1 Corinthians 12:8–11: “For one person is given through the Spirit a 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 explaining what I have concluded, based on my estimation of what Paul means by this list, while making clear that Paul did not give definitions. He just said, “I do not want you to be uninformed,” and then quickly ran through the list and moved on.

Verse 9 now: “To another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.”

So you want to ask yourself: what is this faith? Is it something in my head?

No. I believe, just as all the other gifts have to do with speaking—based on the context of Paul here, where he said, “You know that when you were pagans, you were often led astray to speechless idols,” and then, “No one speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus is cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit”—that everything here has to do with speaking.

If there is a message of knowledge (which some versions call “word of knowledge”) and a message of wisdom (which some versions call “word of wisdom”), and I am saying those are not simply private information you somehow know about somebody—that actually falls under prophecy, and I will still get to that—then faith, in this context, also has to do with speaking.

Faith here is the ability to speak powerful things into existence. That is my definition of faith as a gift that the Holy Spirit gives: the ability to speak powerful things into existence.

Jesus said, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain…” clearly talking about a gift here, not wishful thinking, not something you work up by effort. It is not about size or struggle. “If you have it as small as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain.” He is not saying there is something wrong with you if you are not like that; He is simply saying, “This is how this operates.”

Later in this list, Paul calls it “faith” as a gift. So when Jesus talks about that kind of faith, I understand it as gift‑faith - You will say to this mountain.

So I am defining faith here as the ability to speak powerful things into existence.

Because if you say to the tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it obeys you, it is not wishful thinking; it is a gift. Jesus said to the fig tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again,” and it withered. He is speaking—that is the gift of faith at work. It is not “confession practice”; it is a gift.

This is different from the faith through which we are saved. The context here is gifts.

When you look at Jesus, you see the gift of faith in operation. So I am saying it is the ability to speak powerful things into existence, and it has to do with speaking. The thing that God gives you the faith to speak into existence, somebody else might not see as anything special; it may look like a small thing to them, but for you, it is a lot.

Understand what I am saying: I am talking about faith here, and I am saying all these gifts have to do with speaking. Paul did not define it, so I am giving my best estimation of what he meant by “faith” here.

We see it with Jesus, who told the people, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will say…” Interestingly, nobody said, “Let me try it.” Nobody did it, because it is not a trial. You have it, or you don’t have it. And sometimes you have it, and you don’t even know that’s how you are operating.

The point is: He does not want us to be so enamored with being able to give perfect technical definitions of everything. Just know that these things are operated by the Spirit—be informed, not ignorant—and don’t turn it into a competition: “Who can say the most powerful thing into existence?” It is the Spirit. It is not you.