Thomas Aquinas Commentary 1 Corinthians 12:1-6

"Now concerning spiritual [gifts], brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that when ye were Gentiles [ye were] led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might led. Wherefore I make known unto you, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all." — 1 Corinthians 12:1-6 (ASV)

After discussing the three sacraments of Baptism, Matrimony, and the Eucharist, the Apostle begins to talk about things related to the reality signified in the sacraments. This reality is twofold: one is signified and contained—namely, the grace that is immediately conferred by the sacrament. The other is signified but not contained—namely, the glory of the resurrection, which is expected in the end. He therefore first deals with the gifts of grace, and second, with the glory of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). Regarding the first point, he deals with the charismatic graces; second, he places charity, which pertains to sanctifying grace, above all of these (1 Corinthians 13); third, he compares the charismatic graces to one another (1 Corinthians 14).

Concerning the first point, he does two things. First, he explains his main intention, recalling his earlier statement that “about other things… I will give directions when I come.” And this is what he says now: Now concerning spiritual gifts—that is, the gifts of grace that come from the Holy Spirit—I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers. As Seneca says in his book On Benefits, “It is the worst form of ingratitude to be ignorant of benefits received.” Therefore, so that a person might not be ungrateful to God, they should not be ignorant of spiritual gifts: “We have received… the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12); “Therefore my people go into exile for want of knowledge” (Isaiah 5:13)—that is, knowledge of spiritual things.

Second, when he says, You know that when you were Gentiles, he develops his point. First, he shows the need for spiritual graces; second, he describes the distribution of those graces (1 Corinthians 12:4). The need for something is best understood from its absence. Hence, regarding the first point, he does two things: first, he shows the loss they suffered before they received grace; second, he concludes with the need for grace (1 Corinthians 12:3).

First, therefore, he says: You know by experience that when you were heathen—that is, living as heathen without yet having received grace through Baptism: “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners” (Galatians 2:15); “the Gentiles… walk in the futility of their minds” (Ephesians 4:17). You were led, as if with a ready and constant mind, as Jeremiah says: “Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging into battle” (Jeremiah 8:6); “Their feet run to evil” (Proverbs 1:16).

You were led to mute idols, that is, to adore and worship them, as it says in Psalm 115:5: “They have mouths, but do not speak.” Their inability to speak is particularly stressed because speech is the characteristic effect of knowledge. This shows that idols do not understand and, as a consequence, have nothing divine about them if they are mute. And this happened as you were led—that is, without any resistance.

For they were led, either drawn by the beauty of the idols—hence it says in one of Jerome’s letters: “You will see in Babylon gods of gold and silver; see that fear does not overtake you before them.” Or they were led by the command of a ruler, as it says in Daniel 3:1 that Nebuchadnezzar compelled people to worship a golden statue. In 2 Maccabees it is stated that some were led to the sacrifice by bitter necessity on the king’s birthday. Or they were led at the instigation of demons, who especially desire to have divine worship paid to them: “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). Therefore, they went to worship idols just as they were led, without resistance, as Proverbs 7:22 says of the foolish youth: “All at once he follows her, as an ox is led to the slaughter.” This shows that before receiving grace, a person quickly runs into sin without resistance.

He makes special mention of the sin of idolatry for three reasons. First, because it is a very serious sin to introduce another god, just as one would sin very seriously against a king by introducing another king into his kingdom. Hence, it says in Job 31:26-28: “if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor… and my mouth has kissed my hand”—that is, as a worshiper of the sun and moon—“this also would be an iniquity… a denial of God above.” Second, because from the sin of idolatry all other sins arise, according to Wisdom 14:27: “For the worship of unspeakable idols is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.” Third, because this sin was common among the heathen and was not considered a serious offense; hence it says in Psalm 96:5: “For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols.”

It should be noted that some have said that a person in a state of mortal sin cannot, without grace, be freed from the sin he is under, because the forgiveness of sins is brought about only by grace, as it says in Romans 3:24: “they are justified by his grace as a gift.” But, they claim, he can keep himself from mortal sin without grace, through free will. This position, however, does not seem to be true.

First, because a person cannot keep from mortal sin except by observing all the precepts of the law, since no one sins mortally except by transgressing a precept of the law. And so, it would follow that someone could observe all the precepts without grace—which is the Pelagian heresy. Second, because no one can have charity without grace, through which God is loved above all things, as it says in Romans 5:5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” But no one can avoid all sins unless he loves God above all things, just as that which is loved less is more easily despised. Therefore, it could happen that a person lacking grace might abstain from sin for a time, until he encounters something for which he is willing to despise God’s command, and by which he is led into sin. It is significant that the Apostle says, as you were led.

Then when he says, Therefore, he concludes by describing two effects of grace: the first is that it enables one to abstain from sin; the second is that it enables one to do good works (1 Corinthians 12:3b).

First, therefore, he says: From the fact that you ran so quickly into sin when you were without grace, I want you to understand that this would not have happened if you had possessed grace, for no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, “Jesus is accursed!”—that is, blasphemes Jesus. As it is written, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:3). It should be noted that he said above that the most serious sin is blasphemy, which is avoided through grace; therefore, other lesser sins are also avoided.

By the phrase “Jesus is accursed” (or “anathema to Jesus”), any mortal sin can be understood. For “anathema” signifies separation. It is derived from “ana,” meaning “up,” and “thesis,” meaning “a placement,” as if to say, “set up” or “placed on high,” because in ancient times, things set apart from common use were hung up in temples or public places. But every mortal sin separates a person from Jesus, as it says in Isaiah 59:2: “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” Therefore, whoever sins mortally says in his heart or with his mouth, “Anathema”—that is, “Separation from Jesus.” Thus, no one speaking in the Spirit of God says “anathema to Jesus,” because no one sins mortally through the Spirit of God, for as it says in Wisdom 1:5: “a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit.”

But based on this, it would seem that whoever has the Holy Spirit cannot sin mortally. Furthermore, it says in 1 John 3:9: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him.” The answer is that as far as the Spirit of God is concerned, a person does not commit sin but is instead drawn away from sin. But he can sin through a defect of the human will, which resists the Holy Spirit, as it says in Acts 7:51: “You always resist the Holy Spirit.” For the indwelling Holy Spirit does not completely take away the ability to sin from the free will in this life. Therefore, it is significant that the Apostle did not say, “No one having the Holy Spirit,” but no one speaking in the Spirit of God.

Then when he says, and no one, he mentions the second effect of grace: that without it, a person cannot perform a good work. He says, therefore: and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. But against this seems to be the fact that a person is brought into the kingdom of heaven by the Holy Spirit, as it says in Psalm 143:10: “Let your good spirit lead me on a level path!” The Lord, however, says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Therefore, not everyone who says, “Lord Jesus,” says it in the Holy Spirit.

The answer is that saying something “in the Holy Spirit” can be understood in two ways. First, it can mean being moved by the Holy Spirit without possessing the Spirit. For the Holy Spirit moves the hearts of certain people to speak, even though He does not dwell in them. As it says in John 11:51, in predicting the benefit of the Lord’s death, Caiaphas did not speak of his own accord but through the Spirit of prophecy. Balaam also predicted many true things while moved by the Holy Spirit, as it says in Numbers 23-24, although he did not possess the Spirit. According to this, therefore, it must be understood that no one can say anything true unless moved by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth, of whom it is said in John 16:13: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Hence, Ambrose says in a gloss, “Every truth, no matter by whom it is spoken, is from the Holy Spirit.” This applies especially to matters of faith, which are received by a special revelation of the Holy Spirit. Among these truths is the fact that Jesus is Lord of all. Hence it says in Acts 2:36: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Second, someone can speak in the Holy Spirit by being both moved and possessed by the Spirit. According to this understanding, what is said here can be confirmed, but in such a way that “to speak” refers not only to the mouth but also to the heart and to one’s actions. For something is said with the heart, as in Psalm 14:1: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” And something is said by deed, insofar as a person’s external work reveals his thought. Therefore, no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by having the Holy Spirit, in such a way that he confesses this not only with his mouth, but also reveres Him as Lord in his heart and obeys Him as Lord in his actions.

Therefore, from the preceding words, we can consider three things about grace.

1. Without it a person cannot avoid sin, as it says in Psalm 94:17: “If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.”
2. Through it sin is avoided, as it says in 1 John 3:9: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.”
3. Without it a person cannot do good, as it says in John 15:9: “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Then when he says, Now there are varieties of gifts, he begins to distinguish the charismatic graces: first, he distinguishes them in general; second, he explains each one in particular (1 Corinthians 12:7).

In the things conferred by the grace of the Holy Spirit, three aspects must be considered. First is a person’s ability to work; second is the authority; and third is the carrying out of both. The ability is received through the gift of grace, for example, by prophecy, the power to work miracles, or something of that kind. The authority is received through some ministry, for example, through the apostolate or something similar. Execution pertains to the actual work performed. First, therefore, he distinguishes the graces; second, the ministries; third, the operations.

Regarding the first, he shows the need for grace. This grace, however, does not come in its totality to everyone, but only to Christ, to whom the Spirit was given without measure, as it says in John 3:34. But for others, there are varieties of graces, because some abound in one grace and others in another. For just as in a natural body the head has all the senses while the other members do not, so in the Church, Christ alone has all graces, which are then distributed among the other members. This is signified in Genesis 2:12, where it says that a river (that is, of graces) flowed out to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. And in Matthew 25:15 it says that “to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one.” And although the gifts of grace possessed by different people are diverse, they do not come from different authors, as the Gentiles believed, who attributed wisdom to Minerva, speech to Mercury, and so on for other gifts. To exclude this idea, he adds, but the same Spirit—that is, the Holy Spirit, who is the author of all graces: “one body and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4). The Spirit is “one and manifold” : one in substance, but manifold in graces.

Then he mentions the varieties of service, saying: And there are varieties of service. This means different ministries and offices are required to govern the Church. For the leaders of the Church are called servants, as in 1 Corinthians 4:1: “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ.” It contributes to the beauty and perfection of the Church that there are diverse ministries within it, which are signified by the different orders of service that the queen of Sheba admired in Solomon’s house (1 Kings 3:5). Yet all serve one Lord; hence, he adds, but the same Lord. “Yet for us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things” (1 Corinthians 8:6).

Then he mentions the varieties of activities, saying: and there are varieties of activities, through which one accomplishes good in oneself, just as through ministries one serves a neighbor. “Man goes out to his work” (Psalms 104:23), that is, work proper to himself. “He has distinguished them and made their ways diverse” ()—that is, their activities. All of these come from one source. Hence, he adds, but it is the same God who empowers them all, as the first cause, producing all actions. But so that the other causes do not seem to be superfluous, he adds, in every one, because the first cause works through secondary causes: “O LORD… you have accomplished all our works for us” (Isaiah 26:12). It should be noted that the Apostle very fittingly attributes gifts to the Spirit, who is love, because it is from love that someone is freely given a ministry from the Lord, to whom he ministers, and performs works for God, as for the first moving cause. And what he says, “Spirit,” can be referred to the person of the Holy Spirit; what he calls “Lord” to the person of the Son; and what he calls “God” to the person of the Father. Alternatively, these three can all be attributed to the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and God.