1 Corinthians 12 Scofield
Read 1 Corinthians 12 · Matthew Henry on 1 Corinthians 12
12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
“gifts”
12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
“prophecy”
The N.T. prophet is not ordinarily a foreteller, but rather a forth-teller, one whose gift enabled him to speak "to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" 1 Cor 14:3.
12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
“more excellent”
Chapter 13. continues the pneumatika begun in Chapter 12. Gifts are good, but only if ministered in love. 1 Cor 13:1; 1 Cor 13:2. Benevolence is good, but not apart from love.
1 Cor 13:3 Love is described.
1 Cor 13:4–7 Love is better than our present incomplete knowledge, 1 Cor 13:8–12 and greater than even faith and hope 1 Cor 13:13.
Public domain (1917). Text from the BibleSupport.com e-Sword module.
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
“spiritual gifts”
The word pneumatika, lit. "spirituals," i.e. matters of or from the Holy Spirit, gives the key to Chapters 12, 13, 14. Chapter 12. concerns the Spirit in relation to the body of Christ. This relation is twofold:
(1) The baptism with the Spirit forms the body by uniting believers to Christ the risen and glorified Head, and to each other (1 Cor 12:12; 1 Cor 12:13). The symbol of the body thus formed is the natural, human body (1 Cor 12:12), and all the analogies are freely used (1 Cor 12:14–26).
(2) To each believer is given a spiritual enablement and capacity for specific service. No believer is destitute of such gift (1 Cor 12:7; 1 Cor 12:11; 1 Cor 12:27), but in their distribution the Spirit acts in free sovereignty (1 Cor 12:11). There is no room for self-choosing, and Christian service is simply the ministry of such gift as the individual may have received (cf) Rom 12:4–8. The gifts are diverse (1 Cor 12:6; 1 Cor 12:8–10; 1 Cor 12:28–30), but all are equally honourable because bestowed by the same Spirit, administered under the same Lord, and energized by the same God.