30.What does Paul mean by the questions he is asking in verses twenty-nine and thirty? What answer does he expect? .

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Paul’s point throughout the twelfth chapter is that the Body of Christ is made up of a variety of members and each is vitally necessary for the Body. This is in answer to "I of Paul," "I of Apollos," "and I of Cephas" of an earlier chapter.

If Paul still is thinking in these terms, what he is saying by the questions is as follows: "If you do not believe me, look around and judge for yourselves. Are you all apostles?

"I know you think you are, but it is evident you are not.

"Are you all prophets? Are you all teachers? Are you all workers of miracles?

"It is evident you are not. Therefore you can see that what I am telling you is the truth. God has given variety to the Body of Christ and each part builds up the whole."

Then, in order to soften the harshness of his rebuke and to guard against any feeling of passivity and inevitability they may have received from his telling them that the Holy Spirit assigns gifts according to His own sovereign will, Paul encourages the Corinthian saints to desire earnestly and fervently the greater gifts of the Spirit.

By the expression the "greater gifts" we believe Paul was inviting them to get their minds off themselves and begin to think about ways in which they could build up the one Body of Christ. We notice, in the fourteenth chapter, that Paul prefers prophesying to speaking in tongues because prophesying builds up the believers in Christ.

The "greater gifts," then, would be those that more directly accomplish the purposes of God, such as the forming of Christ in the believers, the creating of strong, wise disciples, the bringing of the Gospel to every person on the earth. This would be in contrast to gifts that accomplish some less worthy purpose.