1 Corinthians 12:4

THE MESSAGE

God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel clear understanding simple trust healing the sick miraculous acts proclamation distinguishing between spirits tongues interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit.

Revised Standard Version
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ther are diversities of gyftes verely yet but one sprete.

Hebrew Names Version
Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

International Standard Version
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the Spirit is the same;Romans 12:4; Ephesians 4:4; Hebrews 2:4; 1 Peter 4:10;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

New Century Version
There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit.

Update Bible Version
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

English Standard Version
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

World English Bible
Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Weymouth's New Testament
Now there are various kinds of gifts, but there is one and the same Spirit;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And dyuerse graces ther ben, but it is al oon Spirit;

English Revised Version
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Berean Standard Bible
There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

Contemporary English Version
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit.

Amplified Bible
Now there are [distinctive] varieties of spiritual gifts [special abilities given by the grace and extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit operating in believers], but it is the same Spirit [who grants them and empowers believers].

American Standard Version
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Bible in Basic English
Now there are different qualities given to men, but the same Spirit.

Complete Jewish Bible
Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.

Darby Translation
But there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit;

Etheridge Translation
Now, there are distributions of gifts, but one is the Spirit;

Murdock Translation
Now there are diversities of gifts; but the Spirit is one.

King James Version (1611)
Nowe there are diuersities of gifts, but the same spirit.

New Living Translation
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.

New Life Bible
There are different kinds of gifts. But it is the same Holy Spirit Who gives them.

New Revised Standard
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Now there are diuersities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

George Lamsa Translation
Now there are diversities of gifts, but there is only one Spirit.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, distributions of gifts, there are, yet the same Spirit,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
There are diuersities of gyftes, but the spirite [is] one.

Good News Translation
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.

Christian Standard Bible®
Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

King James Version
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Lexham English Bible
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,

Literal Translation
And there are differences of gifts, but the same Spirit;

Young's Literal Translation
And there are diversities of gifts, and the same Spirit;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
There are dyuerse giftes, yet but one sprete:

Mace New Testament (1729)
Now there are different gifts, but the same spirit.

New English Translation
Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

New King James Version
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Simplified Cowboy Version
There are different kinds of special abilities, but they all come from the same God.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Contextual Overview

¹What I want to talk about now is the various ways God's Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn't know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It's different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say "Jesus be damned!" Nor would anyone be inclined to say "Jesus is Master!" without the insight of the Holy Spirit. ⁴God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel clear understanding simple trust healing the sick miraculous acts proclamation distinguishing between spirits tongues interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

there: 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:4-6, Ephesians 4:4, Hebrews 2:4, 1 Peter 4:10

Reciprocal: Exodus 26:3 - coupled together Exodus 31:3 - filled Exodus 35:30 - See Exodus 35:31 - And he Exodus 35:35 - the cunning Numbers 4:47 - every one Numbers 11:17 - I will take Numbers 26:56 - General Numbers 27:18 - a man Judges 3:10 - the Spirit 1 Chronicles 26:8 - able men Isaiah 40:14 - understanding Haggai 1:14 - stirred Matthew 25:14 - and delivered Matthew 28:19 - the name Mark 13:34 - and to Romans 12:6 - then Romans 15:19 - by the 1 Corinthians 3:5 - even 1 Corinthians 4:7 - who 1 Corinthians 12:1 - spiritual 1 Corinthians 12:11 - all 1 Corinthians 12:29 - all apostles 2 Corinthians 3:8 - the ministration 2 Corinthians 11:4 - receive James 1:17 - good 1 Peter 4:11 - the ability 1 John 5:7 - The Father Revelation 1:4 - from the Revelation 2:7 - let him Revelation 4:5 - the seven

Cross-References

Genesis 11:27
This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran had Lot. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.

Genesis 11:31
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram's wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.

Hebrews 11:8
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now there are diversities of gifts,.... Of spiritual ones, as in 1 Corinthians 12:1 which spring from the free grace, and good will and pleasure of God, and are not owing to the merits of men; and therefore such who have the largest share of them should not boast of them as acquired by themselves, or be puffed up on account of them; and those who have the smallest measure should be content and thankful; for though the gifts are different, some have greater, and others lesser, none have all, but all have some, yet not alike:

but the same Spirit; is the author and giver of all as he pleases; the lesser gifts, and the smallest degree of them, come from the Spirit of God, as well as the greater. Gifts here seem to be the general name for all that follow; and

administrations and

operations are the two species of them; and of these a particular account is afterwards given.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now there are diversities of gifts - There are different endowments conferred on Christians. For the meaning of the word “gifts,” see the note at Romans 1:11; compare Romans 5:15-16; Romans 6:23; Romans 11:29; Rom 12:6; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 7:7.

But the same Spirit - Produced by the same Spirit - the Holy Spirit. What those diversities of gifts are, the apostle enumerates in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. The design for which he refers to these various endowments is evidently to show those whom he addressed, that since they are all produced by the same Holy Spirit, have all the same divine origin, and are all intended to answer some important purpose and end in the Christian church, that, therefore, none are to be despised; nor is one man to regard himself as authorized to treat another with contempt. The Spirit has divided and conferred those gifts according to his sovereign will; and his arrangements should be regarded with submission, and the favors which he confers should be received with thankfulness. That the Holy Spirit - the third person of the adorable Trinity - is here intended by the word “Spirit,” seems to be manifest on the face of the passage, and has been the received interpretation of the church until it was called in question by some recent German commentators, at the head of whom was Eichhorn. It is not the design of these notes to go into an examination of questions of criticism, such as an inquiry like this would involve. Nor is it necessary. Some of the arguments by which the common interpretation is defended are the following:

(1) It is the obvious interpretation. It is that which occurs to the great mass of readers, as the true and correct exposition.

(2) It accords with the usual meaning of the word Spirit. No other intelligible sense can be given to the word here. To say, with Eichhorn, that it means “nature,” that there are the same natural endowments, though cultivated in various measures by art and education, makes manifest nonsense, and is contrary to the whole structure and scope of the passage.

(3) It accords with all the other statements in the New Testament, where the endowments here referred to “wisdom,” “knowledge,” “faith,” “working of miracles,” etc., are traced to the Holy Spirit, and are regarded as his gift.

(4) The harmony, the concinnity of the passage is destroyed by supposing that it refers to anything else than the Holy Spirit. In this verse the agency of the Spirit is recognized, and his operations on the mind referred to; in the next verse the agency of the Son of God (see the note on the verse) is referred to; and in the following verse, the agency of God - evidently the Father - is brought into view; and thus the entire passage 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 presents a connected view of the operations performed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the work of redemption. To deny that this verse refers to the Holy Spirit is to break up the harmony of the whole passage, and to render it in no small degree unmeaning. But if this refers to the Holy Spirit, then it is an unanswerable argument for his personality, and for his being on an equality with the Father and the Son.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 12:4. There are diversities of gifts — χαρισματωνυ Gracious endowments, leading to miraculous results; such as the gift of prophecy, speaking different tongues, &c. And these all came by the extraordinary influences of the Holy Spirit.