For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
By the same Spirit one person is given the word of wisdom and another the word of knowledge, as part of diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations from the same Spirit, same Lord, and same God. Wisdom is receiving the Word through practical obedience and sharing it with tact and skill so hearts are impressed, while knowledge is understanding the pure doctrines of Christianity. The Spirit divides to each severally as He wills, giving different gifts and measures so it is not necessary or required for all to have the same gift. The gifts are given to every person to profit withal for the good of the whole church, which is one body with many members under Christ as head, so no one has all gifts and members need and help one another without despising, envying, judging, or comparing. They are placed in the church for its edification to the end of time, to be manifested in the last days in the grand finishing work, and each person is to trade faithfully upon the entrusted gift under the Holy Spirit without pride or ruling fellow laborers.
Meaning of Wisdom and Knowledge
The same Spirit gives two distinct gifts, the word of wisdom to one and the word of knowledge to another. Knowledge is understanding the pure doctrines of Christianity, while wisdom is receiving the Word through practical obedience and then sharing it with others. Those who have this wisdom present truth with tact and skill, so that their spirit makes a marked impression on those who hear.
This wisdom is obtained through Christ giving Himself in sacrifice and through God giving His only begotten Son to the world. It is received together with the other gifts of the Holy Spirit by being faithful to the grace given, by continuing in His love, and by abiding in Christ as the branch abides in the vine. Such abiding brings Christ's joy remaining within with full joy and the joys of salvation, and makes believers laborers together with Christ in perfecting Christian character.
The Spirit's gifts include the talent of speech and intellectual ability, together with good taste, skill, refinement, and true elevation. These become useful in God's work only when first placed under His jurisdiction, with His presence as the controlling power and the heart blended with the heart of Christ and conformed in desires and practices to His will. To covet earnestly the best gifts does not mean seeking to be first, but striving earnestly for power to follow Christ's example in order to be heralds of His gospel, which is true religion. Those who so strive walk straight forward in His blessed, holy light even when temptations and suspicion and evil surmising make it hard to preserve the spirit of the higher life.
Spirit Distributes Varied Gifts
To one person is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom and to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, as part of diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations from the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God. These include faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation, together with speaking, writing, prayer, singing, and explaining the Word. The gifts come from one and the same Spirit and serve the life and work of one body whose head is Jesus Christ, with members having different roles and gifts to work in harmony for the benefit and good of all. God's plan is unity in diversity, not identical work for everyone, and the instruction belongs with the teaching on love and the warning against division.
The Spirit divides to each person severally as He wills and dispenses gifts as it pleases Him, bestowing one gift upon one person and another gift upon another. Different measures of grace and liberty of expression are given, so it is not necessary and not required for all to have the same gift. It is God's order that some serve in one line of work and others in other lines of work, including ministry and medical missionary lines with different gifts and different ways of communicating truth, all working under the selfsame Spirit for the good of the whole body. The Spirit also makes real in hearts and lives what Christ made possible through His death.
Every servant of Christ is promised some gift of the Spirit, and God gives certain gifts, moral and spiritual capital, to every person. Every person is given his own work, his own individual personal work and post of duty in the great whole, to be carried on under His supervision soundly and healthfully, whether in business lines, in the ministry of the Word, in various trades, or in the grand finishing work. No one is excused, no one can be an idler in the vineyard of the Lord, but all are to be diligent laborers together with God and with Jesus Christ. These gifts are graciously bestowed for holiness and happiness as believers are united with Christ in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and every God-given endowment is to be appreciated and rightly used. God ordained men to be associated in His service in order that the varied talents of many minds may be blended, so that contact of mind with mind quickens thought and increases capability and the deficiency of one laborer is made up by the special gift of another.
God sets every member in the body as He pleases and places every person at a post of duty with assigned work. Christ appoints the positions and offices of those in God's work and gives talents, positions, capabilities, offices, and work to each person as His own gifts, with each laborer given his own place in the work. Each one is to take the place assigned and do the work appointed in the plan of redemption, and when a laborer has found his place it is not wise to step out and take other duties that interfere with his appointed work. Anyone unsure of that post should pray for guidance. The talents entrusted must not be misused so as to disappoint the Lord, and the position, capabilities, gift and work given to another must be recognized and never demerited, with no envy or suspicion when a brother uses his gifts to do something for the honor of God.
Unity of One Body
The word of wisdom to one and the word of knowledge to another are manifestations of the same Spirit, given to every person to profit withal for the benefit and good of the whole church. The church is one body with many members and with Jesus Christ as head, all working under the selfsame Spirit and the same Head in different roles and different lines of work. God's plan is unity in diversity, not identical work for everyone, with diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations from the same Spirit, same Lord, and same God working in all. As the body is one with many members having different offices, so also is Christ with many members one body in Christ.
No member is self-sufficient, and no one person has every gift, all wisdom, or all that is needed to mold souls, carry meetings to perfection, or complete the work alone. Ability in one area does not make a person's judgment perfect in every area, and no one's strength or judgment is the measure for every other servant of God. Many gifts are called for because members do different work, and varied gifts are essential for working with human minds and reaching people of varied minds and needs. Believers must therefore depend on one another, develop the gifts given them, and act in harmony as members of Christ's body, helping one another and supplying what is lacking.
Because members do different work, no member can say to another, I have no need of thee. Among members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring or comparing one gift with another. There is to be no despising another's gifts and no envying another's abilities, and recognizing God's order in dispensing one gift to one and another gift to another guards against carnal emulation, pride, contempt, and rivalry. This recognition strengthens unity and mutual love.
Diversities of gifts are to be brought into perfect harmony and blended into a complete whole under the Master-worker who knows what each should do to meet arising needs. Different workers, differing from one another yet united in Christian love, prayer, and brotherly sympathy, are to bind their interests together in love, take the place assigned and do the work appointed without refusing fellowship because methods differ and without measuring men by human standards. This united expression stands against heresy and fanaticism to sustain Bible truth unto holiness and the perfection of Christ's character, for Christian unity is a mighty agency. Leaving this instruction out of practice brings discord and strife, dishonors God, and withholds the power He would be pleased to impart to glorify His name before the world and before the heavenly universe.
The teaching belongs to the message of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, to be committed to memory and written in mind and heart, studied and digested and not ignored, so that those brought together in church capacity will be united understandingly and intelligently and will walk humbly with God in the path of obedience. It is to be read alongside the teaching on love and the warning against division. It reveals the Lord's unceasing tenderness and calls for speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren, jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made instead of standing apart in self-confidence to watch for an opportunity to criticize and condemn, and for caring for fellow believers and sustaining loving relationships in the church. Faith and intelligence are to arouse into sanctified action, advancing from light upon the Scriptures to greater light as the Holy Spirit shines upon the Word through a living, working faith that works by love and purifies the soul, leaving no reason for uncertain faith, for the foundation of God stands sure.
Purpose and Enduring Place
The gifts including the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge were placed in the church by the Spirit for its edification and instruction, and this stands as a formal declaration that they were set there to the end of time. They are to live in the church to encourage the fainting and to correct and reprove those who err. They were set there alongside pastors, teachers, helps, and governments, and there is no reason in the passage to treat some of them as having ceased while others continue.
The passage forms part of the Bible argument for the perpetuity of spiritual gifts. Fanaticism must not lead to denying the gifts and operations of the Spirit. Genuine gifts are not the same as manufactured tongues, noisy excitement, fanaticism, or other exercises falsely claimed as gifts from God. False visions and deceptive spiritual displays are distinct from genuine manifestations, yet they can lead sincere people to doubt the genuine.
Visions are among the gifts placed in the church for its benefit, and believers should receive their benefits. Patience and brotherly love are to be shown to those who need personal evidence before accepting them.
The gifts of the Spirit are to be manifested in the church in the last days. The Spirit impresses the heart of every son and daughter of God and places various gifts in the church for success in labor, and the gifts are given to be appreciated and used with each person acting his part in the grand finishing work of this earth's history. Right use requires communion with God, the sanctifying power of His grace on the human heart, and submission to His will and to the work He appoints. Each person should carry out the work appointed and fitted to do rather than take on burdens assigned to others, and doing so helps communicate truth and prepare people for the coming crisis. By the Spirit of prophecy the Lord communicates to His people a knowledge of His will in connection with the work of the third angel's message, and making it known that this light did not originate with human minds arrests the attention of many who believe in the present manifestation of the gifts, convicts and converts them, and reaches many who would not otherwise be reached.
God's infinite wisdom uses human agencies to work together with Him, with a variety of agencies having different gifts all cooperating harmoniously with each filling his own special, God-given sphere of action. The gifts are to be used to work for the salvation of fellow men, not by judging them but by showing what the Lord has done in the transformation of character. The work for fellow men is done with faith, sympathy, forbearance, love, gentleness, and temperance in all things shining as a light in a dark place. God's wisdom and power give success to the spotless example of a poor and illiterate man who lives his religion as fully as to the labors of a minister lauded for talents and eloquence, and are revealed even more in the humble, devoted worker than in the educated man who does not rely fully upon God's help.
Humble Faithful Cooperation
Each one is to trade upon the gift entrusted to him under the control of the Holy Spirit, preserving ability and serving faithfully even when the gift seems small, valuing and using every gift, for gifts grow by diligent use. No one is accountable for talents never received, and none should complain of smallness, for God does not expect all to have the same abilities or the same learning, but gives each a fitting work. When joined to Christ even the poorest and least educated disciples can influence hearts and become channels of divine power, including those with limited religious or intellectual training who serve humbly and trustingly. Ministers especially must present the points of truth given to them to supplement a fellow laborer, since one is strong on an essential point where another is weak and no one alone has all that is needed to mold souls, and to reject such a fellow laborer is to refuse Christ in the messenger He sends. These varied gifts are for service to uplift the Redeemer, represent truth, benefit all, and help one another faithfully, never to glorify the possessor or exalt man.
Learning, natural ability, and acquired talents alone cannot touch hearts or lead sinners to Christ, for ministry becomes powerful only by the Spirit's presence joined to the gift. No teacher, physician, or minister can ever be a complete whole alone, for God ordained association in service so that the varied talents of many minds are blended. Contact of mind with mind quickens thought and increases capability, and the deficiency of one laborer is made up by the special gift of another. When physicians and teachers thus unite in imparting knowledge, youth under their training receive a symmetrical, well-balanced education for service, which calls for courteous, self-denying cooperation that yields personal opinions on minor matters while still speaking plainly and firmly when occasion demands.
The verse calls for continuous humbling of self, beginning with self-examination, with each denying self and taking up his own cross of self-denial, self-humiliation, and self-sacrifice rather than laying it on another to carry. Gifts are not grounds for relying on one's own ability or wisdom, nor for pride or boasting, but are graciously bestowed to be appreciated and rightly used for holiness, happiness, and God's glory, with their power recognized as coming from God. They oblige those who receive them to be meek and lowly in heart, patient under trial, willing to forgive injuries, united with Christ in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and determined to preserve unity and harmony. The work is done not by judging others but by showing what the Lord has done in transformation of character, with faith, sympathy, forbearance, love, gentleness, and temperance shining as a light, and success is given as fully to the spotless example of a poor illiterate worker living his religion as to the lauded eloquent minister, indeed revealed even more in the humble devoted worker than in the educated man who does not rely fully on God's help.
Difference in gifts gives no one the right to order, command, control, or rule fellow laborers, for simple organization and church order are ordained for unity and perfection, and the officeholder is to stand as leader, adviser, counselor, helper in burdens, and leader in thanksgiving, treating coworkers as he would wish to be treated were positions reversed, since position gives no kingly authority. Human authority must not forbid or hinder Spirit-directed work, and no one handling sacred responsibilities is arbitrarily to forbid or command a fellow worker where the Lord by His Spirit has bidden a place and work, with presumptuous rulership over God's heritage to be rebuked. No minister may be conscience for others or gain an experience for them, nor work another's mind as a machine by demanding mere echoing of his ideas, manners, and thoughts, for each is to use his own mind and conscience, form and express his own opinions, and seek wisdom from God rather than depend wholly on another's judgment or merely repeat another's thoughts. Truth must not be so preached that believers form separate parties under different heads, and where contention and party spirit arise over gifts it shows narrow unsanctified conceptions calling for investigation, right naming, and reformation in ministry.
God does not reveal everything to one person nor give all gifts to one man, and no one's strength or judgment is the measure for all, but He teaches different people whose insights are to be shared and considered together. Workers with contrasting gifts are to counsel together and blend in unity with kindness and love, supplying what is lacking in another so truth is proclaimed more completely and meetings are carried to perfection strong and symmetrical under the Lord's direction rather than molded after one mind's ideas. Each is to do his God-given work in his appropriate place, with careful thoughtful workers checking exaggerated action and with slowness that wastes time avoided, while church members are encouraged and educated to work and bear responsibilities, lifting burdens from ministers. This cooperation embraces ministry and medical missionary lines with no haphazard work but with different gifts and ways of communicating truth united in Christian love without refusing fellowship over differing methods, including teaching health reform, tract and evangelistic work, and every part from the highest angel to mortals closely related as a great whole centered in Jesus to uplift, break every yoke, and advance toward Christlike character. The Spirit qualifies those called to bear responsibilities and appoints each his own place, so blessing comes in doing the appointed work and guarding against taking up heavy responsibilities belonging to others.
By the same Spirit one person is given the word of wisdom and another the word of knowledge, as part of diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations from the same Spirit, same Lord, and same God. Wisdom is receiving the Word through practical obedience and sharing it with tact and skill so hearts are impressed, while knowledge is understanding the pure doctrines of Christianity. The Spirit divides to each severally as He wills, giving different gifts and measures so it is not necessary or required for all to have the same gift. The gifts are given to every person to profit withal for the good of the whole church, which is one body with many members under Christ as head, so no one has all gifts and members need and help one another without despising, envying, judging, or comparing. They are placed in the church for its edification to the end of time, to be manifested in the last days in the grand finishing work, and each person is to trade faithfully upon the entrusted gift under the Holy Spirit without pride or ruling fellow laborers.
Meaning of Wisdom and Knowledge
The same Spirit gives two distinct gifts, the word of wisdom to one and the word of knowledge to another. Knowledge is understanding the pure doctrines of Christianity, while wisdom is receiving the Word through practical obedience and then sharing it with others. Those who have this wisdom present truth with tact and skill, so that their spirit makes a marked impression on those who hear.
This wisdom is obtained through Christ giving Himself in sacrifice and through God giving His only begotten Son to the world. It is received together with the other gifts of the Holy Spirit by being faithful to the grace given, by continuing in His love, and by abiding in Christ as the branch abides in the vine. Such abiding brings Christ's joy remaining within with full joy and the joys of salvation, and makes believers laborers together with Christ in perfecting Christian character.
The Spirit's gifts include the talent of speech and intellectual ability, together with good taste, skill, refinement, and true elevation. These become useful in God's work only when first placed under His jurisdiction, with His presence as the controlling power and the heart blended with the heart of Christ and conformed in desires and practices to His will. To covet earnestly the best gifts does not mean seeking to be first, but striving earnestly for power to follow Christ's example in order to be heralds of His gospel, which is true religion. Those who so strive walk straight forward in His blessed, holy light even when temptations and suspicion and evil surmising make it hard to preserve the spirit of the higher life.
Spirit Distributes Varied Gifts
To one person is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom and to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, as part of diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations from the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God. These include faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation, together with speaking, writing, prayer, singing, and explaining the Word. The gifts come from one and the same Spirit and serve the life and work of one body whose head is Jesus Christ, with members having different roles and gifts to work in harmony for the benefit and good of all. God's plan is unity in diversity, not identical work for everyone, and the instruction belongs with the teaching on love and the warning against division.
The Spirit divides to each person severally as He wills and dispenses gifts as it pleases Him, bestowing one gift upon one person and another gift upon another. Different measures of grace and liberty of expression are given, so it is not necessary and not required for all to have the same gift. It is God's order that some serve in one line of work and others in other lines of work, including ministry and medical missionary lines with different gifts and different ways of communicating truth, all working under the selfsame Spirit for the good of the whole body. The Spirit also makes real in hearts and lives what Christ made possible through His death.
Every servant of Christ is promised some gift of the Spirit, and God gives certain gifts, moral and spiritual capital, to every person. Every person is given his own work, his own individual personal work and post of duty in the great whole, to be carried on under His supervision soundly and healthfully, whether in business lines, in the ministry of the Word, in various trades, or in the grand finishing work. No one is excused, no one can be an idler in the vineyard of the Lord, but all are to be diligent laborers together with God and with Jesus Christ. These gifts are graciously bestowed for holiness and happiness as believers are united with Christ in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and every God-given endowment is to be appreciated and rightly used. God ordained men to be associated in His service in order that the varied talents of many minds may be blended, so that contact of mind with mind quickens thought and increases capability and the deficiency of one laborer is made up by the special gift of another.
God sets every member in the body as He pleases and places every person at a post of duty with assigned work. Christ appoints the positions and offices of those in God's work and gives talents, positions, capabilities, offices, and work to each person as His own gifts, with each laborer given his own place in the work. Each one is to take the place assigned and do the work appointed in the plan of redemption, and when a laborer has found his place it is not wise to step out and take other duties that interfere with his appointed work. Anyone unsure of that post should pray for guidance. The talents entrusted must not be misused so as to disappoint the Lord, and the position, capabilities, gift and work given to another must be recognized and never demerited, with no envy or suspicion when a brother uses his gifts to do something for the honor of God.
Unity of One Body
The word of wisdom to one and the word of knowledge to another are manifestations of the same Spirit, given to every person to profit withal for the benefit and good of the whole church. The church is one body with many members and with Jesus Christ as head, all working under the selfsame Spirit and the same Head in different roles and different lines of work. God's plan is unity in diversity, not identical work for everyone, with diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations from the same Spirit, same Lord, and same God working in all. As the body is one with many members having different offices, so also is Christ with many members one body in Christ.
No member is self-sufficient, and no one person has every gift, all wisdom, or all that is needed to mold souls, carry meetings to perfection, or complete the work alone. Ability in one area does not make a person's judgment perfect in every area, and no one's strength or judgment is the measure for every other servant of God. Many gifts are called for because members do different work, and varied gifts are essential for working with human minds and reaching people of varied minds and needs. Believers must therefore depend on one another, develop the gifts given them, and act in harmony as members of Christ's body, helping one another and supplying what is lacking.
Because members do different work, no member can say to another, I have no need of thee. Among members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring or comparing one gift with another. There is to be no despising another's gifts and no envying another's abilities, and recognizing God's order in dispensing one gift to one and another gift to another guards against carnal emulation, pride, contempt, and rivalry. This recognition strengthens unity and mutual love.
Diversities of gifts are to be brought into perfect harmony and blended into a complete whole under the Master-worker who knows what each should do to meet arising needs. Different workers, differing from one another yet united in Christian love, prayer, and brotherly sympathy, are to bind their interests together in love, take the place assigned and do the work appointed without refusing fellowship because methods differ and without measuring men by human standards. This united expression stands against heresy and fanaticism to sustain Bible truth unto holiness and the perfection of Christ's character, for Christian unity is a mighty agency. Leaving this instruction out of practice brings discord and strife, dishonors God, and withholds the power He would be pleased to impart to glorify His name before the world and before the heavenly universe.
The teaching belongs to the message of 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, to be committed to memory and written in mind and heart, studied and digested and not ignored, so that those brought together in church capacity will be united understandingly and intelligently and will walk humbly with God in the path of obedience. It is to be read alongside the teaching on love and the warning against division. It reveals the Lord's unceasing tenderness and calls for speaking good words to help and strengthen brethren, jealously guarding one another's interests even when mistakes are made instead of standing apart in self-confidence to watch for an opportunity to criticize and condemn, and for caring for fellow believers and sustaining loving relationships in the church. Faith and intelligence are to arouse into sanctified action, advancing from light upon the Scriptures to greater light as the Holy Spirit shines upon the Word through a living, working faith that works by love and purifies the soul, leaving no reason for uncertain faith, for the foundation of God stands sure.
Purpose and Enduring Place
The gifts including the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge were placed in the church by the Spirit for its edification and instruction, and this stands as a formal declaration that they were set there to the end of time. They are to live in the church to encourage the fainting and to correct and reprove those who err. They were set there alongside pastors, teachers, helps, and governments, and there is no reason in the passage to treat some of them as having ceased while others continue.
The passage forms part of the Bible argument for the perpetuity of spiritual gifts. Fanaticism must not lead to denying the gifts and operations of the Spirit. Genuine gifts are not the same as manufactured tongues, noisy excitement, fanaticism, or other exercises falsely claimed as gifts from God. False visions and deceptive spiritual displays are distinct from genuine manifestations, yet they can lead sincere people to doubt the genuine.
Visions are among the gifts placed in the church for its benefit, and believers should receive their benefits. Patience and brotherly love are to be shown to those who need personal evidence before accepting them.
The gifts of the Spirit are to be manifested in the church in the last days. The Spirit impresses the heart of every son and daughter of God and places various gifts in the church for success in labor, and the gifts are given to be appreciated and used with each person acting his part in the grand finishing work of this earth's history. Right use requires communion with God, the sanctifying power of His grace on the human heart, and submission to His will and to the work He appoints. Each person should carry out the work appointed and fitted to do rather than take on burdens assigned to others, and doing so helps communicate truth and prepare people for the coming crisis. By the Spirit of prophecy the Lord communicates to His people a knowledge of His will in connection with the work of the third angel's message, and making it known that this light did not originate with human minds arrests the attention of many who believe in the present manifestation of the gifts, convicts and converts them, and reaches many who would not otherwise be reached.
God's infinite wisdom uses human agencies to work together with Him, with a variety of agencies having different gifts all cooperating harmoniously with each filling his own special, God-given sphere of action. The gifts are to be used to work for the salvation of fellow men, not by judging them but by showing what the Lord has done in the transformation of character. The work for fellow men is done with faith, sympathy, forbearance, love, gentleness, and temperance in all things shining as a light in a dark place. God's wisdom and power give success to the spotless example of a poor and illiterate man who lives his religion as fully as to the labors of a minister lauded for talents and eloquence, and are revealed even more in the humble, devoted worker than in the educated man who does not rely fully upon God's help.
Humble Faithful Cooperation
Each one is to trade upon the gift entrusted to him under the control of the Holy Spirit, preserving ability and serving faithfully even when the gift seems small, valuing and using every gift, for gifts grow by diligent use. No one is accountable for talents never received, and none should complain of smallness, for God does not expect all to have the same abilities or the same learning, but gives each a fitting work. When joined to Christ even the poorest and least educated disciples can influence hearts and become channels of divine power, including those with limited religious or intellectual training who serve humbly and trustingly. Ministers especially must present the points of truth given to them to supplement a fellow laborer, since one is strong on an essential point where another is weak and no one alone has all that is needed to mold souls, and to reject such a fellow laborer is to refuse Christ in the messenger He sends. These varied gifts are for service to uplift the Redeemer, represent truth, benefit all, and help one another faithfully, never to glorify the possessor or exalt man.
Learning, natural ability, and acquired talents alone cannot touch hearts or lead sinners to Christ, for ministry becomes powerful only by the Spirit's presence joined to the gift. No teacher, physician, or minister can ever be a complete whole alone, for God ordained association in service so that the varied talents of many minds are blended. Contact of mind with mind quickens thought and increases capability, and the deficiency of one laborer is made up by the special gift of another. When physicians and teachers thus unite in imparting knowledge, youth under their training receive a symmetrical, well-balanced education for service, which calls for courteous, self-denying cooperation that yields personal opinions on minor matters while still speaking plainly and firmly when occasion demands.
The verse calls for continuous humbling of self, beginning with self-examination, with each denying self and taking up his own cross of self-denial, self-humiliation, and self-sacrifice rather than laying it on another to carry. Gifts are not grounds for relying on one's own ability or wisdom, nor for pride or boasting, but are graciously bestowed to be appreciated and rightly used for holiness, happiness, and God's glory, with their power recognized as coming from God. They oblige those who receive them to be meek and lowly in heart, patient under trial, willing to forgive injuries, united with Christ in preparing a people to stand in the day of the Lord, and determined to preserve unity and harmony. The work is done not by judging others but by showing what the Lord has done in transformation of character, with faith, sympathy, forbearance, love, gentleness, and temperance shining as a light, and success is given as fully to the spotless example of a poor illiterate worker living his religion as to the lauded eloquent minister, indeed revealed even more in the humble devoted worker than in the educated man who does not rely fully on God's help.
Difference in gifts gives no one the right to order, command, control, or rule fellow laborers, for simple organization and church order are ordained for unity and perfection, and the officeholder is to stand as leader, adviser, counselor, helper in burdens, and leader in thanksgiving, treating coworkers as he would wish to be treated were positions reversed, since position gives no kingly authority. Human authority must not forbid or hinder Spirit-directed work, and no one handling sacred responsibilities is arbitrarily to forbid or command a fellow worker where the Lord by His Spirit has bidden a place and work, with presumptuous rulership over God's heritage to be rebuked. No minister may be conscience for others or gain an experience for them, nor work another's mind as a machine by demanding mere echoing of his ideas, manners, and thoughts, for each is to use his own mind and conscience, form and express his own opinions, and seek wisdom from God rather than depend wholly on another's judgment or merely repeat another's thoughts. Truth must not be so preached that believers form separate parties under different heads, and where contention and party spirit arise over gifts it shows narrow unsanctified conceptions calling for investigation, right naming, and reformation in ministry.
God does not reveal everything to one person nor give all gifts to one man, and no one's strength or judgment is the measure for all, but He teaches different people whose insights are to be shared and considered together. Workers with contrasting gifts are to counsel together and blend in unity with kindness and love, supplying what is lacking in another so truth is proclaimed more completely and meetings are carried to perfection strong and symmetrical under the Lord's direction rather than molded after one mind's ideas. Each is to do his God-given work in his appropriate place, with careful thoughtful workers checking exaggerated action and with slowness that wastes time avoided, while church members are encouraged and educated to work and bear responsibilities, lifting burdens from ministers. This cooperation embraces ministry and medical missionary lines with no haphazard work but with different gifts and ways of communicating truth united in Christian love without refusing fellowship over differing methods, including teaching health reform, tract and evangelistic work, and every part from the highest angel to mortals closely related as a great whole centered in Jesus to uplift, break every yoke, and advance toward Christlike character. The Spirit qualifies those called to bear responsibilities and appoints each his own place, so blessing comes in doing the appointed work and guarding against taking up heavy responsibilities belonging to others.