The Spirit manifests Himself in each one of the members of the Body of Christ through different gifts (1 Cor. 12:7-11). In verse 7 Paul says, “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit.” All the different gifts are the manifestation of the Spirit; that is, the Spirit is manifested in the believers who have received the gifts. Such manifestation of the Spirit is for the profit of the church, the Body of Christ. “For profit” in verse 7 means for the growth in life of the members of the Body of Christ and for the building up of Christ’s Body.
In verses 8 through 10 Paul lists nine manifestations of the Spirit. Verse 8 says, “To one through the Spirit is given a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit.” According to the context of this book, the word of wisdom is the word concerning Christ as the deeper things of God predestined by God for our portion (1:24, 30; 2:6-10). The word of knowledge is the word that imparts a general knowledge of things concerning God and the Lord (8:1-7). The word of wisdom is mainly of our spirit through revelation; the word of knowledge is mainly of our understanding through teaching. The former is deeper than the latter. However, these two, not the speaking in tongues nor any other miraculous gift, are listed as the first gifts and topmost manifestation of the Spirit because these two are the most profitable ministries or services for the edification of the saints and the building up of the church to carry out God’s operation.
After the first two gifts, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, Paul mentions certain miraculous gifts. “To a different one faith in the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing in the one Spirit” (v. 9). Faith here is like the faith that can remove mountains, as mentioned in 13:2 and Mark 11:22-24. The gift of healing in verse 9 is the miraculous power for healing different diseases.
In verse 10 we have yet another miraculous gift-“operations of works of power.” This refers to miracles, works of miraculous power other than healing. An example would be the case of Peter raising Dorcas from death (Acts 9:36-42).
In verse 10 Paul also mentions prophecy. This is to speak for God and to speak forth God, including foretelling, predicting. We should not understand the word “prophecy” here as primarily meaning to predict. It mainly means to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord. Of course, it sometimes includes an element of prediction, of speaking for, speaking forth, and speaking beforehand. Foretelling is miraculous, but speaking for God and speaking forth God are not miraculous.
Paul also tells us in verse 10 that to another is given the discerning of spirits. This is to distinguish the Spirit that is of God from those that are not of God (1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 4:1-3). This requires maturity in life.
Paul concludes verse 10 by saying, “To a different one various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.” Tongues here are a proper language or dialect (Acts 2:4, 6, 8, 11) either of men or of angels (1 Cor. 13:1), not meaningless voices or sounds. The genuine and proper speaking in tongues is one of the many gifts of the Spirit, one of the many aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit. Some say that speaking in tongues is first the initial evidence of the baptism in the Spirit, but it afterward becomes a gift of the Spirit. According to this understanding, as the initial evidence every believer must have the gift of tongues, but as a gift of the Spirit every believer does not necessarily have it. However, this kind of teaching is groundless in the New Testament. The New Testament makes it more than clear that speaking in tongues is only one of the many gifts of the Spirit, and not all believers have it.
The interpretation of tongues is the gift to make the unknown tongues known, understandable (14:13). This is the ninth item of the manifestation of the Spirit listed in this chapter.
Although Paul lists nine manifestations of the Spirit, the manifestation of the Spirit by the believers is more than nine items. The apostleship, helps, and administrations by the Spirit listed in 12:28, seeing visions and dreaming dreams by the Spirit as mentioned in Acts 2:17, the signs and wonders referred to in Hebrews 2:4, and three of the five miraculous acts prophesied in Mark 16:17-18 are not listed here. Paul listed only nine items of the Spirit’s manifestation as an illustration. Of these nine, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues are listed as the last two, because they are not as profitable as the other items for the building up of the church (1 Cor. 14:2-6, 18, 19). Of these nine gifts and those listed in 12:28-30, prophecy as prediction, faith, gifts of healing, works of power, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues are miraculous. All the rest, a word of wisdom (like the word of the apostles), a word of knowledge (like the word of the teachers), and speaking for God and speaking forth God in prophecy by the prophets, discerning of spirits, helps, and administrations are gifts developed by the growth in life (3:6-7), as those listed in Romans 12:6-8, out of the inward, initial gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:7. The miraculous gifts, especially speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues, do not require any growth in life. However, the gifts developed in life require growth in life, even maturity, for the building up of the church.
We need to be impressed with the fact that Paul puts the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge as the first two and tongues and the interpretation of tongues as the last two. This indicates that Paul regarded the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge more highly than tongues and the interpretation of tongues. We may say that the best gift is to speak for Christ and to speak forth Christ. The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are related to this kind of speaking. We encourage all the saints to seek the gift of speaking the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge and also the gift to speak for the Lord and the gift to speak forth the Lord. As children of God, we have the divine life, and with the divine life there is the gift of speaking. All the believers need to exercise this speaking gift.
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