“Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?”
The full verse · 1 Corinthians 12:30 · KJV
the of ? do with ? ?
Asked by
Paul: the apostle writing to the Corinthians "concerning spiritual gifts" and the church as one body (1 Corinthians 12:1, 12)
Asked to
Corinthians: the believers at Corinth, to whom Paul says, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:27)
The Scene
Paul is in the middle of a run of questions about the gifts God has set in the church, having just asked, "Are all apostles? are all prophets?" (1 Corinthians 12:28-29).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionThese three questions finish Paul's list, and they land on the gifts the Corinthians prized most. Gill notes that speaking with tongues "was greatly coveted after, as a following chapter of this epistle shows." By asking "do all speak with tongues?" Paul confronts any idea that one gift is the mark of every true believer. Gill answers each question "no": these gifts were given to some, and interpretation was "a peculiar gift bestowed on some persons only," using "peculiar" in its older sense of special or particular.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe answer to each is "no," and Paul lets it stand. He then urges, "covet earnestly the best gifts," and promises "a more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31). In 1 Corinthians 14 he returns to tongues and interpretation, saying that in the church he would rather speak "five words with my understanding" than "ten thousand words in an unknown tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:19).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsIn Greek, each question again begins with me, the particle used when the expected answer is "no." "Gifts" translates charismata, and "of healing" is iamaton, literally "of healings." "Interpret" is diermeneuo. Gill explains it as interpreting unknown tongues and strange languages. Barnes describes the gifts of healing in 1 Corinthians 12:28 as the power of healing the sick, and tongues as the power of speaking various languages.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThese questions show that the Spirit's gifts are given, not earned, and never required as proof. The same Spirit gives them "dividing to every man severally as he will" (1 Corinthians 12:11). No single gift marks who is spiritual. Gill says plainly that the idea that all spoke with tongues "was not true in fact, as they well knew."
Paul's next move is telling. Rather than ranking the gifts further, he points to love: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1). The gift the Corinthians admired most is the first one Paul measures against love.
Look Closer
Why might Paul end his list with tongues and interpretation?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, You give gifts as You will; where have I measured myself or others by a gift instead of by love?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Have you ever felt that a certain gift or experience was the real sign of being close to God? How did that shape the way you saw yourself or others?
- Tell about someone whose love showed you God more clearly than any gift could.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
You don't need a particular gift to prove you belong to God. Paul's questions free you from that pressure, and they keep you from putting it on others. If you have a gift others admire, hold it humbly. If you don't, you are not less spiritual.
Whatever gifts you have, Paul points you to the way open to every believer: love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). This doesn't mean gifts don't matter; Paul still says, "covet earnestly the best gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:31). But love is what gives every gift its worth.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?”
“If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?”
“If I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?”
“If they were all one member, where were the body?”