Scripture Reading
2:1 Therefore, laying aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
3 if you have tasted •the kindness of the Lord.
4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which •has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:1–5, LSB)
Introduction
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
2 You know that when you were pagans, you were being led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:1–3, LSB)
We turn another corner in our study through 1 Corinthians.
We begin a section written by Paul in order to correct the experiences of the Corinthians and their meeting together.
It would be helpful to get a view of the meeting of the church, and their aberrations, but especially as it relates to the misuse of “spiritual gifts.”
- The celebration of freedom of immorality.
- The misconduct of marital relationship.
- The participation in idol worship.
- The use of lawsuits in the church.
- The meeting together for the worst-selfish assembly.
- Unloving assembly.
These fleshly, unspiritual, actions and motives caused horrible divisions and factions in the church, ones that, although useful for seeing who is right and who is wrong, are wrong and unnecessary nonetheless.
Yet, Paul’s larger section in this whole letter, and one that needed the most correction, is that of “spiritual gifts.”
In this section, we will be getting a very great and detailed grasp on:
- The Origin of Spiritual Gifts
- The Use of Spiritual Gifts
- The Abuse of Spiritual Gifts1
The Origin of Spiritual Gifts
“Now concerning spiritual gifts…”
The origin of spiritual gifts is that they are…from the Spirit.
That is to say, the Spiritual Gifts are from the Holy Spirit and are the result of the direct work of the Holy Spirit in the heart and soul of the believer.
7But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable.
8 For to one •is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
9 to someone else faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 and to another the workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to someone else various kinds of tongues, and to another the translation of tongues.
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:7–11, LSB)
That makes the discussion about the spiritual gifts appropriate for the context of the Lord’s Supper, the New Covenant, and the sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ for His people.
The origin of the spiritual gifts are from the coming of the Holy Spirit post-ascension.
Once we understand that, we are on good footing in order to scale the wall of understanding spiritual gifts.
The New Covenant
We have studied this topic significantly the last few weeks.
But, one aspect of this subject pertains to the topic of spiritual gifts and that is the part of the New Covenant which refers to the “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful •to do My judgments.” (Ezekiel 36:27, LSB)” portion.
The New Covenant includes the furnishing of the Holy Spirit “in” the person in order to compel the Israelite to finally keep the Mosaic Law.
In so doing, God will be able to then fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and bring the Jews to inhabit the land.2
This aspect of the New Covenant will be fulfilled when Israel repents.
However, as we saw, they did not repent.
Therefore, since the coming of Christ for the cross cannot be repeated, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit must resemble this New Covenant work of the Spirit, and yet, be something completely different.
As we will see, this work of the Spirit is something hidden in the Old Testament, and was only revealed with the coming, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, of the Messiah.
This leads us to our next consideration: The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
16 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, that He may be with you forever;
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16–17, LSB)
25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
26 “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. (John 14:25–26, LSB)
5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
6 “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and •righteousness and •judgment;
9 concerning sin, because •they do not believe in Me;
10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. (John 16:5–11, LSB)
Jesus Christ promised to His disciples that when He arrived back in heaven, He would immediately request from the Father that the third Member of the Godhead take His place among His disciples, and even in a new and different way.
Jesus Christ dwelt among the disciples.
The Holy Spirit will dwell within the disciples.
This coming of the Advocate, the Mediator, will work in the disciples in ways that the Old Testament did not clarify, and yet, of which it spoke.
That is because the church aspect of the Kingdom of God was not clarified in the Old Testament, but was vaguely referred to there.
22And what if God, wanting to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction,
23 and in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea,
“I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’
And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”
26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.” (Romans 9:22–26, LSB)
This coming of the Holy Spirit and His “gifting” of the saints was not prophesied of in the Old Testament.
14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.
15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is the third hour of the day;
16 but this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour out •My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men shall dream dreams;
18 Even on My male slaves and •female slaves,
I will in those days pour out •My spirit
And they shall prophesy.
19 ‘And I will put wonders in the sky above
And signs on the earth below,
Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.
20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood,
•Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
21 ‘And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.
24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
25 “For David says of Him,
‘I saw the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.
26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;
Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;
27 Because You will not forsake my soul to Hades,
Nor give Your Holy One over to see corruption.
28 ‘You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’
29 “Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit of his body on his throne,
31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
35 Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.” ’
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:14–36, LSB)
The sending of the Holy Spirit was the result of the resurrection, and ascension, of the Messiah.
When that occurred, as the Old Testament said, the Holy Spirit would be “poured out” on the house of Israel (Joel 2).
However, Joel mentions the pouring out of the Spirit in reference to the miraculous, prophetic, and visionary.
Yet, that pouring out would be after the suffering of Israel for covenantal punishment (vv. 18-27), and would lead to the restoration of His people, Israel.3
The Ascension
You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives;
You have received gifts among men,
Even among the rebellious also, that Yah—God—may dwell there. (Psalm 68:18, LSB)
Ephesians 4:7–16 (LSB)
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, And HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
The effect of the gifting of the Holy Spirit is to the edifying of the saints into the image of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
This is the same emphasis of Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14.
1 Corinthians 12:28–31 (LSB)
28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all translate? 31 But you earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I will yet show you a more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 13:1–3 (LSB)
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
1 Corinthians 14:1–5 (LSB)
1 Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and encouragement. 4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 But I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. And greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he translates, so that the church may receive edification.
1 Corinthians 14:12 (LSB)
12 So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.
1 Corinthians 14:14–19 (LSB)
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. 16 Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the uninformed say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all; 19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
A church like the one in Corinth who sough after the gift of languages, etc… but neglected prophesying and teaching, then that church, and that unbeliever is not helped.
1 Corinthians 14:23–25 (LSB)
23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and uninformed men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that SURELY GOD IS AMONG YOU.
1 Corinthians 14:40 (LSB)
40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.
Conclusion
Summary:
Paul is now turning his attention to the use of spiritual gifts in the church at Corinth.
The meeting of the church has been chaotic and without order in every way imaginable for a church.
In order to correct this, we have to examine what Paul wrote to them.
This makes sense coming from the topic of the New Covenant and the Lord’s Supper.
They assembled, not for the better, but for the worst.
Their ungodly assembly generated greater sin and confusion, including the misuse of Spiritual Gifts.
The Holy Spirit is grieved by the misuse of the gifts.
Therefore, the coming of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of edification and maturing is hindered and misrepresented by these abuses.
Next week:
The Use of Spiritual Gifts
The Abuse of Spiritual Gifts