As I have said in past lessons, it is not my intention to examine these letters in detail, but just pick out some of what I think might be the more important issues or revelations. So, we looked at 1 Corinthians 1 to sort of set the stage for this letter. The first thing Paul dealt with was the division in the church; then he contrasted human, worldly wisdom with the true spiritual wisdom the world thinks is foolish.
In chapter 2 Paul is inclined to defend his ministry and explains the fact that there was no human wisdom in his message, but only the wisdom of God revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. And in chapter 3:1-4 he tells the church the factions were evidence of their own immaturity and carnality. Then he deals with a number of issues related to that all the way through chapter 11, including: a true understanding of the ministry (3:5-4:21); the need of ridding the church of immorality (5:1-13), litigation (6:1-8) and all forms of sensuality (6:9-20); the sanctification of marriage (7:1-40); social behavior, in particular the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the weak and ignorant (8:1-11:16); and the proper observance of the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34).
This brings us to chapter 12 that starts with this, “Now regarding the spiritual gifts, my brothers, I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding.” And where I have “misunderstanding”, the KJV has “ignorant”, from agnoeo, not to know or recognize, to be in ignorance. I emphasize this here because just as the church at Corinth was ignorant concerning spiritual gifts, there is still present in the church today an ignorance that varies from misinformation all the way to distortion and deception.
Let me explain. Spiritual gifts cannot be taught. You do not learn from men (or women) how to function in these gifts that come from the Holy Spirit, for that very reason. They come from the Holy Spirit (12:4, 7-11). They are never a result of the whim or imagination of men. They are spiritual, which means they have their source in God and they are spiritually discerned. Yes, you can learn about them, to a degree, but certainly not to the extent that religion proposes. As a matter of fact, you will hopefully realize from this lesson that spiritual gifts are one of the ways God teaches us his character and nature (Who He is and what He does). They are God’s way of allowing us to experience the spontaneous exercise and demonstration of His love and power solely for the benefit of others.
Also, spiritual gifts are not a result of our fleshly desire to “minister to the body”. It’s not our responsibility to go around trying to decide what people need and whether or not they could benefit from “our giftings” simply because we’ve worked so hard to develop them. Neither can it be “our ministry” to equip the saints for the fleshly exercise of these gifts. True spiritual gifts come as a result of our submission and subsequent obedience to God as we struggle to learn how to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And when we’re submitted to Him, He decides the when, the how and the who, in regards to the timing, the manifestation of the specific gift and the person or persons to be on the receiving end of what He has planned (read verse 11 again).
The prevailing concept in religion is that spiritual gifts can be identified through an evaluation or test and enhanced by training. Wrong! The most common result of such foolishness is that people manipulate the evaluation and it results in confirming what they think they already know, what they want to be, how they see themselves or how others see them. In this way, their so-called giftings either line up with their natural abilities or what they’ve determined to be the most prestigious or attention-getting gifts.
For those in the traditional church that tend to be somewhat ambitious or competitive in nature, this is their opportunity to shine. They now have an acceptable opportunity to publicly exhibit their supposed spiritual superiority over those with less ambition. Of course, this is all done for the sake of strengthening the Body and meeting the needs of others. It’s really nothing more than the exercise of their flesh. But then again, as I’ve said before, religion is often calculated to appeal to the flesh and give it opportunity to manifest itself in the name of God. In religion, man is in control; in spiritual reality, God is in control.
There are many groups that pretty much ignore spiritual gifts altogether. These are generally the ones that have rather tightly controlled ritualistic, traditional services that follow a consistent pattern or even a pre-published program (stand up now, sit down now, sing this song now, recite this now, sit down, be quiet and listen now, etc.).
Then, there are groups that tend to overemphasize spiritual gifts. These are usually groups that have more open, unstructured services that encourage participation. And, these groups commonly have classes and programs designed to help their congregants develop their “gifts”, ignoring what Paul says - that they all come from the Holy Spirit. Churches that emphasize outward manifestations have to teach their congregants how to “move” in their giftings; because that is what guarantees the continual public display of these learned, contrived and rehearsed performances.
So, where am I going with this? What do the Scriptures actually say about spiritual gifts? Again, there are a variety of different gifts, but they all come from the same Holy Spirit (verse 4). Each one of these demonstrations of the Holy Spirit is given for our good (verse 7). Each one of the spiritual gifts named all comes from the same Holy Spirit (verses 8-10). And all these gifts, again, come from the One Holy Spirit, Who gives them to each person individually as He chooses (verse 11).
Is the plan of God for us to read the Scriptures and accept the deception that learning to imitate what we see there is the greatest evidence of God in our lives? Where in Scripture do you see an account of someone being empowered by the Holy Spirit to demonstrate a supernatural gifting then after reading the account you think it was something they probably learned in class and rehearsed at home beforehand?
What’s more important, learning what these gifts are and how to develop them, or spending time with God, paying attention and learning over time how to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives? God’s plan and purpose for us is not to learn how to mimic what only the Holy Spirit can do, but learn how to imitate Christ in reality, in our everyday actions and experiences.
The following is a contemporary translation of 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 with particular care given to accurately translate verb tenses and word meanings.
Now, is there anything in that text that tells us to learn how to imitate spiritual gifts? In the next lesson we will look at the specific gifts and what Paul says about them in his attempt to correct the use and abuse of them in this church.