Spiritual Gifts

February 16, 2025|Spiritual Gifts|1 Corinthians 12:1-11

John-Daniel Cutler

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As we continue working our way through the letter of 1 Corinthians, I will remind you that we have come to the section of the letter where the apostle Paul is dealing with the gathering of the church. In chapter 11 Paul transitioned to what is happening in the corporate gatherings of the church in Corinth. He begins this section that will continue on through chapter 14 with the issue of the gender distinctions in worship, specifically addressing the issue of head coverings in the church. We saw Paul commanding men to not cover their heads and women to cover their heads in worship. From there Paul moves to their observance of the Lord’s Supper, which he says, according the the reports he has received, there is nothing for him to praise. He goes as far as to say, whatever elements are present and whatever words are said, it is not actually the Lord’s supper they are participating in because of how far they have missed the heart of the observance.

All of this is a good reminder that it matters what we do when we gather as the church on the Lord’s Day. It matters how we worship, it matters how we interact with one another, and it matters that our motives and methods are in line with Biblical instruction and God-honoring practices.

A quick reading from chapter 11 through chapter 14 reveals that the worship at Corinth was confused at best and damaging at worst. Everyone seemed to be doing whatever they wanted to do, often in ways that were conflicting and confusing. It seems like you had people trying to sing, teach, and prophecy over one another, while at the same time, multiple people speaking in tongues with some going to the extreme of being drunk on wine. All the while, we learned in the earlier portions of this letter while dividing over personalities and philosophies, forming pockets of division over everything from money to which teacher they identified with.

Much of what Paul is going to address in the coming chapters is an attempt to restore order and clarity within the gathering of the church.

We may ask, "What in the world had happened to the Corinthians?"

From the beginning the largest problem that we have seen in the letter is that rather than coming out of the world, rather than separating themselves from the world, they had brought the worldly thinking and systems into the church. As it had affected many things, this worldliness had also affected their worship.

Worship is something we often mistakenly think about only in the context of our Judeo-Christian context. Many of us have grown up around some form of Christian worship. We recognize its basic forms and structures even though they are expressed differently from church to church. I have said this before, but every human being is a worshipper. Everyone worships something. Defining worship in absolute clarity is not altogether easy when we think about everything the term can include, but for our purposes this morning, let us define it this way. Worship is the acknowledgement that something or someone is worthy of special honor or respect. Sometimes worship is urged on by fear, we think of the pagan offering sacrifices to the gods because they fear if they do not the crops will fail and they will starve to death. Sometimes worship is urged by gratitude, we think of the same pagan offering sacrifices to the gods because they have had a good crop. Sometimes worship is urged on by a desire for power or divine endowment, we think of the same pagan offering sacrifices to the gods on the eve of a battle, praying that their god will endow them with strength and might to win the battle.

Concerning worship, this is what our Lord said to a question concerning where the right place to worship was. John 4:23-24 (ESV) 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus, then would define true worship as those who worship God in spirit and in truth. We are motivated to worship God because of the truth about God, and we are moved to worship God because of the Spirit of God. When the Spirit was poured out on Christ’s followers at Pentecost, the hour had come when God’s people would worship in spirit and truth, spreading from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the very ends of the earth. It is no surprise then that a large section concerning the right worship of God by the gathered church includes a lengthy discussion about the spirit’s role in worship. But the idea of spiritual worship is not confined to Christianity, many pagan religions embrace the idea of worship transcending the physical and incorporating the spiritual. This was the background of those worshippers in Corinth.

What we have to remember is that in Corinth, most of these Christians were new believers. By some estimations, Paul is writing to a church that had only been established for five years or so. They had come out of Greaco-Roman worship, where the emphasis was often on an ecstatic, out of body, emotional, even sensual, experience in worship. It seems that they had brought some of this worldliness into their worship of God and Paul wants them to realize that it does not have a place in the worship of God.

With that in mind, what is the work of the spirit in the church in relation to our worship? What evidences will there be in the church when the spirit is working? Are the evidences the same today as they were in the 1st century? Over the next six weeks we are going to be looking at what the apostle Paul teaches, hopefully answering these questions as well as many others concerning worship and the Spirit in the gathered church.

If you haven’t already, please open your bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 this morning. I want to share with you three statements concerning the work of the Spirit this morning that will form a foundation for us as we move forward. The first statement is…

I. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH IS SUBJECT TO CONFUSION.

Whether or not we experience the same problems as the corinthian church did, because, we, like them, are sinful and fallible, and are sometimes unable or unwilling to detangle ourselves from the world, we can confuse the work of the Spirit in the church. Let’s look at the first two verses of chapter 12 together this morning.

1 Corinthians 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

We have previously noted, when we find this formula in Paul’s letter, ‘Now concerning’, Paul is most likely addressing a question from the church in Corinth. This began in chapter 7. verse 1- Now concerning the matters about which your write, then he goes on to address the topic of marriage and singleness. verse 25- Now concerning the betrothed, or engaged 8 verse 1- Now concerning food offered to idols 12:1- Now concerning spiritual gifts.

The word gifts is most likely italicized in your bible because it has been added for clarity. If it is not italicized, there is probably a footnote that says spiritual persons or spiritual things. Paul says, now concerning spirituals. It certainly encompasses the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but Paul may have in mind a broader application, generally referring to the things of the Spirit as a whole. What is the spirit’s role and function in worship? I am inclined to think this is what he meant because he immediately ties it to their worship as pagans.

But before we look at that in more detail, notice Paul’s purpose in writing this instruction. I do not want you to be uninformed. Without understanding.

The Corinthians, by Paul’s previous admonishments, thought of themselves as wise. Paul is pointed in his rebuke, your actions are revealing an ignorance of the spirit, and I do not want that for you or I have no desire that this be the case for you. You may notice that much of what we cover over the next six weeks seems to be more teaching than preaching, that is because Paul’s primary purpose is to instruct, which will inevitably affect our time together. To show them that they are not only prone to confusion but to be misled, Paul goes back to their lives as pagans, apart from God. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Whether by self-deception or man driven deception, you were led astray, which carries implications of being led away to prison or punishment. Essentially, Paul says, you were in bondage. Worse, you were led into the captivity of worshiping mute idols. Your gods did not speak, because they could not speak. Many scholars see a connection between Paul’s use of mute or dumb idols with the description of idols in the Old Testament.

For example.

Habakkuk 2:18–19 “18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.”

Paul is setting the stage for the contrast that he will bring out that although they used to worship idols that could not speak, they now worship a God who does. They are not at liberty to worship anyway they want to, being led either by self deception or man-made deception. Don’t miss this, we confuse the work of the Spirit in the church when we fail to acknowledge that God has spoken finally, fully, and definitively on both how we are to worship Him as well as how the Spirit operates in our worship.

When it comes to the Spirit’s role in worship, there is obviously much confusion in the modern church. There is much attributed to the work of the Spirit that seems exactly like what Paul condemns in the Corinthian church. One of the things that is often offered as a rebuttal of trying to define worship from a biblical standpoint is the saying, ‘Don’t put God in a box’. The fallacy at work here is that far from ‘putting God in a box’, we are simply trying to work out our understanding of God and His ways from what God has revealed to us in His word. It is not as though God has not spoken to us and it is His silence that leads us to devise our own ways of worship, God has spoken and He has spoken clearly.

The author of Hebrews says it this way, 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.

God has communicated with his people fully and finally.

Close to Paul’s conclusion on this matter, in chapter 14 verse 33, Paul says, God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

The confusion they were having in worship, the confusion over what was from God and what was not, was not coming from God but from their flesh and the worldliness they had not let go of. The work of the Spirit in the church is subject to confusion when we ignore what God has said about it in favor of what we want it to be or what we think it is. Paul’s concern, that we should all share is that we, as the church, would have a right understanding of the work of the spirit in the life of the church.

This leads us to Paul’s next point and our next statement.

II. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH IS SUBJECT TO EVALUATION.

To avoid confusion, Paul says we must evaluate what is presented as the work of the Spirit to establish whether it is or it is not. This immediately causes most of us to pull back a little. We have been so inundated with the idea that we have no right to speak into one another’s life that to evaluate someone else feels completely foreign to us.

Right? The world’s favorite Bible verse, ripped right out of context, is ‘judge not’. This is often used the minute there is any hint of someone standing on the truth or principles of scriptures. It is often used as a gotcha card or a uno reverse card. Don’t you know that the Bible says not to judge? The problem with that idea is that it completely ignores the context of Jesus’ teaching. Yes, Jesus says judge not and condemn not, and we can argue over what the exact meaning of that is, but in the same section of scripture he says.

Luke 6:43-45 (ESV) 43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

In a similar teaching in Matthew, he says, 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits…

Jesus tells us we are to be on the look out for false prophets. As his crucifixion neared, he told his disciples. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Peter also says in his letter. 2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Jude writes, 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Do you see the theme? Christians are supposed to be on guard against false teachers and prophets that bring false teachings. How are we supposed to know what is true and what is false? Especially since Jesus indicates that they will bring great signs and wonders.

Let’s pick up in verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 12 and see what Paul says.

1 Corinthians 12:3 (ESV)

3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

Paul gives us a foundational test for the authenticity of the Holy Spirit’s work in the church.

What does it say about Jesus?

We need to spend some time trying to understand the two conflicting statements he gives in verse 3. Scholars fall on different sides of understanding the statement Jesus is accursed. Some think that Paul is using hyperbole to emphasize his point. Surely no one is standing up in the Corinthian church and saying Jesus is accursed. However, others, John MacArthur being one of them thinks that the Corinthians were so confused because of all the external displays of ‘spiritualism’ like speaking in tongues and prophesying, the religious frenzy that they had brought from paganism, that they could no longer distinguish what was from God and what was not.

You say, that’s ridiculous, it’s obvious that no one who calls Jesus accursed is speaking in the Spirit. But this is actually a problem throughout the New Testament letters. The seeds of gnosticism were evident in the church early on that taught that Jesus was not God, that the man Jesus had been given the Spirit of God at his baptism and it left him before he died on the cross. The Jews, for example taught that anyone who hung on a tree was cursed. There well may have been false teachers saying that Jesus was accursed. Notice that they do not say, Christ is accursed. It may be that they were separating and distinguishing between Christ and the man Jesus. I think MacArthur is right when he points us to what follows Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts as a good reason to think that this is what is happening. In chapter 15 Paul writes exclusively about the bodily resurrection of Christ and of the Christian, stressing the centrality of the resurrection for our faith. If you separate the man Jesus from the Spirit of Christ, then the resurrection loses all meaning.

Now, listen, I know unless you have studied some of the gnostic teaching, all of that may be hard to understand, but here is the meat of what Paul is saying. Is what is being proclaimed consistent with what has been revealed about Jesus in scripture, or is it not? That is the test, not whether there is religious activity, not even that there is some outward display of spiritual looking signs, but what do they teach about Christ. I would go further and say, not just what they verbally teach, but what their lives teach as well. No one speaking in the Spirit of God will speak contrary to what God has already said about Jesus Christ. On the positive side, no one can say Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. This is why I say, it is not just what they verbally teach, because I guarantee if you paid some atheist a hundred dollars, they would say the words, Jesus is Lord. Would we then conclude that that person is speaking in the Spirit of God? Of course not, which is why Jesus, Peter, Paul, Jude, and John warn us to judge by the fruit of a teachers life.

Here is what MacArthur says that I think is helpful, paraphrasing Paul, he say “Just because this happens in the church doesn’t make it of the Spirit.”

We must evaluate what they are teaching concerning Christ, if t is not in line with the authoritative word of God, it may sound religious, it may look religious or spiritual, but it is not from God.

Because the work of the Spirit in the church is subject to confusion, it must be subject to evaluation. Having established our foundation, Paul moves on to spiritual gifts operating in the church which brings us to our third statement this morning.

III. THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH IS SUBJECT TO DIVINE WILL.

Let’s pick up in verse 4.

1 Corinthians 12:4–11 (ESV)

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Paul lays out four things we need to get right if we are to properly understand spiritual gifts.

The first is the source of spiritual gifts. There are varieties of gifts, but the same, what? Spirit There are varieties of service, but the same, what? Lord There are varieties of activities, but the same, what? God Paul points us to the mystery of the trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. God is one and therefore all of His gifts come from Him, even though we understand that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity. In the same way, there are many expressions of the spiritual gifts, but in essence they are all working of the same God.

Varieties of grace gifts, varieties of ministries (deacon), and varieties of effects. Notice the contrast, there is a variety of gifts, a variety of ways they can be used to minister, and a variety of ways that can affect the church, but in all of those variety, there is a single source. The gifts are not something we manufacture or produce from within ourselves, but gracious gifts from God.

The second things we need to understand is not only the source, but the scope. Who receives these spiritual gifts? Let’s look at a few verses. 6) it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, 11) all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually. Every Christian is given spiritual gifts. If you belong to Christ, you have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and if you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you have been given a spiritual gift, or some combination of gifts by the same Spirit. Spiritual gifts are not for the elite Christians or the spiritually mature, they are for every believer in every age.

The third thing we need to understand, once we understand the source and scope, is the purpose. Why does God gives his people spiritual gifts? It is right there in verse 7. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Literally, all those gathered together. One of the problem the Corinthians seemed to be having is that they were elevating some gifts over others and therefore elevating individuals over one another. They were not looking at the gifts as pieces and parts of a whole that comes together in order to benefit the whole body, something Paul is going to spend a considerable amount of time emphasizing over the next couple of weeks. I love this definition of spiritual gifts.

“What is a spiritual gift?” A spiritual gift is a God-given capacity through which the Holy Spirit supernaturally ministers to the body.

Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that the spiritual gifts have a purpose, it is not to elevate ourselves, or to compare with one another, rather they have been given to the local body so that it may minister to itself in the power of God. The question many may find themselves asking is ‘what gifts should be active in a church?’ That answer greatly depends on the needs of that particular body. The Holy Spirit gifts us, as He will, for the common good, leading me to believe that the gifts that operate within a church are directly tied to the needs of the church. There is purpose in the giving of gifts.

Where do Spiritual gifts come from? God, as he wills, gives and empowers all of the various gifts. Who has Spiritual gifts? Every believer is gifted with the manifestation of the Spirit, a gift that clearly displays God’s power and influence in their life. Why do we have Spiritual gifts? So that the body may minister to itself in the power of the Holy Spirit, according to the direction of God.

Finally, we need to have some understanding of what constitutes a Spiritual gift. The fourth thing we need to get right is the kind of gifts. Paul lists nine gifts here, an utterance of wisdom, of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, the ability to distinguish between spirits, various kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues, but in no way do I think this is a complete list, because in verse 28 he adds two more.  helping and administrating When we compare this list to his list in Romans, we find gifts of service, teaching, exhortation; giving, leading, and acts of mercy.

I don’t think in any of these places, or even in their totality, Paul’s point is to exhaustively list the Spiritual gifts, but rather emphasize the kind of things that constitute spiritual gifts.

Using very broad categories, we find speaking gifts. Utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, prophecy, teaching. These are all speaking gifts. We also find ministering gifts, helping, exhortation, service, giving, teaching, acts of mercy. We also find leadership gifts, discernment, administration, leading. we also find sign gifts, tongues, miracles, healing

Again, speaking broadly, we have gifts where God’s word is declared whether publically or between individuals or groups of people. We have gifts that meet needs in the body. We have gifts that lead people and call people to a deeper understanding of God’s word and character, or that help people know what is from God and what is not. We have gifts that are an authenticating sign of God’s activity.

We will dig deeper into some of these gifts as we go, but I think we should keep Paul’s emphasis where it is. All of these various gifts are given by God, empowered by God, and to be used for God.

It is God’s choice on what gifts are given, who gets what gift, and how each gift is uniquely expressed within the body. In my study, I found a good illustration. Even if we limit it to the 11 gifts that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians, Paul’s point is these are like paints on God’s palette. God uniquely designs the way the Spirit gifts each individual Christian like an artist mixes various paints to create a diversity of colors, far exceeding the primary colors. Likely you have a mixture of gifts that is unique to you and unique to our church.

As we move forward in our study of spiritual gifts, this is our foundation. If all of the spiritual gifts are from God, then they are to be used according to and in agreement with his revealed divine will. This is how we gain clarity over confusion, this is how we evaluate what is from God and what is not, and this is how we make sure that we are operating according to the purposes of the gifts. Furthermore, if every Christian is given a spiritual gift or gifts and they are to be used within the local body, then the logical application question we must ask ourselves is, ‘Am I serving within the body in a way that clearly communicates Jesus Christ is my Lord, by exercising the spiritual gift or gifts God has individually chosen for me to receive?’ perhaps followed by the question, ’Am I even connected enough to know what needs there are so that I can meet them?’ As we turn our attention the Paul’s treatment of the Spiritual gifts, may we be encouraged and challenged through God’s word.

Let us pray.