Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 ESV
Understanding this passage requires an understanding of the surrounding context. Paul is addressing spiritual people within the church (1 Corinthians 12:1-3) and their various gifts, ministries and service to God (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). Believers are baptised into a single body (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) and all should be confident that they belong (1 Corinthians 12:14-20) but also made to feel welcome (1 Corinthians 12:21-26).
Paul now leads the Corinthians to reflect upon these spiritual people and their gifting:
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:27-28 ESV
All are gifted by God, but there is an order to these gifts:
First there are the apostles, only twelve of them chosen by God for the church and then least of all, the apostle Paul to deliver the gospel to the Gentiles.
Second to the apostles are prophets. This gift is a combination of foretelling with divine certainty like Agabus, but also for drawing out divine truth from scriptures and the word of God.
Third of all are teachers, not bringing divine revelation but teaching others by it. For what good is truth without accompanying action? Indeed, knowing biblical truth is useless for saving the soul lest a person repents and believes then lives accordingly.
After these three higher gifts, Paul discusses several of the lesser also in an order:
After these three are miracles. These signs validated the ministry of Jesus, the apostles and the prophets. It was by signs and wonders that the Jews were converted, but by speech and knowledge for the Gentiles.
Lastly, we have gifts of healing, helping, administrating and various kinds of tongue. As we see in Chapter 14, tongues had become a major part of Corinth. But Paul mentions it last as though it is beneath all the other good gifts that God has given. Not because tongues are bad, but because the other gifts are more beneficial to the body.
But importantly, he makes clear that not all spiritual people are the same:
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
1 Corinthians 12:29-30 ESV
This style of writing is interrogative, the purpose isn’t to spark a deep reflection from the church but to rally them to the obvious answer that no, not all posses these gifts. Many have very normal ministry and operations that they partake in without the need for these miraculous gifts. A spiritual person is not one that has these gifts, they’re the person that seeks to build the church.
Paul makes it clear in his final verse that of these gifts they should desire the higher gifts:
But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:31 ESV
Beyond all these spiritual gifts, he writes that there is a still more excellent way. This way is love. It is an eternal attribute of God and the church should pursue it. This final verse is critical in our understanding of the entire section of chapter 12 to 14.
Paul is not teaching the church about spiritual gifts, they already have these gifts. He’s teaching them about love, because love is something they lacked. They were behaving immaturely and needed to become mature. In chapter 13 he shows that gifts are for the immature, they are temporary and should be put away upon maturing. Then in chapter 14 we read the numerous ways that tongues should have been used to build the church.
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