What Does 1 Corinthians 12:7 Mean?
But the showing of the breath is given to each one, for what carries us together.
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 the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.THE KEY
What the breath makes visible in each person is given for a good carried in common.
THE MEANING
A visible expression of the breath is given to each person, and it is directed toward the good shared by all. What appears in you contributes to a life larger than you alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a spiritual gift proves private rank or self-sufficiency: the verse names its purpose as common benefit.
THE ROOT
συμφέρον
symphéron
GROWS FROM
φέρω (pherō), joined with σύν (syn)
φέρω (pherō) means carry, bear, or bring; σύν (syn) means together. Their compound carries the sense of bringing together and, from there, what is beneficial.
“for what carries us together” in this verse is symphéron. The word rendered “profit” carries an image of bringing together. What is given to each matters through what it carries into the common good.
ALSO GROWS
symphérō: Bring together; be beneficial.
συμφέρω
The verse’s “profit withal” is built from this verb, making shared benefit the direction of each gift.
diaphérō: Differ, vary, or be distinct.
διαφέρω
The same carrying stem can name difference: contributions remain distinct while serving a shared life.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
To breathe or blow.
The same word can name breath, wind, and spirit, so the manifestation is the breath’s activity made perceptible. What appears is living movement, not merely an abstract possession.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: Breathe or blow.
πνέω
This verb shows the movement held within the word translated “Spirit.”
pnoē: Breath or wind.
πνοή
This related word makes clear how breath and wind belong to the same word family as pneuma.
φανέρωσις
phanerōsis
GROWS FROM
φανερόω
phaneroō
To make visible or evident; to disclose.
“showing” in this verse is phanerōsis. “Manifestation” can sound like an abstract event, but φανέρωσις names a making-visible. Joined to breath, it points to the breath’s activity becoming recognizable in lived expression.
ALSO GROWS
phanerós: Visible or evident.
φανερός
The related adjective names the state of being open to view.
phaneróō: Make visible or reveal.
φανερόω
The verb shows the action beneath “manifestation”: something becomes apparent.
THE PATTERN
A capacity given to one finds its purpose as it contributes to the good shared with others.
And Moses said to him, "Are you burning for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would set his breath upon them!"We have gifts that differ according to the favor given to us. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to trust.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.THE THREAD
All things are open to me, but not all things bring together. All things are open to me, but not all things build up.“Expedient” translates a form of the same Greek word family as “profit withal”: what benefits is what carries toward shared good. Here that measure is applied to freedom; in 12:7, it is applied to each visible gift.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us