1 Corinthians 12:1-13 Lesson 330

1 Corinthians 12:1-13
Lesson 330

Read both the "King James Bible" and the "New Living Translation."

In this lesson:

Spiritual gifts.

Notice how often the word "one" is used in verses 12:12-13.

We each serve in different ways (12:7-11).
The following three chapters are dedicated to this topic.

Why did God perform miracles in the early days of the church?

"Before the New Testament was completed, while it was in the process of being written, in certain places, and at certain times, God gave special miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit to help the churches guide themselves in the truth."

"This was necessary, because the Apostles were few, the churches far apart, (and) the means of transportation and communication slow. Ideas could travel no faster than people could travel, the churches everywhere (were) overrun with false teachers making all kinds of false claims, and churches had no written records as to actual facts."

("Halley's Bible Handbook" by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; page 597)

Study Tip:

Use the investigative journalist's five W's technique as you study the Bible.
As you read each passage, ask yourself who, what, when, where, and why.

The First Epistle of Paul The Apostle To The Corinthians

The King James Bible

1 Corinthians 12:1-13
Spiritual gifts

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

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.

4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

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:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

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.

Margin notes:

"Now concerning spiritual gifts." (12:1) - The Corinthians had asked Paul about spiritual gifts in their letter.

"Ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led." (12:2) - "You were non-believers, carried away and led astray by dumb (mute) idols" (Habakkuk 2:18-19; 1 Thessalonians 1:9).

"No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed." (12:3) - "No one speaking with the help of the Spirit of God curses Jesus."  The test for telling true believers from false is, do they praise God? Do they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?  See 1 John 4:1-3 for more information.

"No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." (12:3) - "No one can say that Jesus is Lord without the help of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 16:17).

"There are diversities of gifts." (12:4) - The Holy Spirit grants gifts (Hebrews 2:4) to believers to help them spread His word. Some gifts are supernatural; some are not.

"There are differences of administrations." (12:5) - "There are different ways to serve God."

"Diversities of operations." (12:6) - Means there are many ways of working for Christ.

"Wisdom." (12:8) - Intelligence, good sense, insight gained from accumulated learning. Wisdom is the ability to comprehend and apply knowledge.

"Knowledge." (12:8) - "Familiarity, awareness." For example, "She has knowledge of the situation."

"Faith." (12:9) - The Encarta ® World English Dictionary defines faith as; "belief or trust: belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof." Faith is necessary to our salvation. The word "faith" appears 229 times in the New Testament but only twice in the Old Testament.

"The gifts of healing." (12:9) - The ability to cure disease, illness, and infirmaries as recorded in Matthew 10:1, Luke 7:21, Luke 10:1-9, Acts 4:30, 8:5-7, 9:33-34, 14:8-10 and 28:8-9.

"Working of miracles." (12:10) - The ability to perform phenomena other than healings. For example, Jesus calmed the sea (Mark 4:37-41), or Paul blinded Elymas, the sorcerer (Acts 13:6-11).

"Prophecy." (12:10) - A prophecy is an announcement or prediction of future events.  Agabus showed the power of prophecy in Acts 11:28 when he predicted "a great dearth" and again in Acts 21:10-12
when he foretold of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem. Prophets received this gift from God. However, some false prophets got their ability to predict the future from demons (Acts 16:16-18).  This fooled many into following false teachers.

"Discerning of spirits." (12:10) - The ability to tell whether a miracle or teaching comes from the Holy Spirit or a demon (1 Timothy 4:1).

"Divers kinds of tongues." (12:10) - "Various languages."

"Interpretation of tongues." (12:10) - The spiritual gift to speak a language you were never taught and do not know (Acts 2:5-12).

"Dividing to every man severally." (12:11) - "Handing out to each person individually."

"The body is one, and hath many members." (12:12) - "The body is only one thing, but it has many parts" (Romans 12:4-5).

"Whether we be bond or free." (12:13) - "Whether we are slaves or free."

"All made to drink into one Spirit." (12:13) - "All are given the same spirit."

To see a more complete list of spiritual gifts, read Romans 12:5-8, Ephesians 4:11-14, and 1 Peter 4:10-13.

New Living Translation

1 Corinthians 12:1-13
Spiritual Gifts

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don't want you to misunderstand this.

2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols.

3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.

5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.

9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing).

10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.

11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

One Body with Many Parts

12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

This second Bible text from the "New Living Translation" (Tyndale House, Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois) is a paraphrase and not an accurate word for word translation of the Bible. However, it is a helpful tool when read with the "King James Version."

Today's question:

1. Does every believer have a spiritual gift (12:7)?

Our greatest strength is our ability to stand still and trust God.

Answer: (Do you agree?)

1. Yes, each Christian is given a spiritual gift (1 Peter 4:10) and should use it to serve God (Ephesians 4:1). In biblical times, God granted a few believers the extraordinary power to perform miracles to help spread the Gospel and build the church.  But spiritual gifts are also the talents to lead, teach, organize, and help others to find Christ. God grants each of us the gifts that best suit His needs and then puts us in the proper place to use those gifts effectively.  Sometimes that place is in front of an audience of thousands.  Sometimes it is talking to just one friend or family member.  It is up to you to use your gifts wisely.

See also Romans 12:4-8 and Ephesians 4:10-11.



Application thought for the day:

Are you using the gifts God gave you?
Ask God to show how you can best use your tools to spread His word.

Thanks to the writings and commentary of John Wesley and Adam Clarke. Also, "The Layman's Bible Study Notebook" by Irving Jensen published by Harvest House Publishing, Irvine, California; the "Life Change Series" published by NavPress books, Colorado Springs, Colorado; the "Life Application Study Bible" published by Tyndale House Publishing, Carol Stream, Illinois; the "Quest Study Bible" published by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan; "Robertson's New Testament Word Studies;" "The MacArthur Bible Commentary" by John MacArthur published by Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee; "Wisdom of the Bible" CD by Topics Entertainment, Inc., Renton, Washington for their inspiring pictures; "My utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio; The "Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge" by Reuben Archer Torrey; "Hope For Each Day" by Billy Graham published by J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee; "Easton's Bible Dictionary" by Matthew George Easton; "Unger's Bible Dictionary" by Merrill F. Unger, published by Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois; "Halley's Bible Handbook" by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; "The Everyday Bible" published by World Wide Publications, Minneapolis, Minnesota; "The Living New Testament" published by Tyndale house; "The New Living Translation" published by Tyndale House; "The New Testament" translated from the Latin Vulgate, published by Guild Press, New York, New York; BibleGateway.com for all their wonderful links; and of course the "King James Bible." All were critical in putting these lessons together.
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