1 Corinthians 12:30 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

NIV: Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

NASB: All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?

CSB: Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

NLT: Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not!

KJV: Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

NKJV: Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

Paul is asking a series of questions to which the obvious answer is "no." He seeks to drive home a point: that all spiritual gifts are needed to serve all the functions in the body of Christ. As pointed out before, the body cannot be made up entirely of eyes (1 Corinthians 12:17). There are innumerable things which must be done, which an eye simply cannot do. That's why not everyone is an apostle or a prophet or a teacher. Not everyone can do miracles.

Now he asks if everyone has gifts of healing or the ability to speak in or interpret speaking in tongues? Of course not. If that were the case, the church in Corinth would not be a church. A pile of eyes is not a "body." All spiritual gifts are needed, and all those diverse members have an important role to fulfill in the health and success of the church.

First Corinthians 12:12–31 continues Paul's teaching on the spiritual gifts as they cooperate to empower God's will for the church. The Christian church is like a human body. It is one individual organism made up of many different parts that serve a wide variety of functions. All those functions matter. Nobody should decide they don't like their gift or their role in the church and try to quit. The body needs each member to do its part in order to work properly. We must respect and value each other for the vital roles we serve in the church.

Apparently in response to further questions from Corinth, Paul describes what spiritual gifts are, who receives them, and what they are for. His emphasis is that particular spiritual gifts do not make believers spiritual. Every believer is spiritual because every Christian has God's Spirit with him or her. In addition, the Spirit gives one or more spiritual gifts to each believer to be used to serve the church. The church is like a body, in which every part is needed, and all the parts exist to serve one another. Every believer must discover how they are gifted by the Spirit and value the function they serve in Christ's body.

After tackling the issues of head coverings for women and the Lord's Supper in the previous chapter, Paul moves to the issue of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul insists that the display of spiritual gifts does not make one believer more spiritual or important than another. Every believer in Jesus has the Spirit, and the Spirit gives to every believer one or more spiritual gifts. The gifts are given for the common good, and the church is like a human body. Each gifted function in the church represents a body part, and all the parts are essential. This sets up a description of love, as defined from a Christian viewpoint, and famously recorded in chapter 13.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.

Accessed 5/2/2024 12:05:47 AM