Ministries, Charisms, Fruits - 4 Wisdom

St Paul obviously had an ambivalent attitude to “wisdom”. In 1 Cor 3:19 he writes that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”. What Paul means here is a natural or “earthly” human wisdom. This kind of wisdom is indeed seen rather critically. Christ himself confirms in his prayer to the Father that the revelation of God’s kingdom remained hidden from the wise and understanding (cf. Matt 11:25; Luke 10:21).

Nevertheless, in 1 Cor 12:8 Paul praises the “utterance of wisdom which is given through the Spirit”. The wisdom which St Paul preaches is the Cross. He writes earlier in this first letter to the Corinthians (1:23-24) that “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This is the wisdom about which a Christian is called to speak: Christ crucified. St Paul himself does not try to convince his audience with “plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit”. All this might show us that the gift of which he speaks in 1 Cor 12:8 is, of course, not of the earthly, foolish kind of wisdom. It is exactly “a demonstration of the Spirit”.

But we must see that the wisdom in 1 Cor 12:8 is not a gift for everybody in the community. It is a special charisma only for a few. Therefore Paul does not write that through the Spirit is given “wisdom”, but the “utterance of wisdom”. He is here not talking about having or knowing wisdom. He talks about a gift of instruction. But such a gift of instruction is an extraordinary phenomenon. In the preceding verses St Paul makes it quite clear that the gifts he lists in his letter to the Church in Corinth are not for personal sanctification. Those to whom these gifts are granted are, rather, given a high responsibility. They are made instruments of God for the good of the community. These gifts are freely given for the service of others. St Thomas writes in his commentary on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians: “the personal graces enable the Holy Spirit to dwell in us; the ministerial graces do not do this but only enable the Holy Spirit to be made manifest.”

But there is a diversity of ministries and no one has all of them. If these gifts were necessary for personal sanctification, it would be fitting that everybody should have all of them. But they are given “for some benefit”: the building up of the community. And it is not even Paul’s intention to present an exhaustive list of gifts or manifestations of God’s Spirit. He rather demonstrates to the recipients of his letter, the Church in Corinth, which is divided due to sundry quarrels, that there is a great diversity of manifestations of the Spirit. It is one and the same Spirit, as St Paul says, who is the source of all gifts, God’s Spirit. Therefore the gifts must not be a cause for conflicts and separation in the community, since it is God who acts through them.