be. 'God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design.' The argument answers those who felt that their gift was too small to count.

to 26. The opposite error is pride: 'The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.”' The parts that seem weaker are 'indispensable'. The parts held less honorable receive 'greater honor', and the unpresentable parts receive 'special modesty'. God did this 'so that there should be no division in the body' (schisma, the word used of the church's divisions in ). The result is shared life: 'If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.'

to 31. 'Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.' Then comes a list: 'God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.' The verb for appointed (etheto) is the same used for God's arranging of the body in . The first three items are people, numbered; the rest are abilities. The apostle is a witness of the risen Lord (; ) and Paul's own apostleship is said to be marked by signs (). The prophet speaks to build up, encourage and console, and prophecy is to be weighed by others (, ). The teacher (didaskalos) is found with prophets at Antioch (). 'Helping' (antilempsis) and 'administration' (kybernesis, literally steering, as a ship's pilot does) appear only here in the New Testament, and Paul does not say who held them. and ask seven questions, each expecting the answer no: not all are apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, tongue speakers or interpreters. The point is that no one gift is given to all. Paul then says to desire 'the greater gifts', and then 'And now I will show you the most excellent way.'

05Key terms

spiritual gift, gift of grace charisma: A gift that comes by grace (charis). Paul uses it of the gifts in this chapter (, 9, 28, 30, 31) and in , and also of salvation ().
manifestation phanerosis: A showing forth, making visible. In the Spirit's presence is shown by each gift, and each is given 'for the common good'.
body soma: The body. The picture of the church as Christ's body occurs in , , , , and .
helping antilempsis: Giving support or assistance. It occurs only here in the New Testament, though the related verb is used in of helping the weak.
administration kybernesis: Steering, guiding, as a pilot guides a ship (the related word kybernetes appears in ). It occurs only here in the New Testament.
tongues glossai: Languages or speech. In to 14 Paul says tongues are addressed to God and need interpretation if the church is to be built up (, 5, 27-28). describes speech understood by hearers of other languages.

06In the whole Bible

The chapter belongs to Paul's teaching on the Holy Spirit and the church. to 6 place the Spirit, the Lord and God side by side as the source of the church's gifts. The New Testament does not here state a doctrine of the Trinity, but the later doctrine rests on language like this. The gifts also have a purpose: to build the community, and the grace that gives them is not the receiver's own. Paul says the same elsewhere: gifts differ according to the grace given () and are to be used as stewards of God's grace ().

The church as the body of Christ is Paul's central picture of the people of God in the new covenant. uses it for mutual service, and make Christ the head of the body, and describes the body's growth through the work of each part. In 1 Corinthians the picture already appears at the Lord's Supper: those who share the one loaf, though many, are one body (). Baptism in the Spirit into one body () fits with baptism into Christ in .

The gifts are placed within the life of love. follows without a break and says that prophecy, tongues and knowledge are partial, while love does not end (). The listing of apostles, prophets and teachers first also connects this chapter with , where Christ gives people to the church for its maturity. Whether 12:28 speaks of settled roles or of functions that arise as the Spirit gives them is a question the chapter leaves to the rest of the New Testament.

07Where Christ is

The chapter begins and ends with Christ. The confession 'Jesus is Lord' () gives Jesus the title that Israel's Scriptures gave to the God of the covenant. joins the confession with , the promise that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved, and applies it to Jesus (fulfillment). The Lord who stands beside the Spirit and the Father in to 6 is the Lord Jesus, and says every tongue will confess the same.

The church is 'the body of Christ' (), and Paul writes 'so it is with Christ' (), identifying Christ with his people. This fits what the risen Lord said to Saul, 'Why do you persecute me?' (; echo of the same union). Christ is the head of the body (). The gifts flow from the Spirit whom the ascended Christ sends () and who rested on him at his baptism (; , quoting , promise fulfilled in Jesus).

The honor given to the weak and unpresentable members follows the pattern of Christ's own work. In God chose the weak and the despised, and the cross itself shows the 'weakness' of God to be stronger than men (). Shared suffering within the body reflects Christ, who sympathizes with our weakness (), and the apostles, prophets and teachers of serve one who is himself the apostle, prophet and teacher (; ; ).

08How traditions read it

Three disputes surround this chapter. The first is whether the gifts of to 10 and 28 continue today. Cessationists, a view found among many Reformed and Baptist teachers and argued in B. B. Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles (1918) and in Richard Gaffin's Perspectives on Pentecost (1979), hold that miraculous gifts such as apostleship, prophecy, tongues and healing were given to confirm the apostles' message and ceased as the foundation was completed (). They read the 'perfect' of as the completed canon or as the maturing of the church. Continuationists, including Pentecostals, charismatics and some Reformed and Baptist writers such as Wayne Grudem, answer that the gifts are given to the whole church until Christ returns, that 'when the perfect comes' refers to his return ( speaks of seeing face to face), and that nothing in the New Testament says they would end. The Catholic Church teaches that charisms are given to the faithful of every rank (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 12), and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal began in 1967.

The second dispute is about . Classical Pentecostals, whose movement grew from the Azusa Street revival of 1906 and its aftermath, teach that Spirit baptism is an experience after conversion, usually marked by tongues. They read as describing the Spirit's work of joining believers to the body, and the Spirit baptism of the Book of Acts as a further empowerment. Most Reformed, Baptist, Catholic and Orthodox interpreters read as Paul's description of what happens to every believer at conversion and baptism, and many hold that is a unique event as the church began. The 'all' of and the questions of and are cited on both sides: some Pentecostals say refers to the gift of tongues for ministry, not the initial sign, while others deny that Paul makes such a distinction.

The third dispute concerns tongues and prophecy. Some hold that tongues are known human languages, as in ; others that Paul describes speech the speaker does not understand (); some hold both. Grudem has argued that New Testament prophecy was the report of a spontaneous revelation that could contain error, so that it differed from the Old Testament prophet's authority; others hold that a prophet speaks with God's own authority. Irenaeus (c. AD 180) says in Against Heresies that some in his day had prophetic gifts and healed the sick, a claim historians read as evidence that such practice was claimed in the second century, which cessationists and continuationists weigh differently. The class reads the chapter as written to Corinth and places it in the whole canon, without making the continuation question its center.

09Review questions

What reason does Paul give in for beginning with the confession 'Jesus is Lord', and what does the Greek title for Lord mean in the Greek Old Testament?
How do the three parallel statements in to 6 describe the gifts, the ministries and the workings, and who is named in each?
What two errors does Paul address in to 20 and to 26, and what does he say God has done about them?
Which items in the lists of and are people, and which are abilities, and what does the New Testament say elsewhere about apostles, prophets and teachers?
What are the main readings of 'baptized in one Spirit' () and of 'when the perfect comes' (), and which texts does each side use?

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