Paul is talking to Gentiles, the Corinthians. He had much wisdom to share with them, but what this article covers is the Gifts of the Spirit ... the Holy Spirit that is. The Holy Spirit comes into us on our professing Jesus as the Christ (Messiah/Savior), that He was God in the flesh born of a virgin, lived His life teaching about our Father God and His coming kingdom, died a physical death, and was resurrected to eternal life (body and spirit were merged into one new being, the firstfruits of many). Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father who has put ALL THINGS in subjection to Him. Admitting that, and believing it in faith, is to invite the Holy Spirit into yourself. If you haven't done so, please ask Jesus into your life NOW!
As you read your Bible, the written word of God, and learn more about the things of heaven and your Father, you gradually are able to inherit some of these gifts according to your development and level of understanding. I've quoted the whole chapter because Paul compares the Gifts of the Spirit to physical body parts, their function within the body as a whole, and that quite well equates what the Gifts of the Spirit are in the spiritual body of Christ, Christ being the *head* and we (the believers) each being distinct *parts of the body* according to the Gifts of God through the Holy Spirit within us all. We indeed may have more than one gift. Here is the whole *Gifts of the Spirit* chapter of 1 Corinthians 12 from BlueLetterBible.org (KJV) ...
| 1Cr 12:1-3 Now concerning spiritual
[gifts], brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye
were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
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. 1Cr 12:4-7 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 1Cr 12:8-10 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 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: 1Cr 12:11-27 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 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. 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. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body [were] an eye, where [were] the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where [were] the body? But now [are they] many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those [members] of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely [parts] have more abundant comeliness. For our comely [parts] have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that [part] which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but [that] the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 1Cr 12:28-30 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. [Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 1Cr 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. |
Paul starts out by pointing out that these people, the Corinthians, who were Gentiles (as likely are most of you reading this), *were* Gentiles ... interesting how he says they *were*, not are. This is saying that once you are a believer in Jesus and have given over your life to Him in faith, you are no longer a Gentile, you are as much an heir to the kingdom of God as the chosen people, Israel! That's cause for celebration!
How can you tell if someone has the Holy Spirit? Another passage says something along the lines of 'you will know them by their fruits' ... you will know who has the Holy Spirit by how they live and speak. Interesting also is that Paul tells us ... "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."
If you've ever wondered if someone is *really a Christian* observe them to prove the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is able to speak through you, He would never call Jesus accursed (cursed)! A person that is swearing using Jesus' (or God's) name as a substitute for a swear word (in vain) is not speaking from the Holy Spirit but is speaking from his/her worldliness. If anyone professes Jesus to be a great teacher, perhaps a prophet, but certainly not the Lord (Son of God, Messiah, Savior of mankind) then this person does NOT have the Holy Spirit within them since we have to believe that Jesus is Lord before the Holy Spirit will come into us. If this is bad news, if you just realized that a friend, a loved one, perhaps you yourself are stiffling the Holy Spirit within you, or perhaps He's not in them/you at all as you'd assumed ... get right with God before it's too late. If it's you, you need to re-evaluate yourself and get back on track! If it's a loved one or friend, plant the seed of the good news of Jesus, and pray ... if you plant the seed ... God will grow it in due time according to His perfect will, assuming the seed landed on fertile ground so to speak.Keep the unsaved in your prayers always!
| Wisdom:
King Solomon displayed great wisdom as we see in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Here is scripture that shows
what LACK of wisdom is, Jer 8:9 "The wise [men] are ashamed, they are
dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD;
and what wisdom [is] in them?" |
| Knowledge:
This means knowledge of God, it is a gift and you must have the Holy
Spirit within you to receive it otherwise the things of God are but foolishness
to you as we read here, 1Cr 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither
can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned." You
must ASK for this knowledge by believing on Jesus, it's the only way ...
He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by
Him. |
| Faith:
This is given to everyone that God has called to the Lord, you must have
faith to make the spiritual journey into eternity. If you want to know more
about faith, the Bible dedicates a whole chapter to it, you can read it here
in Heb 11! We are all given a *measure of faith*
to develop within ourselves through the Holy Spirit: Rom 12:3 "For I say,
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think
[of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." |
| Gifts
of Healing: Notice *gifts* is plural, there are multiple ways
people need healing, among them are healing the sick, blind, mute, deaf,
etc. Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to do good to mankind, such
as we read in Luk 9:2 "And he sent them to preach the kingdom of
God, and to heal the sick." and more in Mat 10. They were usually received in persecution
in spite of all their marvelous works. |
| Working
of Miracles: Miracles are works done through man that would be
impossible for man but not for God. We see many examples of this in the plagues
that hit Egypt before the great Exodus of the Hebrew slaves, it begins in
Exodus 7. Jesus performed miracles, such as:
walking on water in Mar 6:48, turning water into wine in Joh 2, etc. |
| Prophecy:
This does NOT mean foretelling the future. The future you may prophecy about
is that which has already been spoken of in either the Old Testament &/or
the New Testament. There is *nothing new in the world*, all things future
have already been foretold as far as it relates to this age and the coming
millenium. You may be used by God to prophecy but it would be to tell the
story already told, but in today's understanding. Beware of false prophets!!
2Pe 1:20-21 Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy
men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost. If you want
to know the future READ YOUR BIBLE, it's in there! Don't rely on anyone's
interpretation, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the correct
understanding! |
| Discerning
of Spirits: Discernment is the ability to correctly and accurately
tell apart one thing from another, in this case it's talking about spirits
that inhabit people. If you don't have the Holy Spirit within you then it's
likely you are occupied by other spirits (unclean spirits=demons). If you
aren't of God you are of the devil, plain and simple. One that can discern spirits can tell if someone is possessed and can cast out those demons by the power of God. There is alot of biblical evidence of people that were possessed, here are a few examples: Mat 8:16; Mat 10:1; Mat 12:43-45; Luk 6:18; Luk 7:21; even Mary Magdalene had unclean spirits and was healed as we see in Mar 16:9 & Luk 8:2 (by the way, there is NO evidence that Mary Magdalene was the prostitute that Jesus saved from being stoned to death, nor is there ANY evidence that Mary and Jesus were *married*, these are sheer demonic mudslinging lies, NOT truth ... I say, if it's not in the Bible, DON'T believe it!). Just because someone is possessed by unclean spirits does not necessarily make that person unredeemable.God can and does cleanse people of demons via those of us that claim the authority of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is a good example of this, she was a faithful follower of Jesus once he healed her. This may seem harsh to say but modern society today tries to *mask* these spirits by claiming that people have diseases (dis-eases) ... yes that is true, but they have dis-ease because they have allowed themselves to be inhabited by unclean spirits. Think about it, who are the many people that Jesus & the apostles cast demons out of, they were those who allowed satan's worldy influence to take hold of them by addiction, etc, is who they were. Satan has hold of many of our loved ones today as well but he's *masked* it by words so that we may not face the frightful truth. The main purpose of an unclean spirit is to keep people spiritually blinded and dead to God ... so many people allow this cohabitation rather than turn away from their worldliness to our Lord & Savior! It's true when the Bible says we prefer darkness over light >>> Jhn 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." <<< There you have it. Now, there are examples in the Bible where some people had some infirmities (illnesses or blindness) that had been given to them by God, so that Jesus' glory could be revealed by their healing. If this type of healing is not happening in the world today it's from lack of belief and faith. So, yes people today can be sick in various ways and perhaps even be Christians but God's intent would be that they be healed, through faith. If a person is not driven to serve God they may be spiritually dead, or worse ... possessed. For instance, I'm a firm believer in the *coach potato demon*, the *alcoholic demon*, the *drug addiction demon* and so on! I attribute all of mankinds ills and evils to demonic activity, admittedly I'm pretty much alone in this assumption because most people would rather have a *chill pill* than face the truth of the state of our world and it's inhabitants today. Demons can & do hide themselves within people today! If your loved one isn't spiritually alive and active for the Lord ... consider this and pray about it ... you may be in the company of unclean spirits! |
| Diverse
kinds of Tongues: Tongues means languages, not babble. Here the
diverse kinds of tongues means someone who can speak other languages of the
world and therefore communicate with those peoples in the name of God. Some
examples: Mar 16:17 "And these signs shall follow them
that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak
with new tongues;" and Act 2:4 "And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance." and again Act 2:11 "Cretes and Arabians, we do hear
them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." Notice it
says tongues, more than one language, as the Spirit gave them utterance ...
in other words the Holy Spirit allowed them to speak in other languages as
we see in Acts 2:11 where these Jews spoke in Crete and Arabic and
were understood by those hearing them! Here's a good one, 1Cr 14:23 "If therefore the whole church
be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come
in [those that are] unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye
are mad?" |
| Interpretation
of Tongues: If you are in a crowd and speaking English, but the
crowd is French, then you need a French interpreter so that the crowd you
are talking to can understand you through an interpreter. Many people know
more than one language and can spread the gospel further as a result. Here
it's saying it's good to know other languages so that you can interpret God's
word. Here's my key on that issue: 1Cr 14:5 "I would that ye all spake with tongues,
but rather that ye prophesied: for greater [is] he that prophesieth than
he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may
receive edifying." Apparently there is a ranking system to the gifts
of the Spirit. A last word about intrepretation, 1Cr 14:27-28 "If any man speak in an
[unknown] tongue, [let it be] by two, or at the most [by] three, and [that]
by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter,
let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to
God." Nuff said! |
What does this mean, "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal."? It means that you, the Christian beliver, are given Gifts of the Spirit, which you manifest (show outwardly to others) for the benefit (profit) of all those you come in contact with (withal). You are to discover the gifts given to you and use them for the benefit of the world around you. It is the Holy Spirit that gives these gifts, from God. What gifts do you have? Can you tell?
1Cr 12:31 "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way." This is the end of chapter 12, but leads up to a far greater gift, that takes yet another whole chapter all it's own, that gift is charity ... or as we call it ... LOVE. This is by far a more excellent gift than all the others. If you haven't read 1 Corinthians 13, I suggest you do that, and then go back to my Deb's Diary Homepage and read my article on it! God Bless :o}
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© Deb (Sandberg) Murtagh 2006
ALL Rights Reserved!