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Examined Doctrine
PASSAGE · BSB

1 Corinthians 12

11 positions in the corpus lean on this chapter. Cited verses are marked.

1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

2You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

3Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

4There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

5There are different ministries, but the same Lord.

6There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.

7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit,

9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,

10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.

12The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

14For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.

15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

18But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design.

19If they were all one part, where would the body be?

20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”

22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

23and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty,

24whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,

25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.

26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.

29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?

30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

31But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

Who leans on it

Chrysostom on the trinityPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Post-Nicene and unambiguous. The three are one undivided essence, so completely that where one Person is present the whole Trinity is present. Against the Macedonians he presses the Spirit's deity from the grammar of 1 C…Chrysostom on indwelling of the holy spiritPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The Spirit comes at the font, and he treats that as settled enough to argue from. Asked how anyone can now tell that a person has the Spirit, given that the sign-gifts have stopped, his answer is that for a believer the …Chrysostom on continuation of spiritual giftsPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°He says it twice, flatly, and in passing both times — which is what makes it good evidence. Preaching through 1 Corinthians 12 he explains that the chapter is obscure to his congregation because the things it describes h…M. Heiser on indwelling of the holy spiritPRIMARY SOURCELEANS°The Spirit indwells at the moment of belief, and that indwelling is identical with the baptism of the Spirit that places a person into the body of Christ. Sealing means marking and sanctifying, not conferring an irrevers…M. Heiser on continuation of spiritual giftsPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Rejects both labels as unhelpful while landing squarely in the cautious middle — God may do what he wants, the gifts are not withdrawn, and the machinery built around them by charismatic movements is what he objects to. …Josh Howerton on continuation of spiritual giftsPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Continuationist, positioned as a deliberate middle: 'We don't want disorder. We don't want denial. We want discernment.' Distinguishes three senses of tongues — proof, prophetic, and private. New Testament prophecy must …Irenaeus on continuation of spiritual giftsPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°A direct, present-tense, first-person report: Irenaeus says he and others personally hear prophecy and tongues among contemporary believers, not just Scripture cited abstractly. One of the strongest patristic witnesses c…John Owen on continuation of spiritual giftsPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Cessationist as to the present, and argued from office rather than from a proof text. Apostles, prophets and evangelists were extraordinary offices constituted by an extraordinary call, extraordinary power, extraordinary…Justin Peters on indwelling of the holy spiritPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Spirit baptism happens at conversion and is identical with being placed into the Body of Christ at regeneration. He presses the point that it is positional rather than experiential — a fact, not a feeling — and notes tha…John Piper on continuation of spiritual giftsSTANDARD ACCOUNTAFFIRMS°Continuationist while Reformed — a combination that puts him alongside Howerton against MacArthur on this locus.Westminster Confession on continuation of spiritual giftsDISPUTED READINGNOT FRAMEDThis is blank of the third kind - never framed in these terms - and the blank is worth more than a stance would be. WCF 1.1 says the former ways of God's revealing his will are 'now ceased', 1.6 forbids adding to Scriptu…