Chapter 12 Commentary
Chapter 12 exists as a response to a question or questions from the church at Corinth. We don’t have the questions or the question. But we can guess from the answer or the answers given.
It may appear there was a view that several Spirits existed given the different manifestations. Or, to use today’s advanced thinking, several instances of the Spirit existed to serve the different services or manifestations.
It won’t be a stupid thought since the pagan background of these people was such that they previously believed in several gods. There was one god for rain and another for the Sun. Another would be called the “Moon god” while another would be specialized in fertility or production matters. Some other gods would be responsible for catastrophic events and needed to be appeased. Won’t this perception or a similar version exist for the Holy Spirit?
…like a specific Spirit responsible for wrongdoing.
Impossible, Paul retorts. Impossible, Paul says again as he underlines the impossibility of ‘salvation’ without the Holy Spirit. You cannot confess that Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit. The Spirit and the prefix ‘Holy’ are inseparable!
There is only one God, the Creator God. He is Sovereign and rules over all. There is only one Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus is the Creator God, it is one critical case we resolved in the Gospel of John. He is the exact replica of God the Father. You see Him, you see the LORD God Almighty. They are one. Never mind how it works but it is what it is. So the Spirit of Jesus is one – the Holy Spirit. The entire gospel of John is one court case that establishes this point and concludes that God is one.
So the Spirit of Jesus has gifted every member of His church – Jesus’ Church, otherwise called the Body of Christ. They are gifts of and by the Spirit and so they are called spiritual gifts. In a way, the gift is also for the Spirit because He is the one with the agenda for establishing His church – his creation.
We shouldn’t forget the basics. We are born of the Spirit. If you are born-again, the Spirit is your Father. The Spirit is doing what a father does: raise and provide for His kids.
The gift cannot be bought. It cannot be sold. It doesn’t show up at the saint’s initiative. It is exclusively given by the Spirit. It is a special ability – an active ability or enablement by the Spirit and comes at the Spirit’s command or wish. You can however wish for the gift but the Spirit retains sovereignty for issuance and its timing. The Spirit’s generosity is such that each one of His children is gifted.
The gifts are for the church’s good – the Body of Christ. All the gifts are equally important. The gifts – that is the how of the Spirit’s service to the church. That is the Spirit’s support system to the church – the support department, the fire department, the food department, the clinic department, the admin, accounts, and records, counseling… You pay nothing and are served on time and in time – kindly, gently, joyfully, and lovingly. You now understand why the Spirit plans these activities with nearly zero human involvement!
Discernment or word of knowledge would be the Church’s IT department. You don’t want it asleep or come back with a “Server off” service. Agreed, let the Spirit handle it! All of it!
Let the tools used by the Spirit appreciate that none of them is more important than the other. Paul has devoted a huge space to underline this fact. Everyone is important! The gift is functional! Let it function.
Others have discriminated between ‘gifts’ and ‘services’. But they are all gifts and they are all services – all of them working together to build a healthy church. The gifts that come under what some call ‘services’ are communal and organizational in function.
Don’t think of an organization chart, though it is impossible not to. Think of the entire church but without time. At the head of it all is the Chief Apostle – the LORD Jesus Christ. He commissions His apostles to establish His church. They define everything church. Part of those definitions is the word we read today, even in this chapter! Have this thought as you read verse 28.
Recheck the hierarchy and you will see that it begins to make sense. After the church is established, (you are born again), the word defines your life – that is the space for prophecy. Think of it as the word of God. Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2. Prophets would be individuals literally repeating the words of Jesus.
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