What does 1 Corinthians 12:4 mean?

Paul spoke in the previous verse of the Spirit of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. In other words, he mentioned all three members of the Trinity or the Godhead. Now he begins to do the same in reverse order, beginning here and continuing his thought through verse 6.

Paul is preparing to give the Christians in Corinth very specific information about the spiritual gifts given to every believer by the Holy Spirit. He starts by revealing there are a variety of different gifts. Each serves a different purpose in the church. His main point here, though, is that there is only one Holy Spirit, the same one that occupies every person who comes to faith in Christ.

In other words, the Spirit is not given to some Christians and not others (Romans 8:9). Those who are saved all have the same, the only, Spirit of God with them. There are not different versions of God's Spirit, though there are different kinds of gifts given to believers by Him. Differences in spiritual gifts are not, at all, differences in spiritual value or salvation.