Summary: The word of knowledge is a spiritual gift listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8. It has been associated with the ability to teach the faith, but also with forms of revelation similar to prophecy. It is closely related to another spiritual gift, the word of wisdom. The true gift that Jesus spoke about is the Gift of Holy Spirit - Acts 1:8; & 2:38 also Peter, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The manifestation of Holy Spirit is in different ways through a person - Paul lists 9 of them in 1 Cor. 12, these are known as spiritual gifts. Before anyone can minister effectively – they need to be baptised in Holy Spirit as Jesus said in Acts 1:4-8 “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; (5) for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." …. (8) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 1 Cor. 12-14 is all about the structure and order in the church. The key of the message is this – it can only be done effectively when love is the key motivator. A person is still able to operate the gifts outside love like the Corinthian church were doing, but it needs to be in Love. Love wants people set free, empowered, edified, encouraged. Paul dissects the working of the trinity to show how they work together in harmony to create unity. All of these work together e.g. casting out demons – a person needs to discern the demon, then cast out through faith, maybe it is there because of a barrier that needs to be identified (words of Knowledge), then lays hands on for their restoration (healing). Then giving them parting words to help direct their future (words of Wisdom). It is like he is showing how the engine of a car works but the importance is how it works in unity, not how each works that’s why he doesn’t go into detail on each of the gifts but the unity of them – “the manifestation of the Spirit”.
