Called to the Common Good
Study Scripture: 1 Corinth ian s 12: 1 - 13
Lesson 8

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Key Verse

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

1 Corinth ian s 12:7

 

INTRODUCTION

Our lesson today is set in the larger context of the corporate worship of the church and the Apostle Paul discusses this matter from Chapter 11:2-14:40.  In this series of teachings, he deals with an issue about which the Corinth ian s were obviously ignorant and unclear and so the focus is their edification.  

Paul saw a need to correct certain things in the Corinth ian ’s behavior during worship. In chapter 11 he discussed the matter of them overvaluing their freedom of expression, as shown by the women in the church using their new freedom to behave in ways which adversely affected their husbands.  

Then he addressed the tendency of the other brethren to think that they could freely do what they wanted in the love feasts and the communion service. They undervalued their fellow believers and were misbehaving and lightly regarding the sacrifice that Christ had made. This was near sacrilege.  

Anther problem area in the worship of the Corinth ian brethren was their exercise of the miraculous gift of ‘tongues’. In their generally misguided view of true spirituality, which at every step ignored the imperative of love of the brethren, they abused the gift of tongues, the possession of which they thought demonstrated their superior spirituality (14:2).  

Of course, this distorted view of what it means to be spiritual was not something new.  Jesus had argued with the scribes and Pharisees on their penchant to measure spirituality on the basis of external appearance.  The teachings by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount struck directly at this erroneous position of the Pharisees and religious leaders.  

We note that today in Christ ian circles, there is disagreement and controversy over what is true spirituality  So it is not only the Corinth ian s that were ignorant on the subject of spirituality, we fall into the same boat and this lesson is very important for us.  

Like us the Corinth ian s did not think that they were ignorant but firmly declared that they were spiritual and were a charismatic church, that possessed all the spiritual gifts.  Some of them, who thought they were spiritual and wise, even accused Paul of being less than spiritual  (2 Corinth ian s 10:1-2 , 1 Corinth ian s 4:6-10; 3:18-20).  

Let us remind ourselves of and note the problems with this church and with similar churches today. This was a divided church.  It had factions following different leaders. The Corinth ian brethren were proud and arrogant (3:18-23, 4:6-10). They were soft on sin, including sexual immorality. (chapters 5-6). They were so extreme in their view of their freedom, that they supported an immoral man whose sin was so outrageous that it shocked even the pagan Corinth ian s. (5:1-2).

They took their disagreements among themselves before the law courts, instead of letting their brethren solve the problem.

Some of them avoided sex in marriage, making themselves vulnerable to sinning. (7:1-5)  

Some regarded marriage as evil, something to be avoided and apparently encouraged unbiblical divorces. (Chapter 7).

Some were eating meat offered to idols, and on top of that were participating in idol worship ceremonies and going to the heathen temples. (Chapters 8-10).  They thought that they were strong and ‘spiritual’ and looked down on those who did not want to participate in these heathen ceremonies as ‘weak’.  

Some of the women thought that they were so ‘spiritual’ that their God given role as wife could be ignored. (11:1-16). Their misbehavior generally was so gross that it led to some of them being sick and some died for not properly regarding the body and blood of Jesus. (11:17-34).  

These were young Christ ian s, living among a grossly pagan community and experiencing some serious spiritual difficulties.

They had come into the church with definitions of spirituality that were totally wrong.  Just a little while before they had been deluded by demon spirits to believe that they were ‘spiritual’.

It is important to note that spirituality is the work of a ‘spirit’ and that there are false spirits and hence false spirituality, as well as the true.  Every unbeliever in a real sense is ‘spiritual’, that is controlled and acting with the spirit world of demons.  No human is master of their own fate.  

This is the case with all who come into the church and accept Christ.  They have in fact been taken out of the realm of darkness, despite appearances.  

When we consider this fact we must be cautious when people come into the church with obvious talents, feeling that they have so much to contribute to the church.   

This is an understandable but dangerous approach, for irrespective of their skills, education, wealth, or any other ability they might have, Scriptures say they are permeated with false values, are still affected by the bondage of demonic forces in which they lived all their lives, and really now have to be remoulded completely.   

Their thoughts, mind, body and everything about them must now be brought into subjection to Christ and this is no easy task.  If this is not done as Scriptures demand, a church will inevitably end up with problems similar to Corinth .   

Paul, now has to reorient these new believers into understanding that

-the body of Christ is one,

-love of the brethren (the agape kind of love which comes only from God) is the motivating force that is to control their behavior and attitudes,

-the only vehicle through which gifts operate is love,

-that gifts exists for the benefit of the body of Christ alone, not for individual self aggrandizement, self glory, or self-promotion,

-that the possession of certain spiritual gifts are not a sign or evidence of superior spirituality, and absence of certain gifts are not a sign of spiritual inferiority, and

-that God has ‘tests’ of what is ‘spiritual’ and what is not.  

Paul now beings to talk about spiritual gifts which were plentifully given to the Corinth ian church.  He clearly points out the origin of gifts, so that the people could understand that these gifts were given to them for the purpose of glorifying God, edifying the church and the advancement of Christ ian ity in general.   

As part of his discourse, he connects the many uses of the gifts to parts of the human body, and how each part of the human body contributes to the operation of the whole body efficiently and effectively.  So let us now look at this important teaching.

THE TEXT

Verse 1.   Paul now turns from rebuking the Corinth ian church for its sacrilegious attitude toward Jesus and the Lord's supper, which had brought sickness and death to some.  

This was clearly addressed to brethren that were not really mature in the faith and with many kinds of carnality still obvious in their lives.  The apostle was certainly not flattering them, but made it clear that he wanted to remove their ignorance of particular truths.  These truths were truths of the Spirit.  

Now we must be careful as to what Paul is dealing with, and note that he has always been dealing with things of the Spirit, which of course were all critically important.  

Note that the word in verse one, “gifts” is in italics, which means that it was not in the original text.  So Paul is really talking about spiritual things following his previous discussion and not here referring to ‘spiritual gifts’.  The word for spiritual gifts is used in verse four and that is a different word altogether.  

What Paul says sets the stage for discussing spirituality and relating it to spiritual gifts, but his careful use of words differentiates his position on spirituality from the way that the Corinth ian s thought it was related.  

Before he even talked about “spiritual gifts”, he had to set the stage properly, and show them where the reality of their situation.

Verse 2.   Because of their misinterpretation and misuse of their gifts, Paul decides to remind them about where they came from and who brought them out of that position, so that they may use the gifts given to them with the right purpose in mind.  

He says that they, the Corinth ian s were a nation originally separated from God, just as we were.  We were given to wickedness, bigotry and superstition.  Under this spirit of disobedience the people did not want to seek out God, and had no desire to.  Thus, they could not realize that true spiritual gifts come from God.   

It must be remembered that all people are created by God and sustained by God whether or not they are believers or unbelievers. All men are created with intelligence and have different talents and abilities, which we must emphasize are all given by God. But these are not the same as the special endowments that the Spirit gives to believers.  

Paul insisted that because they were Gentiles and followers of idols in their pre-Christ ian lives, the idols had led them away to vain imaginations and the religious leaders of the time catered to their ignorance.  Theirs was a false spirituality, inspired by the demonic spirits that lay behind the idols.  

These idols were shaped by these brethren in their pre-Christ ian lives, were dumb and could not speak. But the demons would speak, and inspire utterances and false religions which led men astray to engage in false and idolatrous worship.  

God had warned Israel in Deuteronomy 32:17  that when one sacrificed to idols they were sacrificing to demons.  See also Psalm 106:37.  They were forbidden to sacrifice to demons, for example Leviticus 17:7.  

Devils also corrupted religion besides creating false religions, (see what Satan did to Adam and Eve), and Paul warned the Corinth ian s that Satan disguised himself as an angel of light, 2 Corinth ian s 11:3-15.  Paul also warned in 1 Timothy 4:1-5 of the very seductive and attractive doctrines of demons.  

So this was a serious matter. Paul was trying to say that their past was “coloured”, that they were ‘spirit led’ when they practiced their pagan religion.  They did not know God, but now that they were introduced to God, they had no excuse for behaving like the heathen nations, but should resist the appeal of the demonic ‘spirit world’, that lay behind the dumb idol.  

So we are warned.  This is real life and not theory.  Those who are brought into the church are people that have been led astray in the past and may still be susceptible. Long-time church members are also susceptible to  Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light, and to his servants who also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. 

The prophets reminded Israel often, over and over again, that when they left Egypt, they did not leave the ‘gods’ of Egypt behind in Egypt, but brought them along.  See Joshua 24:14-15, Amos 5:25-26 and Acts 7:42-43.  

So the Corinth ian brethren were warned to look at themselves, examine themselves carefully, to see whether or not they were being led by the power, lust and self glory tendencies which flows from involvement with demonic spirits.

We should of course heed the warning.

Verse 3.   The only way to recognize and then correct being led by the wrong ‘spirit’ is now revealed by Paul.  This was a simple spiritual rule which enabled a believer to see who possessed the Spirit and who did not possess the spirit.  

Remember that in these pagan temples and worship services there were ecstatic utterances, all kinds of healing and other ceremonies.  These ‘mystery religions’, in which the Corinth ian s undoubtedly dabbled, involved  all kinds of powerful and dramatic manifestations created by Satan and his demons and were very unusual and dangerous places.  We must never underestimate the power of Satan to do his miracles and rather dramatic signs.  

So Paul now focuses on the test of true spirituality.  This involves possession of the Spirit of God, for it is only when one possesses the Spirit that one can regard Jesus as Lord.  A person must genuinely confess Jesus as Lord to show that they have the Spirit of God.  When a person cannot make this confession, and in fact curses the name of Jesus, it shows that they are not of God.  

Now what could one mean by cursing Jesus? This is not simply a utterance by the mouth.  This is a test that clarifies the nature of genuine spirituality, gifts or anything else notwithstanding.   

This next verse indicates God’s sovereignty over a seemingly simple thing like speech.  We cannot even move our lips, much less utter words to bless or curse others without being given explicit permission from God.  We can only bless God through the grace of the Holy Spirit.  No Jew or Gentile understood who Jesus was without the guiding influence of the Holy Ghost.  Even though impostors might claim to serve God, yet by their behavior they blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ.  In so doing they prove that they are not truly the children of God!  

 So no man can call Christ Lord, with a believing subjection to him, and dependence upon him, without empowerment from the Holy Ghost.  Likewise no one can sustain themselves through the trials of life without leaning on the mercies of the Holy Spirit, to enable and encouraging them.  

Paul teaches that the lordship of Jesus is the critical issue, for when you have the Spirit of God, the center of your life is Jesus, and nothing would ever be done to undermine Jesus and take away from his glory.  

Jesus then is the issue.  It is Jesus the Lord, not Jesus my friend, my teacher, or regarding him as perfect humanity all by itself.  

When the Spirit is present, Jesus will own our life, direct and control it, and he is Lord. Without the Holy Spirit we are led by the spirit of Satan.  Any other behavior than that  which the Spirit produces therefore involves cursing Jesus and his name.  

The Corinth ian s had felt the whip of God in this regard and they became sick and even died.

Verse 4-5.   Verses four and five breaks things down in terms of the different facets of the life that the Holy Spirit controls.  

In verse four Paul focuses on the kind of spirituality inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and shows the manifestations, the gifts given to believers, the many ministries and workings, the diversity, which all come from the one, single, same, Spirit.  

The emphasis is not so much on the variety, but on the distribution by the Giver, the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God.  

It is necessary here to define this word ‘spiritual gift’.

We can define it here as a supernatural ability which the Holy Spirit sovereignly bestows on every Christ ian , so that they are enabled to carry out all the functions that God has specifically assigned to them.  

Though we are only studying this passage today we know to that there are several texts which outline the Spiritual Gifts, namely,

1 Corinth ian s 12:28-30, Romans 12:3-8, Ephes ian s 4: 11,1 Peter 4:10-11.  

Note also that spiritual gifts involve a meshing of the human element, and the Divine element.   

We can't separate the divine element from this discussion for that would give us a wrong position.  But neither can we look at these gifts as only ‘spiritual’ in nature, for they are given by the Holy Spirit to every believer.   

Each gift is a manifestation of the Spirit, given to believers and as such are different from human talents and abilities.  But it would be a mistake to separate completely these spiritual gifts from natural talents and abilities, for we know from Psalm 139 for example, that the omniscient God designed and made us in the womb, and knows from even before we were born, exactly what He wants us to do.  

Since the spiritual gifts are given to humans, they must be developed as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:16.  It is rather silly to think for example, that if one has the gift of teaching they do not have to study hard, listen to others carefully, and be trained in one of several ways.  These spiritual gifts operate on a human plane.  Remember we are told that Jesus had to learn and develop in his human nature.  

But it is equally important to note that spiritual gifts produce “spiritual fruit”.  Natural talents and abilities do not do that.  

It is quite distressing to see people use their natural talents and abilities and give it Christ ian coloration, operating with false energy and vitality, pretending to be what they are not and  generally leading people astray by their histrionics and cleverly staged, dramatic, seductive and attractive crafts.

Verse 5.  The Apostle stresses there are many people receiving different gifts from God to accomplish different purposes of His plan!  

Romans 12: 5 and other passages mentioned above talk about the different gifts given to God’s children to strengthen the church and to move it forward, so that it can serve Him the way He wants. Thus Paul is laying the foundation in terms of spelling out, that different gifts are given to accomplish different parts of God’s plans for us, but yet they are to work together to accomplish this task.   

Paul insists that there are varieties of ministries, and that certain things flow from this.  The word “ministries” or “administration” refers to the area in which a particular gift is used.  So for example, the ‘teaching gift’ might be exercised in a pastoral role of the local church, it might be exercised in teaching in a seminary, it might be exercised in teaching children's church, or Sabbath school classes of varying ages, or even informally in the cafeteria at work, or in the backyard with a neighbor, or in different locations in Canada, the United States, Africa, Latin America, Asia or elsewhere.  There are infinite possibilities or administrations.  

The point to be made is that it is God who gives all these gifts.  We must remember that even believers are still in the “flesh” and in the pre-Christ ian life could not please God, but even when changed, in their inherent humanity are incapable of producing spiritual fruit.   

We bring nothing into the “Faith” that is capable of doing what God wants, so the Spirit of God empowers everyone of us in diverse ways, so that we can all work and contribute to maintaining and perpetuating the ‘body of Christ’.  

We must “mistrust” what we bring into the church from our pagan past, thinking that our abilities from the ‘outside’ can do a lot for the cause of Christ.  

Paul did not think so.  He made it clear that he was an extremely devout Jew, with much to recommend him, but brought nothing with him that made any great contribution to his calling.  Read Philipp ian s 3:1-14 if you do not understand this.  It's good to read it anyway.   

It should be clearly stated once again, that Paul says that these gifts are bestowed upon us by the grace of God and it is nothing that we have done ourselves that warrant possession of them.  

This is one of the lessons that hopefully Christ ian s learn in life and truly accept, that it doesn’t matter to what extent one is blessed, God expects and desires us to serve him with what He has given us.  If He has blessed us with a lot, then we should serve him with all that He has given us and not boast that we have been given more than others.  We should use what was given to us, to be of even more service to others, since more was given to us.  

If it is a little that has been given to us, we should not look at what others have and wish for more.  When we serve with what we have, we might realize that it is more than what we believed we received in the first place, especially when our service blesses others.   

Those who believe that no gift was given to them, God still expects service to him.  Why?  Because, we are his children, and should not children strive to please their heavenly Father?   

The Holy Spirit is the author and giver of all as it pleases Him, both of the lesser gifts and the greater gifts.  All are still to serve God.   

Likewise we can look at the offices in administration referred to in verse five.  All over the Bible it tells of God setting up kingdoms and bringing them down, as it serves His plans.  The rulers at times try to boast and rant that it is something they have done that has made their kingdom great, until God brings them down and then they are quieted.  One just has to look at Israel ’s history in 1 Samuel to II Chronicles.  

 Look at Nebuchadnezzar, or even secular history, and empires like Greece or Macedon ian , Roman empire , British or whatever great worldly power one can think of.  Why is their time only for a moment?  

 God has the answers, for God controls them!   Therefore, it does not matter which office is held, especially in the church.  If you are a pastor, teacher, deacon, minister, etc. you are placed in that role for the sole purpose of doing God’s will.  He has appointed you to that office for a particular reason, and it is up to us guided by the Holy Spirit to accomplish that task.  

It should also be pointed out that even if people have the same gift and even use that gift in identical situations, there are different effects or results from the use.  One person gifted in a particular area might produce bountiful results, while another might only produce moderate results, thus indicating that each person's gift would vary in effectiveness.  

It is God who decides what he gives and he controls the results.  Paul might plant all he wants, Apollos might water all he can, but it is God who gives the increase.  So the diversity in the administration and in the effects of that administration is determined by God, the sole judge of and controller of everything.

Verse 6.   In terms of the diversity of operations, Paul hopes that it is clear to all that it is God who works in and through all of us.  None can deny the power of the Holy Spirit in us, working with us to make us better Christ ian s.   

There are diverse needs and many believe that the New Testament does not necessarily record every possible spiritual gift.  The point is however that there are many gifts and many ways in which gifts can be exercised.  

The objective is to create spiritually mature individuals, who can understand what the will of the Lord is and to be completely in line in all our actions.  In terms of the Godhead, all of this work seems to fall directly underneath the work of the Holy Ghost.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is that same power that is able to work through us, in order to accomplish God’s will in our lives and allowing us to do wonderful or miraculous things in the process( Eph. 1: 20-21).

Verse 7.   The Holy Spirit is always present in and among Christ ian s.  At different times His presence might be more apparent than at other times.  But He is there for every believer, leading and empowering them to carry on the work of God.   

This verse clearly addresses the elitist ideas in the Corinth ian church.  The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man not just a few special people, each person receives a gift.  

This underscores the beautiful diversity of Christ ian abilities and experience.  This diversity and variety makes a critical contribution to Christ ian unity.  It does not contradict unity.  It is essential.  The body of Christ needs diversity.  

Paul’s language also emphasizes and rules out any self effort or deserving of the gifts. This is a rebuke to pride, for it again points to the Spirit as the source of all gifts.  

In addition, he tells why gifts are given.  Contrary to the ideas of the Corinth ian s, who regarded the gifts, especially that of tongues, as a sign of true spirituality, Paul says that the gifts were given for the common good.  It is not for personal status in the church.  

In chapter 14:3-5 the Apostle makes it clear that the ‘common good’ means strengthening and edifying each member of the body.  

It is important to realize again to whom Paul was talking.  These churchgoing Corinth ian s were people who had been followers of Aphrodite, Zeus, and all those other gods. Typically in their temples did all kinds of miracles, healed people, gave prophecies (just as that young demon possessed girl in Philippi gave good prophecies and pointed to Paul and his companion as servants of the Most High, bringing her masters much gain, until Paul threw out the demon in her- Acts 16). Drugs were used to produce all kinds of ecstatic reactions in their followers who spoke in all kinds of tongues.  

They were accustomed to all of these phony manifestations and brought their love of them into the church.  They longed for the status and the power that possession of these manifestations brought, but now Paul had to make them understand that these spiritual gifts were solely for the benefit of the body and not for their personal gain.  

The Spirit works.  To that end, He is working with us, blessing, guiding, providing us with wisdom and knowledge to act in every situation to achieve the best result possible.   

We can see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as He works through the lives of the individual believer and the church in general. In doing this the church body can grow in the right way and that is why Paul had to address the Corinth ian church in the manner that he did.  He did so in order to prevent any curse from falling on the church for not using the gifts that God had bestowed on them.  

So let us remember that no believer is “ungifted”.  Ever one must work for the common good, divinely empowered to serve Jesus through the body of Christ.

Verse 8.  Paul now begins to list some gifts in verses 8 through 10 in which the Corinth ian s because of their fleshly attitudes were most likely to be proud. He does not here define the gifts precisely, what we should note, is that he's talking to Corinth ian s regarding wisdom and knowledge as extremely important possessions.  The context of course does not give much support do the fanciful recent definitions of the so-called gift of “word of knowledge” and “word of wisdom”.  

It would be more sensible to regard this as telling the Corinth ian s that whatever wisdom or knowledge they had, this should reflect the sovereign gift of God. But however you decide, knowledge would have to involve the ability to tell and to use truth in a systematic way.  If there is no truth, no accuracy, there would be no sovereignly given wisdom or knowledge.  With God's gift there is no guesswork, nor generalities, no well structured words which have such a wide possibility of success that it leaves an escape route.  

This verse is looking at the diversity of the gift of the Spirit and in the case of wisdom and knowledge, we need these gifts to understand the word of God and how it is to work in our lives and the lives of those we come in contact with.  The word of wisdom as Paul describes could be associated with those given the gifts of discernment.   

To an extent, Christ ian s must be able to discern certain truths.  But in terms of any special revelation, this word of wisdom is primarily applied.  Wisdom is also linked to things that are eternal.  

Everyone should benefit from having wisdom as was evident in the case of Solomon’s rule, for the most part. Those in office should possess lots of wisdom, to know how to lead God’s people in the right way. Knowledge on the other hand, is what is passed on by teachers.  This works for the occasion, and in time may be forgotten or pass away.   

Verse 9.   In terms of action and purpose, the gifts of healing and faith work to strengthen different parts of the church.  In the previous verse it dealt with the mental part of a Christ ian s’ growth.  In verse nine, it can be said it is focusing on the physical part.  Either way it is agreed that the source is God.   

One can refer to statements made by James, relating faith to works and how that is needed to hone a Christ ian ’s personality and strengths. The transition here is towards doing, a direct guidance by the Holy Spirit to do the will of God.  Paul seems to be stressing that some are there to lead the children of God, more than others.  

The gift of faith seems to also involve seeing where God wants the people of God to go, to establish direction.  So it is important to understand that this is faith at work.  

Verse 10.   The healings and working of miracles are gifts which bring about dramatic change.  They transform the lives of people dramatically.  It is sometimes suggested that the healings can refer to spiritual or psychological healing.  

It is interesting to note that the three gifts of speech are listed.  The tongue is a powerful force and the gift of different kinds of tongues is mentioned and the interpretation of the tongues.  There is of course much controversy about whether or not the word ‘tongues’ simply refers to languages, as exemplified on the day of Pentecost.  Some however like to reinterpret the word to mean a secret language.  

Prophecy is also listed, and that speech gift means ‘forth telling’, revealing and discussing matters that are in the mind of God.  It can refer it to explaining the past, the present, as well as the future.  

Since the speech gift reflects what is in the mind of God, the people who proclaim it  must be one hundred percent accurate.  The Old Testament prophets of God all follow this pattern and lived up to that test.   

Strangely however the so-called modern prophets and prophetesses do not even bother nowadays to make this one hundred percent accuracy claim.  Some even say that fifteen percent accuracy is fine for the modern prophet.  This of course is ridiculous.  When you are proclaiming the truth of God you must be completely truthful.  You must be different from the pagan prophets whose language was such that their words would be interpreted in several ways, and so this would give them an escape route.  Invariably they were wrong anyway.  

The discerning of spirits or distinguishing of spirits gift is a most valuable gift, for it is the ability to sense whether or not a person is saying something which is valuable or which is misleading.  People generally avoid claiming this gift, for they can easily be tested.  If something goes wrong in the church, one can blame them for not discerning.  No one wants that responsibility.  Believers seem to want to live with iniquity rather than point it out.  So they shy away from claiming that gift.  

The Corinth ian s, though they had all the gifts, seem to have fallen down on this matter of discerning the influence of satanic spirits.  Actually, this gift would have helped them tremendously, more than any other gift.  But they seemed to have neglected this one.   

We today also neglect this gift, preferring to concentrate on the spectacular ones.  We are in fact not much better than these immature believers, even though we have the warnings before us.    

Once again, it is pointing to the fact that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives gifts to all.  He is the source of all good gifts.  What we need to do, as Paul was instructing the Corinth ian s to do, is use these gift as given to help edify and propel the church forward in terms of their spiritual maturity.   

These Corinth ian s seemed to have concentrated on the more glamorous of the gifts; miracles, prophecy, discerning spirits, tongues (of many kinds and apparently scarcity on interpretations).  A improper attitude to these gifts can lead to what was seen in the church.  A growth in boasting and potentially even a falling away from God was the result of not properly understanding spiritual gifts. 

Verse 11.   This is the main point in verses four to ten, that no matter what the gift, God gives to any man what He seems fit.  Sometimes it is a little, sometimes it is a lot.  

One thing is absolutely clear though, and it is that the when a person possesses these gifts it is due only and solely to the sovereign will and purpose of God the Spirit.  

The Apostle does not picture the possession of these gifts as something that results when we spend much time in prayer agonizing and travailing for hours on your knees.  This is given as the Spirit wills, when it suits his purpose.  

The picture seems to be this.  The Spirit looks us over, decides what he wants to do with us, then gives us the special spiritual ability that we did not have before; in order that we do what he wants us to do for the common good. In his work the Spirit gives many gifts, allows great diversity, but of course he demands cooperation and working together by all. Individualism and boasting is thereby destroyed.

Verse 12.  Paul now uses an illustration or an image concerning the human body to show how the body of Christ operates.  

In this he highlights the fact that the body of Christ is made up of many parts, but nevertheless it is one body, and only one body.  

The image is of diversity in unity.  This argues against elitism, with only a few chosen people having the same gifts, for they are the only ones that are really needed.

Obviously Paul is telling the Corinth ian s that even those that they consider to be weaker members are necessary.  We know from our human anatomy study, that the so-called weaker members of our body, like for example our spinal cord, is weak and easily damaged, but we cannot exist without a properly working spinal cord.  

The exact same thing is true of Christ ian s in the body of Christ.  Some might appear weak, needy and not so important, but they are necessary.  The body would not exist without them and their work, even if there work seems hardly noticeable to the human eyes.

Verse 13.  In addition, every believer is baptized by the Spirit into one body, no matter their origin, ethnic group, other status in life, or what ever.  It is one Spirit which gives them drink, and which feeds them.  All receive the sustaining life of God through that one Spirit.

CONCLUSION

Clearly then the person in the Corinth ian church that did not have the more spectacular gifts should never believe that they did not belong to the body.  God places each member in the body just as He wants.  

No member should say that any other member is not needed.  No member should feel that they are more important that any other member.  

Paul thus rebukes the arrogance and self-centeredness of many.  God is sovereign, he gives gifts in a sovereign way.  There can be no bias with respect to gifts.  We must not be biased in how we treat believers with their diverse gifts.  

We distinguish the true spirituality as opposed to the false spirituality, by how a person lives under the lordship of Christ.  Christ must be central in a believer’s life.  There must be no boasting.  There must be no encouragement of inequality. 

Those who think they are better than others and are enabled to do what they wish to do and to disobey God, abusing others and elevating themselves, are in for a rude awakening.  

So we learn that the possession of spiritual gifts do not indicate spiritual maturity. Sampson had a really powerful gift and was a judge of Israel , but he was not a man of any great spiritual maturity, but instead was dominated by the flesh.  A gifted leader or a gifted person might not be, and often is not as spiritual as the lowly members of the church.  Of course leaders would like us to believe otherwise, but that is foolishness.  Leaders are generally more power-hungry than anyone else, and so they fight their way to the top of churches and church organizations. But to determine who is spiritual and who is not, all we have to do is to look at their fruits.  Look at whether they are obeying the Commandments of God, or serving the flesh.  

It is the one who gives the gifts that we must focus on.  We have no basis for pride.  Gifts are given, and we cannot boast in what we receive.  In fact it seems that God has chosen the weak and foolish people, that includes us, to embarrass those pagans who consider themselves wise and powerful.  So if we think we are high, mighty, and powerful, we probably are not called, but are pagan despite appearances.  

Spiritual gifts are not to divide us, but to unify us.  They bring tremendous responsibility.  God has given everyone a gift or gifts.  

Instead of worrying about our spiritual gift, we should start working when we see something that has to be done for the brethren and which is not being done.  If God does not want us to do that activity he will show us.  It is by doing what we see needs to be done that we will find out what your gift or gifts are.  

In truth and fact we should read Paul’s clear instructions in Romans 12:9-21.  Read those commands carefully, and when we start obeying those, we will find out our ministry, or our place of service.