1 Corinthians 12:6 Komentář

In this chapter the apostle, I. Considers the case of spiritual gifts, which were very plentifully poured out on the Corinthian church. He considers their original, that they are from God; their variety and use, that they were all intended for one and the same general end, the advancement of Christianity and the church's edification (Co1 12:1-11). II. He illustrates this by an allusion to a human body, in which all the members have a mutual relation and subserviency, and each has its proper place and use (Co1 12:12-26). III. He tells us that the church is the body of Christ, and the members are variously gifted for the benefit of the whole body, and each particular member (Co1 12:27-30). And them, IV. Closes with an exhortation to seek somewhat more beneficial than these gifts (Co1 12:31).

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 12 In this chapter the apostle discourses concerning spiritual gifts, showing the author, nature, use, and excellency of them; compares the church to an human body, and in a beautiful manner sets forth the symmetry and subserviency of the members of it to one another, being set in different places, and having different gifts; and enumerates the several offices and gifts in the church, and yet suggests there is something more excellent than them. He intimates, that spiritual gifts are valuable things, and should be taken notice of; nor would he have the saints ignorant of them, and therefore gives the following account, Co1 12:1 and yet he would not have those that have them be proud of them, and lifted up with them; for which reason he puts them in mind of their former state in Heathenism, to make and keep them humble, Co1 12:2 and points out such who have the Spirit of God, the author of all gifts and grace; not such who call Jesus accursed, but they that call him Lord, Co1 12:3 which Holy Ghost, who is called Spirit, Lord, and God, is the author of the different gifts bestowed upon men, Co1 12:4 the end of bestowing which gifts is the profit of others, Co1 12:7 of which gifts there is an enumeration in nine particulars, Co1 12:8 of each of which the Spirit of God is the worker and giver, according to his sovereign will and pleasure, Co1 12:11 and which are all for the good of the whole community; which is illustrated by the simile of an human body, which as it consists of many members, and is but one, so Christ mystical, or the church, though it consists of divers persons, yet they are all one in Christ, and all their gifts are for the service of each other, Co1 12:12 which unity is proved and confirmed by the saints being baptized by one Spirit into one body, the church, and by drinking of him, or partaking of the same grace, Co1 12:13 and in order to show the usefulness and profit of every spiritual gift, even the meanest, to the churches of Christ, and that none might be despised, he enlarges upon the metaphor of the human body he had compared the church to, and by it illustrates the unity of the church, and the members of it, Co1 12:14 and shows that the inferior members should not envy the superior ones, or be dejected because they have not the same gifts: and conclude from hence, that they are not, or deserve not, to be of the same body, Co1 12:15 seeing it is convenient and absolutely necessary that there should be many members, and these set in different places, and have different gifts and usefulness; and particularly what should make them easy is, that God has placed them according to his will and pleasure, Co1 12:17. And, on the other hand, he shows, that the more noble, and excellent, and useful members, ought not to despise the lower, meaner, and more ignoble ones, partly because of the usefulness and necessity of them, they cannot do without them, Co1 12:21 and partly because of the honour put upon them, Co1 12:23, and all this is so ordered, that there be no schism, but that there should be a mutual care of one member for another, and that they should sympathize with each other, Co1 12:25. This simile the apostle more plainly and particularly accommodates and applies to the church, the body of Christ, and the members of it, and of one another, Co1 12:27 and gives an enumeration of the several officers and offices in the church, set there by God himself; and there are no less than eight of them, some greater than others, most of them proper and peculiar to the primitive church, though some perpetual, and which still continue, Co1 12:28 but in the times in which they were all of them in being and use, every member of the church was not possessed of them, only some, though all had more or less the advantage of them, Co1 12:29. Wherefore, he concludes with an exhortation to the saints to covet the best of those gifts; and yet observes that there was something more excellent than them, and preferable to them, which he was about to show them, Co1 12:31 and hereby he makes an easy transition to the next chapter, in which he recommends charity, and prefers it to gifts.

And there are diversities of operations, There are some that are ordinary, as the good work of grace, and the several parts of it, the work of faith, the labour of love, and patience of hope, which the Spirit of God begins, carries on, and finishes in all the elect of God, and members of Christ; and there are others which are extraordinary, and are here meant, and hereafter specified. But it is the same God which worketh all in all. Interpreters in general understand by God here, God the Father; as by the Lord in the preceding verse, the Lord Jesus Christ, as distinct from the Spirit in Co1 12:4 and apprehend that this furnishes out a considerable proof of a trinity of persons in the Godhead, which I will not deny; but I rather think that the Holy Ghost is designed in each verse, by Spirit, Lord, and God; since the various gifts, administrations, and operations, are particularly and peculiarly ascribed to him in the following verses; and the distribution of them is said to be the effect of his sovereign will; and so we have a most illustrious testimony of his proper deity and personality; who is the only true "Jehovah" with the Father and Son, to which the word "Lord" in the New Testament generally answers, and who is the omnipotent God, "which worketh all in all"; all the works of nature throughout the universe, and all the, works of grace in the hearts of all his people, and all the extraordinary operations effected by any of them.

There is a fourfold meaning in the words that lie before us: There is the same Spirit in the varieties of the gifts. There is the same Lord in the varieties of ministries. There is the same God in these varieties. And there is a manifestation of the Spirit in the bestowal of what is profitable.

"And there are diversities of workings, but the same God who worketh all things in all." "And what," saith one, "is a working?" and what "a gift?" and what "a ministration?" They are mere differences of names, since the things are the same. For what "a gift" is, that is "a ministration," that he calls "an operation" also. Thus fulfil thy ministry; and, "I magnify my ministration:" and writing to Timothy, he says, "Therefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee." And again, writing to the Galatians, he said, "for he that wrought in Peter to the Apostleship, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles." Seest thou that he implies that there is no difference in the gifts of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost? Not confounding the Persons, God forbid! but declaring the equal honor of the Essence. For that which the Spirit bestows, this he saith that God also works; this, that the Son likewise ordains and grants. Yet surely if the one were inferior to the other, or the other to it, he would not have thus set it down nor would this have been his way of consoling the person who was vexed.

Paul is emphatic in asserting that the distribution of gifts is not to be attributed to human causes as if they were achievable by men. The varied gifts of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Lord Jesus are the work of one and the same God. The grace and the gift cannot be divided according to the persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit but must be understood as constituting the one work of the undivided unity and nature of the Three.

Let not, therefore, any one that works signs and wonders judge any one of the faithful who is not vouchsafed the same: for the gifts of God which are bestowed by Him through Christ are various; and one man receives one gift, and another another. For perhaps one has the word of wisdom, and another the word of knowledge; another, discerning of spirits; another, foreknowledge of things to come; another, the word of teaching; another, long-suffering; another, continence according to the law: for even Moses, the man of God, when he wrought signs in Egypt, did not exalt himself against his equals: and when he was called a god, he did not arrogantly despise his own prophet Aaron. Nor did Joshua the son of Nun, who was the leader of the people after him, though in the war with the Jebusites he had made the sun stand still over against Gibeon, and the moon over against the valley of Ajalon because the day was not long enough for their victory, insult over Phineas or Caleb. Nor did Samuel, who had done so many surprising things, disregard David the beloved of God: yet they were both prophets, and the one was high priest, and the other was king. And when there were only seven thousand holy men in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, Elijah alone among them, and his disciple Elisha, were workers of miracles. Yet neither did Elijah despise Obadiah the steward, who feared God, but wrought no signs; nor did Elisha despise his own disciple when he trembled at the enemies. Moreover, neither did the wise Daniel who was twice delivered from the mouths of the lions, nor the three children who were delivered from the furnace of fire, despise the rest of their fellow-Israelites: for they knew that they had not escaped these terrible miseries by their own might; but by the power of God did they both work miracles, and were delivered from miseries. Wherefore let none of you exalt himself against his brother, though he be a prophet, or though he be a worker of miracles: for if it happens that there be no longer an unbeliever, all the power of signs will thenceforwards be superfluous. For to be pious is from any one's good disposition; but to work wonders is from the power of Him that works them by us: the first of which respects ourselves; but the second respects God that works them, for the reasons which we have already mentioned.

Here He mentioned also the Father, Who produces operations in all believers. And behold for you the perfect Trinity. Now the gift, and the operation, and the ministry are one and the same thing, although they differ in names: for they are equally given by the Spirit, and by the Son, and by the Father. Notice also that he mentioned the Spirit first, and the Father last: this is for the sake of those who are too particular about order.

Then he mentions the distinctions of operations, saying: and there are varieties of working, by which one works the good in himself as by services to his neighbor; "Man goes forth to his work" (Ps 104:23), namely, proper to himself: "He distinguished them and appointed their different ways," i.e., operations (Sir 33:11). All of which come from one source. Hence he adds: But it is the same God who works all, as the first cause creating all actions. But lest the other causes seem to be superfluous, he adds: in every one, because the first cause works in secondary causes: "You have worked all our works in us" (Is 26:12). It should be noted that the Apostle very fittingly attributes things to the Spirit Who is love, because from love proceeds that someone is freely given the ministry from the Lord, to Whom He ministers works to God, as to the first moving cause. And that he says, "spirit," can be referred to the person of the Holy Spirit, what he calls Lord to the person of the Son, what he calls God to the person of the Father; or these three can be attributed to the Holy Spirit, Who is the Lord God.

The apostle proceeds to the question of the Corinthians concerning spiritual gifts, Co1 12:1. He calls to their remembrance their former state, and how they were brought out of it, Co1 12:2, Co1 12:3. Shows that there are diversities of gifts which proceed from the Spirit, Co1 12:4. Diversities of administrations which proceed from the Lord Jesus, Co1 12:5. And diversities of operations which proceed from God, Co1 12:6. What these gifts are, and how they are dispensed, Co1 12:7-11. Christ is the Head, and the Church his members; and this is pointed out under the similitude of the human body, Co1 12:12, Co1 12:13. The relation which the members of the body have to each other; and how necessary their mutual support, Co1 12:14-26. The members in the Church, or spiritual body, and their respective offices, Co1 12:27-30. We should earnestly covet the best gifts, Co1 12:31.

Diversities of operations - Ενεργηματων· Miraculous influences exerted on others; such as the expulsion of demons, inflicting extraordinary punishments, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas the sorcerer, etc., the healing of different diseases, raising the dead, etc.: all these proceeded from God the Father, as the fountain of all goodness and power, and the immediate dispenser of every good and perfect gift. In the three preceding verses we find more than an indirect reference to the doctrine of the sacred Trinity. Gifts are attributed to the Holy Spirit, Co1 12:4. Administrations to the Lord Jesus, Co1 12:5. Operations to God the Father, Co1 12:6. He who may think this fanciful must account for the very evident distinctions here in some more satisfactory way.

THE USE AND THE ABUSE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS, ESPECIALLY PROPHESYING AND TONGUES. (1Co. 12:1-31) spiritual gifts--the signs of the Spirit's continued efficacious presence in the Church, which is Christ's body, the complement of His incarnation, as the body is the complement of the head. By the love which pervades the whole, the gifts of the several members, forming reciprocal complements to each other, tend to the one object of perfecting the body of Christ. The ordinary and permanent gifts are comprehended together with the extraordinary, without distinction specified, as both alike flow from the divine indwelling Spirit of life. The extraordinary gifts, so far from making professors more peculiarly saints than in our day, did not always even prove that such persons were in a safe state at all (Mat 7:22). They were needed at first in the Church: (1) as a pledge to Christians themselves who had just passed over from Judaism or heathendom, that God was in the Church; (2) for the propagation of Christianity in the world; (3) for the edification of the Church. Now that we have the whole written New Testament (which they had not) and Christianity established as the result of the miracles, we need no further miracle to attest the truth. So the pillar of cloud which guided the Israelites was withdrawn when they were sufficiently assured of the Divine Presence, the manifestation of God's glory being thenceforward enclosed in the Most Holy Place [ARCHBISHOP WHATELY]. Paul sets forth in order: (1). The unity of the body (1Co. 12:1-27). (2). The variety of its members and functions (Co1 12:27-30). (3). The grand principle for the right exercise of the gifts, namely, love (Co1 12:31; Co1 13:1-13). (4) The comparison of the gifts with one another (1Co. 14:1-40). I would not have you ignorant--with all your boasts of "knowledge" at Corinth. If ignorant now, it will be your own fault, not mine (Co1 14:38).

operations--(Compare Co1 12:10). same God . . . worketh--by His Spirit working (Co1 12:11). all in all--all of them (the "gifts") in all the persons (who possess them).