The passage consists of two questions asked by the apostle, similar to the verse before, which we quote with it: "Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" The very form of the question demands a negative answer. The whole chapter is taken up with spiritual gifts, the gifts which God places in His church, the gifts that are necessary to make that church what it ought to be. In verse 28 he tells us the relative importance at least of the first gifts,—"first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,"—after that various gifts. The least important of all is tongues, which would be demanded only where it is necessary to speak to people in other tongues, altho it might be manifested other times. Now the question rises, Does every one of God's children have all these gifts? And of course the answer is, No; all are not apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers; just as all the members of our body are not hands, or eyes, or feet. That is all that is meant by it. These gifts are distributed among God's children according to the ability to use them, and always according, not to the wish of the individual, but to the will of God. See 1 Cor. 12:11.