What is the purpose of spiritual gifts?

Second, the Spirit distributes the manifestations of the gifts to "every man" (vv. 7, 11). He entirely refuses to concentrate all His manifestations in one man or in a particular class of men. This rebukes that greatest of all disorders in Christendom — the setting apart of a special class of men for the ministry and thus dividing the professing people of God into clergy and laity. Scripture allows of no such distinction. Christendom in its practice contradicts God's order and says the manifestations of the Spirit are given to one man who presides over the Assembly. No, says the apostle, it is to every man in the Assembly.

Third, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man "to profit withal." 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 livelihood. It is given for profit — spiritual profit.

Now the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are expressed through men in the assembly of God. No one man possesses all. Occasionally one may possess many. More usually he possesses but one. But whether one or many what is possessed by each one is intended not for the sole benefit of the possessor but for the profit of all. The better rendering of verse 7 is "But to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit." (N. Tr.) The Corinthians were evidently acting rather like children; assuming that the spiritual gift conferred was something like a new toy, to be used and enjoyed for their personal pleasure and distinction. It was not; but rather a gift conferred on one member for the benefit of the whole body.

(V. 12). Having spoken of gifts, the Apostle now brings before us the three great objects for which the gifts have been given. They are given, first, for the perfecting of the saints, or the establishing of each individual believer in the truth. Secondly, they are given for the work of the ministry, which would include every form of service. Thirdly, they are given “for the edifying of the body of Christ”. The blessing of individuals and the work of the ministry have in view the edifying of the body of Christ. Every gift, whether it be evangelist, pastor or teacher, is only rightly exercised as the edification of the body of Christ is kept in view.

What is the great object of those diversities of gifts exercised by "that one and the self-same Spirit"? The 12th and 14th chapters of this Epistle show that they are exercised for the edification of the saints, for the express purpose of building up the church in the faith of God's elect.

There are diversities of gifts, "but the same Spirit," because although these gifts differ immensely in their character, yet they all come from the same source. God has to do with one as truly as another. There is an immense difference between the lesser and the greater gifts, but "the same Spirit;" and if I would respect the Spirit of God, I should respect the least gift that comes from Him. Then there is another thing which the Corinthians had forgotten (verse 5), "And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord." One cannot have a gift without being a servant; that is, one is not his own master in the use of the gift, but a servant of the Lord Jesus. This the Corinthians had forgotten. They were acting independently. Even the Holy Ghost Himself has deigned to take the place of a servant, and, having come down to that place, He lifts no one above it. This is the next great truth presented to us — not only diversities of gifts and the same Spirit, but differences of administrations, that is to say, of services, yet the same Lord. And, lastly, there were the results produced by these powers which wrought in subjection to the glory of the Lord Jesus. For if there were these differences or "diversities of operations" as they are called (verse 6), "it is the same God that worketh all in all." What an immense fact in a world of vain show!

If this was rather the general statement of divine power in the church of God, we come in the next place to its working in each individual. The apostle has been showing the common principle. There was the same Spirit, by whom all gifts were distributed, the same Lord, and the same God; but now he comes to the particular forms of the gift (verse 7): "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." It was not to display the individual himself, but for others' benefit. For these gifts to effect common good is the grand aim of all these workings of the Spirit of God in the church.

Besides these gifts for edification, there were sign gifts, such as that of tongues, which was "for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not" (1 Cor. 14:22). They were all of a supernatural kind, "the powers of the age to come," and were not meant for the professing Church, but for Jews and heathen, to whom the Lord thus "confirmed the word with signs following" (Mark 16:20). So the "great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord," "was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will" (Heb. 2:3-4). We see how effectually these signs wrought among the persons for whom they were intended. Thus when Æneas was cured of his palsy, "all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord" (Acts 9:35); and when Dorcas was raised from the dead, "it was known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord" (Acts 9:42). The object of these sign gifts, therefore, shows their temporary character. They were early abused, and if perpetuated in a Church in ruins, their abuse might have led to fearful consequences. Having answered their immediate purpose, they were mercifully withdrawn, and no hint is given of their revival. The only signs and miracles spoken of in the future have a very different origin from those of the early Church.

First of all, the gifts () here enumerated are in view of the perfecting of the saints, which is the great primary object, branching out into the work of the ministry, and the edifying the body of Christ, as connected with it. Now, there, at once, may be discerned the key, or divine reason for presenting here certain gifts and not others. Here we have nothing, for instance, about speaking in a tongue; neither have we any mention of miracles. Why so? What have they to do with the perfecting the saints? The reason seems to me clear and adequate. Those gifts for signs were of all consequence in their place; but how could a tongue or a miracle perfect a saint? We see, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, that, instead of perfecting, they on the contrary became a very great snare for the saints. No doubt the Corinthians were carnal, and therefore they were like children amused with a new toy -with that which was, indeed, an engine of power. And we know how great a danger this is, just in proportion to our unspirituality. We have the very solemn lesson, that even the greatest powers and most astounding manifestations of the Holy Ghost in man cannot give spirituality, and do not minister to the edification of the saints necessarily in any way; but, if there be a carnal mind, they become a positive means of the soul exalting itself, turning away from the Lord, losing its balance, and bringing discredit upon that which bears the name of Christ on the earth. In this Epistle, however, God is occupied with His counsels of grace in Christ for the church, beginning primarily with the saints as such. He always takes up the question of individuals before He deals with the church. And how blessed and wise is this! He does not begin with the body of Christ, and then end with the perfection of the saints. This would be, very likely, our thought, but it is very far from His. He first puts forward the perfecting of the saints, and then shows us the work of the ministry, and the edifying the body of Christ Thus, the true explanation of the passage is, that it is the development of Christ's love to the Church. His eye is fixed upon the blessing of souls. It is Christ not only gathering in, but building up-causing them to grow up to Him in all things. Accordingly, He gives the gifts which are of grace suited to this end. "He gave some apostles and some prophets."

The Lord Jesus has, then, received these gifts as Himself a man, and has given them to men, for the effectuating the work of the gospel and of the Church; those therefore who have received these gifts must needs turn them to their full profit, according to God, to Will souls, to edify Christians, and to glorify their Lord and heavenly Master. In Ephesians 4 we have seen the gifts of edification represented as being trusts made here below by Christ Himself ascended up on high, while the members of His body upon the earth are being gathered, and while, by means of an activity which acts the one upon the other, the body grows, and is at the same time kept from every wind of doctrine, until it come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

A very complete presentation of the character of all true service is found in this scripture. Its various features may be briefly indicated. We learn, first, that "the gift" is received from God, and consequently that His people are as stewards responsible to Him for its use. Grace bestows the gift, and the exercise of it is to be an expression of grace. It should be remarked in this connection that the gifts of which Peter speaks are more general than those which Christ, as the ascended Head, "gave … unto men." (Ephesians 4:8‑11.) This may be seen from verse 10, and it seems to point to the fact that all believers, as in Romans 12:4‑8, have some special function, some distinct place to fill, or some service to be rendered. Then, secondly, passing by for the moment the first example given, the "ability," or rather the strength, for the service is also divinely given. Human energy and natural abilities have therefore no place in the Lord's service nor in any thing to which we are called of God. Thirdly, the object to be kept in view is, "that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." The source of the gift, as well as the object of its exercise, is God Himself, while the strength to meet our responsibility as stewards is also given to us of God. How completely therefore man is displaced in our path as servants. The time is coming when God will be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28.) It is our privilege to anticipate this time while serving down here according to His will. Moreover, if called upon to "speak," we are to speak as oracles (not the oracles) of God; that is, as those who have learnt His mind, and hence as channels for the expression of His thoughts and not of our own; for "he that speaketh of himself (from himself, originating his own thoughts) seeketh his own glory," and thus could not have the end before his soul that God in all things might be glorified.

Then, thirdly, the object of our assembly is edification. This is the point pressed in 1 Corinthians 14. In 1 Corinthians 12 we have the body of Christ in subjection to Him as Lord, and the witness here of His Lordship, by virtue of the indwelling and inworking of the Holy Ghost, who divides to every man severally as He will; closing with the catalogue of gifts, apostles, prophets, etc., set of God in the church in their several places of use, or service, for the whole. To covet earnestly the best gifts is enjoined, but a more excellent way referred to, namely, the charity, or love, of 1 Corinthians 13, without which the most splendid gifts are nothing, and which must regulate the exercise of all gifts if edification is to be the result. This latter is the subject of 1 Corinthians 14. The gift of tongues was what seemed to man the most wonderful, and the Corinthians delighted in displaying it. Instead of love seeking the edification of all, it was vanity seeking to display its gifts. They were real gifts — gifts of the Spirit. And here, beloved brethren, is the solemn thing for us to weigh, that there may be the power of the Spirit for service, without the living guidance of the Spirit in its exercise. The latter there can only be where self is crucified, and Christ everything to the soul. The object of the Holy Spirit is not to glorify the poor earthen vessel which contains His gifts; but by the humble, gracious, self-renouncing use of these gifts to glorify Christ from whom they flow; and this is accomplished in the edification of the whole body.