Lessons #451 and 452
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Specific spiritual assignments in the church (1 Cor 12:27-31)
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
We continue with this section of the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians that is concerned with specific spiritual assignments that God has made to certain individuals in the church of Christ. The message of this section of 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 is: Be aware of the specific spiritual assignments God made to individuals in the church but your focus in your spiritual life should not be on the gifts associated with them instead be focused on living out the spiritual life. We stated that we would expound the message using four propositions derived from the passage. The first is: The spiritual assignments are made to those in the church of Christ that you are a member. The second is: The spiritual assignments are ranked according to their importance in the church of Christ. In keeping with this second proposition, we have considered the first three spiritual assignments that are most important in the function of the church of Christ. The first is the spiritual assignment of apostles. The second is that of prophets. The third is that of teachers. We explained the reason teachers are ranked third behind the spiritual assignment of prophets. These spiritual assignments are clearly associated with a person but that cannot be said in the Greek of the last five spiritual assignments given in 1 Corinthians 12:28 as will note shortly.
The next mentioned two spiritual assignments are related to each other or form a special class of assignments. We say this for at least two reasons. They involve special outward demonstration of God’s power as implied by the results of carrying out these two assignments. The result of exercise of one of the spiritual gifts associated with the two assignments is part of the result of exercise of the other as we will explain later. Furthermore, each of these two next spiritual assignments is preceded with the word then in the Greek although the translators of the NIV translated the Greek adverb used as “then” and “also” in the expression of 1 Corinthians 12:28, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing. The word “then” or “also” in the NIV is translated from a Greek adverb (epeita) that means “then” either being next in order of time or being next in position of an enumeration of items. It is in the sense of being next in position of an enumeration of items that the meaning “then” is used in our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:28. In a sense, since the adverb is used twice in the verse we are considering, it has the sense of “fourth” and “fifth” in both usages of the Greek adverb. After the mention of the next two spiritual assignments, there is no more any indicator of sequence in numeration. It is for this reason that we contend that the next two spiritual assignments are related to each other in a way that is different from the remainder of the spiritual assignments listed in our verse and form a special class. There is more. The first use of the word “then” in the Greek before the fourth spiritual assignment serves two purposes. First, it tells us that the apostle is no longer concerned with ranking in terms of importance of the spiritual assignments to the church. For one thing the apostle reversed the order he used in listing spiritual gifts since gifts of healing come before that of miraculous power but not so in the fourth and fifth spiritual assignments. Second, it is intended to indicate the apostle is moving from spiritual assignments that are associated with persons in the church to spiritual assignments that are described with abstract noun that describe spiritual gifts although some of our English versions translate the abstract spiritual gifts as related to persons with such phrase as “those who” or “who.” It is probably the case that the apostle wanted to draw our attention to the last five spiritual assignments in such a way that we should recognize that while they are important because of the spiritual gifts associated with them, they are not of the same importance as the first three spiritual assignments as it pertains to their function in the maturing of believers in the church of Christ. This aside, the relationship between the fourth and fifth spiritual assignments necessitates expounding both together.
Be that as it may, using the sense implied in the Greek adverb translated “then” as we have given, the fourth spiritual assignment is concerned with miracles as given in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 12:28 workers of miracles. The word “workers” does not appear separately in the Greek but is added as we will explain shortly. You see, the Greek literally reads then miracles. This is because the Greek simply used a Greek word (dynamis) from where we derive our English word “dynamite”; it basically means power. The word may refer to special enablement or strength that the Lord Jesus promised the disciples would receive to help them be His witnesses as we read in Acts 1:8:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The word can refer to the power that works wonders as the power associated with Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry on earth, as the Apostle Peter stated in Acts 10:38:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Power may be understood in a general way of the potential for functioning in some way. It is in this way that the word is used in Romans 1:16:
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
When the Greek word is used in the plural, the word predominantly means “miracles” as that done by God through Apostle Paul as stated in Acts 19:11:
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:28 where the Greek uses the plural, it is used in the sense of “power that works wonders” or “miracles,” that is, a special manifestation of great power. Because the first three spiritual assignments involved persons, some take the position that the sense of our Greek word here is that of “miracle worker,” that is, a person who works miracles, especially as the manifestation of great power. This interpretation is that adopted by the 1984 edition of the NIV, but the 2011 edition has taken the more literal Greek view so that instead of then workers of miracles of the 1984 edition it reads then miracles. We will say more about this spiritual assignment after our consideration of the next spiritual assignment that we considered the fifth.
The fifth spiritual assignment is concerned with healing as given in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 12:28 also those having gifts of healing. Again, the verbal phrase those having is not in the Greek since the Greek literally reads then gifts of healings as reflected in the 2011 edition of the NIV and many of our English versions.
The word “gifts” is translated from a Greek word (charisma) that may mean that which is freely and graciously given hence “favor bestowed, gift.” It is the word used to describe eternal life that God graciously gives as stated in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our Greek word is used to describe the special gift God gives that is necessary for carrying out special tasks as mediated to Timothy by the laying hands of the elders, presumably during his ordination, as stated in 1 Timothy 4:14:
Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
It is used to describe the special gift bestowed on believers that enable them to serve in the church of Christ as stated in 1 Peter 4:10:
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:28, it is used in the sense of special gift of a non-material sort, bestowed through God’s generosity on individual Christians hence means “gracious gift.”
The “gift” in our verse is associated with “healing.” The word “healing” is translated from a Greek word (iama) that appears three times in the Greek NT; all in this twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians and all in the plural form. The word means “healing,” that is, the act of providing a cure for something to make a person healthy again in a miraculous manner. Anyway, the apostle used the plural in the literal Greek phrase gifts of healings. We have considered this phrase in 1 Corinthians 12:9. We deduced that the apostle used the plural “gifts of healings” to convey the diverse nature of the healing and diverse form of illnesses that those with the gift of healing would exercise the gift.
We asserted that the fourth and fifth spiritual assignments are related to each other or form a special class of assignments especially because both involve special outward demonstration of God’s power. The relation between the two is evident in the fact that the exercise of the fifth assignment is indeed a subset of the fourth. The fourth assignment is concerned with miracles. Miracles are occurrences that are totally out of the ordinary and that cannot be adequately explained on the basis of natural occurrences. Hence, one of the first clearly recorded miracles in the Scripture through a human agent is that of turning of Aaron’s staff into a snake as we gather from Exodus 7:9:
“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”
Of course, the miracle of turning Aaron’s staff into a snake was duplicated by the Egyptian magicians as indicated in Exodus 7:10–12:
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
It may appear that the magicians were aided by Satan to do what they did as some contend but that is not entirely true. All miracles are ultimately from God through human agents since it is clear that He alone is responsible for doing things that are wonderful and beyond explanation as the Holy Spirit states to us through the psalmist in Psalm 136:4:
to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.
The pronoun him refers to Yahweh or God. He is responsible for all that are miraculous and so we should not rob Him of His glory by ascribing what we call counterfeit miracles to Satan. God ultimately grants all miracles for His purpose whether through believers or unbelievers as in the case of the Egyptian magicians. When He grants miracle through an unbeliever it is certainly for a purpose. In case of the Egyptians magicians, it was so Pharaoh would become stubborn and reject the requirement of the supreme God of Israel so that God’s plan would be fulfilled through him.
In any case, miracles from God through human agents are demonstrated in several ways. Miracle may involve raising someone from the dead as done through Apostle Peter when he raised Dorcas from the dead as narrated in Acts 9:40–41:
40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive.
Miracles may involve God’s judgment pronounced through a human agent. A good example of this is the pronouncement of judgment by Apostle Paul on Elymas, the sorcerer, that was trying to interfere with the gospel the apostle presented to the proconsul, Sergius Paulus as narrated to us in the thirteenth chapter of Acts, specifically in Acts 13:11:
Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
Miracle could also involve exorcism as in the miracle granted Apostle Paul so that he drove out evil spirit from a slave girl in Philippi as we read in Acts 16:18:
She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
Miracles may involve healing. The miracles performed by the evangelist, Philip, included healing the sick as we read in Acts 8:6–8:
6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
That healing is a form of miracle is proven by the healing of the crippled man by Apostle Peter reported Acts 3:6–8:
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
It is this healing of the crippled man that the Jewish authorities describe as “outstanding miracle” in Acts 4:16:
“What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it.
It is because healing is a part of miracle that we indicated that the fourth and fifth spiritual assignments are related. Furthermore, we stated that healing is a subset of miracle. In effect, healing is a special aspect of miracle that God the Holy Spirit grants through those with gift of healing. Although we do not have a record of a person who demonstrated only the gift of healing but because it is differentiated from gift of miracles, we contend that gift of healing is a subset of gift of miracle. A person who has only a gift of healing would only function in a manner that only healing would be done through the person. Such a person would not be capable of the other possible forms of miracles that we stated. The point is that miracles and healings are related but with healing being a subset of miracles.
There is another reason we know that healing is related to miracles and a subset; it is that both serve the same purpose in God’s plan. The purpose of miracles or healing is dependent on the subject. For the God man, Jesus Christ, the purpose of His miracles is to show clearly that He is the Christ or the appointed One of God. It is for this reason that the Lord Jesus indicated that His miracles testify concerning Him as we read in John 10:25:
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me.
This purpose of Jesus’ miracles testifying about Him is presented by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Peter when he preached his sermon on the day of Pentecost as we read in Acts 2:22:
“Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.
The word “accredited” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (apodeiknymi) that is used outside the NT to describe a person who has been appointed to a given office. In the NT, it may mean “to draw attention to someone or something”, that is, “to show.” In this passage of Acts 2:22, the word is used in the sense of “to show forth the quality of an entity”, that is, “to show forth.” Thus, Peter said not merely that Jesus was appointed by God but that He has been proven to be the Messiah by the miracles He performed that the people knew about since His miracles were performed in the open for people to see. Hence, miracle as it concerns the Lord Jesus Christ is to authenticate His person. This cannot be said of the apostles and those who preach the gospel. The purpose of miracle by the apostles and those who preach the gospel is to authenticate God’s word. It is for this reason that we are informed that God granted miracles to Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey to confirm their message as we read in Acts 14:3:
So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
The word “confirmed” is translated from a Greek word (martyreō) that may mean “to confirm or attest something on the basis of personal knowledge or belief”, that is, “to bear witness, be a witness” or “to affirm in a supportive manner”, that is, “to testify favorably, approve.” Here in Acts 14:3 the word is used in the sense of “to testify approvingly”, that is, “to offer firsthand authentication in favor” or “to attest” that the message of the gospel Paul and Barnabas preached is true. This same concept of attesting to the truthfulness of the gospel message or God’s word is also conveyed by the human author of Hebrews as we read in Hebrews 2:3–4:
3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Because miracles serve to attest to the truthfulness of the message of the gospel, some would respond favorably to the gospel message on witnessing a miracle. Thus, after Peter healed Aeneas, people in Joppa believed in the Lord as we read in Acts 9:34–35:
34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
Likewise, after the miracle of Peter raising Dorcas from the dead, we are informed that some people believed in the Lord as we read in Acts 9:42:
This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
Sergius Paulus, the proconsul on witnessing the miracle of judgment by Apostle Paul believed in the Lord as we read in Acts 13:12:
When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
By the way, we should point out that miracles do not necessarily mean that a person who sees them will respond favorably to the gospel message. Miracle may cause a person to respond favorably to the gospel message if the individual is an elect. This is proven true because during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, many who witnessed His miracles did not believe. The Lord explained this as due to the fact that they were not the elect as implied in a passage we cited previously, but we add one more verse to it, that is, John 10:25–26:
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
Someone may argue that there is no reference to the elect in the passage I have cited. It is true that the word “elect” does not appear in the passage but that is what is meant by the word “sheep.” The Lord Jesus indicated that those He described as His sheep are those whom He gives eternal life as stated in John 10:28:
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
Those the Lord Jesus gives eternal life are certainly the elect because they are the ones God the Father gave to God the Son as the Lord Jesus stated in His priestly prayer in John 17:2:
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
The clause all those you have given him refers to the elect since the giving of the individuals in question occurred in eternity and not when Jesus came to the planet earth. The point is that miracles in and of themselves do not necessarily mean that an unbeliever who is not of the elect will believe. Only an unbeliever at the time of the miracle who is of the elect that will believe the gospel message due to miracle the person witnesses. Anyway, we should recognize that a purpose of miracle or healing is to authenticate the message of the gospel not the individual that God uses to carry out miracle of any kind.
Be that as it may, the fourth and fifth spiritual assignments consist of the extraordinary events that involve the display of God’s power. The assignments of the kind involved in the fourth and fifth spiritual assignments are such that the individuals with them would perform miracles or heal others as often as the Holy Spirit sees fit. In other words, it is not up to the individual to decide when a miracle or healing will take place. Furthermore, the assignments of miracle or healing are different from the situation where God performs a miracle or heals in response to a prayer by a believer. I am saying that although the Lord may perform miracle or bring about healing in answer to a prayer by a believer that that is not the same as the spiritual assignments of miracles or healings. God will perform miracle or healing through those that the Holy Spirit has given such assignments whether they pray or not. The only thing that is required is for such an individual to be under the control of the Spirit so that the individual’s spiritual gift will function. A person may think that I made up this requirement but that is not the case. It is really when a believer is filled of the Holy Spirit, that is, controlled by the Holy Spirit could the person be used to perform a miracle. This is evident in what was said of Apostle Paul before he pronounced judgment on Elymas, the sorcerer, as we read in Acts 13:9–11:
9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
It seems to me if it is not necessary for the believer to be controlled by the Holy Spirit to perform that which is miraculous, we will not have been given the verbal phrase of verse 9 filled with the Holy Spirit. It is true that nearly our English versions translated the Greek similar to the NIV, but the Greek literally reads filled of the Holy Spirit, implying that the apostle was under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is probably to recognize what the Greek says or to avoid the impression given by our English versions that a person is filled with Holy Spirit as if one fills a bottle with water that perhaps the translators of the CEB translated the Greek as Empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Anyway, although the fourth and fifth assignments involve the miraculous, they are not as important in the church of Christ as those assignments that are necessary for the maturing of believers in the church of Christ. By this we mean that observing a miracle or a healing does not mean that a believer would grow spiritually. It could enhance a person’s trust in the Lord but not necessarily lead to spiritual growth in the sense of conforming to the character of the Lord Jesus. Spiritual growth requires spiritual nourishment which is the word of God. We know that it is the proper form of food with the right nutrients that lead to a child’s growth and better health in adults. Therefore, proper teaching of the word of God is necessary for spiritual growth. Apostle Paul had already indicated to the Corinthians that it is through the word of God that they would mature since he indicate that he was not able to teach them advanced doctrines because they were not ready for them as implied in 1 Corinthians 3:2:
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
We are saying that no one grows spiritually by witnessing a miracle or a healing but only through the teaching of the word of God. This being the case the first three spiritual assignments that have to do with the communication of God’s word are more important than miracles for the spiritual growth of believers. You see, there are believers who spend most of their time going from place to place looking for miracles or chasing after testimonies about miracles instead of being focused on learning the word of God. Such believers are chasing after experience instead of buckling down and studying the word of God. God grants miracles when He wants not because a person is busy chasing after testimonies of miracles. Many of us just do not understand that Satan is shrewd that he could fill a person with a desire to chase after experience instead of disciplining self to listen to the teaching of God’s word. Miracles or healings may cause a person who, of course, is an elect to believe in Christ but would not lead to spiritual growth as such. This being the case, we can understand the reason the fourth and fifth assignments are given in the positions they are mentioned as Apostle Paul deals with the spiritual assignments of God to individuals in the church of Christ. Please note that miracles are not listed in the offices necessary for spiritual maturity of believers in Ephesians 4:11–12:
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.
This brings us to the sixth spiritual assignment.
The sixth spiritual assignment is concerned with helping others as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 12:28 those able to help others. The expression those able to does not directly appear in the Greek but added by the translators of the 1984 edition of the NIV to help the English reader make sense of what the Greek says and probably because the expression is justified because of the Greek word used since literally the Greek simply reads helps. The 2011 edition of the NIV translated the Greek as of helping. There is considerable uncertainty regarding what the apostle meant in what he wrote in the Greek. This notwithstanding, we will consider this spiritual assignment by examining the Greek word used and the concept of “help” given in the NT Scripture to enable us make sense of what the Holy Spirit conveyed through Apostle Paul.
The word “helps” in the literal translation is translated from a Greek word (antilēmpsis) that appears only here in the Greek NT; it means “help” or “ability to help.” In effect, the word is concerned with assistance and support in a time of difficulty (succor). Before we make further comments on this spiritual assignment of “helps”, we should be aware that help as an activity is expected of all believers.
Help that believers are to render to others may be viewed as physical or spiritual thus we have two kinds of help believers could rendered to each other. It is probably because of the fact that there are two kinds of help that believers could render to each other that we have the plural of our Greek word that means “helps.” That aside, physical help involves taking care of the needs of the weak that generally refers to the poor and widows. Thus, the early church in Jerusalem demonstrated that believers are to help the weak or needy as evident in the way they met the needs of fellow believers as stated in Acts 4:34–35:
34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Gentile churches under the leadership of Apostle Paul rendered help in a physical sense to believers in Jerusalem as implied by the commendation of the Apostle Paul about Gentile churches willingness to help fellow believers in Jerusalem as we read in 2 Corinthians 8:19:
What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help.
The human author of Hebrews acknowledged the physical help the recipients of his epistle were rendering to others as we read in Hebrews 6:10:
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
Examples of physical help rendered to others are not limited to the church as a group, but we have an example of an individual that rendered help to those who are weak or poor. Dorcas that Apostle Peter raised from the dead was a woman known for helping the poor as we read in Acts 9:36:
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor.
Anyhow, we should be clear that rendering help to others in need physically is that expected of all believers as implied in the instruction of the Holy Spirit to believers through the pen of Apostle Paul as we read in Romans 12:13:
Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Sharing what one has with God’s people include the support of the ministry. This support of the ministry was evident during the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus because there were some women that helped support Him and His disciples as we read in Luke 8:3:
Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, those who were involved in the ministry of the word received support from other believers. Hence, Apostle Paul acknowledged the support of his ministry by the Philippians as we read in Philippians 4:16:
for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.
The point is that rendering of help in a physical sense is that expected of believers.
The help believers are expected to render to each other is not limited to the physical but extends to the spiritual. The most basic help we are to render to fellow believers is to pray for them. No wonder Apostle Paul indicated the Corinthians were helping him and his team through their prayer for them as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:11:
as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Another help believers are expected to render to each other spiritually is encouragement. We are to help our fellow believers who are struggling in the faith by providing them encouragement through Scripture. We are to encourage or console those who have lost someone by directing them to proper attitude towards death. That we are supposed to help each other through encouragement is conveyed in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
If we see fellow believers struggling spiritually in that they are having difficulty living the Christian life, we should provide such believers encouragement. The human author of Hebrews stated this requirement in Hebrews 3:13:
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
In any event, we have noted that believers are supposed to help each other both physically and spiritually. If that is the case how then should we understand the spiritual assignment described in the NIV of 1 Corinthians 12:28 those able to help others? There are at least two possible answers. The apostle could have meant those who assist church officers in their work or those who help those in need. The first answer is unlikely since those who help church officers were probably in the mind of the apostle in the next spiritual assignment. Furthermore, in the early church, those selected to help the apostles were to help in meeting the physical needs of the needy in the church. Therefore, we believe the apostle had in mind those who help those in need in the church of Christ. Consequently, we should understand when the apostle wrote literally helps, he meant that there are those who because of gift of the Holy Spirit related to helping others are more devoted to helping the needy in the church more consistently than others. Those with this assignment go beyond what other believers do in order to help others, regardless of their financial status. I suppose that those with this assignment have an unusual gift of generosity to enable them to excel in helping others. Dorcas, as we mentioned previously that Peter raised from the dead, was probably an example of a believer with this kind of spiritual assignment.
The seventh spiritual assignment is concerned with guidance or leadership, specifically in the local church as in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 12:28 those with gifts of administration. Literally, the Greek simply reads administrations. This is because we do not have in the Greek the phrase those with gifts of instead, we have a Greek word (kybernēsis) that appear only here in the Greek NT. The word is derived from a Greek verb (kybernáō) that does not appear in the Greek NT that originally meant “to steer a ship” and usually refers to the act of piloting a ship but later the word meant “to rule.” The Greek word used in our passage appears three times in the Septuagint with the sense of “wise guidance” or “right direction” as the word is used, for example, in Proverbs 11:14:
For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:28, the word means “administration” with focus on giving leadership or guidance to the church of Christ. This being the case, it would seem that those who have this assignment are overseers of local churches and deacons since they are those who lead in spiritual and physical affairs of the church. It is probably to recognize that there are at least two different kinds of leadership in the church of Christ that Apostle Paul used the plural of the Greek word that we indicate means “administration” to describe this seventh spiritual assignments. Although this spiritual assignment is for those we mentioned, we should recognize like the concept of help, believers in general are expected to give guidance to each other spiritually as part of admonishing one another. This brings us to the eighth.
The eighth spiritual assignment in the church of Christ is concerned with speaking in foreign languages as we read in clause of 1 Corinthians 12:28, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Literally, the Greek reads kinds of tongues.
The word “kinds” is translated from a Greek word (genos) that may mean “nation, people” as the word is used by Apostle Paul in reference to Israel as he identified himself as a Hebrew as we read in Philippians 3:5:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
The word may mean “offspring” as it is used by Apostle Paul to quote what Athenian poets said as recorded in Acts 17:28:
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
The word may mean “family” as the word is used in Stephen’s sermon to describe Joseph’s family that joined him in Egypt as stated in Acts 7:13:
On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.
The word may mean “kind” as it is used to describe a class of demons that can only be expelled by prayer as we read in Mark 9:29:
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:28, it means “kind,” that is, a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality. This means that we have that which can be distinguished by some characteristic when the apostle used the word “tongues.”
The word “tongues” is translated from a Greek word (glōssa) that means “tongue.” The “tongue” may refer literally to a body part as an organ of speech as what was loosed to enable Zechariah to speak just before the naming of his son, John the Baptist, as we read in Luke 1:64:
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God.
Figuratively, “tongue” is used for split flames in Acts 2:3:
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
The word may mean “language” unique to a people as it is used by those from other nations that were present on the Day of Pentecost to acknowledge hearing the disciples speak in their various languages the great things God has done when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place as we read in Acts 2:11:
(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
To remove any misunderstanding of what tongues means in this passage, some of our modern English versions rendered the phrase our own tongues as our own languages as we find, for example, in the NET among others. It is in the sense of “language” that “tongue” is used to describe different peoples of the nations that are redeemed as we read in Revelation 5:9:
And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
The English versions that are prone to literal translation such as the Authorized Version (KJV) or the NASB translated the word “tongue” instead of “language” in this passage in Revelation. The Greek word may mean “ecstatic language”, that is, “an utterance outside the normal patterns of intelligible speech and therefore requiring special interpretation” as the word is used to describe those who received the Holy Spirit when Apostle Peter preached the gospel to Cornelius and those assembled in his house as we read in Acts 10:46:
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said.
It is in the sense of “ecstatic language” the word is used to describe one of the activities of those in Ephesus that received the Holy Spirit when Apostle Paul placed his hand on them as stated in Acts 19:6:
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 12:28, the Greek word means “language,” that is, any language but often referring to a language one has never studied and a supernatural ability to speak (or be understood) in it. Of course, it refers to strange speech of persons in religious ecstasy that must be interpreted to help others understand what is uttered.
Anyway, there are those in the local church that have this spiritual assignment of speaking in languages they have not known. This spiritual assignment is mentioned last not because it is the least important of the spiritual gifts per say but probably because it is the one spiritual gift that has caused so much problem in the local church of Christ in Corinth. This fact is evident in the space the apostle devoted to speaking in tongues in this first epistle to the Corinthians we are considering. This notwithstanding, the second proposition we have expounded is: The spiritual assignments are ranked according to their importance in the church of Christ.
09/16/22