And God has set certain in the assembly first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miraculous powers; then gifts of healings; helps; governments; kinds of tongues.
Paul has just told the Corinthians that they are the body of Christ. Now he names the people God placed in that body, and he numbers them in order. Two questions press on this verse. Who has the right to appoint anyone to serve? And why is one gift ranked above another?
Everything turns on who does the appointing. One writer builds his whole case on the subject of that sentence. (An older translation reads "God has set some in the church," where the ESV reads "God has appointed in the church.")
The word of God has settled the question. "God," says the Scripture — note it well: God, and not man — God "has set some in the church; first apostles, second prophets, third teachers." Well then! Let it be God, and not man, who appoints them, and we shall be content.
God places the servant. So what part is left to the church, and where does a servant's authority come from?
The church may be the sphere where the gifts are exercised, but never the source of the authority, any more than of the power — both come from Christ. It is He who gives the commission, He who sends labourers to sow or reap... There is therefore no real ministry according to God without a gift in the word; and where such a gift is exercised, that is ministry.
The counting — first, second, third — is deliberate, and it lands hardest at the end of the list.
The gifts are placed here in the order of their value — numbered 1, 2, 3 — for a reason. The Corinthians were very full of their sign-gifts. They were very taken up with the man who had power to speak with tongues and the like. And they valued very little these other gifts, which were of far deeper importance and value for building up. The Lord comes in and puts things in their true place. He estimates the gifts at their real worth before Him, as made known by Him, and He puts "tongues" last.
So which church did God set them in? One writer answers from the wording itself:
"God set some in the church," not in a church. Viewed as separate churches, apostles could be in only a few of them. There were none in the church at Corinth when Paul wrote.
Yet the list does not describe heaven either. The lower items show where this church is:
It is clear here that it is not a question of heaven, but of earth, of the church; for in heaven there are no healings, no helps.
Commentators differ on how narrowly to read these two words. One takes them as the abilities behind recognised service:
Many take "helps" and "governments" to be the gifts needed for the offices of deacon and elder, in that order.
Another writer reads "helps" as a wide word on purpose, and finds a reason for the vagueness:
Why is a term covering such varied service used here as the name of one particular gift? We may well assume that the ambiguity is intentional. It was meant to encourage those who, with hearts true to Christ, are still small in their own eyes, and unaware of the qualities that win distinction in the sight of men. To such people it is a gift to be reminded that God's work has need of helpers, and that no work of love is without its effect in building up the body of Christ.
The first-named gifts had a task with an end point.
The apostles were persons given to the church. They had no successors. They were given for one definite purpose: to lay the foundation of the church. They passed away when this work was done. No others joined their number, because their particular service did not continue. The prophets of the church were gifted to communicate the mind of God about the truths and blessings that follow the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The teachers follow these two. They explained to God's people the instructions given to the early church through the higher gifts, and they explained the Old Testament scriptures in the light of the New.
The questions in the next two verses all expect the answer no. They expose what the Corinthians wanted:
All cannot be apostles, prophets, leaders, workers of miracles, and so on. God does not give all these different gifts to one individual. He distributes them as it pleases Him, to each member as He sees fit. The Corinthians in their puffed-up condition had a selfish ambition to have all these gifts concentrated in every member.
- God set. God appoints His servants. Man does not.
- God set gifts. Real ministry means using a gift from the Lord. The church is the place for it, never the source of its authority.
- God set an order. The numbering is a correction — what Corinth prized most, tongues, He lists last.
- God set them in the church. Not in one congregation and not in heaven; helps and healings only make sense on earth.
- God set some. Some, not all, and never all in one person. God's work needs helpers, and even the most gifted still need others.
[Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all [in possession of] miraculous powers?
Paul has just listed the gifts God set in the church, and now he turns the list into a string of questions. Each one asks whether every believer holds a given place, and the way he asks already gives the answer.
Paul never stops to answer his own questions. One writer explains why:
At the end of the chapter (vv. 29 and 30) Paul raises many questions. He gives no answer, because the answer is so obvious. "Are all apostles?" he asks. No. "Are all prophets?" No. "Do all speak with tongues?" Again, no. Are all Christians members of Christ's body by baptism of the Spirit? Yes. Do all the members speak with tongues? No.
The point of the questions is how God hands out gifts. They are spread across the members, and no single member holds the whole set:
Notice too how, in verses 29, 30, the apostle's questions assume that gifts are distributed among the members of Christ, and not concentrated either in one or in all. Neither do all have the same functions, nor does any one have all the functions which are expressly said to be distributed to each of the many members, to this one, and to that another.
That cut across what the Corinthians wanted:
Verses 29-30 show another important principle. All cannot be apostles, prophets, leaders, workers of miracles, and so on. God does not give all these different gifts to one individual. They are distributed as it pleases Him, to each member as He sees fit. Ministry in the body of Christ is the exercise of a gift. The Corinthians in their puffed-up condition had a selfish ambition to have all these gifts concentrated in every member.
The questions also work as a restraint. Freedom in the assembly is not a licence to take up any role you please:
The questions here match, in principle, the ones already asked about the natural body. Their clear aim is to check self-confident presumption, which might look for a chance to make a false display under cover of the general teaching of spiritual liberty. The Spirit does fill the whole body, but He gives out His gifts to each in a particular way. Freedom to act reaches only as far as the power God gives to act.
One writer applies this to what happens when the church meets:
There are functions in the church, and the Master appoints people to them as He pleases… In the church of God there are special places of service. "Are all apostles?" Anyone who thinks that being a fellow believer leaves him free to take up any function in the assembly is seriously mistaken.
If not every believer holds these places, who decides who does? Not the congregation:
But it is the Lord who calls, not the church. The church may be the place where the gifts are used. It is never the source of the authority, any more than of the power. Both come from Christ. He gives the mission. He sends workers out to sow or reap… The Lord equips the servant He calls for the work He gives him to do. Scripture, and this chapter above all, shows that ministry is the use of a gift from the Lord for a set purpose.
This verse rules out two opposite errors. One is wanting every gift in every member. The other is handing all public ministry to one appointed man:
The Corinthians were foolish to want every gift in every believer. The modern theory that claims all public ministry for one official is no better. The first was ignorant vanity, at a time before the truth stood written down in full. The second is a more guilty presumption, since it stands in the presence of God's acknowledged word, which condemns every departure from His principles.
This truth touches two kinds of people: the member who feels small, and the member who feels large:
Let us be thankful for the grace that has given us any place at all. Let us carry out with zeal the functions God has given us in the body of Christ. But let us value every other member and make the most of them — not least those whose place is completely different from our own. Let disdain be as far from us as discontent.
The same questions settle a common claim about tongues:
Many believe that unless someone can speak with tongues he has not received the Holy Spirit… The apostle Paul's questions in 1 Cor. 12:29-30 prove that not everyone spoke with tongues. Every member in the body of Christ has a place and a service. But members do not all have the same gifts, however useful they are… And note this well: the apostle is speaking to people who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit.
- Ask. Paul's questions need no answer; the plain reply to each is No.
- Answer. God spreads the gifts among many members. No one holds them all, and no one gift belongs to everyone.
- Source. The Lord calls and equips. The church is where a gift is used, not where the authority comes from.
- Restraint. Your liberty reaches only as far as the gift God gave you. Being a believer does not qualify you for every role.
- Result. Take this to heart, and both discontent with your own place and disdain for another's fall away.
have all gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
Paul ends his list of gifts with a burst of questions, and every one of them expects the same answer. The real issue is not what the Corinthians lacked, but who decides who receives which gift.
Paul leaves the questions unanswered. One writer supplies the silent "no", and marks the line between what every Christian has and what only some receive.
At the end of the chapter (vv. 29 and 30) Paul asks many questions. He gives no answer, because the answer is so obvious. "Are all apostles?" he asks. Clearly, No. "Are all prophets?" No. "Do all speak with tongues?" Just as clearly, No. Are all Christians members of Christ's body by baptism of the Spirit? Yes. Do all the members speak with tongues? No.
Another writer points out that the questions would be pointless unless the answer were already plain to everyone reading them.
There would be no meaning in these questions if the fact had not been self-evident, that such places in the body were filled by but a few.
The questions have a target: an attitude that uses spiritual freedom as cover for showing off. Each real gift also carries its own evidence.
Their clear aim is to check the rise of fleshly pride, which might look for a chance at a false display under cover of the general teaching of spiritual liberty. The Spirit does indeed fill the whole body, but He gives His gifts to particular people, and freedom to act must stay within the measure of power He supplies. An apostle has his "signs." A prophet has his witness in the hearts of those who hear him. A teacher is approved or discredited by the word he claims to explain. And so with the rest. What God really gives, He also makes work.
Behind the questions stands a choice the church never made. One writer names the ambition in Corinth that Paul is answering.
All cannot be apostles, prophets, leaders, workers of miracles, etc. God does not give all these different gifts to one person. He hands them out as He pleases, to each member as He sees fit. Ministry in the body of Christ is the use of a gift. The Corinthians were puffed up, and they had a selfish ambition to see all these gifts gathered in every member.
The same arranging hand reaches from the top of the list to the bottom of it.
This shows us how fully the truth stands: God, not man, arranged the assembly and the place each one holds in it. The same principle runs from the highest to the lowest, from apostles down to the least gift that shows the Spirit at work in it.
One writer traces where this gift appeared and where it did not.
The One who confused human speech at Babel was able to give some in Jerusalem the power to speak languages they had never learned, and He did so. We say some, because even in the days of the apostles not all Christians shared in this display of the Spirit... At Corinth, where some had that power, it seems that not all did. At Philippi, Rome, Thessalonica and in Galatia we read of no convert receiving it. Paul himself spoke with tongues more than any of the Corinthians. He needed it for his work, and he tells us the purpose of it was to impress and to attract unbelievers.
Tongues and interpretation come last in Paul's list. One writer draws out what that order says about what to desire, and about tongues today.
They did not all have all the gifts he mentions, but he urges them to desire the greater ones. "Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts." The greater gifts were not miracles and tongues, but apostles, prophets and teachers. God gave these to establish the church in the great truths of its heavenly calling and its link with Christ on high. And since apostles and prophets have not remained to this day, we are not entitled to expect the miracles and tongues named in the same list to continue.
The gift of interpretation named here exists for the same reason as every other one.
"The interpretation of tongues" means explaining what at least some people did not understand... Let us remember that every gift has in view the blessing of the body of Christ, and not merely the blessing of the person who has the gift.
- The question — Paul asks if all heal, all speak in tongues, all interpret. He gives no answer, because the answer is plain: no.
- The Giver — God decides who gets what. He never loads every gift onto one person, however much ambition may want it.
- The check — the questions curb showing off. Freedom to act reaches only as far as the power God supplies.
- The reach — every gift looks outward. Interpretation clears up what others miss, and tongues were meant to attract unbelievers. No gift is for its owner alone.
- The result — no member holds everything, so no member stands alone. Desire the greater gifts, the ones that build up the church.
But desire earnestly the greater gifts, and yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence.
The chapter has just listed the gifts the Spirit gives out, and asked whether all are apostles, all prophets, all speakers in tongues. The answer is no, and then comes this verse: a call to want something, and a promise of something better.
The older translation "covet" makes the command sound close to a sin. The Greek word is a different one. Elsewhere Scripture uses it for zeal, not greed.
In 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 1 Corinthians 14:39, the word is ζηλόω. It is quite different from the coveting that Scripture condemns. Revelation 3:19 translates it "be zealous." The passages in Corinthians can be translated the same way, or as "desire earnestly" the best gifts, and "desire earnestly" to prophesy.
The verse ranks gifts. Some are greater, and Paul's own letter says which ones and why.
We are to desire earnestly the better, or greater, gifts — gifts such as prophesying or teaching. The opening verses of 1 Corinthians 14 make this clear. These are better because they bring wider and more general profit. Each person receives his gift for the profit of all.
People often quote this verse to encourage a hunt for tongues. But tongues is not one of the gifts the apostle tells them to desire.
A reading of the Scriptures will show that "tongues" is one of those gifts they were not told to desire earnestly. As a gift, the apostle counts it one of the least, and he places it last in his list (1 Corinthians 12:28). On the other hand, he urges them to desire to prophesy. Prophecy built up and comforted the church, while tongues were only a sign to unbelievers.
Commentators differ over whether the command is to the individual or to the whole gathering.
I think this exhortation may be taken in two ways. Sometimes people take it to mean that a person may hold a holy ambition for some great gift in the church. No doubt this view is right, though very few such ambitions come true. But does not the apostle mean more than this? Does he not mean that all believers should want God to work among them by the greater gifts, the gifts that build others up?
Either way, one motive is wrong. A desire for gift that measures itself against other people has already missed the point.
This does not mean that each person should desire a gift to outshine others. Rather, the assembly was to desire earnestly that the best gifts be used in a godly way among them. But chapter 14:12 gives the rule for desiring gifts: seek to excel at building up the church. Gift is given for the good of others, not for my own satisfaction.
Some read the second half of the verse as a method for getting those gifts. It is something else.
At the same time the saints are encouraged to desire earnestly the greater gifts, but these were for edification, not for show. And yet he points out to them a way of far greater excellence. It is surely not just a way, however good, to get these gifts, as some suppose. It is a way for souls to feel and think, to walk and worship, beyond all gifts. It is the way of love, which he opens out in the next chapter.
The reason love surpasses gift is not that gift is small. It is a difference in what each one displays of God.
Still, there was something more excellent than all gifts. The gifts were displays of the power of God and of the mysteries of His wisdom. Love was the display of His nature itself.
Not everyone receives the gift they ask for, so the first half of the verse leaves many people wanting. The second half leaves no one out.
We are told to "earnestly desire the higher gifts," and yet, "I will show you a still more excellent way." What is that way? To love one another. It may take talents and gifts to preach or teach. It may take a large income to give much to the Lord's work. But anyone can love with a full heart, even if head and pocket are both empty.
None of this is a reason to think less of gift. The verse holds both halves together.
We should covet earnestly the best gifts, but we should also remember the "more excellent way," even the way of love that ever hides itself and seeks only the profit of others. It is not that we value gifts less, but we value love more.
- Desire — the word behind "covet" means zeal, not greed. Scripture commands this desire; it does not condemn it.
- Rank — the "best" gifts build others up, like prophecy and teaching. Tongues comes last on the apostle's list.
- Aim — a right desire aims at building others up, not at rivalry. A gift is for the good of others, never for personal satisfaction.
- Beyond — the more excellent way is not a method for getting gifts. It is a way of feeling, thinking, walking and worshipping that goes past them all.
- Reach — gifts show God's power; love shows His nature. So the greatest thing is open even to a believer with no gift and no money.