John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 12

Now concerning spiritual things. He goes on to correct another fault. As the Corinthians abused the gifts of God for ostentation and show, and love was little, if at all, regarded, he shows them for what purpose believers are adorned by God with spiritual gifts—for the edification of their fellow believers.

This proposition, however, he divides into two parts. For, in the first place, he teaches that God is the author of those gifts; and, secondly, having established this, he reasons about their design. He proves from their own experience that those things in which they gloried are bestowed upon them through the exercise of God’s favor, for he reminds them how ignorant, stupid, and destitute of all spiritual light they were before God called them. Thus, it appears that they had been provided with them—not by nature, but through God’s unmerited kindness.

Regarding the words, when he says, I do not want you to be ignorant, we must supply the expression: as to what is right, or as to what is your duty, or some similar expression. By spiritual things he means spiritual gifts, as we will have occasion to see later. In what follows, there are two variant readings, for some manuscripts simply have ὅτι, while others add ὅτε. The former means because—assigning a reason; the latter means when, and this latter reading suits the context much better. But besides this variation, the construction is otherwise confused; yet, the meaning is still evident. Literally, it is this: You know that when you were Gentiles, after dumb idols, just as you were led, following. I have, however, faithfully given Paul’s meaning. By dumb idols he means: having neither feeling nor motion.

Let us learn from this passage how great the blindness of the human mind is when it is without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, since it stands in amazement before dumb idols and cannot rise higher in searching for God; furthermore, it is led by Satan as if it were a beast. He uses the term Gentiles here in the same sense as in Ephesians 2:12.

You were at one time Gentiles, he says, without God,
strangers to the hope of salvation, etc.

Perhaps, too, he reasons by way of contrast. What if they should now show themselves less submissive to God, after he took them under his care to be governed by his word and Spirit, than they formerly showed themselves to be eager and compliant in following the suggestions of Satan!

Therefore I give you to know. Having admonished them from their own experience, he sets before them a general doctrine, which he deduces from it. For what the Corinthians had experienced in themselves is common to all humankind—to wander on in error, before they are brought back, through the kindness of God, into the way of truth.

Therefore, it is necessary that we should be directed by the Spirit of God, or we will wander on forever. From this, too, it follows that all things that relate to the true knowledge of God are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He at the same time derives an argument from opposite causes to opposite effects.

No one, speaking by the Spirit of God, can revile Christ; so, on the other hand, no one can speak well of Christ, but by the Spirit of Christ. To say that Jesus is accursed is utter blasphemy against him. To say that Jesus is the Lord, is to speak of him in honorable terms and with reverence, and to extol his majesty.

Here it is asked: “As the wicked sometimes speak of Christ in honorable and magnificent terms, is this an indication that they have the Spirit of God?” I answer: “They undoubtedly have, so far as that effect is concerned; but the gift of regeneration is one thing, and the gift of bare intelligence, with which Judas himself was endowed, when he preached the gospel, is quite another.”

From this, also, we perceive how great our weakness is, as we cannot even move our tongue for the celebration of God’s praise, unless it is governed by his Spirit. Scripture also frequently reminds us of this, and the saints everywhere acknowledge that unless the Lord opens their mouths, they are not equipped to be the heralds of his praise. Among others, Isaiah says, I am a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5).

Now there are diversities of gifts. The symmetry of the Church consists, so to speak, of a manifold unity; that is, when the variety of gifts is directed to the same object, as in music there are different sounds, but suited to each other with such an adaptation as to produce concord.

Therefore, it is fitting that there should be a distinction of gifts as well as of offices, and yet all harmonize in one. Paul, accordingly, in Romans 12, commends this variety, so that no one, by rashly intruding into another’s place, may confound the distinction which the Lord has established.

Therefore, he orders everyone to be content with his own gifts and cultivate the particular department that has been assigned to him. He prohibits them from going beyond their own limits by a foolish ambition. Finally, he exhorts everyone to consider how much has been given to him, what measure has been allotted to him, and to what he has been called.

Here, on the other hand, he orders everyone to bring what he has to the common store, and not keep back the gifts of God by everyone enjoying his own separately from the others, but to aim unitedly at the common edification of all. In both passages, he brings forward the similitude of the human body, but, as may be observed, for different reasons.

The sum of what he states amounts to this: gifts are not distributed so variously among believers so that they may be used separately, but that in the division there is a unity, since one Spirit is the source of all these gifts, one God is the Lord of all administrations, and the author of all exercises of power. Now God, who is the beginning, should also be the end.

One Spirit. This passage should be carefully observed in opposition to fanatics, who think that the name Spirit means nothing essential, but merely the gifts or actions of divine power. Here, however, Paul plainly testifies that there is one essential power of God, from which all His works proceed. The term Spirit, it is true, is sometimes transferred by metonymy to the gifts themselves. Thus, we read of the Spirit of knowledge, of judgment, of fortitude, of modesty. Paul, however, here plainly testifies that judgment, knowledge, gentleness, and all other gifts, proceed from one source. For it is the office of the Holy Spirit to manifest and exercise the power of God by conferring these gifts upon people and distributing them among them.

One Lord. The ancients used this testimony in opposition to the Arians to maintain a Trinity of persons. For mention is made here of the Spirit, secondly of the Lord, and lastly of God; and to these Three, one and the same operation is ascribed. Thus, by the name Lord, they understood Christ. But for my part, though I have no objection to it being understood in this way, I perceive, at the same time, that it is a weak argument for silencing the Arians. For there is a correspondence between the word administrations and the word Lord. The administrations, says Paul, are different, but there is only one God whom we must serve, whatever administration we discharge. This antithesis, then, shows what is the simple meaning, so that to confine it to Christ is rather forced.

One God that works. Where we use the word powers, the Greek term is ἐνεργήματα, a term which contains an allusion to the verb works, just as in Latin, effectus (an effect) corresponds with the verb efficere (to effect). Paul’s meaning is that although believers may be endowed with different powers, they all originate from one and the same power on the part of God. Hence the expression employed here — works all things in all — does not refer to the general providence of God, but to the liberality that he exercises towards us, in bestowing upon every one some gift. The sum is this — that there is nothing in mankind that is good or praiseworthy but what comes from God alone. Hence, it is out of place here to debate the question — in what manner God acts in Satan and in reprobates.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. He now points out the purpose for which God has appointed his gifts, for he does not confer them upon us in vain, nor does he intend that they should serve the purpose of ostentation. Therefore, we must inquire about the purpose for which they are conferred. To this, Paul answers that it is for utility (πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον); that is, so that the Church may receive advantage from them.

The manifestation of the Spirit may be taken in a passive as well as in an active sense: in a passive sense, because wherever there is prophecy, knowledge, or any other gift, the Spirit of God manifests himself there; and in an active sense, because the Spirit of God, when he enriches us with any gift, unlocks his treasures to manifest to us those things that would otherwise have been concealed and hidden. The second interpretation suits better. The view taken by Chrysostom is rather harsh and forced—that this term is used because unbelievers do not recognize God except by visible miracles.