Spiritual Gifts and Diversity; Person of the Holy Spirit; 1Co 12:14-25
The Person of God the Holy Spirit
1) The Holy Spirit is described in Scripture as possessing the attributes of personality, specifically intellect and will. Any personality is going top express itself through its own independent thought processes, indicating that personality has its own mind and through the expression if its own will. We have passages that indicate this in Scripture. Romans 8:27 NASB "and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to {the will of} God." There the Spirit is stated to have His own thought processes. 1 Corinthians 2:10, 11 NASB "For to us God revealed {them} through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
2) The Holy Spirit performs the actions of a person. John 14:26 NASB "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." In John 15:26 and Romans 8:16 we are told that the Spirit testifies or witnesses to the individual. In Romans 8:14 we are told that the Spirit guides, leads or directs believers. In 2 Thessalonians 2:6 we are told that the Holy Spirit retrains evil right now during the church age and that when he is removed from history at the Rapture there will no longer be a restraint on evil and that is when all of the horrible things of the Tribulation will come to pass. The Holy Spirit also performs miracles, Acts 8:39. The Holy Spirit also directs the church and distinguishes or sets apart certain people for Christian service, Acts 13:2, 4. The Holy Spirit intercedes in prayer for believers, Romans 8:26.
3) The Holy Spirit is given the functions of a person. He can be obeyed, Acts 10:19-21. Only a person can be obeyed or disobeyed. He can be lied to, Acts 5:3. The Holy Spirit can be resisted, Acts 7:51. He can be blasphemed, Matthew 12:31. Those operations all relate to a person.
4) The Holy Spirit is treated in Scripture as an equal member of the Godhead with the Father and with the Son. He is viewed as an equal member of the Godhead in the baptism statement in the great commission in Matthew 28:19. In Acts 5:3, 4 the Holy Spirit is called God. Then we see that He has the attributes of deity. He is omniscient, 1 Corinthians 2:11, 12 where He searches the mind of God. To know the mind of God He must also be omniscient. He is omnipresent, Psalm 139:7 NASB "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?" He is omnipotent, Job 33:4. He is said to be truth, 1 John 5:6. He is given the attribute of absolute righteousness, Luke 11:13. He is the creator of life, Romans 8:2. e is related to the Father and the Son in the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14. In the Old Testament there are references to an act of Yahweh, for example in Isaiah 6:8, 9 which talks about "the Lord said," and then compare that with Acts 28:25, 26 which says that it is the Holy Spirit who is said to have made that statement. Another passage where we have the same thing tale place is in the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 cf. Hebrews 10:15.
5) The Holy Spirit is referred to grammatically as a person. Here we see that the word pneuma [pneuma] is a neuter noun. The rule of grammar is that whenever there is a pronoun, I, you, he, she, it, etc., that pronoun has to agree in gender with the noun. That in and of itself will not necessarily indicate whether or not the individual was a person or not, just depending on the grammatical gender of the noun. However, in a number of places in the New Testament there is the noun pneuma and the Holy Spirit is referred to with a masculine pronoun. For example, John 15:26; Ephesians 1:14.
1 Corinthians 12:12, 13 emphasizes the unity of the body as the result of the baptism by means of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ uses the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to identify every believer at the instant of salvation with Himself in His death, burial and resurrection. This then becomes the basis for all of the other actions that take place in the believer's life in relationship to the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, distribution of spiritual gifts, the filling of the Holy Spirit are all related to this action of baptism by means of God the Holy Spirit. It is that identification with Christ that is the logical precedent or cause for all of the other actions related to the Holy Spirit that take place. But the one that we are most concerned with is the one that is the subject of our passage, and that is spiritual gifts.
As we go through this passage we note that there is a movement in Paul's argumentation from the unity of the body on the one hand and the diversity of the individual members on the other hand. Whenever the emphasis is on the unity it ties back to what we have in Christ, i.e. positional truth, what every believer receives at the instant of salvation. In verse 14 we have a further development on the body of Christ and here there is an emphasis on what is going on between the different individual members. 1 Corinthians 12:14 NASB "For the body is not one member, but many." We have seen the emphasis on unity and now we look at the body itself. We don't lose our identity in the body of Christ. There are certain things that we can conclude as we look at this whole idea of spiritual gifts and the body of Christ, just in terms of this analogy, the analogy of the human body to the spiritual body of the universal church which is Jesus Christ.
The first thing that follows is that the spiritual gifts aren't optional, they are mandatory. Every part of the human body is necessary. When a part of the human body is not functioning we call that being handicapped or deformed, it is not the normal operational process. So the gifts are not optional, they are mandatory for the health of the body.
The second thing that we can conclude from this is that if a human body can't function correctly without all the parts then the body of Christ can't function correctly without all the parts. Therefore it is not healthy for even a local body of believers, or for an individual believer, to go for fifteen, twenty or thirty years without operating in their spiritual gift. Every part is important and that is the healthy believer who is operating in the realm of his spiritual gift.
Third, we have to remember that in this passage the body that is represented is the universal church, not the local church. That is important because a local church may or may not have all the parts. For example, there were certain gifts such as apostles, prophets, other miraculous gifts, that were foundational gifts and operated in the first century and ceased by the close of the apostolic era. In the early church all the gifts were given since they were all given to the body and the universal body of Christ is all believers living and dead. Therefore if there is a gift operational at any point in history, then the whole church benefits. There is no need for the temporary gifts to be going on today for the church to benefit because we are talking about the universal church, not a local body. The implication of that is that they all had to be present in the first generation. If some of them didn't show up for three or four generations then the earlier generations would not have benefited from them. So they all had to be operational in the first generation but that doesn't mean that they all had to be operational in all succeeding generations. Once is enough. That is why the statement of Ephesians 2:20 that the apostles and prophets were the foundation of the church. Not all local churches may have all the permanent gifts.
The fourth inference from the body analogy is that of the local church isn't the same as the whole body that is can function without all of the gifts being present, because the local church is defined as any group of believers that meet on a regular basis for the study of the Word.
Verses 15-18 emphasize the importance of every member of the body. Paul is going to use various parts of the human body to represent different spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:15 NASB "If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not {a part} of the body," it is not for this reason any the less {a part} of the body. [16] And if the ear says, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not {a part} of the body,' it is not for this reason any the less {a part} of the body.
For the most part hands can do many more things that the feet can do. Therefore there might be one believer who says he is a foot, not a hand, therefore thinks he is not as important as a hand believer. Just because you can't you don't think you can do all the things somebody else can do doesn't mean your role and your position isn't important. Without a foot we don't have stability and balance. Every part is important. The point here is that every part is vital; every spiritual gift has a significant and important role in the health of the overall function of the body. That is true for the local church. Every member of the team has an important role to play, and as you are growing and maturing as a believer you have the opportunity to get involved in some level of Christian service. We recognize that Christian service isn't the means to spiritual growth, but Christian service nevertheless is part of our spiritual life. Our spiritual gifts are determined by God and not by us. Our gift will become manifest as we grow and mature.
1 Corinthians 12:19 NASB "If they were all one member, where would the body be?" In other words, if everybody was just alike, why would you need everybody else? There is an importance to diversity. [20] "But now there are many members, but one body." The emphasis on diversity again, "but one body," i.e. positional truth. We all have certain things in common; we are equal in certain areas, but what we do with them is dependent on our volition and that is going to make a difference. [21] "And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'. [22] On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary." The word for "weaker" is the adjective form of the noun asthenes [a)sqenhj] which means simply to be without strength, to be powerless, or to lack physical ability. It is used to mean something that is unimpressive. The word for "necessary" is anankios [a)nagkaioj], an adjective which means necessary or indispensable. [23] "and those {members} of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable." Paul is saying that there are certain parts of the body which we think are less honourable and on these we bestow" – pertithemi [peritiqhmi], a word that means to wrap something around. It is used in Matthew 27:28 for putting the scarlet robe around Jesus, placing something around someone like a garment. The idea here is that there are certain parts of the body which are less honourable. They are just not that attractive, so what do you do? You dress in a certain way so as to minimize the unattractiveness so that the clothes cover it up. That is the idea here – "you wrap around with more honour; and our less presentable members become much more presentable" – more private parts that are perhaps shameful or indecent to expose, not that there is anything inherently wrong with those but that they are parts of the body that one just keeps covered. [24] "whereas our more presentable members have no need {of it.} But God has {so} composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that {member} which lacked." The point Paul is making in vv. 23, 24 is about the natural body. Some parts you want to show off, other parts you want to cover up, other parts you have to cover up. But God has so composed the body –sunkerannumi [sunkerannumi], blending things together to make a harmonious whole – with different gifts that He is able to give more honour to the member who lacks honour. [25] "so that there may be no division in the body, but {that} the members may have the same care for one another." So the point he is making here is that in the natural body there may be some parts that we think are dishonourable and we want to cover up, but God has so composed the body of Christ that there aren't any members that are dishonourable and we want to cover up. The verb here to "have the same care" is merimnao [merimnaw] is related to the noun for cares, as in 1 Peter 5:7, or Philippians 4:5, 6 to be anxious for nothing. We are to have the same anxiety, care, for one another. We should have a mutual concern for one another so that there is not the idea of one person being more important of more honourable than the other, but we all care for one another and recognize the importance of each other. That is the operation of impersonal love for all mankind.
Now we see that as Paul introduces this idea of having the same care for one another he is foreshadowing the topic of chapter thirteen which will be love. Here is the principle: For spiritual service to function correctly it is based on an understanding of impersonal love for all mankind, which is motivated in turn by our love for God.