- To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
- 9 to another faith by the same Spirit,
- to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
- 10 to another the working of powerful deeds,
- to another prophecy,
- to another the discernment of spirits,
- to another various kinds of tongues,
- to another the interpretation of tongues.
Verse 1: literally, "About the Spiritual." The word "gifts" is not in the original text. We will get to gifts in verse 4, but the topic of "the Spiritual" (which includes gifts, but is bigger than gifts) takes us all the way through chapter 14.
Notice in verse 2 that we're still dealing with the topic of idolatry, which relates back to food sacrificed to idols. It's hard to overstate the enormity of the worldview shift that a Gentile Christian had to make—from empire to the upside-down kingdom of God, from polytheism to monotheism, from a class-based society to an ecclesia of equals.
The word for "gift" shows up in verse 4: charisma, related to the word for grace, charis. The emphasis here on "same Spirit, same Lord, same God" is reminding recent polytheists that the variety of gifts and manifestations of the Spirit aren't from different gods, but from one.
Also note the early Trinitarian formula in verses 4–6: "Same Spirit…same Lord…same God." Three…but one!
Verse 6: the NRSVue gets the wordplay right with "varieties of activities" that God "activates." The Greek word is energema, related to work, urge, activity, energy. I guess you can could say, "energies that God energizes."
The end of verse 6 is panta en pasin. The pan-prefix means "all." The gifts are all-for-everyone. Everyone has a gift; God energizes it in everyone.
Verse 7 restates it: "To each" (meaning everyone) is given a manifestation (the Greek word here is closer to "phenomenon"). Why? "For the common good." That's a great rubric for how to think about the gifts. If they don't promote the common good, then either they're not spiritual gifts or they're being misused.
Verses 8–10 give us a list. We should not read this list as exhaustive.
Verse 11 reiterates "one and the same Spirit," and "each one individually" gets the gifts "as the Spirit chooses."
For the gender-leadership debates: note that nowhere does Paul say that only one gender can have a spiritual gift. Or, for that matter, one ethnicity, one age, one socioeconomic status. The slave girl can have the gift of teaching and prophecy; and the rich social climber can have the gift of service.
Questions for reflection
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Paul says the gifts are given "for the common good." How does that reframe the way churches tend to talk about spiritual gifts—as something you discover for personal fulfillment rather than for the community?
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The shift from polytheism to monotheism meant rethinking everything—allegiance, identity, social status. What modern "worldview shifts" does following Jesus still require of us?
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Paul puts no demographic restrictions on who receives which gift. How should that shape conversations about who gets to lead, teach, and prophesy in the church?