spiritualgifts1

This heading is taken from the beginning of the 12th chapter of the first letter to the Corinthian Christians. The entire verse reads as follows: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed." R.S.V.

From a casual look at this verse, we see that there was a problem within the early church over the matter of "spiritual gifts" just as there is today among those who all profess to read and believe the same Bible, and profess to be followers of Christ. As was pointed out in my articles on "miracles" much of the problem stems from a misunderstanding of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit", who received it, why did it happen and what changes it wrought in the lives of those who did receive it.

It is evident from the verse above that the reason for the problem was the same reason that causes so many of the problems in our lives and that is; they were "uninformed" or other translations read, they were "ignorant". Mark Twain is said to have said; "We are all ignorant, just on different subjects." These Christians at Corinth were ignorant on this and several other subjects, if we can believe the letter, in its' entirety and certainly we can do that.

It is obvious that ignorance is the cause of the problem still today. It is no shame to be ignorant on a subject, for that can be corrected by going to the right source where the correct information is available, and learning what is correct upon that subject. The only source we have for doing that, on this particular subject is the Bible, the written word of God. So it is that I will be looking at the question of what the Bible teaches about "spiritual gifts" in this series of articles. As you read and study with me I ask you to only do a couple of things. One is to try as much as possible to forget everything you have ever heard about this subject from "preachers", friends and family. Another is, that you be honest with yourself and with your dealings with the word of God and not seek to "prove" something because you already believe it but rather, seek to see just what it is that is taught in the sacred word. It seems that many times we all approach the study of the scriptures in the wrong way. We go the scriptures, not to conform what we believe to the scriptures, but rather to make the scriptures conform to what we already believe.

The first thing that we are told to understand in verse 3 of I Cor. 12th chapter, is that people who are truly "grace gifted" (we'll get back to this term) will never speak badly of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now why would the apostle tell them something like that? To understand this it is necessary to understand something of the background of the place where this group of Christians was located, the city of Corinth, located on the southern tip of the country we know as Greece. This city was a very wicked and sinful place. It was a melting pot of many different races, religions and customs, being a busy seaport. If you have ever lived in or visited such a city you will grasp what I am saying. It was also the home of a great temple of religion dedicated to the goddess Venus, with over one thousand priestesses who plied their trade of prostitution as a part of their religion.

In the frenzied and carnal exercises of the participants, they would break forth in "speaking in tongues". While they were engaging in this they might denounce the Christians and the very name of Jesus, saying, "Jesus is accursed" or that Jesus was accursed because of the fact that he was crucified by being nailed to a tree.

In other words, he got just what he deserved.

Paul wants them to be sure that they understand that the spirit that would inspire a person to make such a statement would not be the Holy Spirit of God. It might be a spirit for sure but not Gods' Spirit.

Another thing that he possibly had in mind was the services that took place in the Jewish synagogues of which there were many within the city of Corinth. It was a regular practice within these services to denounce Jesus as a false prophet, a heretic and a blasphemer. Certainly this also was not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

As we begin to study this subject together, I ask that you read carefully chapters 12 through 14 of the letter of I Corinthians as this is the basis for this study, and it is here that we can get a great amount of information concerning this subject.

One of the things the apostle begins to deal with along the lines of "gifts" is the importance or rank in which each falls and also to emphasize that none were for the magnification or showing off of the person that possessed the gift, but that all were for one and the same purpose, and that purpose was that the body of Christ, the assembly, might be built up or edified. (12:7) He went on to use a beautiful allegory of the human body to show just what he meant, and to point out that the body is not made up of simply eyes or ears, fingers or toes, but rather each and every part has its' purpose and function in contributing to the total wonder of the human body and seeing that it functions as it was intended. (12:12-27) He is saying that it is to be just this way within the body of Christ, the church, the assembly.

The first thing that sort of jumps out at you as you read these verses is the fact that as usual, people reverse the order of things as they are found in scripture. In these verses (and others) the "gift of tongues or languages" is at the bottom of the list. The same thing is true of that gift where it is discussed within chapter 14 of this same letter. The reason that it goes to the bottom of the list is because it could serve no purpose within the assembly, without an inspired interpreter being present. In fact, there it is said that it is "better to speak five words that can be understood than ten thousand that can't be understood" (my paraphrase).

Today, there are many teachers out there in various groups and on the television screen, who are giving an importance to the subject of this gift that was never there in the pages of the Bible or in early days of Christianity. They would have you believe that this is one of the most important subjects for the Christian of today and many say that if you "don't speak in tongues, you haven't been saved".

Is any of this true? Is it an important subject as far as your walk with Jesus is concerned today? Is it at the top of the list or the bottom? Is there anyone that indeed does "speak in tongues" as that phrase is used with in scriptures? Is the garbled jargon that many today try to pass of as "tongues" what the Bible is speaking of? I ask that you go with me in this series of articles, through these chapters and verses, with an open Bible, an open mind and a honest heart. Someone has said that "the closed mind is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you put upon it, the more it contracts". I pray it will not be so with us.

In Love,

Gerald

Email: thornsandnails@avsia.com