May 10, 2015 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT MINISTRY INVOCATION O God: We give thanks to You for the manifold blessings to us. You did not have to bless us but You did. We shall remain eternally grateful. Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND Because one person does not possess all of the spiritual gifts, believers must work together for the common good. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost for all believers and that the Holy Ghost verifies and validates the Believer as part of the Body of Christ. TEXT: Background Scripture I Corinthians 12:1-11 Key Verse I Corinthians 12:7 Lesson Scripture I Corinthians 12:1-11 (NKJV) Spiritual Gifts: Unity in Diversity 12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. COMMENTARY Verse 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts; rather, things spiritual. The context, however, shows that St. Paul is thinking almost exclusively of the gifts (charismata) of the Spirit. I would not have you ignorant. The Corinthians had doubtless inquired in their letter as to the views of the apostle on this important and difficult subject. 1
Verse 2. That ye were Gentiles. The undoubted reading is, that when ye were Gentiles. Dumb idols. This characteristic of idols is fixed upon to show that their oracles were mere falsity and pretence. Even as ye were led; rather, howsoever ye might be led, as in the Revised Version. The Greek phrase shows that, under the oracular guidance of dumb idols, the Gentiles had been, as it were, drifted hither and thither as the winds listed. Verse 3. Wherefore. Their previous condition of Gentile ignorance rendered it necessary to instruct them fully respecting the nature and discrimination of the charisms of the Spirit. By the Spirit of God; rather, in the Spirit; i.e. in the state of spiritual exaltation and ecstasy. The phrase is Hebrew to describe inspiration. Jesus accursed. It may well seem amazing that the Corinthians should need instructing that such awful language could not be uttered by any one speaking in the Spirit of God. It is evident, however, that such expressions had been uttered by persons who were, or seemed to be, carried away by the impassioned impulse, which led to glossolalia. (It is better to use this technical word in order to dissipate the cloud of strange misconceptions as to the true nature of this charism.) So terrible an outrage on the conscience of Christians could never have passed unchecked and unpunished, except from the obvious inability of the young community to grapple with the new and perplexing phenomena of an inspiration, which appeared to destroy the personal control of those possessed by it. Among Jewish converts glossolalia was regarded as a form of that wild mantic inspiration of which we find some traces in Jewish history and which was alluded to in the very name Nab, which implied a boiling energy. They would not like to call any one to task for things spoken in a condition which they regarded as wholly supernatural. As to the speakers, (1) some of them, not being sincere, might have really fallen under the influence of impulses which were earthly and demonic, not Divine; (2) others, not duly controlling their own genuine impulse, may have been liable to the uncontrolled sway of utterances for which they were at the moment irresponsible; (3) or again, being incapable of reasoned expression, they may have audibly expressed vague Gnostic doubts as to the identity of the Jesus who was crucified and the Divine Word; or (4) they may have been entangled in Jewish perplexities rising from Deut. 21:23, He that is hanged (which was also the expression applied by Jews to the crucified) is accursed of God; or finally, (5) by some strange abuse of the true principle expressed by St. Paul, they may have asserted in this fearful form their emancipation from the acknowledgment of Jesus after the flesh. Similar phenomena the same intrusions into worship of downright blasphemy or of blasphemous familiarity have constantly recurred at times of overwhelming spiritual excitement, as for instance in the adherents of the everlasting gospel in the thirteenth century, and in various movements of our own day. Is accursed; 2
rather, is anathema. No man can say that Jesus is [the] Lord, but by [in] the Holy Ghost. It involved a strong rebuke to the illuminati, who professed a profound spiritual insight, to tell them that no man could make the simple, humble confession of the divinity of Jesus (for Lord is here an equivalent of the Hebrew Jehovah ) except by the same inspiration as that which they so terribly abused. The test is the confession of His divinity as against Jews and Gentiles. Verse 4. Diversities. This word is used in each of these verses. Gifts; charismata; endowments imparted by the Holy Spirit. The word is rendered free gift in Rom. 5:15. The same Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are not uniform, but display diversity in unity Just as the sunlight playing on different surfaces produces a multiplicity of gleams and colors, so the Holy Spirit manifests His Presence variously, and even sometimes with sharp contrasts, in different individualities. Verse 5. Administrations. Different individuals render different services, and even apply the same gifts in different ways. The same Lord. Who, as Head of the Church, directs all ministries and assigns all functions. Verse 6. Operations. Manifestations of Divine power. The same God which worketh all in all. God is the Source of all gifts in all men. He is the Sun of the whole universe and always in the meridian; and from him, as the Father of lights, flows every good and perfect gift (Jas. 1:17). It will be seen that this is one of the many passages which teach with perfect clearness the doctrine of the Trinity in unity. All in all There are very similar passages descriptive of the diversity in unity of God s dispensations, in Eph. 4:4 6, 11, 12; Rom. 12:6 8; 1 Pet. 4:10, 11. Verse 7. To profit withal. With reference, that is, to the general profit. Verse 8. The word of wisdom the word of knowledge. In modern usage, knowledge is the learning which we by use and effort acquire; wisdom is the insight which gradually dawns upon us from thought and experience. In the language of the New Testament, the distinction between the two words is not so clearly marked, but wisdom seems to belong more to the human spirit, and knowledge to the intellect. The discourse of wisdom would be that which sets forth the truth of the gospel persuasively to work conversion; the discourse of knowledge would be that which enters into the speculative and theoretical elaboration of systematic theology. Verse 9. To another. Various attempts have been made to classify the gifts thus enumerated, as: 1. Intellectual; 2. Pertaining to exalted faith; 3. (1) Tongues; and (2) their interpretation. These attempts are not very successful. Faith. Faith in its highest energy, as a supernatural power; the faith that removes mountains (Matt. 17:19, 20). The gifts of healing. Not, that is, by medical knowledge, but by supernatural power (Mark 16:18; Acts 5:15, 16; Jas. 5:14, 15). 3
Verse 10. The working of miracles; literally, active efficacy of powers; such as the signs of an apostle, to which St. Paul himself appealed in II Cor. 12:12, which included wonders and mighty powers. Prophecy. Not prediction, but elevated and inspired discourse; the power of preaching to edification. Discerning of spirits; rather, discernings, or powers to discriminate between true and false spirits. It was necessary in those days of intense enthusiasm and spiritual awakening to test the spirits, whether they be of God (1 John 4:1). There were such things as deceitful spirits which spoke doctrines of devils (1 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 2:1, 2; see ch. 14:29). Divers kinds of tongues. The particular variety of the ecstatic, and often entirely unintelligible, utterance known as the tongue differed with the individuality or temperament of the speaker. Whatever may be thought of the tongues on the day of Pentecost (which is a separate question), the tongue spoken of (for the most part with relative disparagement) by St. Paul as a charism of the Spirit was closely analogous to that wild, rapt, unconscious, uncontrollable utterance which, with varying details, has always occurred in the religious movements which stir the human soul to its utmost depths. The apostles (so far as we have any record of their missionary work in the New Testament) had not the slightest need to acquire foreign languages. Since Palestine was at this epoch bilingual, they could all speak Aramaic and Greek, and therefore could address Jews and Gentiles throughout the civilized world. Every single allusion which St. Paul makes to this subject excludes the possibility of the supposition of a miracle so utterly useless and meaningless, so subversive of every psychological consideration, and so alien from the analogy of all God s methods, as the talking in unacquired foreign languages by persons who did not understand them. The interpretation of tongues. Sometimes, but not always (ch. 14:13), the speaker, on relapsing from his ecstasy, was able to express his outburst of unintelligible soliloquy in the form of reasoned thought. When he was unable to do so, St. Paul ordains that another should convey in ordinary language the impressions left by the inspired rhapsody (ch. 14:27 29). Verse 11. One and the selfsame Spirit. The unity of the source from which all the charisms flowed ought to have excluded the possibility of a boastful comparison of gifts, and all depreciation of those gifts which, because they were less dazzling, were deemed inferior. St. Paul afterwards shows that the less dazzling might be infinitely the more valuable for purposes of spiritual edification. RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER 4
My God: I am grateful to have found You and kept You in the forefront of my being. Bless us continually with Your grace and mercy. They represent bountiful blessings for all of us. Amen. 5