1 Corinthians 12:9–11

Of the Use and Purpose of Spiritual Gifts. 1 Cor. 12, 1–31.

The actual working of the several gifts: v. 9. to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; v. 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. V. 11. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.

In the second series of gifts, there is given to another faith, in the same Spirit, in His power and bestowment alone; not that faith which accepts salvation in Christ, not justifying faith, but a strong and unwavering confidence in the omnipotence of God or in the power of Christ, as able to reveal itself in extraordinary deeds and to accomplish what seems impossible to men. (Compare Luther, 12, 827).

This gift of heroic faith was needed especially in the early days of the Church, but has appeared since in many servants of the Lord that accomplished the apparently supernatural, with the assistance of the Lord.

To another were given the gifts of healings in the bestowment of the same Spirit; there were Christians in the early days that were able to cure the sick without medicines and to perform other miraculous things, such as raising the dead, punishing the wicked by some extraordinary manifestations of God's wrath, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas, etc. Closely connected with these gifts were those of the acts of power, working of miracles in general.

In the third group of gifts St. Paul mentions that to another Christian is given prophecy, which includes not only the ability to see into the future and to declare coming events in advance, but also that of applying the Word of God in teaching and admonishing. "Prophecy is that one can interpret and explain the Scripture correctly, and therefrom, in a powerful manner, prove the doctrine of faith and overthrow false doctrine; also, through it to admonish the people, to threaten or to strengthen and to comfort, indicating, meanwhile, the wrath to come, the punishment and revenge upon the unbelievers and disobedient, and again, divine help and reward for the believers and pious; as the prophets did from the Word of God, both from the Law and from the promises" (Luther, 12, 827).

To another is given the discerning of spirits, the ability to distinguish between true and false teachers very readily, 2 Thess. 2, 10; 1 John 4, 1. When Satan found that open enmity and persecution did not succeed according to his plan, he employed guile and stealth in raising up false teachers in the very midst of the Christian congregations, whose glib tongues often succeeded in introducing doctrines at variance with the pure Gospel as preached by the apostles. Therefore a person with the ability to discriminate, to uncover the weak and dangerous position of the false teachers at once, was a great asset in a congregation.

To still another Christian were given kinds of tongues; he was able to speak the great things of God in strange languages, which he had never studied, Mark 16, 17, or he could praise the Lord in an entirely new, unknown language, virtually the tongue of angels, chap. 13, 1. But since this gift would have been unprofitable in itself, the Lord had also given to another the interpretation of tongues, the ability to translate the unknown language for the benefit of the congregation, for the edification of the hearers.

The apostle distinctly reminds his readers that all these gifts, no matter how great the difference between them, no matter what inclination there was among the holders of the several talents to exalt their own peculiar endowment, were all wrought by one and the selfsame Spirit, in distributing to each individual person just as His will dictated.

Two thoughts stand out here: That it is the Spirit alone that deals with each individual, that it is His choice and judgment which determined the gifts, but that also there could be no idea of merit on the part of the receiver; the measure of the Holy Ghost is His free, gracious will and counsel.

Note: Of the gifts here mentioned by the apostle, "four have disappeared entirely out of the Christian Church, the other five are still to be found, though in a smaller measure. The gift to heal without the application of medicines, the gift to perform other miracles, the gift to speak strange languages without previous study and use, and finally the gift to interpret such languages as one has never learned, have disappeared entirely. But this is not the case with the other gifts mentioned by the apostles, namely, with the gifts of speaking of wisdom and of knowledge through the Spirit, with the gift of prophesying, that is, of expounding the Scriptures, with the gift of an unusually high, strong, and heroic faith, and finally with the gift to distinguish between the spirits" (Walther, Epistel-Postille, 334).

If these gifts were only employed more often, in all humility, for the benefit of the Church!