Sunday: Varieties of Gifts
Daily Lesson for Sunday 2nd of August 2026
In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul introduces a new topic with the formula “now concerning.” Scholars discuss whether he is talking about “spiritual gifts” or “spiritual people” because the Greek phrase tōn pneumatikōn allows both interpretations. “Spiritual gifts” is preferable in light of 1 Corinthians 12:4, where Paul clearly refers to spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12:2-3, Paul points out that the Spirit’s first gift is the bold confession that Jesus is Lord. In New Testament times, to say that Jesus is Lord is to say that Caesar is not (Acts 17:7; also John 19:12,15). This was seen as sedition against the imperial power and, hence, was punishable by death.
Image © Lars Justinen at Goodsalt.com
Jesus and Paul emphasized that faith in God—even in the face of persecution and the threat of death—is a gift of the Spirit. Actually, faith is the most basic gift. Not surprisingly, faith is first on the list in 1 Corinthians 13:13. That faith is a spiritual gift is clear by Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 12:9. However, there are many other gifts. The fact that the Holy Spirit distributes the different types of gifts “to each one individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11, NKJV) proves that all of them are necessary.
Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-6. What is the emphasis of this passage?
The repetition of “varieties” emphasizes the multiplicity of gifts. What Paul names as “spiritual gifts” in 1 Corinthians 12:1 is developed in verses 4–6, through three different angles: “gifts” (charisma), “services” or “ministries” (diakonia), and “activities” (energēma). Although these words mean different things, it is important not to draw a fine distinction between them because of the parallelism of the passage. One should also notice that the spiritual gifts are designed to promote unity based on the triune character of God (see also Ephesians 4:8-11). While the Spirit grants gifts to believers, it is God who empowers them to serve Christ in the community of believers (1 Corinthians 12:5-6). Each believer is granted gifts individually (1 Corinthians 12:11), but they all are to benefit the community of believers as a whole.
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Notice again Paul’s emphasis on unity. Why is this so important to the church? |
Every church member is valuable in the sight of God. He wants to enable each member to share in the building of His church. “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Spiritual gifts are not for just a few members but for each one of them. The spiritual gifts are diverse, and they should not be used for comparison. “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…” (Romans 12:3). Spiritual gifts create an opportunity for interdependence. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10). As a body of believers (the church), we should support each other with our varied gifts. No one should puff themselves up because their gift is superior. They should never be a source of division in the church but rather be a means of building it up. Unity in diversity.
It needs to be emphasised that the church should never be run by human efforts alone without involving the Holy Spirit. The moment we start thinking that we have all that it takes to run the church without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, chaos descends into the church. The church is a divine agency under human hands as God’s stewards. Therefore, we must use the God-given gifts to glorify God. The gifts are diverse, but the Giver is one. We must never allow gifts to become forms of idols. The devil is a spoiler of God’s good things. At all times we must seek guidance from the Giver on how to use our gifts. The Corinthian church is a sobering example where spiritual gifts were misused. Instead of building the church, they became a source of division, jealousy, rivalry, pride and disorder. Our prayer to God is to give us character to use our spiritual gifts faithfully, humbly, and lovingly for your glory and building up your church.
Before we discuss spiritual gifts, we need to establish that a church is a good idea. So often, we speak of spirituality and salvation in personal terms. We think of salvation as an individual’s relationship with Jesus. There is nothing wrong with that, provided we take it to the next step; the relationship must extend to others. And that is where “church” becomes important. By “church” I don’t mean the denominational church; I mean the church we attend weekly, where we interact with real people. Is that sort of church important?
Let’s look at a bit of technology. I remember the first spreadsheet program Visicalc. (It ran only on Apple II computers and that is what set up Apple to be the techno giant it is today) I was in love with spreadsheets from day 1. I recognised it as a game changer. With my mathematical background, I was used to matrices and knew the power of manipulating arrays of numbers to solve problems. The spreadsheet was like a church designed for numbers. We could do so much more with numbers collectively than we could individually. This was magic. I wish I had the space to discuss my use of spreadsheets for visualising electric fields – but that is getting too far away from the topic.
Working with numbers in a matrix allowed us to solve complicated or time-consuming problems. And that thought lies at the basis of the idea of church. In philosophy, we often talk about the Gestalt Principle, which in a nutshell says, “the sum is more than the parts”. Our Christianity must recognise that salvation is not just about getting ourselves across the line; it is about working together. 1 Corinthians 12 is essentially a description of applying the Gestalt idea to Christianity.
And it is also the reason why I keep quoting:
And in that matrix, spiritual gifts make a lot of sense.
Paul in the book of Corinthians paints a picture of a church where spiritual gifts operate in extraordinary diversity. Gifts like teaching, prophecy, healing, administration, mercy, tongues, helps, faith, and more. Far from trying to organise these into a tidy hierarchy, Paul insists they are all expressions of the same Spirit, distributed with intention, and necessary to the health of the whole. Gifts like mastery of the word produce biblically literate congregations. But they can become cold — intellectually rigorous without being relationally warm or spiritually alive. The gifts of mercy and healing rarely feature. People learn a great deal but don’t always encounter God.
Secondly some spritual gifts produce power in the church making congregations spiritually electric. However Paul. Insists that as much as such gifts make things happen. There is more expectation as without grounding of word gifts, spiritual experience can become unmoored from Scripture — and without the love gifts, the vulnerable and broken can sometimes fall through the cracks in the rush towards the spectacular. Finally Paul talks of love which makes the church warm, inclusive, and deeply pastoral. Love creates communities where people feel seen and cared for. But without word gifts, they can drift from theological clarity. Without power gifts, the supernatural work of the Spirit can feel quietly absent — nice people doing nice things, with little that would require God to be real.
Jon Tyson puts it well: “We need the tension of difference to be the beauty of unity.” The gifts are not given to a body that all looks and operates the same. They are given to a body of remarkable diversity, where every member brings something that the others cannot supply. The administrator makes space for the healer to operate. The one with the gift of mercy creates the relational safety in which prophecy can be received. The teacher grounds the community in truth so that spiritual experience can be tested and kept healthy. The giver releases resources that make hospitality possible on a scale that would otherwise be impossible. Each cluster needs the others. A healthy church is not one that has perfected a single expression — it is one that makes room for all three, values each equally, and keeps asking the question: what is missing here, and who among us carries the gift to supply it?
Notice again Paul’s emphasis on unity. Why is this so important to the church?
I want to answer this question in the blog which is the question at the bottom part of the Lesson today, after I had read and reflected from the Lesson.
For me, church members have different backgrounds, upbringing and had varied developed way of life. These will later be used by GOD to allow us develop certain “Spiritual gifts” in the process of our spiritual journey. With this, at times, would be the cause of misunderstandings and disagreements inside the church. So, Paul repeatedly emphasizes unity as a crucial relational value inside the church.
Unity will allow us to work harmoniously for a single goal -the edification of the church and for service to others. This also teaches us to exhibit teamwork in our endeavors in the church. Without which, we cannot be able to attain GOD’s desire for His people and we will end up getting hurt/offended and have each other’s way of doing the ministry. There will be no blessing from GOD and will eventually the church will dissolve.
Without unity we cannot worship God in Spirit & in Truth. Therefore our efforts to recruit others to the Kingdom will be a waste of time as they will not see a place where they can fit in a grow spiritually.
Spiritual gifts were given for the furtherance of the gospel and expansion of the kingdom of God. It’s a beautiful thing when the members of a church use their spiritual gifts for that purpose. It’s like listening to a well conducted orchestra. When they are not used properly, or in harmonywith each other, then it’s like an orchestra warming up and tuning their instruments. If you have ever experienced that you know it is hard on the ears.
The church must be careful not to discourage the growth and use of spiritual gifts by being overly critical without the love of God of her members spiritual gifts.
No gathering is strong enough without union. Especially when this union is based on peace and love! (Ephesians 4:2–3; Colossians 3:14).
If faith is a gift of the spirit and the spirit allots the gifts to various church members as it sees fit, does it follow that not all Christians are given the gift of faith, like not all are given the gift of healing or teaching?
And why is no one given the gift of healing these days? Several much loved pastors have died recently. Where were the church members with the gift of healing?
I was a little bit puzzled by that too. Though the lesson treats the faith in vs. 1 and the faith in vs. 9 as the same, I don’t think they can be. There is the faith that we exercise when we believe, which all of us have. Then there seems to be a special degree of faith that some people have as a spiritual gift.
Why is unity so important to the church? Throughout the last 2000 years, we enjoyed the blessing to know that our God is One, that He loves us and wants our best – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Eph.4:5-6
But the early churches did not know this Truth yet. The newly converted came from a background of Polytheism – ‘forming’ a god for every aspect of their lives -, finding their ‘unity and strength in the diversity of their gods’ called upon for their protection. To be taught by Paul to blieve in only one God who is able to sufficiently protect them, required a drastic cultural paradigm shift!
It might be for this reason that Paul needed to address the matter of individual spiritual gifts and ministries given to the church in such detail. The newly converted came from a background that did not acknowledge spiritual gifts vested in individuals for the benefit of the Ecclesia – each other.
How does one transition from a culture afraid of their gods, choosing many gods just to make sure that ‘all bases are covered’, even setting up a shrine for the ‘unknown god’, to believing in ONE God that truly loves them and is powerful enough to protect them in all their daily life’s circumstances?
Ultimately, it is the work of the Holy Spirit which gives us the proper understanding by transforming the heart and mind of the believer. It is through Him that true, spiritual unity is fostered within the Ecclesia through the faithful, spiritual communion of its members. Learning to trust the Holy Spirit takes place one faithful act at a time – Eph.4:11-16.
Thank u 4 all of your wonderful insight.