1 Corinthians 12:8

For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit:

Nine forms of the manifestation of the Spirit are now mentioned.

'the word of' -indicating that this is. teaching gift.

'wisdom' -'message of wisdom' (Ber); 'the ability to speak wisdom.' (Beck) 'Wisdom is intelligence, then practical action in accord with it.' (Robertson p. 169) 'a message/utterance full of wisdom.' (Fee p. 592)

'Wisdom as. gift of God is mentioned as far back as Exodus 2:1; Exodus 2:30; Exodus 2:1. In those places it speaks of skill to handle the complex problems of making the tabernacle and all that went with it.' (McGuiggan p. 168)

Points to Note:

1. It doesn't appear that this is an exhaustive list. Compare with 1 Corinthians 12:28

2. 'the fact that we have not witnessed these gifts in 1900 years also makes the definite identification of them difficult.' (Willis pp. 421-422)

'the word of knowledge' -'power to express knowledge' (Gspd); 'a word of insight.' (Mon)

The often asked question is, 'what was the difference between these two teaching gifts?' Various views exist: (1) 'The word of wisdom and the word of knowledge refer to divinely imparted faculties, first of discovering, and second of making practical application of truth.' (Erdman p. 123) (2) 'Wisdom' deals with the revelation of God's wisdom, i.e. the gospel (1 Corinthians 2:6-13); 'knowledge' with 'a supernatural endowment of knowledge, factual information that could not otherwise have been known with the Spirit's aid.' (Fee pp. 592-593) (3) 'The man with the word of wisdom is. biblical counsellor and the man with the word of knowledge is. biblical exegete' (i.e. draws out the meaning found in passages of Scripture.) (McGuiggan p. 169)

Various "teaching gifts" did exist, in Romans 12:7 Paul draws. distinction between one who exhorts and one who teaches.

'according to the same Spirit' -the Spirit is the channel for both gifts, hence the "content" revealed by both gifts will be the same.