1 Corinthians 12:8–11: “For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another, the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another, performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another, discernment of spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, and to another, the interpretation of tongues.

It is one and the same Spirit distributing as He decides to each person, who produces all these things.”

This is still part of my series on the gifts of the Spirit. And someone might say, “Oh, this list is not exhaustive.” But I would say, why would you think it’s not exhaustive when you go to the book of Galatians, chapter 5, and you see the fruit of the Spirit?

Even though Paul is not saying, “This is exhaustive,” we all pretty much conclude that it is. What he listed there, the nine items he listed there, complete the fruit of the Spirit. We all see that. We all embrace that. Nobody is arguing with that, even though he did not say, “This is the exhaustive list.”

He did not say it, but it seems obvious that this is an exhaustive list, since he already said, “I don’t want you to be uninformed.” But somebody else will say, “Okay, but we have another list in that other place, we have another list in this place.” We don’t have to mix it up and then conclude that we don’t really have a clear list.

Every list, in my opinion, wherever they are, is serving a purpose. My conclusion is that this list is exhaustive.

You want to go to Romans 12. He mentioned prophecy in that context, and he mentioned mercy, leadership, and giving. But you notice the language that he did not use.

He did not use the language “gift of the Spirit,” and he did not use the language of “it is one and the same Spirit distributing as He decides to each person, who produces all these things.” So it’s an ongoing distribution communicated in 1 Corinthians 12. The Holy Spirit is distributing as He decides, right?

And it seems to me that that’s an ongoing one. But in Romans 12, there is a sense of stability: “Use the gift.” Teaching? Use it to teach. So the teacher—there can be a time when the teacher is manifesting a message of wisdom or a message of knowledge, even though he’s the teacher. He sometimes gives a message geared towards knowledge. Sometimes he’s giving a message that’s geared towards wisdom, even though he’s a teacher. So there’s something stable about what you have in Romans. There’s this list of seven there.

Everyone should be able to identify where they fit there. And you cannot say it’s not exhaustive. It’s exhaustive based on the context of that passage.

And when you come to Ephesians chapter 4, where you have, “He gave some to the church: apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers,” you also have a list there.

You can’t mix it all together and just throw it into a basket. Every list exists in its context. And it’s obvious that the list in Ephesians 4 is about leadership. “Set some in the church for the equipping of the saints.” So it’s clear that the list—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers—is functioning as a leadership list.

And all the lists are flowing into one another, and they serve a purpose depending on the context. But I’m focused on the list here, and what I’m concluding is the exhaustive list of the gifts of the Spirit. He calls all those ones “gift,” but look at the context in which he used the word “gift.”

It’s clear here that it’s identified with the Holy Spirit. The one in Romans is something like a permanent positioning, of which you’re supposed to function based on that permanent positioning. You are this part; you are not that part. Ephesians 4 is clearly about leadership positioning, permanent positioning for Romans when it comes to gifts.

But this one, there’s nothing permanent there. Look at the language here: “It is one and the same Spirit distributing as He decides to each person.” Distributing is a continuation of the flow. It’s like a flow. Distributing to each person.

And that’s the way God wants it.

God bless you. See you later.