By Timothy W. Burnett
We continue with 1Corinthians 12:28-31, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments and diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way." This scripture must be understood according to the context of the rest of the chapter. Recall verse 11 where it says, but all these work that one and the selfsame spirit, distributing every man his own, as he wills to work it. All people who are filled with holy spirit have the ability to work it in all the ways that are available. Verses 4 through 7 provide two different functions of holy spirit. Verses 7-10 reveals nine different ways to profit from the manifestation of holy spirit. All of these are part of the package of holy spirit.
According to verse 18 God set the members in the body as it has pleased Him. With this in mind we can only conclude that the list in verse 28 is all-inclusive. All spirit-filled people are able to do anything in the list. Verses 28-29 are used by many institutions to teach that only certain Christians have the "gift" of speaking in tongues, or that only special Christians can be prophets or teachers or workers of miracles. Verse 29 uses question marks. The earlier known Greek did not use punctuation marks. And the King James Bible has all the words "are" of verse 29 in italics. These were added by the translators. If we remove these items verse 29 would read as follows, "all apostles, all prophets, all teachers, all workers of miracles, all have gifts of healings, all do speak with tongues, and all do interpret."
The next verse gives the key to understanding verses 28-30, "But covet earnestly the best gifts..." While all members are able to do anything in the list, each member will be stronger in different gifts. God wants them to covet earnestly the gifts they are stronger in, so that the Church might be edified. Notice the use of "gifts." This is significant because not everything in the list is a gift. Working of miracles, speaking in tongues, prophecy and the interpretation of tongues are listed in verses 7-9 as ways to profit from the manifestation of holy spirit. They are not counted as gifts, as are healings. Verses 4-6 use services and workings in the context of gifts. Anybody in the Church willfully serves as a teacher, an apostle, guide (etc.) will be gifts to the Church from God. This does not mean that they are only capable to do that particular thing, but that they are strong in that area and willing to serve God.
The other things in the list that are not gifts, are for all members to freely excel in. These are areas in which all the members can seek to be strong. All members of the body of Christ may excel in speaking in tongues for their personal prayer lives. All may excel in working of miracles. All may excel in prophecy. It is up to each one to have the will to do so. God is most gracious to help each member excel in these areas. It is also God's will that we covet earnestly those gifts that we are individually better at performing. Covet earnestly those teaching skills and talents, embrace closely your ability to guide others back to God (etc.).
Yet even with all this, there is a more excellent way.
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