12:11
Paul ends the section by reiterating his main point. All the gifts come from the same Spirit. And He distributes them as He chooses. We need to be God centred when considering the gifts, as we need to be in all things.
12:12
We now come to a section where Paul likes the church to a body in order to demonstrate the need and role of the variety of gifts. Another important point is that it is the body of Christ. The body is an example of diversity and unity. The body has many different parts, fulfilling different functions. Yet they are all working towards the same end, they are all working to enable the body to function as a whole.
12:13
This verse can be translated two ways: HCSB has “for we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body”, ESV has “for in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body”. HCSB (and NIV and others) has the Spirit doing the baptising, ESV is more passive, and has Christ doing the baptising. I am not sure that the difference matters that much, the point here is that we are baptised into one body. Paul then makes the point he has made elsewhere, that it does not matter whether we are Jews or Greek, slave or free, we are all part of one body. And we all “drink of one Spirit”.
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