In verse 7 Paul says, “But 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 means for the growth in life of the members of the Body of Christ and for the building up of Christ’s Body.
In verse 8 Paul goes on to say, “For 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.
It is not easy to differentiate the word of wisdom from the word of knowledge. According to 1 Corinthians, the word of wisdom is a word concerning Christ. If we would speak Christ, we need the word of wisdom. In chapters one and two Paul’s emphasis is that Christ is God’s wisdom and that this is the wisdom we speak. For this word of wisdom, we need revelation, not merely teaching. This means we need something shown to us by the Spirit in our spirit—we need a vision of Christ as the deep things of God. The word concerning Christ as the deep things of God is the word of wisdom. Primarily, this word is given by the apostles and prophets. They have seen a vision, a revelation, of Christ, and whatever they speak concerning Him is the word of wisdom.
The word of knowledge is a word concerning spiritual things, in particular a word regarding what God is and does. This word is mainly given by the teachers.
In verse 9 Paul says, “To a different one faith in the same Spirit.” The faith here is like the faith that can remove mountains, as mentioned in 13:2 and Mark 11:22-24.
In verse 9 Paul also speaks of “gifts of healing in the one Spirit.” These gifts are the miraculous power for healing different diseases.
In verse 10 Paul says, “And to another operations of works of power.” These works of power are miracles, works of miraculous power other than healing, such as 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.
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 (13:1), not meaningless voices or sounds. The genuine and proper speaking in tongues is one of the many gifts of the Spirit (v. 4), one of the many aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit (v. 7). Some say speaking in tongues is firstly the initial evidence of the baptism in the Spirit, but it afterward becomes a gift of the Spirit: as the initial evidence, they say that every believer must have it; as a gift, every believer does not necessarily have it. But 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 the believers have it.
The interpretation of tongues is to make the unknown tongues known, understandable (14:13). This is the ninth item of the manifestation of the Spirit listed here. However, the manifestation of the Spirit by the believers is of more than nine items. The apostleship, helps, and administrations by the Spirit listed in verse 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 all omitted here. The apostle here 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 (14:2-6, 18-19). Of these nine gifts and those listed in verses 28 through 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 are 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. The Corinthians did much speaking in tongues, yet they still remained in infancy (3:1-3). However, the gifts developed in life require growth in life, even maturity, for the building up of the church. It was for this purpose that this Epistle was written to them.
Sometimes those in Pentecostalism ask if we have the gifts of the Spirit in our meetings. Some saints, thinking that we do not have these gifts, may not know how to answer this question. But we have the best gifts, the topmost gifts, the “head” gifts rather than those at the “tail.” We have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. These gifts are the “head,” whereas tongue-speaking and interpretation of tongues are the “tail.” As we shall see, at least three times Paul mentions these gifts at the bottom of the list.
We have pointed out that in these verses Paul gives nine illustrations of the manifestation of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are unlimited. When we have the gifts, we have the manifestations; when we exercise the gifts, we have the ministries of the Lord; and then these ministries will accomplish the work of God to carry out His administration.