30Varieties of Spiritual Gifts (12:8-11)
For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (12:8-11)
A thorough examination will yield the truth that spiritual gifts fill two major purposes: the permanent gifts edify the church and the temporary gifts are signs to confirm the Word of God. God will continue to give the permanent gifts to believers for the duration of the church age, and those gifts are to be ministered by His people at all times in the life of the church. Those gifts include first the speaking or verbal gifts—prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, teaching, and exhortation, and, second, the serving or nonverbal gifts—leadership, helps, giving, mercy, faith, and discernment. The temporary sign gifts were limited to the apostolic age and therefore ceased after that time. Those gifts included miracles, healing, languages, and the interpretation of languages. The purpose of temporary sign gifts was to authenticate the apostolic message as the Word of God, until the time when the Scriptures, His written Word, were, completed and became self-authenticating.
In the present passage Paul mentions some of those gifts that illustrate the “varieties” he spoke of in verse 4. This list includes both permanent and temporary gifts, and is only representative of the varieties, as seen from the fact that additional gifts are mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, including in verse 28 of this chapter (see also Rom. 12:6-8; cf. 1 Pet. 4:11). The apostle does not here explain the functions of the particular gifts. His point is to illustrate the variety in kinds of gifts and to emphasize the common source of the gifts, each of which is given for “the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (v. 7). As we have mentioned, because of their uniqueness in the lives and ministries of the millions of Christians, the gifts are not narrowly defined. We can define them only generally by the terms used in Scripture.
REPRESENTATIVE SPIRITUAL GIFTS
THE GIFT OF WISDOM
The word of wisdom is a broad term. The use of logos (word) indicates this is a speaking ability. In the apostolic age it may have been revelation at times. In the New Testament, wisdom (sophia) is used most often to refer to the ability to understand God’s will and apply it obediently (see, e.g., Matt. 11:19; 13:54; Mark 6:2; Luke 7:35; Acts 6:10; James 1:5; 3:13, 17; 2 Pet. 3:15). Wisdom, then, refers basically to applying truths discovered, to the ability to make skillful and practical application of the truth to life situations. Communicating wisdom is the function of the expositor, who draws not only from his own study of Scripture but from the many insights and interpretations of commentators and other Bible scholars. It is also the ability a counselor must have in order to apply God’s truth to the questions and problems brought to him. It is a feature in the gift of the pastor, who must know, understand, and be able to apply God’s Word in order to lead his people as he should.
THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE
I believe that this second gift mentioned in verse 8 logically precedes the first, because ordinarily knowledge comes before wisdom. The word of knowledge is also a broad term, which basically refers to perceiving and understanding the truths of God’s Word. It, too, may have been revelatory in the first century, but it is especially the gift of communicating insight into the mysteries of His revelation, those truths that could not be known apart from God’s revelation (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:3; Col. 1:26; 2:2; 4:3; cf. 1 Cor. 13:2). God gives certain of His saints a special ability to study His Word and discover the full meaning of the text and context, of individual words and phrases, and of related passages and truths, and thereby help provide understanding for others. Perhaps the best insight on this text is found in 13:2 in the phrase, “know all mysteries and all knowledge.” The gift of knowledge is the capability of grasping the meaning of God’s revelation, which is mystery to the natural mind.
That gift is foundational for all Christian teaching and preaching, as well as for the proper exercise of counseling, leadership, wisdom and all other ministries and gifts. If a person does not have that ability himself, he must rely heavily on those who do in order to exercise his own gifts rightly. The teacher or preacher is especially dependent on knowledge, because he is commissioned to teach and interpret God’s truths to others.
A Christian with the gift of knowledge may be highly trained in biblical languages, history, archaeology, and theology. God can use that training in the working of his gift. But another person with the same gift may have limited formal education. In either case, the ability to comprehend spiritual truth is God-given. The gifted person is supernaturally enabled not only to discover truths from the facts of Scripture but to explain and interpret those truths in order to help others understand them. As all the other gifts, it comes in many forms and degrees. One believer may have great ability in this one area alone, while another may have moderate ability here, mixed with several other spiritual capabilities.
The human writers of Scripture had the gift of knowledge in a unique way. God gave them truths directly, which they recorded as part of His written Word. Since the closing of the canon of Scripture, however, that gift has not involved the receiving of new truth but only understanding of truth previously revealed. Anyone today who claims to have a divine revelation is a deceiver and contradicts God’s own Word, which expressly warns that if anyone adds to it or takes away from it he will suffer God’s judgment (Rev 22:18). Any word of divine knowledge or wisdom must be based on the Word of God, “once for all delivered” (Jude 3).
THE GIFT OF FAITH
This sovereign, Spirit-given faith obviously is distinct from saving faith or the daily faith by which every believer lives. This category of giftedness is limited to certain Christians and has to do with an intensive ability to trust God in difficult and demanding ways. It is the ability to trust Him in the face of overwhelming obstacles and human impossibilities.
The gift of faith is primarily expressed toward God through prayer, appealing to and trusting God to do that which is beyond His normal provision. Jesus said, “For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matt. 17:20). Paul alludes to that type of faith later in this letter: “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (13:2). Paul was not disparaging faith but simply pointing out its emptiness without love. His phrase “all faith” seems to indicate that it is possessed in degrees.
Those with the gift of faith have a special ability to lay claim on the promises of God. According to His own plan and will, faith activates God (cf. James 5:16b-18). When Paul was sailing to Rome as a captive, the ship encountered a terrible storm. After throwing all cargo and tackle overboard, they went for many days without food and without letup of the storm. At the height of danger Paul told his fellow travelers, “I urge you to keep up your courage, for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you’” (Acts 27:22-24). Paul’s confidence took special faith. His great faith exercised in the midst of disaster laid hold of God’s promise and brought hope and safety to everyone with him. Abraham was also “strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Rom. 4:20).
On the basis of one person’s strong faith others are always helped and served. Through the history of the church thousands of saints with gifts of faith have believed God in the face of great danger and often death, and in exercising their faith have strengthened the faith of their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Hudson Taylor believed God would win many Chinese converts through him, and without any money or support, refusing to ask for a penny of help, he began what became the great and fruitful China Inland Mission. George Mueller, solely through trusting God in prayer, continually saw Him provide for his orphanage in miraculous ways. Countless missionaries have claimed tribes or nations for the Lord, and evangelists have claimed cities for the Lord, and seen Him faithfully respond to their faith. Their prayers are answered and their faith itself is strengthened and multiplied.
THE GIFTS OF HEALINGS
Again it is interesting to note that gifts here is plural, supporting what has been said in chapter 29: namely, that Paul is speaking of categories of giftnedness in which there may be great variety. The gifts of healing were the first temporary sign gifts Paul mentions in this passage. And since all these gifts were in operation then, the sign gifts are not placed in a separate category. The word healing also is plural in the Greek (iamatōn), emphasizing the many kinds of afflictions that need healing. These gifts were for Christ (Matt. 8:16-17), the apostles (Matt. 10:1), the seventy (Luke 10:1), and some associates of the apostles such as Philip (Acts 8:5-7).
God may still heal directly and miraculously today, in response to the faithful prayers of His children. But no Christian today has the gifts of healings. This is apparent because no one today can heal as did Jesus and the apostles—who with a word or touch instantaneously and totally healed all who came to them, and who raised the dead. The Corinthian church may have seen God perform healings through Paul or others who had those abilities, and in that case Paul mentions them here simply to remind the Corinthians of the variety of ways in which God equips His people to do His work.
The gifts of healings, like the other sign gifts, were temporary, given to the church for authenticating the apostolic message as the Word of God. The Great Commission does not include a call to heal bodies but only the call to heal souls through the preaching of the gospel. It is not that God became no longer interested in men’s physical health and well-being or that the church should have no such concern. Medical work has long been a God-blessed part of Christian service and is one of the cutting edges of modern missions. But God’s healing work, whether through medicine or miracle, is no longer an authenticating sign, and He no longer endows His church with such gifts.
As did all the others with the gifts of healings, Paul used it sparingly and only for its intended purpose. It was never used solely for the purpose of bringing physical health. Paul himself was sick, yet he never healed himself nor asked a fellow gifted believer to heal him. Paul’s dear friend and fellow worker Epaphroditus had been terribly ill and would have died but for God’s intervention. “God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow” (Phil. 2:27). God miraculously healed Epaphroditus, but if the apostle had freely exercised the gift of healing, he would not have had to make a special plea to God. When Timothy, another co-worker, had stomach trouble and other ailments Paul did not heal him but rather advised him to drink some wine (1 Tim. 5:23). Trophimus, still another associate, Paul “left sick at Miletus” (2 Tim. 4:20). He did not exercise the gift of healing except as necessary to confirm the power of the gospel, not to make Christians healthy.
A Christian today has the right to ask God for the healing of any illness. God may choose to heal in order to accomplish some purpose of His and to show His glory. But He is under no obligation to heal, because He has made no blanket promise to heal during any age (cf. Num. 12:9-10; Deut. 28:21-22; 2 Kings 5:15-27; 2 Chron. 26:5, 21; Ps. 119:67; 1 Cor.11:30), and He no longer is authenticating His Word, because the completed Word is its own verification.
THE GIFT OF MIRACLES
The effecting of miracles also was a temporary sign gift. A miracle is a supernatural intrusion into the natural world and its natural laws, explainable only by divine intervention. God often leads us, helps us, or warns us by working through other Christians, through ordinary circumstances, or through natural laws. Those are supernatural workings of providence by God, but they are not miracles. A miracle is an act of God that is contrary to the ordinary working and laws of nature, an act that only He could accomplish by overruling nature and that could not otherwise occur through any circumstances.
John tells us that Jesus’ turning the water into wine at the wedding feast was the beginning of the “signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him” (John 2:11). That was the purpose. The miracle was not to improve the party or to show off great power to the curious. Even with Jesus, the working of miracles, just as the work of healing, was confirmation of His coming as Messiah, the carrier of God’s power and message. Near the end of his gospel John says, “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (20:30-31). Jesus performed miracles to prove that God was being revealed in Him, that is, in Jesus. At Pentecost Peter told the crowd to whom he was preaching, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, [was] a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know” (Acts 2:22).
Jesus performed miracles and healed the sick only for the three years of His ministry. Contrary to certain myths and legends that have cropped up through the centuries, Scripture indicates that Jesus lived a quiet, normal life as a child and as a young man, exercising absolutely no supernatural powers until the wedding at Cana. As is clear from the quotation from John 2 above, Jesus’ miracles began when His ministry began.
The apostles and a few other early church leaders also performed miracles as confirming signs of the gospel message. In Iconium Paul and Barnabas “spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). Paul later wrote the Corinthians, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles” (2 Cor. 12:12). Miraculous signs were a mark of apostleship, authenticating the apostles’ message and work as being of the Lord. In Hebrews we read, “After it [the gospel] was the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard [the apostles], God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (2:3-4).
Just what were the miracles the apostles did? Jesus made wine, made food, walked on water with Peter, took a coin from the mouth of a fish, disappeared from a hostile crowd, and ascended in a cloud to heaven. All those miracles were related to nature and were done only by Him. No disciple is ever reported to have done a miracle of nature. What miracles did they do? The answer is in the word for miracle, dunamis, which means “power.” In fact, the term is translated “power” in the gospels, and is frequently connected with the casting out of demons (Luke 4:36; 6:18; 9:42). It is precisely that power, to cast out demons, that the Lord gave to the twelve and to the seventy (Luke 9:1; 10:17-19). We have no such power today by which certain of us can successfully go about commanding demons to come out of unsaved people, as the disciples did. Philip and Stephen demonstrated the gift of miracles (Acts 6:8; 8:7). Paul used it to confirm “the teaching of the Lord” and bring a man to faith (Acts 13:6-12). Some Jews who tried to cast out demons without the true gift were beaten up and chased out by the demons they were trying to exorcise (Acts 19:14-16).
Those signs accompanied God’s Word only so long as He was revealing the Word. When revelation stopped, the sign gifts stopped. B. B. Warfield wrote, “These miraculous gifts were part of the credentials of the apostles, as authoritative agents of God in founding the church. Their function confined them distinctly to the apostolic church, and they necessarily passed away with it.”
THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
To some Christians God has given the gift of prophecy. There has long been a difference of interpretation among evangelicals as to whether or not prophecy is a continuing, permanent gift or, like healings and miracles, passed away with the apostolic age. The primary argument for those who maintain it was a temporary sign gift—that it was a revelatory gift only, and therefore ceased when revelation ceased—is based on 1 Corinthians 13:8, where the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge all are referred to together as ceasing. As will be discussed when treating that passage, though they all appear in that verse, prophecy and knowledge are not in the same category as tongues, and the mention of them together in 13:8 does not prove they are of the same type—any more than the mention of the various gifts in 12:8-10 proves they are all of the same type. We will assume here that prophecy is a permanent edifying gift.
Like its Hebrew equivalent (nābā), the Greek verb (prophēteuō) behind prophecy simply means “to speak forth, to proclaim.” It assumes the speaker is before an audience, and could mean “to speak publicly.” The connotation of prediction was added sometime in the Middle Ages. Although many of the prophets made predictions, that was not their basic ministry and the idea is not involved in the original terms used to describe them and their work. The original terms, in fact, did not necessarily carry the idea of revelation. God revealed a great deal of His Word through the prophets, but much of their ministry was simply proclaiming, expounding, and exhorting with revelation already given. The biblical prophets sometimes revealed (see 1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Pet. 1:21) and sometimes only reiterated what had already been revealed. A prophet of God, therefore, is simply one who speaks forth God’s Word, and prophecy is the proclaiming of that Word. The gift of prophecy is the Spirit-given and Spirit-empowered ability to proclaim the Word effectively. Since the completion of Scripture, prophecy has no longer been the means of new revelation, but has only proclaimed what has already been revealed in Scripture.
The simplest and clearest definition of this function is given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:3, “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.”
I do not believe there has been a time in the history of God’s dealing with men that He has not endowed some of His people with gifts of this kind. During the Old and New Testament periods and throughout history between and since, the Lord always has equipped some of His saints to speak for Him with special power and effectiveness. In 1 Corinthians 14:1 Paul urges believers in general to “pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” He makes the same plea again in verse 39. The apostle is not suggesting that every Christian should seek personally to have a gift of proclamation, but that all Christians collectively should want that gift to be ministered among them. Throughout chapter 14 Paul contrasts the gift of tongues, a sign gift needing interpretation before either believers or unbelievers ever can understand it, with the gift of prophecy, which has the specific purpose of edifying all those who hear.
In speaking of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, Paul says, “let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith” (v. 6). The term analogia (“proportion”) refers to a right relationship to or agreement with, and the Greek of this verse reads literally, “of the faith.” A better rendering therefore would be, “according to the measured-out faith.” “The faith” is used several times in the New Testament as a synonym of the gospel, the God-given body of Christian belief (Acts 6:7; Jude 3, 20). Believers today with the gift of prophecy are empowered to speak forth not according to their personal subjective faith but according to God’s already-revealed objective faith, His Word. That primary purpose of prophecy is given in the book of Revelation: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (19:10). And the Bible is the testimony of Jesus (cf. John 5:39). Prophecy can never deviate from the Word of God written, as Paul makes plain when he says, “If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment” (1 Cor. 14:37). The gift of prophecy is the Spirit’s special enablement of a Christian to testify of Jesus. No one is to “despise prophetic utterances” (1 Thess. 5:20), but the Corinthians apparently did look down on it, and even replaced it with ecstatic utterances, as chapter 14 reveals.
THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT
An important gift for the protection of the church is that of discernment, the distinguishing of spirits. The basic meaning of distinguishing has to do with separating out for examination and judging in order to determine what is genuine and what is spurious. Satan is the great deceiver, “the father of lies” (John 8:44), and ever since the Fall he and his demons have counterfeited God’s message and God’s work. All Christians should judge carefully what they hear and read and “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). That is what the God-fearing and “noble-minded” Jews of Berea did when they first heard the gospel from Paul (Acts 17:11). They tested Paul’s word against what they knew of God’s Word, and because the two words matched they believed that what he preached was from God and not from demons. That is what every believer should do with every message that claims to be from God. No preacher or teacher of the gospel should resent having what he says judged against Scripture.
Those to whom God has given the gift of discernment have a special ability to recognize lying spirits, and this gift is the Spirit’s watchdog. Some ideas that are given as scriptural and that on the surface seem scriptural actually are clever counterfeits that would deceive most believers. Those with the gift of discernment are the Holy Sprit’s inspectors, His counterfeit experts to whom He gives special insight and understanding. The gift was especially valuable in the early church because the New Testament had not been completed. Because of the difficulty and expense of copying, for many years after its completion the Bible was not widely available. The Holy Spirit’s discerners were the church’s protectors.
The gift of discernment is also especially valuable when the church and the gospel are considered acceptable in society. When Christianity is persecuted, counterfeit teachers usually are scarce, because the price for being identified with the gospel is too high. They are much more likely to appear in times and in places where Christianity is considered respectable or at least is tolerated. In parts of the world today, evangelicalism is popular and often profitable. All sorts of teachers, preachers, writers, and counselors claim to be evangelical and biblical. Although any thinking person realizes that all the ideas cannot be biblical, simply because many of them are so contradictory of each other, it is not always easy to know which are true and which are not. Most often they are a mixture. Counterfeit teachers used by Satan usually have some truth in what they say. Unfortunately, many basically sound teachers sometimes undiscerningly pick up ideas from psychology, philosophy, or popular thinking that seem biblical but are not. It is the ministry of those with the gift of discernment to help separate the wheat from the chaff.
The Corinthian believers who had that gift either were not using it or were being ignored. Otherwise the perverted ideas and practices that Paul deals with in this letter could not have flourished as they did. Discernment is the gift, along with prophecy, that the apostle urges the Corinthians to use in relation to judging the use and interpretation of tongues. Those with discernment are to judge even those who prophesy (1 Cor. 14:29).
Obviously, the gift of discernment is valuable to the church in assisting Christians to settle disputes among themselves rather than going to court. That seems to be the gift needed by the person Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 6, the “wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren” (v. 5).
Even praise of the gospel can be deceitful and misleading. When Paul and Silas began to minister in Philippi, Luke reports that “a certain slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortunetelling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, ‘These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation’” (Acts 16:16-17). What the girl said not only was true but seemed to be favorable to the gospel and to those who were proclaiming it. But the purpose and motivation of what she said was exactly the opposite. The demons who controlled her meant to attract the people and, gaining their trust, then ridicule and undercut God’s Word and the work of His ministers. In that case Paul could not judge by what was said, because the girl’s words were true. He knew she was a demonic instrument only because the Holy Spirit revealed the false spirit that controlled her.
False teaching can be judged by comparing it with Scripture, but false spirits can be judged only by the true Spirit’s gift of discernment. That gift may be called the Spirit’s gift on gifts, because God uses it to reveal to His church whether or not a manifestation of the other gifts is of Him. All imitation of the gifts is not demonic. Much of it is simply the work of the flesh, carnal Christians trying to serve the Lord in their own power and for their own benefit and glory. Summarizing, it can be said that the gift of discernment is given to tell if the other gifts are of the Holy Spirit, if they are merely natural imitations, or if they are demonic counterfeits. I believe God still empowers some of His people to unmask false prophets and carnal hypocrites. He gives them insight to expose imitations and deceptions that most Christians would take as genuine.
The gift of discernment, however, can easily deteriorate into a critical, proud, and self-righteous spirit. It can be judgmental instead of corrective when it is imitated in the flesh. But rightly used it is a great protection to God’s people.
THE GIFTS OF TONGUES AND OF INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES
The most controversial spiritual gift in our day is that of speaking in various kinds of tongues. Because this gift, and that of interpretation of tongues, will be discussed in detail in the exposition of 1 Corinthians 14, it is necessary only to mention here that these are temporary sign gifts that are not genuinely active in the church today. Their ministry in the New Testament church was, like the other sign gifts, to validate the message and power of the gospel. They were disproportionately exalted and seriously abused in Corinth. But that is not yet Paul’s point. Now he is simply naming them to show the great diversity in the gifts sovereignly given by the Spirit of God.
GOD’S SOVEREIGN CONTROL OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (12:11)
This verse summarizes verses 4-10. Just as he did when illustrating the varieties in the nature, ministries, and effects of spiritual gifts (vv. 4-6), Paul continues to stress that each gift, though different in many ways from the others, is supernaturally and sovereignly given by one and the same Spirit (cf. vv. 8-9). In fact, this is the fifth reference in this paragraph to the Holy Spirit as the giver. He also emphasizes again that every believer (distributing to each one individually) is spiritually gifted (cf. vv. 6-7). Those with gifts are not a spiritual elite but comprise the whole church, the entire Body of Christ. All of us are gifted, and all of us are called by the Lord to minister the gifts He has supplied.
There is no indication here that gifts should be sought. That would violate both the idea of a gift of grace and the intent of the text, which is to instruct the Corinthians to recognize that all believers have gifts that are different. In God’s sovereignty He has given gifts to be the fulfillment of His divine purpose. They are not a smorgasbord from which believers may choose.
The point is further emphasized in seeing that the Holy Spirit not only gives the gifts, but that it is the Spirit who works all these things. Works is the same term as in verse 6, and means “energizings.” In the deepest sense a believer does not even use his gift, but allows God to work through it by the power of the Holy Spirit. God energizes and makes effective the gifts He sovereignly gives just as He wills to His people—to all of His people. The Spirit is the messenger of the Head of the church, giving and energizing the spiritual gifts as deity has designed.
When the Spirit of God rules and energizes a church at least eight evidences will be manifested:
The Spirit-controlled church is unified. The Holy Spirit is the source and preserver of unity, a unity that does not crush individuality.
The Spirit-controlled church is characterized by fellowship. Its fellowship is deep and wide, honest and intimate, inclusive of every believer who cares and participates.
The Spirit-controlled church is worshipful. Its worship is meaningful, genuine, God-centered, and shared by all, as it honors God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It sings praise, talks praise, and lives praise.
The Spirit-controlled church is evangelistic. The Holy Spirit is the true instrument of every conversion, every new spiritual birth, and a church that is responsive to Him wins souls spontaneously and joyfully. Bringing unbelievers to new life in Christ is the top priority and natural outflow of its own life.
The Spirit-controlled church is loving. It is an assembly of people who care and help, a body of believers where selflessness and sacrifice are normal.
The Spirit-controlled church is obedient. It walks in the path that God prescribes, and only in that path. What the Bible teaches it believes, and what the Bible commands it does.
The Spirit-controlled church is submissive. Submissiveness is willing obedience, obedience that comes gladly from the heart. It submits to its Lord because it loves its Lord and seeks to please only Him.
The Spirit-controlled church ministers. Like its Lord Jesus Christ, its call and its goal is not to be served but to serve. It is a community of believers in which each one ministers by the gifting and empowering of the Holy Spirit.
When the church today does not understand the pattern and intent of God’s spiritual gifts, but rather attempts to grade them according to human standards, exalts certain gifts above others, and seeks gifts other than those that have been given, the Corinthian confusion returns.