Spiritual
Gifts Part One
[1st
Corinthians chapter 12, verses 1-13]
Continuing
onward today in our first-to-last-chapter study of St. Paul's 1st
letter to the Corinthian church, let's move on to chapter 12. I'll be
going over the first half of chapter 12 today, and we'll get into
detail on the second half next week due to the very important and
highly significant subject matter contained in chapter 12. Let's
begin with verse 1:
“Now
about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were
influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no
one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed', and
no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except by the Holy Spirit. There are
different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different
kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of
working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” (1Cor. 12,
verses 1 through 6, NIV)
Paul starts off by reminding the Corinthians how far
they had come from a spiritual standpoint. They had gone from being
pagans, worshiping gods of wood and stone, to born-again Christians,
saved by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world. What a quantum leap these Corinthians had made in the Spirit!
In this there is good news for all of us; that is, anyone who can say
without hesitation, “Jesus is Lord”, or, “I worship Jesus as
the Son of God”, knows immediately that they have the Holy Spirit
living within them, otherwise they could not utter these words and
really mean it. And if they didn't mean it, others will know it. Paul
goes on to make the comparison that as surely as there are
manifestations of the Holy Spirit within widely varied types of
individuals, in the same way there are widely varied signs of the
fruit of that same Spirit exhibited within each and every one of us.
Paul then goes on to name the different fruits of the Spirit.
“Now
to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common
good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom,
to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that
one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to
another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in
different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation
of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he
gives them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Cor. 12, verses
7-11, NIV)
You will notice that Paul names nine different gifts of
the Holy Spirit. These different gifts are diverse enough that anyone
who is a true follower of Christ Jesus can pick one and begin to pray
directly to Jesus for that particular gift, whatever it may be. No
special talent or innate ability is required. That's exactly why all
can participate. That's the first nugget of truth that we can extract
from Paul's writing. In the family of God, nobody gets left out.
Everyone participates and benefits equally and without exception. So
pick a gift, any gift that you think suits you best, and begin to
exercise it. If you seem to get off to a slow start at first, don't
let that deter you. Keep practicing, because you know that practice
makes perfect. Remember that you won't be going it alone, for the
Spirit of the Lord will be with you, and He will stay with you
because He is dwelling within you. God is very willing to give you
supernatural ability in the Spirit that will cause you to excel in an
area where you may not have been able to previously. I know this to
be true because it has worked for me in the past, and if I can do it
then so can you. Let's go through these nine gifts one at a time.
The first is the “message of wisdom”. Do not
mistake formal education, or human intelligence, or any person's IQ,
for what the apostle Paul calls 'wisdom'. The 3 things I just
mentioned are all carnal in nature, being of the flesh rather than of
the Spirit. “Wisdom”, from Paul's viewpoint then, is spiritual
wisdom, a wisdom gained from a lifetime of experience and of devotion
to Christ. The “message of wisdom”, then, is a gift generally
reserved for the clergy, or for those in academia, but also for older
people like myself who have been around the block a time or two and
who have gained wisdom from many years of experience, sometimes even
by trial and error. This type of deep and lengthy experience should
never be underestimated. When one learns their life lessons the hard
way, one tends to learn them quite well, and I'm speaking here from
experience.
The second spiritual gift is the “message of
knowledge”. Like the 'message of wisdom' above, the 'message of
knowledge' is about spiritual matters rather than knowledge of this
world. The message of knowledge can be interpreted here as having
extensive knowledge of the Word of God, and this can only be
accomplished through years of study. Pastors and those who teach
Bible studies have this gift, and it is an honorable thing to use
this, or any of these gifts, to one's utmost for the love of Jesus.
The third spiritual gift is faith. Faith is a gift most
often bestowed unto prayer warriors and prayer partners, and to those
with gifts of healing (more on that one shortly). Faith is also a
very good starting point for new believers as they build their
new-found faith in Christ. It is something very good and valuable to
hold onto while deciding which one of the 9 spiritual gifts is best
for the individual believer. This is how we exercise our faith as we
explore the gifts of the Spirit so that we may discover which gift
suits each of us the best according to the talents and abilities of
the believer.
I will comment only briefly on the next two, 'gifts of
healing' and 'miraculous powers'. While these gifts have existed
since the time of Christ and His apostles, there are those “healers”
today who claim to have these powers, but in reality they are fierce
predators. They continue to “heal” people on TV while essentially
charging them for the privilege while broadcasting the results of
their “work”. But Jesus warned us about this when He walked the
earth, as it is written: “Jesus answered, “Watch out that no
one deceives you. For many will come in my name proclaiming, 'I am
the Christ', and will deceive many.” (Matt. 24, verses 4-5 NIV)
Further down in this same chapter Jesus adds, “So if anyone
tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert', do not go out; or, 'Here
he is, in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning that
comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the
coming of the Son of Man”. (Matt. 24, verses 26-27 NIV) I'm not
saying miraculous healing doesn't exist. As a matter of fact I think
it does. All I am saying is that, based on what I have seen on the
Christian television stations, one should approach what is being
taught and what you are seeing with a critical mind, using the Bible
as a reference manual for what you are seeing and hearing. That is
the one sure way to keep oneself from being deceived. Discern for
yourselves what is genuine or what is phony. The indwelling of the
Holy Spirit has already given you the power! Use it judiciously.
The next gift Paul mentions is that of prophecy.
Prophecy means to literally proclaim the Word of God while applying
it to events from the past, present and future. Evangelists, for
example, most often have the gift of prophecy as their spiritual
gift, but anyone can have this gift. I once met a Texas housewife who
had this gift while having never studied in a seminary, so God can
bestow it upon anyone He chooses.
The seventh gift Paul mentions is the gift of
'distinguishing between spirits', and he is not talking about a
medium at a seance. Distinguishing between spirits also has nothing
to do with judging people, so be sure and not fall into that trap
because once you do, it's hard to get out of it. As you have probably
guessed, 'distinguishing between spirits' is done in the Spirit of
Christ, not in the flesh or through intellectual capability. It is a
spiritual distinction one can make through a supernatural gift of
identifying different types of spirits, mainly being able to separate
bad from good, but also as a way to distinguish hidden motives and
concealed agendas within otherwise “nice” people.
The last 2 spiritual gifts are speaking in tongues and
the interpretation of tongues. Speaking in tongues simply means to be
able to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in any foreign language
in a supernatural way without having any specific knowledge of that
language. Those who interpret those tongues are the ones who are
translating the unknown tongue being spoken back into the native
language of the hearer for the edification of that church. This
spiritual gift exists so that the gospel can be preached in every
language on the face of the earth. It is common for missionaries to
have the gift of speaking in tongues, or that of interpretation of
tongues. A word of caution here: there are churches that teach that
speaking in tongues is the best evidence that a believer has been
baptized in the Holy Spirit, as if this particular gift is the one
that matters most (or worse yet, that it is the only one that
matters). If you find yourself in a church that teaches that speaking
in tongues is the only, or the primary, evidence of the baptism of
the Holy Spirit, get out of there immediately. I won't name names,
but they are a single-minded denomination bordering on a cult, and as
such they are not teaching the whole truth, so it would be wise to
not associate with them. Remember that even Satan can disguise
himself as an angel of light. Paul finishes his train of thought by
comparing the human body to the church.
“The
body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all
its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we
were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or
Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to
drink.” (1Cor. 12, verses 12-13, NIV)
We
are all within the body of Christ, which is His church, but we all
serve various functions within that Body. Our diverse gifts of the
Spirit, which God gives to everyone, make up the different functions
of the greater Church. Not everyone can be a pastor, or a teacher,
and not everyone is called to be only one thing, all except for
prayer. Prayer, my dear readers, is mandatory for all serious
believers. We can't have a geniune relationship with Jesus Christ
unless we pray to Him daily. How can we have a personal relationship
with Jesus unless we talk to Him? There are also those who have
multiple gifts, such as music and dance, and others who focus on a
specific ministry, such as missionaries. But instead, in the kingdom
of God, everyone does one thing and does it well (even if it's just
being an usher), and all the various functions and ministries that
are being performed coordinate together to form the living body that
is Christ's church. As the old song goes, “we are one in the
Spirit, we are one with the Lord”, and that sums up His church very
well. And next week we'll finish chapter 12. Until then, be blessed
in Jesus' holy name!
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