Are some spiritual gifts more important than others? 1Co 12:28  And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 


Although by position apostleship is first, does this mean it is also the most important of the gifts...
Answer: No.

The whole point of 1 Corinthians 12 is very simple and very straight forward - you should not boast about your Spiritual gift, because gifts don't make anyone special.  

Indeed, if one is arguing about which gifts are "better", then you are missing the point of - get this - the gift. A gift is not dependent on the work of the recipient, but rather of the giver. Theologians have long held that the Corinthian church - oft beset by division and discord - were arguing precisely over such silly questions as "which is the most important gift," using their gift as evidence of "their" importance.

1 Corinthians 11:17-19 lays the problem out plainly:


  In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.


In this situation, Paul unequivocally says - "KNOCK IT OFF! Your gifts are all equally important in God's sight!" And how do we know that this is the case?  Just about every word in chapter 12 is an admonition or an explanation that says - Your gifts don't make you any better than anybody else!


All gifts are from the same source


  There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

All gifts are gifts to be used to the same end in love for others


  Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good

All gifts are to be used together in concert - like as in the body


  Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized byc one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
  
  15Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body

Finally, and most importantly, If you have to pick a "greatest gift" - it's love


  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tonguesd ? Do all interpret? 31Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.


Whereupon we get the famous 1 Corinthians 13 - the hymn to love.


  If I speak in the tonguesa of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. ... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.



In the context in which Paul lays out these gifts, he goes to extarordinary lengths to make it clear - the gifts are not what is special, but rather the giver. As Christians, the gift is just that - a gift which is supposed to be used for building up the body. The moment it becomes a point of pride - an idol - it ceases to be that.