A gift of the Spirit

The Gift of the Word of Knowledge

The nine gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 · 1 Corinthians 12:8

The word of knowledge is a Spirit given grasp of the truth of God, and the ability to speak it into the life of the church so that people know God and His ways more truly. Paul names it second in his list, paired with the word of wisdom, and like every gift it is given not for display but for the building up of the body.

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;1 Corinthians 12:8 (KJV)

What the gift is

Immediately after the word of wisdom, Paul names the word of knowledge, given by the same Spirit. The two are close companions. If wisdom is knowing what to do, knowledge is knowing what is true; and the word of knowledge is a Spirit prompted moment when that truth is made plain and spoken for the good of others. Throughout Scripture the knowledge in view is not trivia but the knowledge of God, the deep, saving understanding of who He is, what He has done, and what He asks.

This gift, then, is not merely a good memory for facts. It is the Spirit illuminating the truth of God so that a believer can teach it, apply it, and hand it on. Paul himself prayed that the church would grow in the knowledge of God, and warned that knowledge without love only puffs up. The gift is real, but it is meant to serve, never to swell the one who has it.

How it appears in the New Testament

The New Testament is full of this gift at work: in Peter's Spirit given understanding that opened the gospel to the Gentiles, in Apollos, who was mighty in the Scriptures and watered what Paul had planted, in the teachers who carried sound doctrine to the churches. When Paul unfolds the riches of the gospel in his letters, drawing out truths the church still lives on two thousand years later, we are watching the word of knowledge poured out through a yielded mind.

Corinth needed it badly. The church there was rich in speech and knowledge, Paul says, yet immature, mistaking cleverness for wisdom and gifts for holiness. So Paul insists that all knowledge is nothing without love, and that its whole purpose is Christ. The word of knowledge serves the truth as it is in Jesus, never a private cleverness that leaves love behind.

How it builds up the body of Christ

The church is built on truth. Jesus prayed that His people would be sanctified through the truth, and the word of knowledge feeds that growth, keeping the body anchored in what God has actually revealed. Where this gift is at work, believers understand their Bibles better, see the gospel more clearly, and are guarded against the errors that drift into every generation.

But Paul draws a firm line: though I understand all knowledge, and have not charity, I am nothing. Knowledge that only wins arguments, or lifts up the knower, has missed its purpose. Used rightly, this gift makes the whole church wiser, humbler, and more sure of the God it loves.

How to recognize and use it

People with this gift often love the Scriptures deeply, grasp the truth of God quickly, and are able to make hard things clear for others. If that is you, give thanks, and then guard your heart, for this is the gift most tempted toward pride. Study to show yourself approved, rightly dividing the word of truth, and let every insight be wrapped in humility and love.

Speak your knowledge to build up, not to win. Teach the young believer patiently. Hold your certainties under the authority of Scripture, ready to be corrected. The word of knowledge is only beautiful when it serves the church's love for the God it makes known.

How this gift points to Christ

The knowledge this gift shares is finally the knowledge of one Person, for eternal life, Jesus said, is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Paul counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. So the word of knowledge is only true to itself when it makes Christ better known, unfolding the riches of the gospel until the church cries with Paul, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The gift does not exist to make a knower admired but to fill the whole body with the knowledge of the Son of God, until we come to a full and growing acquaintance with Him.

The more excellent way

Whatever place the gift of the Word of Knowledge holds, Paul sets one thing above every gift. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, he says, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I have all knowledge, and all faith, and have not charity, I am nothing. The gifts will one day pass away, but now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; and the greatest of these is charity.

So this gift, like all the rest, is given by one Spirit for the common good, to build up the one body of Christ, and it is nothing at all apart from love. The gifts are not for our standing but for our serving, and they all belong to Him whose body the church is. Use whatever you have been given to love one another, and to point every eye to Jesus, from whom every good gift comes and to whom every gift returns its praise.

The Giver calls you

Every gift of the Spirit comes from the risen Christ and points back to Him. The same Lord who pours out gifts on His church calls you by name to know Him, to be filled with His Spirit, and to take your place in His body. Read the Word, pray, and gather with the family of God on The Living Bread. Free, with no ads, for all people.

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Questions people ask

Is the word of knowledge secret information about people?

Scripture does not define it that way. In 1 Corinthians the knowledge in view is the knowledge of God and His truth. Some Christians also use the phrase for a Spirit given insight into a situation; where that is claimed, it should always be tested humbly by Scripture and never treated as infallible.

How is the word of knowledge different from the word of wisdom?

They are close companions in 1 Corinthians 12:8. Knowledge is a Spirit given grasp of what is true about God; wisdom is knowing how to live and act rightly in light of it. One informs the mind, the other guides the steps, and the church needs both.

Can knowledge be dangerous?

Paul warns that knowledge without love puffs up. The gift is good, but pursued for pride or apart from love it harms rather than helps. Its whole purpose is to build up the body in the truth of Christ.