SPIRITUAL GIFTS (22 OF 28)
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-30
This content is part of a series.
Spiritual Gifts (22 of 28)
Series: The Epistle of 1 Corinthians
Harley Howard
1 Corinthians 12
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
This verse introduces another area of discussion that the church wrote to Paul about. It is clear that the church at Corinth asked Paul many questions concerning matters in the church. Paul not only responded to matters that they wrote to him about, but also matters that they did not write to him about, because of the report from Chloe's household (1:11). This verse also reminds the careful reader once and again of this epistle that this is a corrective letter, written to the church at Corinth to correct their errant or aberrant behavior. It is absolutely essential that we understand that from the start, lest we fail to interpret properly what Paul said to this church.
Look at verse 1 carefully again.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Now concerning Spiritual Gifts or Spiritual things (Gk.) brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
What Paul did not say is this:
I know that you already understand the use of Spiritual Gifts and I just want to remind you about facts concerning them.
That is not what Paul said at all. In fact, many people read it this way and they are reading it wrong.
Clearly what Paul said is this:
You are ignorant, you do not know what you are doing, you do not have an understanding of the operation of these gifts, and I don't want you to stay this way, or in this state that you are presently in any longer.
The fact of the matter is, the entire church had no knowledge of the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
For any church today to pattern themselves after the church of Corinth in the operation of Spiritual Gifts clearly explains why there is so much confusion over the misuse of certain sign gifts that we will see in this chapter.
Corinth misused them, and unfortunatel ...
Series: The Epistle of 1 Corinthians
Harley Howard
1 Corinthians 12
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
This verse introduces another area of discussion that the church wrote to Paul about. It is clear that the church at Corinth asked Paul many questions concerning matters in the church. Paul not only responded to matters that they wrote to him about, but also matters that they did not write to him about, because of the report from Chloe's household (1:11). This verse also reminds the careful reader once and again of this epistle that this is a corrective letter, written to the church at Corinth to correct their errant or aberrant behavior. It is absolutely essential that we understand that from the start, lest we fail to interpret properly what Paul said to this church.
Look at verse 1 carefully again.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Now concerning Spiritual Gifts or Spiritual things (Gk.) brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
What Paul did not say is this:
I know that you already understand the use of Spiritual Gifts and I just want to remind you about facts concerning them.
That is not what Paul said at all. In fact, many people read it this way and they are reading it wrong.
Clearly what Paul said is this:
You are ignorant, you do not know what you are doing, you do not have an understanding of the operation of these gifts, and I don't want you to stay this way, or in this state that you are presently in any longer.
The fact of the matter is, the entire church had no knowledge of the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
For any church today to pattern themselves after the church of Corinth in the operation of Spiritual Gifts clearly explains why there is so much confusion over the misuse of certain sign gifts that we will see in this chapter.
Corinth misused them, and unfortunatel ...
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