Jesus Is Lord: The Varieties of Gifts

…in another way, for the Spirit works through the hands of the saints the deeds that serve his glory. And if his Spirit glorifies the Son, how could anyone speaking in the Spirit speak evil of him? He will rather say, “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3). So those who rank with creation the one through whom all things were brought into being (John 1:3) would have no share at all in the Holy Spirit, for they plainly say, “Jesus is accursed” (1 Corinthians 12:3).

But those who devoutly confess that Jesus is God and Lord will have the fact itself as witness that they have been initiated through the Spirit into the knowledge of beholding God in him. “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). Knowing what is hidden in God, the Spirit carries it across to the souls of the saints and plants in them a knowledge free from error and beyond reproach.

And the inspired Paul himself is witness to this when he goes on to say, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, and the same Lord; and there are varieties of workings, but it is the same God who works all things in all” (1 Corinthians 12:4–6). For just as those who hold power over affairs on earth, and adorn the thrones of kingship, crown the more loyal of their own guards with different honors, so the holy and consubstantial Trinity distributes a rich possession of the good things from above to those who love it with a sound heart and a whole mind, through the one Spirit, as through Christ, from the Father. For all things are from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit.

“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom,” and so on (1 Corinthians 12:7–8).

For he knows, he knows the times that befit each of the things he does, he “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” as it is written (Colossians 2:3). What the gifts are, and what the distributions, and indeed the workings of miracles, Paul makes clear when he says, “For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom” (1 Corinthians 12:8). The word of wisdom, as it seems to me at least, is the word given “in the opening of the mouth” (Ephesians 6:19): ready and flowing, as if it came from a very nimble tongue.

“To another, the word of knowledge” (1 Corinthians 12:8). For there are some among us who lack readiness in speech and have not gained the freedom to express themselves with ease, yet they are very deep in understanding. They come to the sacred words most thoughtfully and with great subtlety, and they are able to lead others into the mysteries and readily lay open what they have contemplated. But both the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are supplied through the one Spirit, from the Father through the Son, to those worthy to receive them. It is a word of knowledge when someone knows the sense of the divine oracles and is able to unfold their meaning, but cannot teach it eloquently.

Both the one and the other are supplied to the worthy through the one Spirit, from the Father through the Son, who is said to apportion the ministries (1 Corinthians 12:5). For some of the holy apostles he commanded to proclaim the word of faith to those of the blood of Israel, and others again he assigned to the lands of the Gentiles. And this too he brought about through the Holy Spirit. Indeed, in the Acts of the holy apostles we shall find it written: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ ” (Acts 13:2).

The inspired Paul was appointed to the apostleship of the Gentiles, and this ministry fell to him as his lot. He will confirm it himself when he writes, “Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry” (Romans 11:13). So the Son apportions the ministries, and the Holy Spirit carries the matter out with authority, for he is the Spirit of the Son. But the workings of miracles as well, that is…