Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

People's New Testament

12:1 Spiritual Gifts

SUMMARY OF I CORINTHIANS 12:

The Test of the Spirit of Christ. The Variety of Spiritual Gifts. All Given by the Same Spirit. The Human Body Has Many Members, with Different Offices. So It Is of the Church, the Body of Christ. But All Parts of One Body. The Various Offices and Gifts.

Spiritual gifts. The supernatural gifts bestowed in the early church by the Spirit. These were especially needful, before the church had the New Testament as a guide, and in the inauguration of Christianity.

Wesley's Notes

12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts - The abundance of these in the churches of Greece strongly refuted the idle learning of the Greek philosophers. But the Corinthians did not use them wisely, which occasioned St. Paul's writing concerning them. He describes, The unity of the body, 1Cor 12:1 - 27: The variety of members and offices, 1Cor 12:27 - 30: The way of exercising gifts rightly, namely, by love, 1Cor 12:31, 1Cor 13:1. throughout: and adds, A comparison of several gifts with each other, in the 1Cor 14:1. fourteenth chapter .

Scofield Reference Notes

[2] spiritual gifts

The word pneumatika, lit. "spirituals," i.e. matters of or from the Holy Spirit, gives the key to Chapters 12., 13., 14. Chapter 12. concerns the Spirit in relation to the body of Christ. This relation is twofold:

(1) The baptism with the Spirit forms the body by uniting believers to Christ the risen and glorified Head, and to each other (1Cor 12:12,13). The symbol of the body thus formed is the natural, human body (1Cor 12:12), and all the analogies are freely used (1Cor 12:14-26).

(2) To each believer is given a spiritual enablement and capacity for specific service. No believer is destitute of such gift (1Cor 12:7,11,27), but in their distribution the Spirit acts in free sovereignty (1Cor 12:11). There is no room for self-choosing, and Christian service is simply the ministry of such gift as the individual may have received (cf) Rom 12:4-8. The gifts are diverse (1Cor 12:6,8-10,28-30), but all are equally honourable because bestowed by the same Spirit, administered under the same Lord, and energized by the same God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 12

1Co 12:1-31. The Use and the Abuse of Spiritual Gifts, Especially Prophesying and Tongues.

This is the second subject for correction in the Corinthian assemblies: the "first" was discussed (1Co 11:18-34).

1. spiritual gifts-the signs of the Spirit's continued efficacious presence in the Church, which is Christ's body, the complement of His incarnation, as the body is the complement of the head. By the love which pervades the whole, the gifts of the several members, forming reciprocal complements to each other, tend to the one object of perfecting the body of Christ. The ordinary and permanent gifts are comprehended together with the extraordinary, without distinction specified, as both alike flow from the divine indwelling Spirit of life. The extraordinary gifts, so far from making professors more peculiarly saints than in our day, did not always even prove that such persons were in a safe state at all (Mt 7:22). They were needed at first in the Church: (1) as a pledge to Christians themselves who had just passed over from Judaism or heathendom, that God was in the Church; (2) for the propagation of Christianity in the world; (3) for the edification of the Church. Now that we have the whole written New Testament (which they had not) and Christianity established as the result of the miracles, we need no further miracle to attest the truth. So the pillar of cloud which guided the Israelites was withdrawn when they were sufficiently assured of the Divine Presence, the manifestation of God's glory being thenceforward enclosed in the Most Holy Place [Archbishop Whately]. Paul sets forth in order: (1). The unity of the body (1Co 12:1-27). (2). The variety of its members and functions (1Co 12:27-30). (3). The grand principle for the right exercise of the gifts, namely, love (1Co 12:31; 1Co 13:1-13). (4) The comparison of the gifts with one another (1Co 14:1-40).

I would not have you ignorant-with all your boasts of "knowledge" at Corinth. If ignorant now, it will be your own fault, not mine (1Co 14:38).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-11 Spiritual gifts were extraordinary powers bestowed in the first ages, to convince unbelievers, and to spread the gospel. Gifts and graces greatly differ. Both were freely given of God. But where grace is given, it is for the salvation of those who have it. Gifts are for the advantage and salvation of others; and there may be great gifts where there is no grace. The extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were chiefly exercised in the public assemblies, where the Corinthians seem to have made displays of them, wanting in the spirit of piety, and of Christian love. While heathens, they had not been influenced by the Spirit of Christ. No man can call Christ Lord, with believing dependence upon him, unless that faith is wrought by the Holy Ghost. No man could believe with his heart, or prove by a miracle, that Jesus was Christ, unless by the Holy Ghost. There are various gifts, and various offices to perform, but all proceed from one God, one Lord, one Spirit; that is, from the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the origin of all spiritual blessings. No man has them merely for himself. The more he profits others, the more will they turn to his own account. The gifts mentioned appear to mean exact understanding, and uttering the doctrines of the Christian religion; the knowledge of mysteries, and skill to give advice and counsel. Also the gift of healing the sick, the working of miracles, and to explain Scripture by a peculiar gift of the Spirit, and ability to speak and interpret languages. If we have any knowledge of the truth, or any power to make it known, we must give all the glory of God. The greater the gifts are, the more the possessor is exposed to temptations, and the larger is the measure of grace needed to keep him humble and spiritual; and he will meet with more painful experiences and humbling dispensations. We have little cause to glory in any gifts bestowed on us, or to despise those who have them not.