1 Corinthians 12:29 & 30
"Do all speak in tongues"
By Drew Dixon

'Yes we all speak in tongues, but no, not in a meeting'
What about other gifts?

Personally, I have never heard any revivalist pastor talk of other gifts outside of the nine mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. In fact, I am embarrassed to say, I once scoffed at a non-revivalist when he claimed to have a gift of teaching. To me that sounded very 'wishy washy' and was not a true spiritual gifting. I now realise it is specified elsewhere in the Scriptures. Of course I do not completely blame the RCI for my lack of understanding on this matter, though it was because of their instruction that I thought the way I did. I am also to blame and should have been more diligent in my study before 'hitting the streets'. The point still stands though, if you ask any RCI person how many gifts of the Spirit their are, 95% will say nine, simply because they are taught that. Indeed the NT lists out over twenty. 

EXAMPLES AND DEALINGS WITH OTHER GIFTS

In Romans 12, Paul uses the same word gifts / charisma before he goes on to list a number of them, one of which is prophecy (the same as mentioned in the Corinthians 12:7-12 list):-

The discussion in Romans is very interesting, as it follows a virtually identical pattern to that in Corinthians 12. Paul once again uses the analogy of the body in the discussion of these further gifts in the Romans passage. The flow and structure of both discourses is as follows:-

Romans 12:3-10

• Don't think of yourself as better than the others (vs. 3)
• God has dealt with us as he sees fit (vs. 3 & 6)
• Paul uses the analogy of the body to show that each member does not have the same function (vs. 4)
• Even though we are different, we are all members of Christ (vs. 5)
• We have different gifts according to God's grace (vs. 6)
• Use the gift (s) God has given (vs. 6-8)
• It is all to be kept in check by our love & sincerity (vs. 9)

If we now look through 1 Corinthians 12, we see an almost identical situation:-

• Don't think of yourself better than others (vs. 21-22)
• God has dealt with us as he sees fit (vs11, 18, 28)
• Paul uses the analogy of the body to show that each member does not have the same function (vs. 14-26)
• Even though we are different, we are all members of Christ (vs. 12-14, 27)
• We have different gifts according to God's grace (7,11,18, 28,29,30)
• Use the gift (s) God has given (vs. 7)
• It is all to be kept in check by our love & sincerity (chapter 13)

Prophecy is listed in both the Romans and Corinthians list. There would also seem to be a relationship between the 'ministry' mentioned in Romans and the 'administration' mentioned in Corinthians.

Paul is discussing the operation, application and principles of the various gifts in both Corinthians and Romans. In both chapters he deals with them in an almost identical manner. In Romans 12, there is no indication that Paul is dealing with a meeting situation, far from it. Paul starts off in verse 4 & 5 talking of 'we' and 'the body of Christ'. The list of gifts in both Romans and Corinthians both contain a variety of gifts, neither list has a specific application only to a meeting. They both contain gift's used in a meeting and as well as those with no specific meeting use.

Both Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 lay down principles having general application at both the local and universal level. Of course many, if not all these principles would carry over to the meeting when and where applicable. When referring to 1 Cor 12, it would be quite normal, and good practice, to take universal principles (1 Cor 12) and then apply it to a specific situation, which Paul does later in 1 Cor 14. Paul's whole intent of chapter 12 was so the Corinthians would not be ignorant (lacking in information) regarding spiritual matters (1 Cor 12:1). In this way, when Paul brings specific instruction regarding the meeting in chapter 14, the Corinthians will not just be forced to follow "parrot fashion", but will understand why they should do it Paul's way. Kind of like when we are taught to solve a mathematical problem from first principles. Paul is trying to get the Corinthians to look at the 'big picture' concerning the wider Body of Christ. This is something Revivalists have a hard time doing (and accepting).

Further, for those interested, Ephesians 4:1-16, makes for very interesting reading and also follows similar principles and thought patterns as Corinthians and Romans.

THE WIDER BODY OF CHRIST

^{Even a cursory glance at 1 Cor 12 will show a number of points that seem to highlight the fact Paul deals with general principles on a local / universal level rather than simply a meeting situation:-}

^{vs. 1 ...........Paul wants to deal with Spiritual matters
vs. 2 ...........Speaks in general about what the gentiles situation was.
vs. 3-6 .......General truths
vs. 12-13 ...A universal truth regarding our position in Christ
vs. 14-26 ...General truths
vs. 27 ........A general truth regarding the body of Christ
vs. 28-30 ..The Scriptural context under question
vs. 31.........General exhortation}

^{chapter 13....one of the most famous general truth's & principles in the Bible}

^{Also, in 1 Cor 12, Paul refers to the body of Christ in the following verses 12, 13, 27. Verse 27 immediately precedes the scripture/s under question.}

^{1 Corinthians is simply not dealing with a 'meeting' situation. To see it in that manner would be to overlook some very foundational principles.} 

^{It is for this very reason that I have found a number of current and former Revivalists could never 'really' workout how they were to view the whole body analogy of 1 Cor 12. Many knew what they were supposed to believe, but something just didn't quite fit.}

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