<p>12:7- see on Mt. 25:15.</p><p><i>But to each individual is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good- </i>Again the stress is upon the way in which &quot;each individual&quot; has been given the Spirit; see on &quot;everyone&quot; in :6. Paul's theme in this letter so far is that the welfare of others must be paramount in our thinking. The Spirit is given &quot;for the common good&quot;. All spiritual gifts and empowerments are not for ourselves; even the energy given within us (see on :6) is ultimately to be used for the good of others.</p><p>Although NEV offers &quot;each individual&quot;, the Greek literally means &lsquo;to each one&rsquo;, and it could refer to how each house church was given a specific gift; although note :11 &quot;each man&quot;. I say that because there is New Testament evidence that suggests that not every single individual believer in the first century had miraculous Holy Spirit gifts. That is hard to square with 1 Cor. 12 teaching that &lsquo;each one&rsquo; had such gifts. But remember the context. Paul has been arguing that there is one body of Christ in Corinth, and each house church contributes towards that. The house churches were divided against each other and some groups shunned others. Paul is saying that each of those house groups played a vital role. We can take a lesson from this. Each ecclesia even today has a somewhat different emphasis, and all too easily, ecclesias can divide from each other. And yet this would be a denial of the one body of Christ; we not only need each other individually, each ecclesia needs each other ecclesia in their area, if they are to fully function as the one body. The warning against &ldquo;schism in the body&rdquo; (1 Cor. 12:25) applied in the context to there being schism between local house churches, rather than between individuals.</p>