Spiritual Gifts 1 Corinthians 12:8

 

word of wisdom, word of knowledge

Yesterday we saw that “Spiritual gifts are spiritual, supernatural abilities, freely given and bestowed by the Holy Spirit as a manifestation of His presence.” Today I will begin to look at the manifestations themselves. I’m striving to be brief while at the same time explaining and illustrating each gift. It’s a challenge keeping each post short!

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

There are 9 manifestations of the Spirit listed here. Paul seems to arrange them into three groups (the colors show the grouping).

I don’t know why he does this, but it’s clear in Greek. Now just a brief word about each manifestation or gift, beginning with word of wisdom and knowledge.

Wisdom and knowledge. Many Bibles have “the word of”, but there is no “the” in the Greek, so it is more accurately a word of wisdom…a word of knowledge. Wisdom is how to apply what you know; knowledge is information. These are revelatory gifts, God reveals something to you:

a word of wisdom “What is the gift of a word of wisdom? It is a tiny portion of God’s total wisdom directly and supernaturally imparted by the Holy Spirit. God has all wisdom. But, fortunately for you and me, He does not give it to us all at once because it would completely submerge us. This gift is given by supernatural means because the results would not be available by natural means. It is imparted by the Holy Spirit.” (DP)

A couple of examples from Scripture of when the Holy Spirit gave a revelation, an insight into the way to solve this problem

Acts 6:1-4 This was when there was a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. So the apostles gathered the disciples and instructed them to choose seven men to oversee this ministry.

Acts 15 The Jerusalem Council. This was a huge issue: Do Gentiles need to be circumcised to be saved? There was much discussion, argument, discord, until James said, “Here’s my decision.”

a word of knowledge “I defined a word of wisdom as a tiny portion of God’s total wisdom imparted by the Holy Spirit. A word of knowledge has a parallel definition. It is a tiny portion of God’s total knowledge supernaturally imparted by the Holy Spirit.” (DP) A few examples from Scripture:

John 4 Jesus and the woman at the well - You have had five husbands…

Acts 5 Ananias and Saphira – They had sold some property and given the money to the apostles, pretending they had given all the money. Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? He only knew it by revelation.

Acts 14 Paul with the lame man at Lystra - perceiving that he had faith to be healed.

This can be a revelation about a person, a situation, or an insight into something in Scripture. I am familiar with the expression, “I have a word from the Lord” and I confess I don’t often separate them, “This is wisdom, this is knowledge” etc. I mean, they don’t come with a tag! It’s just a word from the Lord. As I will repeat, all the revelatory gifts are (for me) hard to distinguish.

NEXT: faith, gifts of healings, workings of miracles

(DP) - Derek Prince, from his book, The Gifts of the Spirit: Understanding and Receiving God’s Supernatural Power in Your Life.