30. And indeed that which we called the fourth
statement, that is the manifestation of the Spirit in the bestowal of
what is profitable, has a
clear meaning. For the Apostle has enumerated the profitable
gifts through which this manifestation of the Spirit took place.
Now in these diverse activities that Gift is set forth in no uncertain
light of which our Lord had spoken to the apostles when He taught them
not to depart from Jerusalem; but wait, said He, for the promise of
the Father which ye heard from My lips: for John indeed baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, which ye
shall also receive not many days hence Acts i. 4, 5.. And again: But ye shall
receive power when the Holy Ghost cometh upon you; and ye shall be My
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth Ib.
8.. He
bids them wait for the promise of the Father of which they had heard
from His lips. We may be sure that here I.e. in 1 Cor. xii. 8 f.
we have a reference to the Father’s same promise. Hence it
is by these miraculous workings that the manifestation of the Spirit
takes place. For the gift of the Spirit is manifest, where wisdom
makes utterance and the words of life are heard, and where there is the
knowledge that comes of God-given insight, lest after the fashion of
beasts through ignorance of God we should fail to know the Author of
our life; or by faith in God, lest by not believing the Gospel of God,
we should be outside His Gospel; or by the gift of healings, that by
the cure of diseases we should bear witness to His grace Who bestoweth
these things; or by the working of miracles, that what we do may be
understood to be the power of God, or by prophesy, that through our
understanding of doctrine we might be known to be taught of God; or by
discerning of spirits, that we should not be unable to tell whether any
one speaks with a holy or a perverted spirit; or by kinds of tongues,
that the speaking in tongues may be bestowed as a sign of the gift of
the Holy Spirit; or by the interpretation of tongues, that the faith of
those that hear may not be imperilled through ignorance, since the
interpreter of a tongue explains the tongue to those who are ignorant
of it. Thus in all these things distributed to each one to profit
withal there is the manifestation of the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit
being apparent through these marvellous advantages bestowed upon
each.