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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:1, 3-11, 13, 18, 24, 28; 14:4-5, 12, 25
Now we will begin to consider 1 Corinthians 12. This is a difficult chapter to understand. Over the years I have spent a great deal of time on this chapter, but I do not yet have a thorough understanding of it.
In 12:1 Paul says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” In 12:1—14:40 Paul deals with the problem of spiritual gifts in relation to God’s administration and operation.
In 12:3 Paul says, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” The apostle’s thought here is that the dumb, voiceless idols in verse 2 make their worshippers dumb and voiceless. But the living God causes His worshippers to speak in His Spirit. This kind of speaking is related to the spiritual gifts. No one who speaks in the Spirit of God would say, “Jesus is accursed”; he would like to say, and he is able to say, “Jesus is Lord!” Worshippers of God should not be silent; rather, they should speak forth the Lord Jesus in the Spirit of God. This — to speak “Jesus is Lord!” — is the main function of all the spiritual gifts.
In verse 3 Paul tells us that no one can say, “Jesus is Lord!” except in the Holy Spirit. This indicates that when we say with a proper spirit, “Jesus is Lord!” we are in the Holy Spirit. Hence, to call on the Lord Jesus is the way to participate in, enjoy, and experience the Holy Spirit.
In 12:2 Paul tells the Corinthians, “You know that when you were Gentiles, you were always being led away to dumb idols, whenever and however you were led.” The worshippers in an idol temple do not speak; rather, they are silent, or dumb. They are voiceless worshippers, seeming not to have a mouth. But the living God causes His worshippers to speak in His Spirit. One important difference between those who worship idols and those who worship the living God is this: idol worshippers are silent, but those who worship the living God speak of the Lord in the Spirit.
Throughout the centuries many Christians have been influenced by the silent worship of idols. As the result of this influence, the majority of those who enter into so-called places of worship are silent. Usually, they hire a pastor to do the speaking for them. The congregation remains silent, or dumb, and the speaking is done by the hired ones. This is the actual situation among many believers today.
The situation was very different in the days of the apostles. During the time of the apostles, when Christians came together, they made noise by speaking in the Spirit. They did not worship God in silence. As the psalmist said, they made a joyful noise to the Lord (Psa. 95:1). Hence, Paul’s thought in 1 Corinthians 12, a chapter concerned with the function of the members in the church meeting, is that we all should speak in the Spirit.
Speaking in the Holy Spirit is a matter related to spiritual gifts. When Christians today talk about spiritual gifts, they usually have in mind the gifts of speaking in tongues, healing, and miracles. However, in this chapter Paul indicates that the spiritual gifts are mainly related to speaking. Paul lists nine gifts, and of these nine, five involve speaking: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, prophesying, tongue-speaking, and the interpretation of tongues. The other four gifts listed by Paul are faith, healings, works of power, and the discerning of spirits. These four gifts are related to activity, not to speaking.
According to the New Testament understanding, a church meeting in which the spiritual gifts are exercised is a meeting in which there is much speaking. Suppose we come together for a meeting, and we all are silent. In such a meeting, there would not be any exercise of spiritual gifts. In order for the gifts to be exercised in a meeting of the church, we need to speak. I can testify that when I speak, I exercise my gift. Therefore, to exercise our gift means that we are exercised in speaking.
We all are able to speak for the Lord in the meetings. We should not think that a certain brother who has much experience in the Lord and much knowledge of the Word is able to speak but that we are not able to speak. Although we may not have as many spiritual riches as this brother, we still have something. We at least have some amount of spiritual riches, and we need to spend what we have by speaking forth the Lord in the meetings.
The fact that we speak freely outside the meetings is a strong indication that we are also able to speak in the meetings. However, a brother may be silent in the meeting. Then after the meeting, perhaps on the way home, he may speak freely and boldly. We need to realize that we all are able to speak in the Spirit in the church meetings. We all are able to utter at least a simple word for the Lord.
An experience I had in a meeting of the church in Los Angeles in 1968 illustrates the fact that all believers can speak in the church meetings. On a certain Lord’s Day morning I had the deep feeling that I should stand up and speak. I stood up, but I did not know what to say. Eventually, I told the saints that we all can prophesy, that we all can speak for the Lord. I went on to say that at least we all can speak four words. At this point I said to myself, “What four words? What words will you encourage the saints to speak?” Then I went on to say, “We all can speak these four words: ‘O — Lord — Amen — Hallelujah.’”
After the meeting, I began to consider what I had said. At first I thought that I had been mistaken regarding the sequence of these four words. I said to myself, “You spoke these words in the wrong sequence. Instead of saying, ‘O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah,’ you should have said, ‘O Lord, Hallelujah, Amen.’” But as I considered the matter further according to the Scriptures, I realized that Revelation 19:4 says, “The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who sits upon the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah!” According to this verse, Amen comes first, and Hallelujah follows. I was confirmed that the sequence in which I had spoken these four words was correct. I believe that I was led by the Spirit to point out to the saints that we all can say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”
The words O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah! can be uttered in different ways. We may speak them strongly and loudly, or we may utter them slowly and quietly. Surely all the saints, from the youngest to the oldest, can speak these four words, especially in the meetings. The more the saints speak something for the Lord in the church meetings, the more living the meetings will be.
It would be helpful if we all practiced speaking for the Lord in our daily living. Even at home we can say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” Would it not be wonderful if a sister would say, “O Lord,” the husband replied, “Amen,” and the children responded, “Hallelujah!” This kind of speaking would help to produce a heavenly family life.
In the church meetings all the saints, especially the young ones and the new ones, can speak for the Lord in a simple way. For example, a new believer may stand up and say, “Jesus the Lord is so precious to me! Every time I say, ‘Lord Jesus,’ my heart is filled with His sweetness.” After this, another young one may rise up and say, “I want to testify to you all that the name of Jesus is so sweet.” How excellent the meetings would be if they were filled with such speaking!
A genuine and typical Christian is a speaking Christian. Christians are a speaking people. However, if we do not speak, we will not look like real Christians.
Christians are those who have been made alive. Once we were dead, but now we are living. Those who are dead do not speak. All those buried in a cemetery are silent. We should not be dead, dumb believers. On the contrary, because we are living, we should demonstrate that we are living by speaking for the Lord in the Spirit.
Suppose as an experiment we tried to refrain from speaking for twenty-four hours. I believe that we would find this extremely difficult. Because we are living persons, we have the desire to speak. Why, then, are certain ones silent in the meetings? Since we are living, we should speak for the Lord.
We have pointed out that the worshippers of the living God should not be silent. Rather, we need to speak forth the Lord Jesus in the Spirit of God. This kind of speaking is related to the exercise of the spiritual gifts. Speaking the Lord Jesus is the main function of the spiritual gifts. The purpose of our speaking in the meetings is to speak concerning the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 12:4 Paul goes on to say, “But there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit.” But here indicates a contrast between verses 3 and 4. Verse 3 says when we minister by speaking in the Spirit of God, we all say “Lord Jesus,” exalting Jesus as Lord. “But” the gifts for the manifestation of the Spirit are diverse. The Greek word rendered “distinctions” in verse 4, as well as in verses 5 and 6, means “diversities, varieties, distributions.”
The gifts in verse 4 refer to the outward gifts, the ability or enablement for service. Some of them are miraculous, and some are developed out of the initial gifts mentioned in 1:7. In 1:7 gift refers to the inward gifts issuing from grace, such as the free gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23) and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) as the heavenly gift (Heb. 6:4), not the outward, miraculous gifts. All the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 are different from the initial gifts.
Verse 5 continues, “There are distinctions of ministries, yet the same Lord.” These ministries are services. The gifts in verse 4 are for these services, and they are for the operations in verse 6.
In verse 6 Paul says, “There are distinctions of operations, but the same God, who operates all things in all.” These operations are works. The ministries, or services, in verse 5 are for these works.
In 12:4-6 the gifts are by the Spirit; the ministries, the services, are for the Lord; and the operations are of God. Here the Triune God is involved in these three things — gifts, ministries, and operations. The gifts by the Spirit are to carry out the ministries, the services, for the Lord. The ministries for the Lord are to accomplish the operations, the works, of God. This is the Triune God moving in the believers for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose to build up the church, the Body of Christ, for the expression of God.
We have emphasized the fact that the gifts in chapter 12 are much related to our speaking. Whenever we speak, the Spirit works. We may think that we are the ones functioning in speaking; actually, the Spirit is the one who functions. As we speak, the Spirit functions, the Lord ministers, and God operates. Our speaking, therefore, is of great importance. If we do not speak, the Spirit does not function, the Lord does not minister, and God does not operate. In a very real sense, the Triune God is waiting for us to speak something for Him.
The Spirit desires to function, the Lord wants to minister, and God intends to operate. But this depends on our exercising our spirit in speaking forth the Lord. Our speaking is crucial to God’s operation. If we do not speak, if we are silent or dumb, the Triune God will be silent. But the more we speak by exercising our spirit, the more the Spirit will function, the Lord will minister, and God will operate. When we speak, the Spirit functions. When the Spirit functions, the Lord ministers. When the Lord ministers, God operates. Therefore, the functioning, ministering, and operating of the Triune God depend on our speaking.
Both in the meetings and in our practical, daily living, the Triune God responds to our speaking in our spirit by functioning, ministering, and operating. Let us suppose that a brother, his wife, and his children are having fellowship during a meal. As they all speak, the Spirit comes forth to function. Then the Lord follows to minister, and God operates. Many of us can testify of having this kind of experience in our daily life as well as in the meetings.
If we desire to have more of this kind of experience, we need to learn to stop gossiping. If we engage in gossip or vain talk, we will not experience the operation of the Triune God in our speaking. We need to speak Christ, grace, and salvation. Because the Spirit is joined to our regenerated human spirit, whenever we speak these wonderful matters, the Spirit will function. Following the function of the Spirit, the Lord, who is one with the Spirit, will minister. When the Lord ministers, God the Father operates. This is the operation of the Triune God in our speaking in the Spirit.
