But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
The one and selfsame Spirit Himself works all the spiritual gifts and divides them to each person individually as He wills, not by human ability or wisdom. The gifts He gives include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation, and they are intentionally different from person to person so that no one has them all. These varied gifts belong to one body under Christ and are given for the profit and good of the whole, making members dependent on one another and forbidding rivalry, contempt, judging, or measuring one gift against another. They are set in the church for its edification to the end of time, giving every believer his own work and place, including the gift of prophecy in the last days in connection with the third angel's message. Every gift, great or small, is therefore to be valued, faithfully used and developed to uplift Christ and not self, with each worker staying in his appointed place, blending with others in love and humility, and allowing no one to control another's conscience or force another's gift into his own pattern.
Spirit Gives Varied Gifts
The one and selfsame Spirit works all the gifts and divides them to every person individually as He wills. The distribution is by His own power and choice, not by human ability or wisdom, in choosing whom to call and through whom to send His message. The gifts so worked are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Every servant is promised some gift of the Spirit, given to serve the church and to be worked in harmony.
The diversity is intentional, for the gifts are not the same for everyone. Not every believer receives every gift, and the gifts needed are suited to the need of the Lord's work. No one person receives all knowledge and wisdom, no one person has every qualification, and no one worker has every gift required for the work. Differences in gifts are therefore not grounds for pulling others down, sitting in judgment over another whose experience comes from a higher source, despising or envying the gifts and work of others, or acting independently in all matters.
The gifts are already ours in Christ, but they are actually possessed as the Spirit is received. The disciples received the gift in its fullness after Christ's ascension, when they had surrendered themselves through faith and prayer. All Christian gifts and graces come from God rather than human achievement. The Spirit gives different gifts and different measures of grace and means of influence to different individuals, with different gifts and abilities for the work appointed to each.
God has set every member in the body as it pleased Him, placing every person at a post of duty with a given work. Christ appoints positions and offices, giving all talents as His gifts and dividing position and capability to every person as He wills. Anyone unsure of his place should pray for guidance until his work is assigned, then use the entrusted talents rightly without disappointing the Lord. The same God works the diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations into perfect harmony, with all acting their different parts in a connected whole under the supervision of the great Master-worker who knows what each one should do to meet the necessities that arise, until all come into the unity of the faith. Each person receives a distinct place and ability within this whole and is not independent of the others, and must recognize the position and capabilities God gives to another without envy, suspicion, or belittling another's gift and work.
Unity of Diverse Body
The one and the same Spirit works all the gifts and divides to every person individually as He wills, and those varied gifts serve different roles within one body whose head is Jesus Christ. There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, and diversities of operations but the same God working in all, with the manifestation of the Spirit given to every person for profit and for the good of the whole body. The gifts so divided are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. As the body is one with many members having different offices, so many believers are one body in Christ with gifts differing according to grace, and it is God's order that some serve in one line of work and others in other lines, all working under the selfsame Spirit. Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary lines must understand this and do no haphazard work, but unite despite different gifts and ways of working in love without dissimulation, abhorring evil, cleaving to good, and preferring one another in honor, and this instruction is of vital importance to everyone to be practiced at this time above all other times in earth's history, so that God is not dishonored by discord and strife but glorifies His name and imparts power to His people.
The variety makes the members dependent on one another, for because members do not act the same part no member is to be self-sufficient, say to another member there is no need of him, or act independently in all matters, since no one person has every qualification. What one cannot accomplish another may be equipped to do, for the one Spirit fits each person for particular work, and each should develop the gifts received without despising or envying the gifts and work of others. No worker's abilities make that person fit to control others, for each has an important place in the shared work. Among the members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, for many gifts are called for while all are members of one body. Differences in gifts are not grounds for pulling others down or humbling them, and no person has authority to sit in judgment over another, whose experience is to come from a higher source than finite humanity.
Recognizing this order guards against rivalry, pride, envy, and contempt, and against carnal emulation, and it strengthens unity and mutual love. God dispenses His gifts as He pleases, bestowing one gift on one person and another gift on another, including calling some to teach others to fit them for service in His cause. All serve under the same Spirit for the good of the whole body, and seeing that diversity of service keeps members from contempt of one another and binds them in unity.
Each person has liberty of expression of his own gift, but no one is to work out a problem of his own invention, and all must blend their capabilities together in unity, love, and singleness for the glory of God to make a complete whole. This united diversity produces holiness, aims every soul at reaching perfection of the character of Jesus Christ, keeps anyone from launching out against another, sustains the truth as the Bible presents it, stands firm against strange fanaticism and forced-in heresies, prevents confusion, and brings glorious victories in the great and solemn work. Perfect unity must exist in a diversity of gifts, and a union of all the gifts is essential so the work is not one-sided but a complete whole. This unity comes by loving one another not merely as neighbor but as Christ loved, with the will wholly submerged in God's will, bringing peace and rest, and that Christlike love is the perfection of Christian character to be revealed through all ranks and obtained by every child of God, while activity and much work without it leaves one imperfect before God, fails to keep the commandment to love one another, and causes the candlestick to be removed out of its place.
The figure of the members which compose the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another, showing how members brought together in church capacity are to be united understandingly and intelligently. The chapter, with 1 Corinthians 13, was placed by the Lord through Paul for consideration and should be committed to memory, written in the mind and heart, and studied and digested, not ignored by professed people of God brought together in church capacity. Its teaching is to be studied and applied by church members for the continuous humbling of individual self and taking self critically in hand, beginning with self-examination. Its very first step is denying self and taking up one's own cross of self-denial and self-humiliation and self-sacrifice, not laying the cross on somebody else to carry.
Purpose for Church Work
Certain gifts of the Spirit have been placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time, fulfilling Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth. These gifts are worked and distributed by the one Spirit to each person as He chooses, and they are placed in the church for its benefit, so that opposing them can endanger others by leading them astray. This placing of gifts in the church forms part of the Bible argument for the perpetuity of spiritual gifts.
Every servant of Christ is promised some gift of the Spirit, and the gifts are not the same for everyone but include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. To every individual member is given his own personal work, so that not one is excused and not one can be an idler in the Lord's vineyard, but all are to be diligent workers together with Jesus Christ, since there is a variety of gifts and all are needed to do the work God has appointed. Those gifts are to arouse the faith and intelligence of every believer into sanctified action, for the faith that works by love and purifies the soul is a living working principle to be exercised in receiving and using what God has given. They are to be appreciated, with every professed son and daughter of God giving evidence of a heart impressed by the Holy Spirit and acting his part in the grand finishing work of this earth's history, which requires communion with God, the sanctifying power of grace on the heart, and submission to His will with willingness to engage in the work He appoints.
Not every believer receives every gift, but each believer receives gifts suited to the need of the Lord's work. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts to each person according to His will and thereby qualifies people for the responsibilities God calls them to bear. The talent of speech and intellectual ability, good taste, skill, refinement, and true elevation are gifts God uses in His work when first placed under His jurisdiction, with His presence as a controlling power and the heart blended with Christ's heart and conformed to Christ's will in desires and practices, where speech can be a great power for good or for evil, and where coveting earnestly the best gifts means not seeking to be first but striving earnestly for power to follow Christ's example as heralds of His gospel, which is true religion walking straight forward in God's blessed holy light despite temptation, suspicion, and evil surmising.
The Spirit's presence gives these gifts their power in service, for without it learning, talent, eloquence, and other abilities cannot touch hearts or win sinners to Christ, while with it even the poorest and least educated disciple can influence hearts. God's wisdom and power are revealed in giving success to the spotless example of a poor and illiterate humble devoted worker who lives his religion as fully as to the labors of the talented and eloquent minister, and even more than to the educated man who does not rely so fully upon God's help. The work is to labor for the salvation of fellow men not by judging them but by showing forth what the Lord has done in transformation of character, with faith, sympathy, forbearance, love, gentleness, and temperance in all things shining as a light in a dark place.
The one and selfsame Spirit divides to every man severally as He wills, so no one man with his gift is capable by his own effort of carrying through a series of meetings and giving perfection to the work. Varied gifts and different kinds of agencies are essential under the Lord's direction to build the work strong, proportional, and complete, with harmonious cooperation in which each worker does his God-given work, fills his appropriate position, and supplies the deficiency of the fellow worker who if left alone would think himself a complete whole, including those of careful thought who check exaggerated action, and with responsibilities shared with the brethren to lift burdens from ministers and add years to the life of the worker who cooperates with God. No one man's method and way of working is sufficient to mold souls after his own ideas, and no church is wholly efficient without the varied gifts, since God knows how to use His own agents to His name's honor and glory, moving upon ministers with different capabilities to feed the flock with suitable food, with one strong on some essential point where another is weak and revealing truth on points his fellow laborer did not regard as essential. Leaving the work to one man alone brings deficiency and greatly hinders the advancement and perfection of the church, while the varied gifts of various laborers under the control of the Holy Spirit together carry the work forward to its fullness, so fellow laborers must be welcomed and rightly treated, for refusing the messenger God sends is refusing Jesus. No one can carry forward evangelistic work alone and build up a church to be what Christ desires a church to be, but every worker's talents must be combined with the talents of others who supply what he lacks, which requires spending more time in prayer, putting away frivolous distractions, and walking before God in humility lest the enemy overcome him.
In His infinite wisdom God employs human agencies to cooperate with Him in the work of saving people, giving a variety of agencies different gifts with each person filling his own special God-given sphere of action, and all are to cooperate together harmoniously. The Spirit works through varied duties in the church, assigning each person a place and work, for the Spirit is the one mover in all of them. No one worker has every gift needed for the work, but people with varied abilities are needed, and their distinct contributions are to advance together in harmony. The variety of gifts needed for health-reform instruction and outreach reflects this diversity.
The gifts of the church may be graciously revived by God so they live in the church to encourage the fainting and to correct and reprove those who err. They belong where believers are low, dark, divided by prejudice and false reports, and have lost the power of the third angel's message, to expose wrong spirits, bring breaking down, confession and sweet union, and to work through visions and the healing of the sick by anointing with oil and prayer.
Prophecy in Last Days
The placing of gifts in the church does not mean that every individual exercises them, for a gift is in the church and the church possesses it when even one member receives it as the one and selfsame Spirit divides to each severally as He wills. In this way the last generation of Christians living at the second coming has the testimony of Jesus, which is the gift of prophecy, although only some individuals exercise it. The gifts of the Spirit are to be manifested in the church in the last days, with the one Spirit distributing them individually according to His will, especially the Spirit of prophecy.
By that Spirit of prophecy the Lord communicates to His people a knowledge of His will in warnings, reproofs, and encouragement in connection with the work of the third angel's message. This light does not originate with human minds but with the working of the Holy Spirit, and openly presenting its divine origin arrests attention and convicts and converts a large class who believe in the gifts and would not otherwise be reached. Concealing its divine origin in order to make truth more readily received is mere human reasoning by those with little experience in the working of the Holy Spirit. Genuine spiritual gifts are distributed by the Spirit and are not produced by human excitement, so unintelligible speech and noisy exercises are not evidence that God has placed a gift in the church, but their fruits reveal whether they are beneficial.
The gifts and operations of the Spirit of God are distinct from false visions and deceptive practices that have led people to doubt them. They are God's work, and Satan first attacks them by leading people into fanaticism and then pushes toward the opposite extreme of denying those gifts and operations.
Faithful Use of Gifts
The Spirit divides different gifts to different people as He chooses, and each person is to use faithfully whatever is entrusted for service to the Master, however small it may seem. Every gift, even the smallest, is to be valued, appreciated and developed rather than treated with indifference, and each is to trade on the moral and spiritual capital given to him by doing the best possible service where he can. No one is accountable for talents never received and none should complain of smallness, for God does not expect anyone to use what was not given. Nor is anyone to undervalue another gift or assume his own is all that is needed, since the varied talents are meant to work together and workers should make room for one another's different contributions rather than requiring all to follow one precise pattern.
The gifts are to be used in God's service not to glorify the possessor or uplift people but to uplift the Redeemer, represent the truth, benefit all, and help one another carry out duty and work. The church is like a garden of varied plants, where the same stature or capacity is not expected of each person. Even those with limited religious or intellectual training have work to do when they serve humbly and trust in Him.
God gives to every man work according to ability, and for the wisest reasons has ordained that every man fill his own place, with blessing coming in doing the appointed work without carrying heavy responsibilities not given. Each has his own post of duty and fitted, appointed work in the great whole, whether in business lines, in ministry of the Word, or in various trades, including the same gifts given to the apostles. Each should take up what he is fitted and appointed to do and stay in it rather than stepping out to interfering duties or assuming responsibilities others can and should bear, since taking on unappointed work confuses the mind and hinders the work given him. The first lesson when mind, heart and soul are surrendered to Christ is to find out what the Master would have him do and then do that work in connection with other laborers, loving God with whole heart, mind, soul and strength. This consecration recognizes God's ownership of his powers and of himself, invests the whole life with a sacredness that makes every act consecrated and makes him gentle, kind and courteous in his work, trained under Christ for the higher grade above, so the work is carried forward soundly and healthfully.
God presides over every portion of His moral vineyard and entrusts His work in each locality to the men there, with heaven interested in His special work in any vicinity. Therefore councils in different localities must decide important matters for themselves without waiting for distant decisions, for men in one place are no more inspired to give unerring advice than men elsewhere. All must seek the Lord for wisdom and depend on Him directly rather than depend on finite men in far fields to decide what shall be done.
The gifts placed in the church are to arouse the faith and intelligence of every believer into sanctified action in the grand finishing work of this earth's history, with every professed son or daughter giving evidence of a heart impressed by the Holy Spirit and acting his part. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul is a living working principle to be exercised in receiving and using what God has given. Right use requires communion with God, the sanctifying power of grace on the human heart, and submission to His will with willingness to engage in the work appointed to His servants. Believers are to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that as laborers together with Christ they may perfect Christian character. The varied gifts are graciously given for the holiness and happiness of those united with the great Master-Worker in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and every endowment is to be rightly appreciated and rightly used under obligation to be meek and lowly in heart, patient under trial, willing to forgive injuries, and determined to preserve unity and harmony.
God ordained people to be joined together in His service so the varied talents of many minds are blended, and no teacher, physician or minister can ever be a complete whole alone. Mind in contact with mind quickens thought and increases capability, and the deficiency of one worker is made up by the special gift of another. When physicians and teachers thus united impart their knowledge together, the youth under their training receive a symmetrical, well-balanced education for service. That uniting requires courteous, self-denying cooperation, yielding of personal opinions on matters of minor importance, and unselfish labor for the upbuilding of one another's work.
The church needs more than one person's gift, and every God-given talent and gift in the church should be recognized, while all things must be tested and only what is good held fast.
Humility in Working Together
The one and selfsame Spirit divides gifts and work to every person individually as He wills, and therefore the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people. Simple organization and church order are ordained for the unity and perfection of the church. The one who holds office is to stand as a leader, as an adviser and counselor and helper in carrying burdens, and as a leader in thanksgiving to God, but not to order and command fellow laborers nor to control and rule them. Position gives no kingly authority, so those carrying responsibilities must treat fellow workers with the same consideration they would wish to receive, learning the meekness of Christ and becoming Christlike.
The Spirit gives different gifts to different people, fitting each for particular work, so that what one cannot accomplish another may be equipped to do. No worker's abilities make him fit to control others, for each has an important place in the shared work. No one handling sacred responsibilities may arbitrarily command a fellow worker or forbid work God has bidden to go forward, since the Holy Spirit impresses individual hearts and minds and directs workers to certain places and certain work, and all do not have the same form of work. Undue exercise of human authority that hinders the work and discourages God's people misrepresents the Lord's purpose and must be rebuked as presumptuous rulership over His heritage, while safety is found only when each commits fully to works of righteousness so that words and spirit testify to God's glory.
No one should force another's mind or gifts into his own pattern, because God works on each heart and develops individual abilities for the varied needs of people through distinct roles and strengths in Christ's body. God works with each heart and mind in the formation of opinions of their own, and each person is to be encouraged to form and express his own opinions and to stand in God-given accountability. No one is to work another's mind as a machine or require surrender of personality to echo another's words, manners, and thoughts, even under claim of infallible plans, for such domination does not help or raise a person in God's estimation. Each is responsible to use mind and conscience, to seek His wisdom, and to allow His Spirit to work through him rather than becoming merely an echo or shadow of another. True unity in laboring for perishing souls requires humility without pride, with room for individual judgment.
God distributes different gifts as He wills, and these gifts have distinct, valuable places in the work. No one person is meant to claim a field of labor or manage the work alone, but people with different gifts are to contribute together with humility and teachability. The distribution is by the Spirit, not by human ability or wisdom, and the gifts are to be improved in faithful service rather than relied on self, with workers uniting efforts, faith, prayer, and counsel. The Lord's work needs workers with different talents and abilities, each faithfully doing his part under the direction of Christ the Head of the church.
The one Spirit gives different gifts to different ministers, but those gifts are never to be used to separate believers from one another. God's truth is not to be preached so that those who accept it form into separate parties under different heads, and no minister is to be conscience for others or gain an experience for them. Where contention enters and party spirit is manifested there is need for reformation and for calling things by their right names, for all dissension is born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds.
The Lord's tenderness is unceasing, and He desires believers to reveal the same tenderness to one another. When believers come together for counsel they are to speak good words to help and strengthen brethren, to unite in service, and to jealously guard one another's interests even though mistakes are made, instead of standing apart in self-confidence watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn. God does not reveal everything to one person but teaches one and then another, since the Spirit distributes different gifts and abilities according to His will. Believers should therefore share plans and ideas, speak as God gives utterance, and receive others' counsel with openness and brotherly kindness.
The different gifts given through the same Spirit are meant to work together in harmony, because no laborer is complete or can successfully do the whole work alone. Each gift is needed to accomplish what the Lord desires, to reach varied minds, and to make another's work more complete through counsel and influence, with workers following their own line while looking to Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to control them for power to arouse slumbering senses. No one can carry evangelistic work alone and build up a church to be what Christ desires, but every worker's talents must be combined with the talents of others who supply what he lacks. This blending together so that truth is proclaimed by different gifts requires spending more time in prayer, putting away frivolous distractions, and walking before God in humility lest the enemy overcome. The verse should have added weight while God's people are tried and tested and seek Him to shut them in with Himself so that the wicked one has no power over them.
God dispenses His gifts as He pleases, bestowing one gift on one person and another on another, including calling some to teach others to fit them for service. It is His order that some serve in one line of work and others in other lines, all working under the same Spirit for the good of the whole body, and recognizing this plan guards against carnal emulation, pride, envy, and contempt and strengthens unity and mutual love. Ministers have varied capabilities and can trade only according to entrusted responsibility, with the Lord moving upon those with different capabilities to feed His heritage with suitable food, one strong on some essential point where another is weak and revealing truth on points his fellow laborer did not regard as essential. No one's method and way of working is sufficient to mold souls after his own ideas, and no church is wholly efficient without the varied gifts, since God knows how to use His own agents to His name's honor and glory. Leaving the work to one man alone brings deficiency and greatly hinders advancement and perfection, while varied gifts under the Holy Spirit's control together carry the work to fullness, so fellow laborers must be welcomed and rightly treated, for refusing the messenger God sends is refusing Jesus.
The one and selfsame Spirit Himself works all the spiritual gifts and divides them to each person individually as He wills, not by human ability or wisdom. The gifts He gives include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation, and they are intentionally different from person to person so that no one has them all. These varied gifts belong to one body under Christ and are given for the profit and good of the whole, making members dependent on one another and forbidding rivalry, contempt, judging, or measuring one gift against another. They are set in the church for its edification to the end of time, giving every believer his own work and place, including the gift of prophecy in the last days in connection with the third angel's message. Every gift, great or small, is therefore to be valued, faithfully used and developed to uplift Christ and not self, with each worker staying in his appointed place, blending with others in love and humility, and allowing no one to control another's conscience or force another's gift into his own pattern.
Spirit Gives Varied Gifts
The one and selfsame Spirit works all the gifts and divides them to every person individually as He wills. The distribution is by His own power and choice, not by human ability or wisdom, in choosing whom to call and through whom to send His message. The gifts so worked are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Every servant is promised some gift of the Spirit, given to serve the church and to be worked in harmony.
The diversity is intentional, for the gifts are not the same for everyone. Not every believer receives every gift, and the gifts needed are suited to the need of the Lord's work. No one person receives all knowledge and wisdom, no one person has every qualification, and no one worker has every gift required for the work. Differences in gifts are therefore not grounds for pulling others down, sitting in judgment over another whose experience comes from a higher source, despising or envying the gifts and work of others, or acting independently in all matters.
The gifts are already ours in Christ, but they are actually possessed as the Spirit is received. The disciples received the gift in its fullness after Christ's ascension, when they had surrendered themselves through faith and prayer. All Christian gifts and graces come from God rather than human achievement. The Spirit gives different gifts and different measures of grace and means of influence to different individuals, with different gifts and abilities for the work appointed to each.
God has set every member in the body as it pleased Him, placing every person at a post of duty with a given work. Christ appoints positions and offices, giving all talents as His gifts and dividing position and capability to every person as He wills. Anyone unsure of his place should pray for guidance until his work is assigned, then use the entrusted talents rightly without disappointing the Lord. The same God works the diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations into perfect harmony, with all acting their different parts in a connected whole under the supervision of the great Master-worker who knows what each one should do to meet the necessities that arise, until all come into the unity of the faith. Each person receives a distinct place and ability within this whole and is not independent of the others, and must recognize the position and capabilities God gives to another without envy, suspicion, or belittling another's gift and work.
Unity of Diverse Body
The one and the same Spirit works all the gifts and divides to every person individually as He wills, and those varied gifts serve different roles within one body whose head is Jesus Christ. There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, and diversities of operations but the same God working in all, with the manifestation of the Spirit given to every person for profit and for the good of the whole body. The gifts so divided are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. As the body is one with many members having different offices, so many believers are one body in Christ with gifts differing according to grace, and it is God's order that some serve in one line of work and others in other lines, all working under the selfsame Spirit. Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary lines must understand this and do no haphazard work, but unite despite different gifts and ways of working in love without dissimulation, abhorring evil, cleaving to good, and preferring one another in honor, and this instruction is of vital importance to everyone to be practiced at this time above all other times in earth's history, so that God is not dishonored by discord and strife but glorifies His name and imparts power to His people.
The variety makes the members dependent on one another, for because members do not act the same part no member is to be self-sufficient, say to another member there is no need of him, or act independently in all matters, since no one person has every qualification. What one cannot accomplish another may be equipped to do, for the one Spirit fits each person for particular work, and each should develop the gifts received without despising or envying the gifts and work of others. No worker's abilities make that person fit to control others, for each has an important place in the shared work. Among the members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, for many gifts are called for while all are members of one body. Differences in gifts are not grounds for pulling others down or humbling them, and no person has authority to sit in judgment over another, whose experience is to come from a higher source than finite humanity.
Recognizing this order guards against rivalry, pride, envy, and contempt, and against carnal emulation, and it strengthens unity and mutual love. God dispenses His gifts as He pleases, bestowing one gift on one person and another gift on another, including calling some to teach others to fit them for service in His cause. All serve under the same Spirit for the good of the whole body, and seeing that diversity of service keeps members from contempt of one another and binds them in unity.
Each person has liberty of expression of his own gift, but no one is to work out a problem of his own invention, and all must blend their capabilities together in unity, love, and singleness for the glory of God to make a complete whole. This united diversity produces holiness, aims every soul at reaching perfection of the character of Jesus Christ, keeps anyone from launching out against another, sustains the truth as the Bible presents it, stands firm against strange fanaticism and forced-in heresies, prevents confusion, and brings glorious victories in the great and solemn work. Perfect unity must exist in a diversity of gifts, and a union of all the gifts is essential so the work is not one-sided but a complete whole. This unity comes by loving one another not merely as neighbor but as Christ loved, with the will wholly submerged in God's will, bringing peace and rest, and that Christlike love is the perfection of Christian character to be revealed through all ranks and obtained by every child of God, while activity and much work without it leaves one imperfect before God, fails to keep the commandment to love one another, and causes the candlestick to be removed out of its place.
The figure of the members which compose the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another, showing how members brought together in church capacity are to be united understandingly and intelligently. The chapter, with 1 Corinthians 13, was placed by the Lord through Paul for consideration and should be committed to memory, written in the mind and heart, and studied and digested, not ignored by professed people of God brought together in church capacity. Its teaching is to be studied and applied by church members for the continuous humbling of individual self and taking self critically in hand, beginning with self-examination. Its very first step is denying self and taking up one's own cross of self-denial and self-humiliation and self-sacrifice, not laying the cross on somebody else to carry.
Purpose for Church Work
Certain gifts of the Spirit have been placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time, fulfilling Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth. These gifts are worked and distributed by the one Spirit to each person as He chooses, and they are placed in the church for its benefit, so that opposing them can endanger others by leading them astray. This placing of gifts in the church forms part of the Bible argument for the perpetuity of spiritual gifts.
Every servant of Christ is promised some gift of the Spirit, and the gifts are not the same for everyone but include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. To every individual member is given his own personal work, so that not one is excused and not one can be an idler in the Lord's vineyard, but all are to be diligent workers together with Jesus Christ, since there is a variety of gifts and all are needed to do the work God has appointed. Those gifts are to arouse the faith and intelligence of every believer into sanctified action, for the faith that works by love and purifies the soul is a living working principle to be exercised in receiving and using what God has given. They are to be appreciated, with every professed son and daughter of God giving evidence of a heart impressed by the Holy Spirit and acting his part in the grand finishing work of this earth's history, which requires communion with God, the sanctifying power of grace on the heart, and submission to His will with willingness to engage in the work He appoints.
Not every believer receives every gift, but each believer receives gifts suited to the need of the Lord's work. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts to each person according to His will and thereby qualifies people for the responsibilities God calls them to bear. The talent of speech and intellectual ability, good taste, skill, refinement, and true elevation are gifts God uses in His work when first placed under His jurisdiction, with His presence as a controlling power and the heart blended with Christ's heart and conformed to Christ's will in desires and practices, where speech can be a great power for good or for evil, and where coveting earnestly the best gifts means not seeking to be first but striving earnestly for power to follow Christ's example as heralds of His gospel, which is true religion walking straight forward in God's blessed holy light despite temptation, suspicion, and evil surmising.
The Spirit's presence gives these gifts their power in service, for without it learning, talent, eloquence, and other abilities cannot touch hearts or win sinners to Christ, while with it even the poorest and least educated disciple can influence hearts. God's wisdom and power are revealed in giving success to the spotless example of a poor and illiterate humble devoted worker who lives his religion as fully as to the labors of the talented and eloquent minister, and even more than to the educated man who does not rely so fully upon God's help. The work is to labor for the salvation of fellow men not by judging them but by showing forth what the Lord has done in transformation of character, with faith, sympathy, forbearance, love, gentleness, and temperance in all things shining as a light in a dark place.
The one and selfsame Spirit divides to every man severally as He wills, so no one man with his gift is capable by his own effort of carrying through a series of meetings and giving perfection to the work. Varied gifts and different kinds of agencies are essential under the Lord's direction to build the work strong, proportional, and complete, with harmonious cooperation in which each worker does his God-given work, fills his appropriate position, and supplies the deficiency of the fellow worker who if left alone would think himself a complete whole, including those of careful thought who check exaggerated action, and with responsibilities shared with the brethren to lift burdens from ministers and add years to the life of the worker who cooperates with God. No one man's method and way of working is sufficient to mold souls after his own ideas, and no church is wholly efficient without the varied gifts, since God knows how to use His own agents to His name's honor and glory, moving upon ministers with different capabilities to feed the flock with suitable food, with one strong on some essential point where another is weak and revealing truth on points his fellow laborer did not regard as essential. Leaving the work to one man alone brings deficiency and greatly hinders the advancement and perfection of the church, while the varied gifts of various laborers under the control of the Holy Spirit together carry the work forward to its fullness, so fellow laborers must be welcomed and rightly treated, for refusing the messenger God sends is refusing Jesus. No one can carry forward evangelistic work alone and build up a church to be what Christ desires a church to be, but every worker's talents must be combined with the talents of others who supply what he lacks, which requires spending more time in prayer, putting away frivolous distractions, and walking before God in humility lest the enemy overcome him.
In His infinite wisdom God employs human agencies to cooperate with Him in the work of saving people, giving a variety of agencies different gifts with each person filling his own special God-given sphere of action, and all are to cooperate together harmoniously. The Spirit works through varied duties in the church, assigning each person a place and work, for the Spirit is the one mover in all of them. No one worker has every gift needed for the work, but people with varied abilities are needed, and their distinct contributions are to advance together in harmony. The variety of gifts needed for health-reform instruction and outreach reflects this diversity.
The gifts of the church may be graciously revived by God so they live in the church to encourage the fainting and to correct and reprove those who err. They belong where believers are low, dark, divided by prejudice and false reports, and have lost the power of the third angel's message, to expose wrong spirits, bring breaking down, confession and sweet union, and to work through visions and the healing of the sick by anointing with oil and prayer.
Prophecy in Last Days
The placing of gifts in the church does not mean that every individual exercises them, for a gift is in the church and the church possesses it when even one member receives it as the one and selfsame Spirit divides to each severally as He wills. In this way the last generation of Christians living at the second coming has the testimony of Jesus, which is the gift of prophecy, although only some individuals exercise it. The gifts of the Spirit are to be manifested in the church in the last days, with the one Spirit distributing them individually according to His will, especially the Spirit of prophecy.
By that Spirit of prophecy the Lord communicates to His people a knowledge of His will in warnings, reproofs, and encouragement in connection with the work of the third angel's message. This light does not originate with human minds but with the working of the Holy Spirit, and openly presenting its divine origin arrests attention and convicts and converts a large class who believe in the gifts and would not otherwise be reached. Concealing its divine origin in order to make truth more readily received is mere human reasoning by those with little experience in the working of the Holy Spirit. Genuine spiritual gifts are distributed by the Spirit and are not produced by human excitement, so unintelligible speech and noisy exercises are not evidence that God has placed a gift in the church, but their fruits reveal whether they are beneficial.
The gifts and operations of the Spirit of God are distinct from false visions and deceptive practices that have led people to doubt them. They are God's work, and Satan first attacks them by leading people into fanaticism and then pushes toward the opposite extreme of denying those gifts and operations.
Faithful Use of Gifts
The Spirit divides different gifts to different people as He chooses, and each person is to use faithfully whatever is entrusted for service to the Master, however small it may seem. Every gift, even the smallest, is to be valued, appreciated and developed rather than treated with indifference, and each is to trade on the moral and spiritual capital given to him by doing the best possible service where he can. No one is accountable for talents never received and none should complain of smallness, for God does not expect anyone to use what was not given. Nor is anyone to undervalue another gift or assume his own is all that is needed, since the varied talents are meant to work together and workers should make room for one another's different contributions rather than requiring all to follow one precise pattern.
The gifts are to be used in God's service not to glorify the possessor or uplift people but to uplift the Redeemer, represent the truth, benefit all, and help one another carry out duty and work. The church is like a garden of varied plants, where the same stature or capacity is not expected of each person. Even those with limited religious or intellectual training have work to do when they serve humbly and trust in Him.
God gives to every man work according to ability, and for the wisest reasons has ordained that every man fill his own place, with blessing coming in doing the appointed work without carrying heavy responsibilities not given. Each has his own post of duty and fitted, appointed work in the great whole, whether in business lines, in ministry of the Word, or in various trades, including the same gifts given to the apostles. Each should take up what he is fitted and appointed to do and stay in it rather than stepping out to interfering duties or assuming responsibilities others can and should bear, since taking on unappointed work confuses the mind and hinders the work given him. The first lesson when mind, heart and soul are surrendered to Christ is to find out what the Master would have him do and then do that work in connection with other laborers, loving God with whole heart, mind, soul and strength. This consecration recognizes God's ownership of his powers and of himself, invests the whole life with a sacredness that makes every act consecrated and makes him gentle, kind and courteous in his work, trained under Christ for the higher grade above, so the work is carried forward soundly and healthfully.
God presides over every portion of His moral vineyard and entrusts His work in each locality to the men there, with heaven interested in His special work in any vicinity. Therefore councils in different localities must decide important matters for themselves without waiting for distant decisions, for men in one place are no more inspired to give unerring advice than men elsewhere. All must seek the Lord for wisdom and depend on Him directly rather than depend on finite men in far fields to decide what shall be done.
The gifts placed in the church are to arouse the faith and intelligence of every believer into sanctified action in the grand finishing work of this earth's history, with every professed son or daughter giving evidence of a heart impressed by the Holy Spirit and acting his part. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul is a living working principle to be exercised in receiving and using what God has given. Right use requires communion with God, the sanctifying power of grace on the human heart, and submission to His will with willingness to engage in the work appointed to His servants. Believers are to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that as laborers together with Christ they may perfect Christian character. The varied gifts are graciously given for the holiness and happiness of those united with the great Master-Worker in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and every endowment is to be rightly appreciated and rightly used under obligation to be meek and lowly in heart, patient under trial, willing to forgive injuries, and determined to preserve unity and harmony.
God ordained people to be joined together in His service so the varied talents of many minds are blended, and no teacher, physician or minister can ever be a complete whole alone. Mind in contact with mind quickens thought and increases capability, and the deficiency of one worker is made up by the special gift of another. When physicians and teachers thus united impart their knowledge together, the youth under their training receive a symmetrical, well-balanced education for service. That uniting requires courteous, self-denying cooperation, yielding of personal opinions on matters of minor importance, and unselfish labor for the upbuilding of one another's work.
The church needs more than one person's gift, and every God-given talent and gift in the church should be recognized, while all things must be tested and only what is good held fast.
Humility in Working Together
The one and selfsame Spirit divides gifts and work to every person individually as He wills, and therefore the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people. Simple organization and church order are ordained for the unity and perfection of the church. The one who holds office is to stand as a leader, as an adviser and counselor and helper in carrying burdens, and as a leader in thanksgiving to God, but not to order and command fellow laborers nor to control and rule them. Position gives no kingly authority, so those carrying responsibilities must treat fellow workers with the same consideration they would wish to receive, learning the meekness of Christ and becoming Christlike.
The Spirit gives different gifts to different people, fitting each for particular work, so that what one cannot accomplish another may be equipped to do. No worker's abilities make him fit to control others, for each has an important place in the shared work. No one handling sacred responsibilities may arbitrarily command a fellow worker or forbid work God has bidden to go forward, since the Holy Spirit impresses individual hearts and minds and directs workers to certain places and certain work, and all do not have the same form of work. Undue exercise of human authority that hinders the work and discourages God's people misrepresents the Lord's purpose and must be rebuked as presumptuous rulership over His heritage, while safety is found only when each commits fully to works of righteousness so that words and spirit testify to God's glory.
No one should force another's mind or gifts into his own pattern, because God works on each heart and develops individual abilities for the varied needs of people through distinct roles and strengths in Christ's body. God works with each heart and mind in the formation of opinions of their own, and each person is to be encouraged to form and express his own opinions and to stand in God-given accountability. No one is to work another's mind as a machine or require surrender of personality to echo another's words, manners, and thoughts, even under claim of infallible plans, for such domination does not help or raise a person in God's estimation. Each is responsible to use mind and conscience, to seek His wisdom, and to allow His Spirit to work through him rather than becoming merely an echo or shadow of another. True unity in laboring for perishing souls requires humility without pride, with room for individual judgment.
God distributes different gifts as He wills, and these gifts have distinct, valuable places in the work. No one person is meant to claim a field of labor or manage the work alone, but people with different gifts are to contribute together with humility and teachability. The distribution is by the Spirit, not by human ability or wisdom, and the gifts are to be improved in faithful service rather than relied on self, with workers uniting efforts, faith, prayer, and counsel. The Lord's work needs workers with different talents and abilities, each faithfully doing his part under the direction of Christ the Head of the church.
The one Spirit gives different gifts to different ministers, but those gifts are never to be used to separate believers from one another. God's truth is not to be preached so that those who accept it form into separate parties under different heads, and no minister is to be conscience for others or gain an experience for them. Where contention enters and party spirit is manifested there is need for reformation and for calling things by their right names, for all dissension is born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds.
The Lord's tenderness is unceasing, and He desires believers to reveal the same tenderness to one another. When believers come together for counsel they are to speak good words to help and strengthen brethren, to unite in service, and to jealously guard one another's interests even though mistakes are made, instead of standing apart in self-confidence watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn. God does not reveal everything to one person but teaches one and then another, since the Spirit distributes different gifts and abilities according to His will. Believers should therefore share plans and ideas, speak as God gives utterance, and receive others' counsel with openness and brotherly kindness.
The different gifts given through the same Spirit are meant to work together in harmony, because no laborer is complete or can successfully do the whole work alone. Each gift is needed to accomplish what the Lord desires, to reach varied minds, and to make another's work more complete through counsel and influence, with workers following their own line while looking to Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to control them for power to arouse slumbering senses. No one can carry evangelistic work alone and build up a church to be what Christ desires, but every worker's talents must be combined with the talents of others who supply what he lacks. This blending together so that truth is proclaimed by different gifts requires spending more time in prayer, putting away frivolous distractions, and walking before God in humility lest the enemy overcome. The verse should have added weight while God's people are tried and tested and seek Him to shut them in with Himself so that the wicked one has no power over them.
God dispenses His gifts as He pleases, bestowing one gift on one person and another on another, including calling some to teach others to fit them for service. It is His order that some serve in one line of work and others in other lines, all working under the same Spirit for the good of the whole body, and recognizing this plan guards against carnal emulation, pride, envy, and contempt and strengthens unity and mutual love. Ministers have varied capabilities and can trade only according to entrusted responsibility, with the Lord moving upon those with different capabilities to feed His heritage with suitable food, one strong on some essential point where another is weak and revealing truth on points his fellow laborer did not regard as essential. No one's method and way of working is sufficient to mold souls after his own ideas, and no church is wholly efficient without the varied gifts, since God knows how to use His own agents to His name's honor and glory. Leaving the work to one man alone brings deficiency and greatly hinders advancement and perfection, while varied gifts under the Holy Spirit's control together carry the work to fullness, so fellow laborers must be welcomed and rightly treated, for refusing the messenger God sends is refusing Jesus.