1 Corinthians 12:28, commentary and pictures

God set eight distinct gifts and offices in the church in ranked order by importance, apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps, governments, and diversities of tongues. Having once been fixed in the church as part of its true constitution, they remain there until formally removed, and there is no record that God ever removed them, so they continue to guide and perfect the church until unity of faith and maturity and to the end of time. The many members form one body under Jesus Christ as head, where no one person has all the gifts and every distinct role is essential, so no member may despise another as unnecessary or stand alone in isolation. They were given to prepare a people for Christ's coming by instruction, counsel, warning, reproof and correction, with helps and governments as supports and leaders to strengthen believers and keep order in unity. They are to be earnestly desired, acknowledged as from God, and exercised in love and humility, studied together with 1 Corinthians 13, with mutual respect, tenderness and harmony rather than criticism, independence or rejection of appointed counsel.

Words and Setting

God has set eight gifts and offices in the church in ranked order: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and diversities of tongues. No one person possesses them all, for the varied gifts serve one body whose head is Jesus Christ, with distinct roles all needed for the completeness of the church's work. The order is by importance, not by the time the gifts were given, and they were placed in the church with no statement that they were later removed.

The teaching was given as formal instruction about twenty-eight years after Pentecost so the church would not be ignorant on this subject, showing the one Spirit working through diverse operations with different offices and gifts placed in rank and order. The church is constituted like a human body whose many members each have a particular office to fill and all work together in unity of purpose to make one harmonious whole, so the Spirit operates through various channels to constitute a perfect religious body. God setting members in the church as members compose a body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another.

The chapter is to be read together with 1 Corinthians 13, which emphasizes that these gifts must be exercised in love, for factions among believers contradict the witness to the truth. It should be committed to memory, written in the mind and heart, studied and digested and not ignored, so that those brought together in church capacity will be united understandingly and intelligently. The one grand necessity for living this body order is to walk humbly with God in the path of obedience.

Permanence of Gifts

God set the gifts in the church as special, deliberate endowments belonging to its true spiritual constitution, not merely as His general work by the Holy Spirit in every age nor as powers left to appear only if circumstances happened to favor them. Having once been set there, apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps, governments and tongues must remain there until they are formally removed. There is no scriptural proof and no record that God ever removed or abolished them. A church without them in active operation is like a human body with members crippled and helpless through accident or disease.

The verse is evidence that the gifts continue, established to remain until Christ, the absent Lord, returns. Their design was to guide the church through persecution and martyrdom and to help it face the perils of the last days and prepare to meet Christ at His coming. They continue until believers come to unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God and to spiritual maturity. They continue to the end of time as the fulfillment of Christ's promise of the Comforter to lead into all truth, given for edification and instruction.

They are needed by the church as it enters the perils of the last days more than in any other part of its experience. Prophecies fail, tongues cease, and knowledge vanishes, with faith and hope reaching their consummation, only when that which is perfect is come. That perfect day is still future, when believers no longer see through a glass darkly but face to face and know even as they are known, when the just are made perfect and the surpassing glory of the immortal state eclipses the most brilliant displays of spiritual power and knowledge in this mortal state.

The continued presence of some of the gifts set in the church, such as pastors, teachers, helps, governments, faith and healing, gives no basis for declaring the others, such as prophecy, discontinued. The presence of the gift of healing does not mean every sick person will be healed. God may leave believers sick when healing is not best, and manifests His power when it benefits the afflicted and brings Him glory.

Unity in Diversity

God Himself has set different members with different gifts and offices in order in one body whose head is Jesus Christ, appointing apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps, governments, and diversities of tongues. Not every member is an apostle, prophet, teacher, worker of miracles, healer, speaker of tongues or interpreter, for God has not given all His followers the very same gifts and capabilities, and no one person possesses them all. In the days of the apostles some were teachers, some were prophets, some were physicians, and some had gifts of healing. These distinct roles are all essential and needed for the completeness of the church's work, for many gifts are needed yet all are members of one body actively used together. No member is self-sufficient, and no member may say another is unnecessary or dismiss another as unneeded, nor can believers make themselves a complete church in isolation subject to no one.

Because no two members do the same work, among the members there is to be no crowding, no judging one gift as inferior, no measuring one gift by another, and no dismissing another as unneeded. Workers are to use their gifts wisely and labor in harmony so that the church maintains order and acts together. Each part is to be adapted to the other part, growing into a holy temple in the Lord, that the church may be a power of consistency. No member or gift alone makes up the body, but each contributes to the completeness of the church's work.

The diversity of gifts and leadership, including helps and governments, is meant to discipline God's people and bring them to unity of faith, not to support independent action, conflicting beliefs, or pressing opposing views without regard for the body. The church is to stand together on the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, grounded in connected Bible truth, rather than remain divided with members independently following opposing views. When believers come together for counsel they are to show the Lord's unceasing tenderness in their dealings with one another, speaking good words that help and strengthen their brethren. Genuine Christians who are true to faith and duty unite with one another in service and jealously guard one another's interests even though mistakes are made, rather than standing apart in self-confidence watching for opportunity to criticize and condemn.

Purpose and Leadership

The gifts God set in the church are valuable in their proper places for preparing a people for Christ's soon coming. Their presence in both ordinary and extraordinary operation fulfills Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth, given for edification and instruction, and stands as evidence of God's care and love. They continue to the end of time and are needed by the church as it enters the perils of the last days more than in any other part of its experience.

They are placed in the church to provide instruction, counsel, guidance, reproof, warning, and correction. When revived and living in the church they encourage those who are fainting and discouraged and correct and reprove those who are erring and going astray. This light is meant to be heeded and lived by, and disregarding it is rejecting it, which leaves people bound in darkness and unbelief. Those who belong to the church are not necessarily willing to accept such correction, for a heart not right with God, with self unsubdued, will not yield to the light thus provided. When the gifts are slighted and neglected the church may lose God's favor and come under His displeasure.

Helps and governments are among these God-given church supports and leaders, appointed to serve and carry responsibility in advancing and spreading the truth. They are means provided to help, encourage, and strengthen His people, for God places people in connection with the church so they can receive help. Believers should respect and accept them rather than rely solely on their own judgment. To reject or despise these church-appointed helps, or to insist that guidance must come directly from God through no other channel, leaves believers vulnerable to deception and spiritual downfall. Rejecting them and separating from the counsel of the church leads onto a wrong path and risks spiritual ruin.

The list shows the simple organization and church order ordained for the unity and perfection of the church. Those set in office are to stand as leaders, advisers, counselors and helpers in carrying the burdens of the work, and as leaders in offering thanksgiving to God. Office does not appoint anyone to order and command fellow laborers or to exercise kingly authority, for the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people. Those carrying responsibilities must treat those who labor with them with the same consideration they would wish to receive, as brethren, learning meekness from Christ and becoming Christlike.

Receiving the Gifts

Believers are to earnestly desire the best gifts, and the teaching that God Himself has set different members with different gifts and offices in order in the church is to carry greater weight among them. Not every member is an apostle, prophet, teacher, worker of miracles, healer, speaker of tongues or interpreter, for God assigns the different roles including miracles, healing, helps, administration and tongues. God intends His church to be a power of consistency with each part adapted to the other, growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

The chapter with 1 Corinthians 13 is to be committed to memory, written in mind and heart, studied, digested, applied and not ignored, so that those brought together in church capacity may be united understandingly and intelligently. Its application is the continuous humbling of individual self and the critical taking of self in hand. This begins with self-examination whose first step is denying self and taking up his own cross of self-denial and self-humiliation and self-sacrifice instead of laying his cross on someone else to carry, walking humbly with God in the path of obedience.

The gifts are to be acknowledged as from God and treated as having weight, for neglecting them harms the church and its work. Varied gifts are all essential, yet no one person possesses them all, and those who serve in different capacities must have Christ's meekness and humility. A responsible position merits respect as a counselor, not authority to dictate or direct others according to personal ideas, to dominate another, to mark out a fellow worker's duty, or to become a dictator and commander. Those set in office are to stand as leaders, advisers, counselors and helpers in carrying burdens and in leading in thanksgiving, not to order and command laborers or exercise kingly authority, for the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people. All laborers are to learn of Christ, converse and pray and counsel together, respect one another, treat fellow laborers as brethren with the consideration they would wish to receive, become Christlike, and carry the work forward under wise direction with each worker amenable to God.

Believers are to respect and accept the appointed helps, governments, supports and leaders as gifts and means God has provided to help, encourage and strengthen His people in advancing and spreading the truth, placing people in connection with the church so they can receive help. They are not to reject or despise these church-appointed helps, rely solely on their own judgment, insist guidance must come directly from God through no other channel, or separate from the church's counsel. Doing so leaves them vulnerable to deception and spiritual downfall, leads onto a wrong path, and risks spiritual ruin.

When the gifts reprove wrong through the human instrument God uses, the wrong is to be put away rather than hidden or covered. Retaliating by watching for something to find fault with in dress or in the reprover or in others, encouraging a faultfinding complaining spirit, or gratifying the carnal mind in accusing brother or sister to hide the wrong adds sin to sin and brings God's displeasure more than before. A heart not right with God, with self unsubdued, will not yield to the light God provides through the gifts for guidance and correction. Suspicion of the gifts the Lord has set in the church and persistent criticism of fellow ministers follow the enemy. The light given for instruction, counsel, guidance, reproof and warning is meant to be heeded and lived by, and disregarding it is rejecting it, leaving people bound in darkness and unbelief.

God's people must take a firm, decided stand for the whole truth by bearing a free, open testimony in favor of the gifts whatever the consequence, clinging to God and giving the enemy no advantage. They must not be crushed by the powers of darkness, must persevere and press steadily through conflicts and untold trials without yielding after years of battle and many victories, and must not cringe and yield and give up liberty when professed believers oppose the gifts and fight the visions and endanger souls through their influence. The freedom to testify is to be held with meekness and humility, without extreme views or extreme measures and without yielding the sacred peculiarities that distinguish God's people from the world, the nominal church and backslidden Adventists, while laboring with opposers so the weak may not be led astray.

The gifts can be neglected and slighted to the church's harm and loss of God's favor and displeasure. When revived they live in the church to encourage those who are fainting and discouraged and to correct and reprove those who are erring and going astray. Nominal churches are in darkness and corrupt because they have shut out the gifts. God's people must therefore take an exalted position for the gifts and live pure with vital godliness and heart holiness, so that sinners in Zion and hypocrites may find no place among them.