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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Chapters 12 and 13 ch. 12:1-11 ch.12:12-39 ch. 13:1-13 Spiritual
Gifts (ch. 12:1 – 11) Paul
has just spoken about the Lord’s Supper that the Corinthians partake of
when they gather together. Now Paul continues to speak to these people
about their gatherings. This
time he speaks concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul
says, “I don’t want you to be ignorant”, as in "without
understanding". Part of
Paul’s apostolic ministry was teaching, which is clearly seen in here in
this letter. Teaching is
fundamental to the church, but something I feel is lacking in many local
churches. In
verse 2 he says that “when you were pagans … you were influenced and
led astray by mute idols”. These
idols were mute because they were made of wood or stone.
They had no life in themselves, yet at the same time we should note
that Paul mentioned earlier that there were demon spirits behind these
idols. With
this in mind, that is, them being influenced by idols and demons, Paul
says that no one can say “Jesus is cursed” while being influence by
the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit would never cause anyone to say such a thing.
A demon, or even our own human nature could say these words, but
not the Spirit of God. The
reverse would also be true as well. No
one can say that “Jesus Christ is Lord” except through the influence
of the Holy Spirit. A demon
would not admit to such a truth and cause someone to proclaim that Jesus
is Lord. Yet our own human
nature could repeat these words without really meaning it.
One time I asked a non-Christian who was quite proud of not being a
Christian and who also lived a fairly immoral life.
I asked him to say the words “Jesus Christ is Lord”.
He repeated these four words without any hesitation.
So I believe what Paul is saying here is that someone cannot say
these words and really mean it without being influenced by the Holy
Spirit. In
verse 4 Paul says that “there are different kinds of gifts, but the same
Spirit, and different kinds of services, but the same Lord”.
The English word “gift” that is used here is derived from the
Greek word “charisma”. This
is where we get our modern English word “charismatic”, as in
“Charismatic Movement”. “Charisma”
means “a gift of grace”. “Charisma”
is from the Greek word “charis” meaning grace.
Paul says that there are many gifts, but just one Spirit, and that
is the Holy Spirit. These
gifts do not come from demon spirits.
Then
Paul goes on to say in verse 5 that there are “different services, but
one Lord”. The Greek word
“diakonos” is the word translated as “service”.
‘Diakonos” simply means to serve.
The KJV uses the word “administration”.
Some translate this as “minister”.
This is where we get our modern word “minister”, as in
“minister of a church”. By
the very nature of the word “diakonos” where we get our word
“minister” from, it tells you that a minister should be one who
serves, should be a servant. In
our day of a minister being a career choice
for many, we have lost the idea of a servant.
Paul
has just mentioned that there is one Spirit and one Lord, and now he
completes the Trinity by saying that “there are different kinds of
workings, but the same You
can note the Trinity in this verse. It is implied, not necessarily taught.
The gifts are from the Spirit.
The way the gifts are used comes from Jesus, as in the gifts of
Christ in Eph. 4:11, and God the Father energizes all of them in men.
In
verse 7 Paul says that “to each one the manifestation of
the Spirit is given for the common good”.
Paul is saying here that as Christians we have the Holy Spirit
within us and therefore the
Holy Spirit will manifest, or show Himself through the person that He
lives in. One way that this
happens is that the gifts that are attributed to Him will be seen in
operation in the life of the person in whom He lives.
Thus it should be clear that these gifts are real in the church in
every generation. The reason
is that the gifts “are a manifestation” of the presence of God’s
Spirit. If God’s Spirit is
not resident in a person, you will not see these things.
Where the Holy Spirit truly is, you will see His effects in and
through the people involved. Therefore
it makes no sense that these gifts have been laid aside after the end of
the first generation church, as some say. The
reason for these gifts is “for the common good”.
These gifts are not given to make some “spiritual superstar”.
The gifts are to make a church and all of its individuals healthy
in all respects. There
are 9 gifts that Paul list. Whether
9 is a set number, or 9 is just a sample of gifts is somewhat debatable.
Paul does list 9 of them. You
might want to note that there are also 9 corresponding fruit of the Spirit
that Paul lists in the book of Galatians.
So the number 9 might well be important. The
gifts are as follows, 1,
“message of wisdom” (wisdom that could only be known because of the
Spirit), 2, “knowledge” (knowledge that could only be known because of
the Spirit ), 3, “faith” (supernatural faith that is not humanly
possible), 4, “gifts of healings” (supernatural healings that that
cannot be attributed to anything else but the Spirit),
5, “miraculous power”, (power beyond human ability), 6,
“prophecy”, (speaking forth a supernatural word of God), 7,
“distinguishing between spirits” (supernatural discerning of good and
evil spirits), 8, “speaking in different kinds of tongues” (a language
that you have not learned, whether human or angelic), 9, “interpretation
of tongues” (interpreting the tongues just mention in a supernatural
way). There
are some things to note with these gifts of the Spirit. One
thing is that these are “supernatural” gifts, that is, beyond any
human ability to perform. If
someone gets up in a meeting and speaks forth some kind of knowledge that
is known to everyone else and claims that to be a gift of the Spirit, it
is not. And as Paul says in
verse 11, these gifts are given to individuals as the Holy Spirit
“determines”. These gifts
are not gifts upon demand. Gifts
are given to individuals for the good of all, as the Holy Spirit decides
to give them. One
Body Many Parts (ch. 12:12 - 39) Paul
is about to explain how the church is like a body.
In reality, since Jesus is not physically on earth, we are indeed
His physical body in one real sense of the word.
Paul states that in a body there are many parts that go together to
make up that one body. Even
though there are many parts, there is only one body.
The same is true with the church.
We are many, with varying gifts, talents, ministries, personalities
and so on, yet we are still just one body.
Paul
uses the word “baptize” in relationship to individuals in the church.
When we become a Christian, we become part of the church, part of
Jesus’ body on earth. There is no way around this.
It is like a baptism Paul says.
In the same way that we get all wet when we go under the water of
water baptism, we are totally emersed into God’s people when we become
Christians. As I said, there is no way around this.
When we get saved, God becomes our Father, Jesus becomes a special
brother, and then beyond that we have many brothers and sisters in the
Lord, whether we like them or not.
Paul says that it doesn’t matter whether we are Jews, Greeks,
slave, or free. We all drank
of the same Spirit and therefore are all connected in one body. Paul
goes on to say that a foot cannot claim independence from the body because
it is not a hand. Neither can
an eye claim independence because it is not an ear.
Therefore we as individuals in the body, the church, cannot be
independent from each other. Furthermore
in verse 17, “if the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of
hearing”. It is obvious that
the body consists of a variety of parts.
One part cannot claim to be a whole body.
One part cannot function properly on its own.
As a matter of fact, “God has arranged the parts of the body …
just as He wanted…” It
is God’s choice to place where He wants those in the body.
In
verse 21 Paul says that the “ eye cannot say to the hand, I don’t need
you”. We cannot live as isolated Christians, even though the tendency at
times is to do just that. The
more independent and
isolated we are from each other, the less effective the church is. Paul
actually says in verses 22 – 24 that the “weaker parts, the less
honourable parts, the unpresentable parts” of the body are just as
important as the rest of the body. There is no part of the church, no
member that should be thought of as second class.
Each member has his or her role to play.
In
verse 25 Paul says that the reason for everyone being first class
Christians in the church is so that “there will be no division”, and
that there should be ‘equal concern for each other”.
There should be true equality in the church. Paul
goes on to say that “if one part suffers than all parts suffer”.
The reverse is true as well. For
this reason in many parts of the church worldwide we see a suffering
church. The church suffers
because of division, because of partiality, because of independence. We
misrepresent Jesus in our divisions. It
is a real disservice to our Lord. In
verse 27 Paul says clearly that “you are the body of Christ”. In this
body “God has appointed first apostles”.
I would think that apostles come first because it was these men
that spread the news of Christ’s salvation and built the church in the
first place. He goes on by
saying the second group of people God placed in His body are prophets.
Once the apostle established the church the prophet would speak
God’s words to the church. Then
thirdly comes teachers, teaching the established church the ways of God.
After
specifically mentioning the top 3 ministries Paul list others that
include, those having the gift of healing, those able to help others,
administrators, and those who speak in tongues.
I don’t believe that this list is exhaustive. It is only an
example of different ministries within the church.
Paul
ends this chapter by asking a few questions.
The answer to these questions are obviously no.
He asks, “are all apostles”? The answer is “no”. “Do all
work miracles? Do all have
gifts of healing? Do all speak
in tongues? Do all
interpret?” No, we all do
not have all gifts, or at least all at once in one gathering. There
are different thoughts on whether these gifts are given permanently to
people or given when needed. One
might have a gift of healing in one meeting and the gift of tongues in
another, or so some might say. Others
believe that one always has the gift of healing, and can use it as the
Spirit leads whenever it is needed. Concerning
the use of tongues when Paul asks, “do all speak in tongues”. Many use
this verse to say that all Christians do not or should not speak in
tongues. There is some
controversy over this point. Some
believe that all can speak in tongues, some believe that only some can
speak in tongues, and use this verse to back up their point.
Yet as we see in chapter 14 Paul seems to distinguish between
"speaking forth in tongues in a meeting” where an interpretation is
needed and tongues as a personal prayer language.
I do not believe that Paul is speaking about a personal prayer
language in this verse. I
believe he is speaking about a message in tongues given to the whole
gathering to hear. Therefore
this verse cannot be used to back up the point that all should not speak
in tongues. If this is your
position, you should find other Scriptures to base your thinking on. Paul
closes this chapter by saying, “eagerly desire the greater gifts’.
Personally, I wished Paul had not said these words because of the
debate that has arisen over what gifts are more important than others.
People who believe that the gifts of the Spirit are no longer for
today use this verse in their defense, and sometimes state that love is
the greatest gift. I don’t
believe that love is a gift. It
is a fruit of the Spirit, something that is produced and worked into a
Christian over time. If
you note, the NIV has an alternate translation for this verse that would
be based on certain manuscripts. It
would read, ”you are eagerly desiring the greater gifts”.
This might suggest that the Corinthians are on the right tract by
desiring greater gifts than what they already have.
This translation differs in that Paul would be pointing out the
fact that they are desiring greater gifts instead of encouraging them to
desire greater gifts. Another
thing to note is that Paul has just talked about equality of the members
in the body of Christ, though everyone is different, we are all important.
Why then would he think differently concerning the gifts that come
from the Holy Spirit? Why
would he think that some gifts are more important, or greater than others?
I think we should factor this point into our thinking when we interpret
this verse. The
important thing about this section of Paul's letter concerns what I call
"functional relationships" in the Body of Christ.
Paul states that the church is in fact the present physical body of
Christ on earth. I don't
believe he is using the term "body" as an analogy.
He is using the term as a real thing.
Within
the body are members who are joined to one another, and as a body is, one
member is not joined to all the body, but only to a few parts that it is
connected to. There are two
reasons why members are joined in the body.
The first is for friendship. The
second is for ministry. We
often understand being joined in a friendly relationship, for mutual
fellowship and encouragement. We
don't often see our relationships as being functional, that is, to do
something in the service of the Lord.
We leave this up to the organized church structure. This
is how we should view the church, view our friendships with other
Christians. We should note who
are Christian friends are, strengthen those relationships because Jesus
has put these relationships together.
Then we should ask our friends and the Lord, "what can we do
together to serve Jesus"? This
is the functioning part of relationships.
This is what church is all about.
Church is not about organizational structure.
It is about friends functioning together in the work of the Lord,
and you don't need a massive organizational structure to do this.
Some people over the years have been forced to live this way due to
persecution. This might well
be our fate in the western church at some point, not so far off in the
future. We might as well start
living it now.
1
Corinthians 13 is often called the “Love Chapter”.
Many times over the years you might have heard all or parts of this
chapter read at weddings. Yet
do we really understand what is said in these verses?
Love, more than any other word has been misused over the centuries.
It seems to me in our day that this word is one of the most over
used words in our culture. It
is sung in songs, demonstrated in movies and portrayed in the arts.
Yet the world’s definition of love as seen in songs, movies and
art is far from the Biblical definition.
Love
is not fuzzy feelings and sentimental emotions.
Love is not something that is demonstrated in words alone.
You don’t really make love, you show love in your actions.
Love is serving others. Love
is putting others before yourself. Love
without sacrifice is not love. All
this and more Paul will explain in this chapter. Our
society tells us that we need to love ourselves before we can love others.
No one has ever convinced me of the validity of this statement.
As a Christian I would say, the more we love our Lord, the more we
will show our love to others. The
idea of loving ourselves in order to love others in reality means, “I
will love myself, and if I have any time left, maybe I will attempt to
love others. And if I don’t have the time to show you love, I will tell
you I love you. That should be
good enough”. I am glad that
Jesus didn’t show us His love in this fashion.
The
simple fact is that if love is not seen in action, then there is no love.
John, in his first letter, ( 1 John 3:18) tells his readers “not
to love in word, but in action”. Look
at some other things that John says about love. “…if anyone obeys His
words, God’s love is truly made complete in him”.
(1 John 2:5) Note here
that God’s love that is made perfect in us comes as a result
of an action of obedience to God. Again
John says, “if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him”. (1 John 2:15)
Also, “we know that we have passed from death to life because we
love our brothers”. (1 John 3:14) Also
1 John 3:16 says, “this is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid
down His life for us. And we
ought to lay down our lives for our brothers”.
This is the Biblical definition of love.
I could go on with many other Scriptures from John, but we are
studying Paul and we will now see what he has to say about the subject. The
NIV actually opens this section with the last half of the last verse of
chapter 12. It says, “now I
show you a more excellent way”. Paul
has just encouraged these people to desire the best gifts, or he commended
them on desiring the best gifts, whatever way you interpret his statement.
Desiring the gifts of the spirit is a good thing, but now he wants
to show his readers the way in which these gifts should be used.
Remember, these gifts are for the common good of all, not for our
own good. So Paul is about to show them an excellent way to live their
lives and use their gifts. Verse
1 says, “if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love, I am only a resounding gong …”
Note hear that speaking in tongues can be a language of men or
angels. There are more than
7000 different languages and dialects in the world, so God has many
different tongues that He can give you.
And if He chooses not to give you a language common to man, He
could give you a language spoken by angels.
Whatever
language He gives you means very little if you do not love.
The tongues “become a resounding gong”.
Therefore if you do not love, you are turning God’s precious gift
into a meaningless jester. You
are not only making a show of yourself as you speak in tongues, but
you disgrace the precious gift that God Himself has given you.
Paul
says the same thing about some of the other gifts such as, prophecy, the
word of knowledge and wisdom, and miraculous faith.
He says that if I can do all of these things and do not love, then
“I am nothing”. (ch. 13:2) All
of these powerful gifts used in the wrong way, used out of selfishness and
not love are meaningless. Once
again, you disgrace and nullify the good gifts that God has given you.
Paul
goes on in verse 3 to say that even if I give everything I have to the
poor, and not do it in love, I am nothing.
He takes his argument one step farther by saying “if I give my
body to the flames”, meaning, giving his body in death for the sake of
Christ. If I die for Jesus, but don’t die in love, I am nothing. Paul
is not saying that you will not make Heaven if you become a martyr for
Jesus without love. He is
saying that it won’t benefit you, and that you are nothing.
You are no big hero. Your
death will not reap a Heavenly reward, and Christians will be rewarded for
the works they do that are done from faith and love.
Their reward is not heaven, is not the next life, but specific
rewards. Heaven is not a
reward. It's a result of our trust in Jesus.
In
verse 4 Paul proceeds to explain what love is.
He says, “love is patient, love is kind”.
By patient, he means that you don’t fly off the handle quickly at
someone because they may not see what you see, or do what you do. You give
grace. You give space to
others. Love is definitely
kind to others. You treat them
well. Paul
says that love doesn’t envy. If
someone has something that you would like, you don’t lust after it.
You may like to have what others have, but you are at least happy
that the other person has whatever it may be, even though you can’t have
it. “Love
does not boast, it is not proud”, Paul says.
A loving person is a humble person.
He does not have to boast about what he can do.
He simply does what he needs to do and makes no big deal about it,
even though he may be the best in his field. Love
“is not rude”. Rudeness
seems to be gaining in popularity as time goes on.
People don’t mind being rude.
Some even like being rude and think it is cool.
Yet Paul says that being rude is not loving. Love
“is not self seeking”. Our
world today is very self seeking. We
tend to seek out our own interests ahead of others. We tend to love
ourselves instead of loving others. Love
“is not easily angered”. If
seems as if Paul is saying that at times we do get anger, yet the more we
love, the longer are fuse gets. Our
reaction time is stretched out a lot farther and so we are not easily
upset and angered. Love
“keeps no record of wrongs”. Although
it is really almost impossible to forget a wrong, depending on how bad it
was, we can still live in love and act as if it did not happen.
The memory may still be there, but we live as though the wrong was
never committed. What I am
saying here is not forgiveness. It
is love. The two are
different. I won't get
involved in the subject here, but unless one repents and asks for
forgiveness, you can't forgive him. God
does not forgive those who do not repent, and neither should you.
That being said, we still love the one needing forgiveness.
“Love
does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth”.
One who loves, flees from evil.
Paul says that this person who loves “rejoices in the truth”.
You might expect him to say that the person “rejoices in good”,
since good is the opposite of evil, yet he says that the person
“rejoices in the truth”. Maybe
it is because truth and goodness are closely related.
God’s truth is good. “Love
always protects (looks after the other), always trusts (trust first in
Jesus and then in others, without being naive), always hopes, (always
believes that there can still be better times ahead) always perseveres
(does not give up). You
might wonder what hope and perseverance has to do with loving others.
Well, you can always hope the best for others.
You can always persevere in building a better loving relationship
and not give up as so often happens. Really, a loving relationship can
only continue with a strong sense of perseverance. In
verse 8 Paul says that prophecy, knowledge at some point in history will
cease to be, but “love never fails”.
True love, because it is from God will continue on into eternity.
Once this age has passed away, we will not need the gifts of the
Spirit any longer, but until that day comes, we still need the gifts of
the Holy Spirit. Paul
says that we now know and prophesy in part. We do not know or understand
the full extent of God and how He works.
We do not have complete understanding of anything in God’s
creation. We see and know bits
and pieces of all there is to know. The
puzzle has many parts still to be put into place. “But
when perfection comes, the imperfect will disappear”. (ch. 13:10)
In my understanding this verse has been misinterpreted in some
circles. That which “is
imperfect” is clear. We and
our understanding are imperfect, but what does Paul mean by “that which
is perfect”. Some have said
that it is the Canonized Bible itself.
When thinking this way these people say that we therefore don’t
need the gifts of the Spirit because that which is perfect has already
come, meaning the Bible. I
attribute the word “perfect” to Jesus Himself.
Until Jesus returns we will know in part.
Only after He enters directly into human history again will we
understand perfectly. Only
then will the gifts of the Spirit cease to be. In
verse 11 Paul explains all of this by comparing this life to when he
“was a child”. He thought
and understood like a child, but when he became a man, as he says, “I
put childish things behind me”.
We are all like children in the present age.
We live our existence in life with partial understanding of all
things. When Jesus returns to
this earth, we will then grow up into manhood, or you might say we will
mature. Our lack of
understanding and imperfections will be left behind.
“Now
we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to
face”.(ch. 13:12) Here Paul
uses another analogy to explain his thinking.
It is like looking into a dirty mirror and not really being able to
see our face as we would like. But
someday that mirror will be clean and we will see face to face.
We will see things like never before.
All aspects of our life will become clear and in focus.
Paul
says that in this life he “knows in part”.
Even Paul with all of his great revelations only knew in part.
Yet when Jesus comes he says, “then I shall know fully, even as I
am fully known”. At this
future time we will know things just as we ourselves are fully known by
God. God knows all there is
about us. He knows us better
than we know ourselves. Yet
when Jesus comes back for us we will know as God knows. Paul closes this section by saying that three things remain, and these are “faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love”. Paul seems to be saying that there are 3 important items that make up our lives as Christians. They are faith hope and love. Whether this is an exhaustive list or not, (it seems to be) he tells his readers that love is the most important.
We should remember the context of chapter 13 is between chapters 12 and 14. The context is how to express your gifts in the church. As Paul says in the next section, we need to “eagerly desire spiritual gifts but exercise them in a loving way, something that the Corinthians were having a hard time doing.
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