You will notice in the heading that there are three of the gifts that we find in I Cor.12. It will be the purpose of this article to try and show to what these have reference. Concerning "The word of knowledge" or as other translations have it; "the utterance of knowledge". The first thing that comes to mind is that this is not speaking of knowledge that can be attained by study. It is also obvious that this is not speaking of worldly knowledge or secular knowledge. The writer of this letter has already made it abundantly clear in the preceding part of the letter that God has not used men of knowledge to carry forth the gospel message, but rather, "He chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are." 1:28 This knowledge is a "charismata-gift of grace", given, Paul says, by the one and the same Spirit that gives all the gifts. The person so endowed is not to consider that he is superior because he is so endowed, not inferior because he is endowed with this gift and not some other. All the gifts herein spoken of have a common source. What is it then of which the writer is speaking? This has to be some sort of knowledge that only a selected few were given. For the same reasons as mentioned in the second article, it must be a knowledge that is spoken by the one or ones to whom the gift is given. When we begin to read in scripture, especially in the book of Acts, concerning the history of the early church, and those who went forth proclaiming the word, we find that they encountered much opposition from the Jewish leaders. It is also there that we find these persons displaying an attribute that not all could manage. These were able to take the Jewish scriptures and show beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gods' plan for Jesus of Nazareth to come and die upon the cross was just what the prophets had spoken of in the long ago, and that he indeed was the promised Messiah. In the 17th Chapter of Acts, we read the following of Paul; "Passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they eventually reached Thessalonika, where there was a Jewish synagogue. Paul as usual introduced himself and for three consecutive Sabbaths developed the arguments from scripture for the, explaining and proving how it was ordained that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead. "and the Christ," he said, "is this Jesus who I am proclaiming to you". Acts 17:1-3 Jerusalem Bible. This knowledge of ancient prophecy, the how, the when and the why were things that even those who wrote the prophecies did not understand. Even more so, even the angels of heaven did not understand these things either. This is made plain to us when we read I Peter 1:10-11 as follows; "It was concerning this salvation that the prophets made careful search and investigation; and they prophesied about this gift that God would give to you. They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them pointed as the Spirit predicted the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow. God revealed to these prophets that their work was not for their own good but for yours.....These are things which even the angels would like to understand". T.E.V. I believe it is safe to say that this gift of the "utterance of knowledge" was the knowledge given to certain ones within the early church concerning these things and the ability to relate them in a forceful and convincing manner. We today are still dependent upon the "utterance of knowledge" as given by these inspired men and the explanations of prophecy they made. Once its purpose was completed, of course, this gift ceased to exist. FAITH We are told in Hebrews 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please God". Think about that for a moment and you will see that if the Corinthian verse is speaking of ordinary faith, then God is the reason a person could not please him, since it would be up to God to either give or not give him the "gift of faith". Again, this "gift of faith" must not be speaking of ordinary faith. What then is being spoken of in the passage? What is "the gift of faith"? If we look ahead into Chapter 13 and verse 2, we will find the writer saying, "If I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing". Moving a mountain was a way in that day and age, and still is in our age, of saying, "to remove or overcome trouble or difficulty - to face some obstacle or some foe and to come out of the encounter the victor and not the victim even though you might look like the victim". In the times of persecution that was always present with the early Christians, there were special times when they needed a special helping of courage or perseverance. The word "faith" seems to be used in just this sense in Luke 18:8 when Jesus, after a story of perseverance asked; "When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?" In light of the context, it appears that this is just how the term was being used and so it is that the "gift of faith" here in I Corinthians 12 is just the same.
You will notice that healings is in the plural. This is no
doubt because there were many kinds of diseases (physical and mental) and
problems and in the early days of Christianity there were those to whom God gave
the gift of healing certain sicknesses. For a further discussion of this I ask
that you go to my articles on One who was endowed with this gift was the man Peter. In the 5th Chapter of Acts, it is related that people were brought and laid beside the street so that when Peter passed by "his shadow might fall upon them" in order that they might be healed. Another one to who God had given the gift of "healings" was the man Paul. It is said of him that for the two years he stayed in the city of Corinth; "God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them". Acts 19:11-12 Now notice something, Paul didn't even have to see these people, he therefore did not know whether or not these things were being carried to people of faith or not. Also pay attention to the fact that they were all healed - not some of them - not a few of them - not those who had enough faith - but every blessed one of them that was sick was healed!!!! This fact alone should be enough to tell us that this gift was not what we hear and see in so called "healing services" today. This was a special gift, with a special purpose and that was to authenticate the message and the messenger. Mark 16:20 A gift that is no longer needful and is therefore no longer among us today. I invite you to continue on into the upcoming articles within this series. I pray that these articles will be of some benefit to you and that your understanding may be increased concerning "spiritual gifts". May God's richest blessings be yours is my
prayer.............Gerald
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