The Truth comes to Corinth

Paul List nine (9) separate Gifts given by the God the Holy Spirit to Believers Part 3

1 Corinthians 12:10-11 “To another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” KJV

Paul continues on in his writing and comes to the seventh of the nine (9) being the gift of “discerning of spirits” and this gift of all of the nine (9) is at the top of the list for me (next to the previous one prophesy) in terms of importance and every born again believer should earnestly in prayer seek this gift from God the Holy Spirit. The English word Paul uses here discerning is translated by the Greek word diakrisis which means the act of judicial estimation and to be perceptive or the ability to differentiate between that which is false from that which is true and the power or influence from the Holy Spirit to mark out the false as different and not from God. This gift is so vital for every true believer to seek in prayer, because it will empower each one of us to keep away from the devil working in people to sabotage our walk with our Lord Jesus and lead us into error and sin which grieves the Holy Spirit and brings reproach to our Lord Jesus’ Name. There are vast numbers of people in true Christian churches that are not sheep but instead are goats and consequently they are still under the control of the evil one.

The Apostle John wrote way back 1,900 plus years ago these words, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3). The Apostle John declares with these words that even as far back as when he first wrote these words there were many “spirits of antichrist” or “false prophets” out and about in the world he lived in. Fast forward to today all of those years that have gone by how much more are there today multiplied many people who claim to speak for God, but in reality they are agents of satan. As we documented in the last study how Paul was confronted by the slave girl (Acts 16:16-21) and he (having the gift of discernment) new immediately that this was satan speaking and not our Lord Jesus Christ and this is what we as individual believers and the collective body need today to be able to mark out the false believer from the true believer as also Paul wrote to Timothy warning him of this very thing and urging him to be discerning (2 Timothy 3:1-17). Paul in that entire chapter of his letter to Timothy was not speaking of those outside of the visible church, but on the contrary he was speaking of those inside visible Christianity that have a form of godliness, but without the power of godliness and these are the ones he urged Timothy to mark out, make a distinction, or recognize them as having the phony or false spirits as in the example of the Pharaoh’s magicians Jannes and Jambres.

The eighth of the nine (9) is the gift of “tongues” which is perhaps of all the nine listed here by Paul the most miss-understood. Paul had this gift of the Spirit and he also wanted the Corinthian believers to have this gift and to use it appropriately as we will learn in detail after we have climbed that great mountain peak of the identifying of God’s Love in Chapter 13. The English word Paul uses tongues is translated by the Greek word glossa which means of uncertain affinity; the tongue; by implication a language (specifically one naturally un-acquired). When Paul spoke with “tongues” he was speaking another language that he had never learned through study as God the Holy Spirit empowered, energized, and employed the use of his tongue to communicate the Word of God to others. On the day of Pentecost when those disciples who were in the upper room began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance they spoke in the various languages of the lost men and women who were in the city to worship or to conduct business, and they lived in the city, but here is what Dr. Luke records was the result of their speaking, “Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?’” (Acts 2:5-8).

Now when these disciples who were in the upper room were speaking in all of these various languages (Acts 2:9-11), they had no idea or clue what language they were speaking or what they were even saying for that matter because nowhere in this chapter does any text ever declare the disciples knowledgeable of what language they were speaking for as Dr. Luke records it was the Jews who spoke these various languages that made it known to everyone what the languages were and what they spoke about (Acts 2:11). The ninth of the nine (9) is the gift of the “interpretation of tongues” and the English word interpretation is translated by the Greek word  hermeneia which simply means the translation of what has been spoken in the various languages. This Greek word hermeneia is perhaps where we get our English word hermeneutics the study of the methodological principles of interpretation of the Bible. Peter when he began his sermon on that day of Pentecost was speaking in his language of Aramaic or Hebrew and the text does not declare that anywhere during this sermon Peter interpreted what the disciples said to the crowd or was Peter speaking in those various languages at this time and interpreting what he said (Acts 2:14-47). Paul is going to clarify for these Corinthian believers and for us the proper way this gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues is to be used in the context of the Church of God in 1 Corinthians 14. It is God the Holy Spirit who determines what gift will be given to what believer and how that believer will actuate his or her gift for the benefit of Christ entire Mystical Body.

“What good does it do to speak in tongues on Sunday if you have been using your tongue during the week to curse and gossip?” Leonard Ravenhill

“To discern spirits we must dwell with Him who is holy, and He will give the revelation and unveil the mask of satanic power on all lines.” Smith Wigglesworth 1859-1947

“God can perform wonders, but so can evil spirits imitate! How crucial for us to distinguish what is of God from what is not of God. If one has not died to his emotional life but earnestly seeks sensational events, he will be easily duped.” Watchman Nee

“Notice that the allotment is made by the Holy Spirit acting Sovereignly as He will, 1 Corinthians 12:11. We are not informed when it is made-perhaps it is at the moment of our regeneration or adoption-but it is important to bear in mind that our gifts will probably correspond with our natural endowment. Hence our Lord tells us that to every man was given according to his several ability, Matthew 25:15. Mark the allusion to the Divine Trinity: the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:4; the same Lord, 1 Corinthians 12:5; the same God, 1 Corinthians 12:6. The Spirit directs, the Savior is the channel of supply, and the Father is the fountain of all.” F. B. Meyer

“Now when we see today some of the dramatic and radical and outrages things of people barking like dogs or howling like wolves or laughing uncontrollably or crawling around on the floor and acting drunk, we can be certain that this behavior is not the result of any charisma given to a person by God the Holy Spirit and in truth none of that type of behavior is ever seen manifested or visible in the New Testament epistles or letters.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

 If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…