But to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit.
The Corinthians treated their gifts as their own property, so Paul points them to why the gifts were given at all. Two questions follow: what does "manifestation" mean, and who is meant to benefit?
One writer explains what the word means, and why the Spirit needs it:
What are we to understand by "the manifestation of the Spirit"? To manifest is to make the presence of the Spirit plain and clear to others. What is hidden is not manifest. The Holy Spirit Himself is here in this world in an invisible form. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, was manifest in flesh. He was seen by angels, as well as men... but the Holy Spirit did not take a body of flesh, so His presence and His action stay hidden for the most part. The manifestation of the Spirit is through the members of the body of Christ.
So a gift stays private until someone uses it. The same writer shows how that happens:
Take the first example given. A certain man has the word of wisdom; there it is in his soul... The Spirit has given it to him, and he enjoys it himself. But the rest of the assembly knows nothing of it, until the Holy Spirit leads that person to use the word of wisdom for the comfort and well-being of his fellow members. Then the action of the Holy Spirit is made manifest.
One writer, quoting an older translation's "every man" where the ESV has "to each," sees here a challenge to the way many churches organise ministry:
The Spirit gives the manifestations of the gifts to "every man." He refuses to gather all His manifestations into one man, or into one particular class of men. This rebukes the greatest of all disorders in Christendom: setting apart a special class of men for the ministry. That splits the professing people of God into clergy and laity. Scripture allows no such distinction... No, says the apostle, it is to every man in the Assembly.
Nobody is exempt, and nobody holds everything:
Every true Christian has been given something for service in the body, perhaps only a little wisdom. Everybody has something for service to the body, like a hand or a foot or an eye. But not everybody has a prominent gift, like a pastor or an evangelist.
One writer names what the Corinthians were doing with their gifts:
The Corinthians were acting much like children. They treated the spiritual gift they had been given as a new toy, to use and enjoy for their own pleasure and standing. It was not that. It was a gift given to one member for the benefit of the whole body.
The profit meant is a particular kind:
It is given in view of the common good. It is not given for the exaltation or prominence of the individual, for obtaining personal influence or gain, or as a means of living. It is given for profit — spiritual profit.
Some have read the verse as the Spirit's work inside a person to save him. One commentator rejects that:
It pains me to have to reject an idea some hold, an idea so opposed to the grace of God: that this verse is about the work of the Spirit in a man for his own salvation. The question here is the Spirit's manifestations in the church, and their purpose was the common good.
The same writer marks out who "each" covers, and what counts as a manifestation:
Here the apostle is speaking strictly of the church. To each one inside it the manifestation of the Spirit is given, and it is given with a view to the common good, not for personal influence or display... It is not a question of miracles only, as the very first examples (the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge) prove. Nor is it a sign to unbelievers. It is for the profit of believers.
Because the gift was aimed at others from the start, holding it creates an obligation:
It is in a practical interest, and in the interest of all, that the Spirit manifests Himself. So the responsibility of everyone who has any gift at all is that by this he is made a debtor to others, for whose profit the gift is given. He is not his own in this sense. He belongs to those among whom God has given him his place.
That obligation also carries its own authorisation:
The very fact that he had it made him responsible to use it — responsible to Him who did not give it for nothing. The gift itself carried both the ability to serve and the right to serve, for I am bound to help and serve with what I have. And if souls are helped, they hardly need to ask whether I had official permission to do it.
- Hidden. The Spirit is here, but unseen. He took no body of flesh, so He makes His presence plain through the members of the body of Christ.
- Given. A gift stays silent until someone uses it. The word of wisdom sits unknown in a man's soul until the Spirit leads him to speak it for others.
- Given to each. The Spirit refuses to pour all His manifestations into one man or one class. Every Christian has something, though not everyone has a prominent gift.
- Given for profit. A gift is not a toy for personal pleasure, influence or display. It goes to one member for the good of the whole body.
- Given, therefore owed. Whoever holds a gift is bound to serve others with it. The gift itself supplies both the ability and the right to use it.
For to one, by the Spirit, is given [the] word of wisdom; and to another [the] word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and to a different one faith, in [the power of] the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healing in [the power of] the same Spirit;
Paul is listing the gifts the Spirit gives to different members of one body. Here he names two: faith, and healings. That raises a question. Every Christian believes, so what faith does the Spirit give to one believer and not to another?
Commentators rule out one meaning first. This faith is not the faith that saves, because every believer has that.
The faith here is not simple faith in the gospel. That is not a special gift which one believer may have and another may not. This is clear. It is the faith, the energy, that God gives. It overcomes difficulties. It rises above dangers. It faces them and is not alarmed by them.
Another writer describes what that energy does. It is a grip on God that holds when everything is against you.
Faith is the power to take hold of God, to take hold of His word, and to count on Him in the face of every difficulty and every enemy. God the Spirit gives this faith to some. We are all believers, but not every believer has the faith Paul speaks of here. It is the faith that removes mountains. It is the faith that stands against Satan and puts out his flaming arrows. It is the faith that always wins. It is the faith that walks even on the waves of the sea.
Scripture also speaks of faith for one particular thing. That is where this gift meets prayer, and where people misuse it.
Scripture recognises specific faith about a specific thing. One of the people who received a miracle had faith to be healed (Acts 14:9). And 1 Corinthians 12:9 plainly teaches that there is a distinct spiritual gift of faith, which some have and some do not. Perhaps this is the special faith the Lord means when He says, "whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24). Real, God-given faith is meant here, not mystical or imagined faith. Many have probably tried this promise as an experiment, only to be disappointed. But God does not give His promises and the power of His Spirit to be tested out of curiosity, or used to serve private ends.
Paul names the Spirit again with each gift. One writer asks why. (He quotes an older translation; the ESV reads "by the one Spirit" the second time.)
Then he says, "to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit." Why does this varied list repeat the words "by the same Spirit"? Because we so easily approve only of the one gift that pleases us, and forget how varied the Holy Spirit's work is.
The gifts of healing were real. Still, no one who had them could use them at will.
No one could use the gift of healing, or gifts like it, whenever he chose. These gifts appeared only at the right time, and they worked only by the direct will of God. Power is His, and always in His hands. When Trophimus was sick, Paul's wish could not restore him. Yet the believer can come to the Lord in prayer and claim His power. In time of need we must seek refuge not in God's gifts, but in the faithfulness of the Giver.
The same limit shows in the apostles' own lives. It also shows what the miracles were for.
It is worth noticing that the disciples never did miracles to save themselves from suffering, or to heal their friends when they were ill. Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus. It was only God's mercy that healed Epaphroditus. The miracles the apostles did confirmed the testimony, and Christ glorified with the Father was the subject and source of that testimony.
The wording of the verse settles a claim often made today.
Some teach that every believer who receives the baptism of the Spirit shows it by speaking in tongues. But that is not what Scripture teaches. 1 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, "to another [not to ALL] gifts of healing by the one Spirit … to another [not to ALL] various kinds of tongues."
- One Spirit — Paul repeats "by the same Spirit" because we prize only the gift that appeals to us and forget how varied His work is.
- One faith, two meanings — this is not the faith that saves, which all believers share. It is an energy that rises above danger and difficulty.
- One recipient at a time — "to another" is not "to all"; no gift on this list is the mark of every Spirit-filled Christian.
- One hand on the switch — healing was never the healer's to command. Paul left Trophimus sick, and his wish could not heal him.
- One refuge — when need comes, the resort is not to God's gifts but to the faithfulness of the Giver.
and to another operations of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; and to a different one kinds of tongues; and to another interpretation of tongues.
Five more gifts of the Spirit appear in this verse: miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues and their interpretation. Each raises the same questions: what did the gift do, why is it placed here, and who received it?
The words translated "the working of miracles" mean, more exactly, powers in action. They cover more ground than the healings just named.
Another might have "operations of powers." The Rheims and King James Versions wrongly render this as "the working of miracles." These were not "healings." They were power over material things, or over spiritual beings, as promised in Mark 16:17-18 and shown in the Acts of the Apostles.
Prophecy is easy to mistake for prediction. Its main work reaches the conscience, and one writer holds that in this sense the gift continues.
Thinking of the Old Testament prophets, we may limit prophecy to foretelling future events. But that was only a small part of the prophet's work, even in Old Testament days. His great mission was to apply the word of God to the conscience and heart, to build people up. This is still the prophet's service in Christian times, and in this sense the gift continues.
Other ministry builds people up without being prophecy. The difference lies in what prophecy does to the conscience.
A man surely builds others up when he strengthens souls by holding up Christ and making His love better known. So does the man who exhorts or teaches well. But none of these things is prophesying. Prophesying is that character of truth which puts a man's conscience in the presence of God. It gives the soul the certainty that His mind is in what is spoken. It strips and lays bare thoughts, motives, feelings, everything.
This gift did not show whether a person was truly converted. It tested the source behind what was being said.
This gift is not about discerning whether or not people were Christians. It is about discerning whether the spirit by which they spoke was of God or of Satan.
The gift met a real danger in the early church.
This was one of the gifts in the early church, needed for "testing the spirits," because even then many false prophets had gone out into the world. 1 Cor. 12:10; 1 John 4:1-3. This gift was especially necessary at the time when the word of God was not fully written.
Tongues and interpretation are two gifts, not one, and they go to two different people.
The deliberate distribution of these gifts stands out in the last two. "Kinds of tongues" means a variety of languages the speaker never learned. It is set apart from "interpretation of tongues," which is given to another, though 1 Corinthians 14:13 suggests how desirable it is for the two to go together.
Tongues stand at the end of the list. That placement is deliberate.
Tongues, and the interpretation of tongues that completes them, come at the close of this list. That shows their relative importance from God's point of view. The primary gifts are always those that develop the church in love and faith and the knowledge of Christ. Scripture, on the other hand, always places the sign-gifts lowest on the scale, though people tend to value them differently and far too highly.
Tongues were a sign aimed at unbelievers. That shaped the rule for using them when the church gathered.
1 Corinthians 14 makes it clear that the gift of tongues was not only miraculous. It was also a sign to unbelievers, unlike prophesying, which was expressly for building people up. So it was forbidden to speak "in a tongue" in the Christian assembly, unless someone there could interpret the unknown language for the profit of the saints. The sign-gifts are the ones the Holy Spirit has seen good to withdraw. He still grants all the others that are needed for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for building up the body of Christ.
Taken together, these writers hold that the sign-gifts were withdrawn. Prophecy remains, because it applies God's word to the conscience.
The repeated phrase in the verse is small but decisive. It is "to another," never "to all."
It is taught that every believer who receives the baptism of the Spirit shows it by speaking with tongues. But that is not the teaching of Scripture. 1 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, "to another [not to ALL] gifts of healing by the one Spirit… to another [not to ALL] various kinds of tongues."
- One Spirit. Miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation are not five sources. They are five gifts from the one Spirit.
- Power. "Working of miracles" is more exactly "operations of powers." It means power over material things and over spiritual beings, and it reaches wider than healing.
- Conscience. Prophecy is not mainly about foretelling. It applies God's word, so the soul knows it stands in His presence.
- Protection. Discerning of spirits judged the source behind what was said, not whether the speaker was a Christian. It mattered most before the word of God was fully written.
- Last for a reason. Tongues sit at the end of the list. Without an interpreter they were barred from the assembly, because a sign is for unbelievers and building up the saints matters more.