What Does 1 Corinthians 12:11 Mean?
But the one and the same breath works all these, portioning to each one as it wills.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.THE KEY
The gifts are distinct expressions of one breath at work, not separate powers with separate sources.
THE MEANING
The same living breath works through varied gifts, giving each person a distinct expression as it wills. Each share belongs to the one source, so difference does not divide it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Distinct gifts do not mean the source itself is divided.
THE ROOT
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνέω
To blow or breathe.
English gives pneuma the title “Spirit,” while the Greek word also names breath and wind. One word holds together what English renders as separate things: the breath that moves and the wind that blows.
ALSO GROWS
pnoē: Breath; a breath or breeze.
πνοή
This noun from the same breathing family makes the connection between breath and wind explicit.
pneumatikos: Spiritual; pertaining to the breath or Spirit.
πνευματικός
This related word carries the same root into descriptions of what belongs to the Spirit, keeping the source connected to its varied expressions.
THE PATTERN
One source works through distinct capacities, giving each person a particular expression.
And I have filled him with the breath of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of work.There are portions of gifts, but the same breath.We have gifts that differ according to the favor given to us. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to trust.THE THREAD
The breath blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so is everyone who is born of breath.John uses pneuma (πνεῦμα, breath or wind) for both “wind” and “Spirit,” and pneo (πνέω, to blow or breathe) for “bloweth.” The same word family holds together images that English separates, opening this verse’s picture of one source moving through distinct expressions.
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