Let us turn to 1 Cor 12:7-10.
Let me try to briefly explain the different gifts that Paul mentions here in these verses against the background of the entire context of 1 Cor. 12 to chapter 14.
Without the cocoon of the loving community between believers in the congregation (or “ekklesia” as it stands in Greek), the gifts of the Spirit cannot truly come to their full potential as God intended. (Please read 1 Cor. 13 in this context.)
The first few verses of 1 Corinthians 12 further explain that we are dealing with “gifts” or gifts that God the Son, through the operation of the Spirit of God, gives to His people.
This is important to understand because a gift is not something you can boast about as if it were your achievement.
I always use the image of a fruit tree planted and rooted in the right soil to represent a Christian’s life in Christ. If we are rooted in Christ and His Spirit in us is in control of our life, we will see the “fruit of the Spirit” in our life, of which Gal. 5:16 to 26 speaks.
The “gifts of the Spirit” are like different kinds of lights that God the Son, as Baptizer with the Spirit, Himself hangs in our lives when He wants to do so.
It is not meant to be a permanent part of our lives. He wants and can, when He wants, let that gift or gifts flow to serve someone with it as and how He wants.
Therefore, I further compare the flow of the gifts to you and me being like a garden hose that must remain connected to the faucet, namely Christ Jesus.
As long as we are connected to the faucet, He can turn on the faucet whenever He wants, and He can let whatever He wants flow through us to others.
We just need to be sensitive to His voice to be where He wants us to be (as the tip of the garden hose), to experience how God ministers to others with the “streams of living water” that Jesus spoke of in John 7:38 and 39.
Let’s look at the different “lights” or “gifts of the Spirit” mentioned here:
“A word of wisdom” – This is not the same wisdom that James 1:5 refers to. This is “a word of wisdom” that comes supernaturally from God in a specific situation or to a specific person or persons. We see this gift operating in, for example, 1 Kings 3:10 to 12, in the life of Solomon, and Matt. 22:15 to 22, in the life of Jesus. The “wisdom” spoken of here is insight into God’s will. It is about a perspective on events and matters that you get directly from heaven so that you, and the hearer or hearers, are, as it were, lifted out of the insight-obstructing circumstances in which you find yourself, which make you stare at them all the time, to then be able to see how things fit into God's plans and activities.
“A word of knowledge” – This is about supernatural, detailed knowledge that God's Spirit serves to people. This detailed knowledge usually comes to the one whom God wants to use in this way, and that person must then serve exactly in this way, to whom the Lord says it is intended. We see this gift operating in the life of Jesus, for example, in John 4:15 to 19.
The gift of extraordinary “faith” – This is not about ordinary faith that is required of each of us as believers. It is about God's Spirit giving believers “supernatural faith” in certain situations to trust God to intervene miraculously and perform a miracle or a healing miracle.
“The gifts of healing” – Note that the gifts of healing are referred to in the plural here, because there is more than one gift of healing. God heals people in their spirit, which we speak of as “born again”. But also in their soul area, when He ministers to people emotionally, or supernaturally changes and heals their thoughts or will choices. But then there is also physical healing that God can do through His Spirit supernaturally, instantly or over time.
Next time, we will discuss the other gifts mentioned in this section.