1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (speaking in the Spirit of God)

spiritual giftsIn chapter 12, Paul continues to discuss the assembly — a subject that continues to the end of chapter 14. However, the focus now shifts from the Lord’s Supper to the exercise of spiritual gifts.

(1Co 12:1 ESV) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

Paul lays out his purpose clearly enough. He wants the congregation to know about spiritual gifts. Surely, the same is true today: that our churches should not be uninformed about spiritual gifts. Of course, we sometimes run from the topic because so many controversial questions arise when we discuss it.

(1Co 12:2 ESV) You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

(1Co 12:2 NIV) You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

I copy the NIV because I think its paraphrase captures the thought.

Now notice that Paul refers to “mute” or “speechless” (NET) idols for a reason. He’s contrasting the silence of the idols to the fact that God speaks through his prophets and apostles. God is not silent. This clearly implies that Paul considers the gifts he’s about to discuss to be legitimate — to actually come from God. The messages received by these gifts are (or can be) speech from the mouth of God.

(1Co 12:3 ESV) 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. 

Hence, a true prophet (for example) will declare Jesus to be Lord. Only a false prophet can deny Jesus.

The speech produced by a claimed spiritual gift gives away the source of the communication. If the message contradicts the central claims of Christianity, it’s not of God.

On the other hand, Paul clearly did not consider these gifts to measure up to his own level of authority. They had prophets but still needed the guidance and instruction that Paul offered as an apostle.

In the church of my childhood, I was taught that the prophets were given to the early church to fill in the gap, pending the completion of the New Testament. With the New Testament not yet written, the people turned to inspired prophets to learn sound doctrine. Once the New Testament was completed, the gift of prophecy was no longer needed and so died out.

But obviously enough, the church in Corinth had prophets. Chapter 11 describes women prophesying, and chapters 12 – 14 make it all-the-more clear that prophets were in that congregation. And yet the congregation obviously wasn’t provided with adequate doctrinal guidance — resulting in the need for Paul to weigh in. So whatever it was that the prophets did, it wasn’t replacing the New Testament or keeping the churches in line!

Clearly, there are degrees of prophecy and degrees of inspiration. Not everyone with the Spirit can author scripture. Not all are reliable sources of doctrine. And by far, the most important test is whether the alleged prophet submits to Jesus as Lord.

In Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians, 12-14, D. A. Carson argues that the semantic range of “prophet” in the First Century was much broader than in earlier times, so much so that Paul could refer to Epimenides of Crete as a “prophet” when quoting his saying, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (Tit 1:12 ESV) from the Sixth Century B.C.

In Acts 2, Peter refers to the apostles’ speaking in tongues as fulfilling Joel’s promise that the Spirit would be outpoured so that men and women would “prophesy.”

In Acts 21:10 ff, Agabus, called a prophet, warns Paul not to go to Jerusalem, and Paul refuses to honor the prophet’s instructions. It’s unimaginable that a godly man would have rejected the instructions of a prophet on the order of, say, an Isaiah or Jeremiah.

Throughout the Old Testament, we read of “prophecy” that sounds a lot like ecstatic speech, perhaps the same as tongues. For example,

(1Sa 19:20-24 ESV)  20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.  21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.  22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”  23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.  24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 

The fact that when Saul stripped himself naked, lay on the ground, and spoke words of prophecy he was said to be “among the prophets” seems to demonstrate that he was acting as prophets sometimes acted.

And so, the fact is that we can’t be very precise about just what phenomenon was referred to as “prophecy” in the early church. Was it prophecy as Saul prophesied? Or prophecy as Moses or Ezekiel prophesied?

One thing we can for sure is that contemporary preaching and exhortation is not the same thing. Indeed, there was something about prophecy that distinguished it from ordinary speech. Consider the occasion when Moses appointed 70 men to serve as judges —

(Num 11:24-29 ESV) 24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.  25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.  

26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.  27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”  28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”  29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” 

There was something about the speech of Eldad and Medad that made others recognize them as prophets. But we are never told what it was.

But just as is true in Numbers 11 and 1 Corinthians 12-14, to be able to prophesy was considered a good and holy thing — something to be sought and desired.

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.
This entry was posted in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (speaking in the Spirit of God)

  1. keijo leppioja says:

    Yes by the HOly Spirit through us to be share the word in bless and with him daily inquard and involved to be anoindted in joy and in pure heart thanksgivng with sound the doctrine in Jesus blood thanks and bless,keijo sweden

  2. Price Futrell says:

    I believe you are correct in noting the differences in level of authority… It seems that this passage which you will eventually come upon reflects the “purpose” of the inspired revelation received by some. [1Co 14:3 ESV] On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”.. Would to God that more had this gift.

  3. R.J. says:

    Did Saul truly strip himself naked-acting like a hooligan? Or did he merely strip off his royal garments to sing and dance like David? if the former is so, I thought Paul said that “the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets”? Then how do we explain King Saul’s behavior? Was Paul simply being normative here?

    Wait, I think I just answered m own question lol. This was indeed an extraordinary situation. Paul was merely calling for an end to the chaotic discourteous ramblings going on there and correcting the oft used excuse “the Holy Spirit made me do it”!

    “29 Two or three prophets must speak and the other must evaluate. 30 But if someone who is seated has a revelation, the speaker should be silent. 31 For you are all able to prophesy in turn. 32 So then, the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 Because God is not a God of chaos, but of peace as in all the gatherings of the saints”.

    Although the specific rules Paul laid down here are circumstantial to this situation, the general principles laid out in verse 26, 33, and 40 are universal. Building one another is the theme(verse 26). Done in common courtesy(verse 40) and not in turmoil(verse 33).

    BTW, I’m not implying that verse 34-36 are temporal nor circumstantial(although I do believe he was merely speaking of authoritarian women who arrogantly questioned and refused to listen to the male prophets[and Elders?] of the assembly). But that’s another story.

Comments are closed.