The Gifts of the Spirit
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote about the gifts of the Spirit to teach the Church at Corinth.
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.."
-1 Corinthians 12:1 (NKJV)
If the Holy Spirit, through Paul, said that He did not want the Corinthians to be ignorant about the gifts of the Spirit, I certainly believe that He also does not want Christians today to be ignorant of them.
Yet there are many believers today that are still ignorant concerning spiritual gifts, or even worse, think that the gifts no longer exist.There are also many Christians who know something about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but their knowledge is very limited.
The epistle of 1 Corinthians is a letter written to the entire Church at Corinth, not to an individual. Some Christians good-willed Christian have thought that these scriptures apply to an individual.
But the fact is that Paul was addressing the the Corinthian Church to desire for the gifts of the Spirit.
When the entire Church desires for the spiritual gifts, the Holy Spirit will then divide the gifts to everyone as He wills.
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all... But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
-1 Corinthians 12:7,11 (NKJV)
Paul, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote about the gifts of the Spirit to teach the Church at Corinth.
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.."
-1 Corinthians 12:1 (NKJV)
If the Holy Spirit, through Paul, said that He did not want the Corinthians to be ignorant about the gifts of the Spirit, I certainly believe that He also does not want the Christians today to be ignorant of them.
In this letter, Paul is implying that not every Christian will receive all of the nine gifts of the Spirit, because he said..
"for to one is give then word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit...
-1 Corinthians 12:8 (NKJV)
Some Christians have took the scriptures out of context and thought that the Paul was telling the believers to desire all of the spiritual gifts.
But the truth is that Paul wants the Corinthian believers to covet the spiritual gifts as a Church. If they will do that, the Holy Spirit will distribute the spiritual gifts to everyone of them as He wills.
The Gifts of the Spirit Proclaims Jesus Is Lord
Paul knew that the Corinthians were involved in sinful practices, so he wrote the letter to them to teach and remind them at the same time..
"You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
-1 Corinthians 12:2-3 (NKJV)
The early Christians at Corinth had previously worshipped idols. They were motivated by the wrong spirits which led them to say that Jesus is cursed.
Paul said that when we are led by the Holy Spirit, He will lead us to proclaim that Jesus is The Lord. The gifts of the Spirit will always bring glory to Jesus, not to man.
On the other hand, if someone who claims to have the spiritual gifts and speaks evil and blasphemes against Jesus, you can be sure it is not form the Holy Spirit. People with genuine gifts of the Holy Spirit will say that Jesus is Lord.
Without a firm understand of biblical truths, many Christians try to operate spiritual gifts without the Holy Spirit. Maybe the gifts has been manifested in the past and they think that, "now I have the gift, I can use it at will."
More often than not, these people end up getting into trouble. This is a trap that Satan uses to trick and destroy us. Whenever we stray from the Word of God, the devil will have an opportunity to drag us down with him.
Different Gifts of the Spirit
Paul went on to say in his letter...
"There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all."
-1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (NKJV)
The word "diversities" means different. So, the apostle Paul is saying that there are different gifts but the same Holy Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And different activities, but the same God who works all in all.
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all."
-1 Corinthians 12:7 (NKJV)
Paul is calling gifts of the Spirit as "manifestations". And the manifestations of the spiritual gifts is given to the Body of Christ to edify the whole Church, not for an individual.
Three Categories of Spiritual Gifts
Paul said, "for to one is given the word of wisdom.. the word of knowledge.. faith.. to another gifts of healings.. working of miracles.. prophecy.. to another discerning of spirits.. different kinds of tongues.. intepretation of tongues."
-1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NKJV)
The nine gifts of the Spirit are divided into..
Spiritual gifts that reveal something
Spiritual gifts that do something
Spiritual gifts that say something
The gifts of the Spirit that reveal something. (Gifts of Revelation)
The gift of the word of wisdom
The gift of the word of knowledge
The gift of discerning of spirits
Of these 3 gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of word of wisdom is the most important.
The gifts of the Spirit that do something. (Gifts of Power)
The gift of faith
The gifts of healings (note: gifts and healings are plural)
The gift of working of miracles
Of these 3 gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith is the most important.
The gifts of the Spirit that say something. (Gifts of Utterance)
The gift of prophecy
The gift of different kinds of tongues
The gift of intepretation of tongues
Of these 3 gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of prophecy is the most important.
Nonetheless, the most important gift if any given situation is the gift that is needed most at that time.
Learn More About The Other Gifts of The Spirit.
Return to Holy Spirit Led Christian.
