Lesson 28

I Corinthians 12:1 begins a whole new section in Paul's letter to the Corinthian church. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

Beginning back in 7:1, Paul answered Corinthian questions about marriage (7), meat (8-10), gender roles (11:1-16), the Lord's supper (11:17-34). Now he turns his attention toward the matter of spiritual gifts.

12:1 begins a long section (three chapters) on the subject. If these verses are Paul's answers to Corinthian questions, we need to work backwards and figure out what their questions were. judging by the apostle's answers, the questions probably were...

What are the spiritual gifts? How many are there?

What purpose do they serve?

Does every believer have them all, or just some?

How can a person know which one or ones he or she has?

Are some more desirable than others?

Are all the gifts for every age or were some given only for a special purpose and a limited time?

Can the gifts be counterfeited, and, if so, how can believers tell the true ones from the false?

These are the kinds of questions that Paul carefully answers in these three chapters. We have seen that the Corinthian church was a problem church. It appears that there were two problems at Corinth concerning the spiritual gifts. One was a problem of confusion. The other was a problem of conflict.

The Corinthians were confused and ignorant about the spiritual gifts. Why? Perhaps because of their own pagan background. Paul reminds them in verse 2 that before this Corinthians came to know Christ, they were Gentiles (the word means pagans and is used that way in I Thessalonians 4:5; I Peter 2:12) involved in the pagan idolatry of the time. History records the prevalence of what are known as mystery religions in the ancient near east. These mystery religions were characterized by frenzies and ecstatic outbursts where people would babble and fall on the floor. These religions were experience driven, believing that such ecstatic events were the highest expressions of a religious experience. Such emotional outbursts were dramatic and seemed to be supernatural. These mystery religions were characterized by hypnotic chants and ceremonies where worshipers experienced semiconscious euphoric feelings - often preceded by fasting and vigils - often accompanied by loud music with a heavy rhythm, by dancing and by other physical and psychological stimuli used to induce ecstacy - out of body trance like experiences. We have an Old Testament example of such pagan worship when Elijah faced the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. I Kings 18 says that they "called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made ... And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. This was common in pagan religious ceremonies. If what happened at such religious ceremonies seemed to be supernatural, worshipers assumed it was of God. Paul points out in verse 2 that the Corinthians had come into Christianity out of such pagan backgrounds. Perhaps this factor caused some of their confusion about the spiritual gifts.

Added to their pagan background was partial knowledge. These Corinthians, know doubt, had read the Old Testament promises of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps they had read Joel 2:28-30. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. They, no doubt, had heard what had happened at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the outpouring the Spirit, men speaking in tongues. They had heard of miraculous events which accompanied the work of the Holy Spirit.

The combination of a pagan background with its ecstatic forms of worship and partial knowledge about signs and wonders and miracles and tongues had only produced a good deal of confusion in the Corinthian church about the spiritual gifts.

There is much confusion today concerning the gifts. In my mind, there is no area of the Christian life more misunderstood and more abused that this matter of spiritual gifts. We live in a time also that is experience driven. Personal experience is given the highest authority. As one man wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, "I don't care what the Bible says, I've had an experience!" While are not a charismatic church and while we believe that the present-day Charismatic and Pentecostal movement is confused and in error about the supernatural gifts of the Spirit, much of the confusion concerning the gifts has be fostered by a dead orthodoxy in our kind churches that needs to replaced with a warm, vital worship of God by the whole congregation. While emotional and spiritual is not the same and emotions must always be led by truth, truth must not suppress emotions. Knowledge cannot replace love. Human effort cannot replace the work of the Spirit. We must recognize that we need the energizing of God's Spirit. We need to recognize that there are God-given endowments for Christian service that are vital to ministry of the church. In all the present-day confusion and controversy about spiritual gifts, we have suppressed expressive worship and excited people and any emphasis on the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The first problem at Corinth concerning the spiritual gifts was the problem of confusion. I Corinthians 12-14 will, I believe clear up much of the confusion.

There was another problem in Corinth. It was the problem of conflict. The whole church was divided and factionalized. We have seen it all the way through this book. At Corinth the spiritual gifts had become weapons to fight each other with instead of tools to build each other with.

It is at this point of unity out of diversity within the church body, that Paul begins his dissertation about spiritual gifts. With all this background, please notice the emphasis of Paul concerning the spiritual gifts.

There is an emphasis here on unity, on what we have in common. Despite the diversity of people and the variety of spiritual gifts, the first 13 verses of chapter 12 put the emphasis on church unity. What we have in common has come to us from the Lord, specifically from the Holy Spirit. If fact, we have the Spirit in common and much more through the Spirit.

In order to be saved a person must "believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord" according to Romans 10:9-10. As Christians, as believers in Christ, we share a common confession with each other that Jesus is Lord and that He is my Lord. And according to verse 3 of our text, we need to understand that our confession of Jesus as Lord comes by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has worked in each of us similarly in convicting us of our sin and drawing us to the Savior. The Holy Spirit gives us a common confession.

Certainly, there is diversity and variety in the church. Verse 4 - "there are diversities of gifts"; verse 5 - "there are differences of administrations (kinds of service)"; verse 6 - "there are diversities of operations (ways in which God works)". There is much diversity and variety. Look around. There are people of different gender, different generation, different maturity, different background, different experiences. But notice what these three verses say we have in common. "The same Spirit ... the same Lord ... the same God who is at work in all of us." All three members of the triune Godhead are listed here - the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. We have God in common.

Verse 13 speaks of our baptism. The verse is often interpreted as a Holy Spirit baptism into a universal body. However, the Holy Spirit never baptized anyone. On the Day of Pentecost, Christ baptized His church, institutionally, in the element of the Spirit. I believe that the baptism being spoken of here is our water baptism. The phrase "by one Spirit" or "in one Spirit" or "in the Spirit" speaks of being under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit. For example, when Galatians 5:16 ways "walk in the Spirit" it means to walk under the influence and guidance of the Spirit. Luke 2:27 says And Simeon came by the Spirit into the temple. "By the Spirit" means under the direction and leadership of the Spirit. This verse indicates that the Spirit is at work in our lives to convict us after salvation about the importance of baptism. The Holy Spirit leads us to baptism, even those in Corinth with differing backgrounds - Jews and Gentiles, slaves and freemen. Our baptism becomes one of the things that we have in common in the church.

Paul introduces here, an idea, an analogy which he will use with greater detail in the next section of the I Corinthians and in later epistles. It is the idea of the church, the local congregation of believers is like a body and each person in the church a vital organ in that body, see v. 27. As a church we belong to the same body of which Christ is head. We have our church in common. By belonging to the church, we are connected to each other in unique and wonderful way.

The Spirit manifests Himself uniquely in every believer. But His purpose is "to profit withal", that is for the good of all. Every Christian has a spiritual gift, at least one, and usually more than one. 1 Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. But our own spiritual gifts are not weapons to fight each other with, not status symbols to compete against each other with, not toys to play with but tools to build each other and the church with.

In verses 8-10, Paul lists some of the gifts of Spirit that illustrate the varieties spoken of in verse 4. There are nine gifts in this list. But this list is not comprehensive. Other gifts of the Spirit are found in verse 28 as well as in Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:11 and I Peter 4:11. The apostle does not here explain the functions of the particular gift. We could (and have in a series called "The Gifts of Spirit") spend an entire sermon on each of these gifts. I will say that I believe the gifts fall into two general categories. Some were temporary supernatural sign gifts which served the purpose of authenticating the message of the apostle as they spoke the word of God. With the completion of the New Testament and the end of the apostolic period these gifts supernatural sign gifts ceased. The other category are permanent speaking and serving gifts which the Holy Spirit continues to bestow upon believers. Paul's point in these verses is simply to illustrate the variety in kinds of gifts and to emphasize the common source of the gifts. In verse 11, he says that the Holy Spirit "divides to every man severally as he will", that is the Spirit decides which gifts each of us will have.

The spiritual gifts are something which should divide Christ's church but which should unite us. They should not be the source of church conflict but actually emphasize all that we have in common. We need the Spirit to empower us for service and to unite us.