CHARISMA IN CORINTH
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 (KJV)
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
We take up a new section of 1 Corinthians. God uses chapters 12-14 to deal very specifically with the subject of the spiritual gifts, and the gift of tongues in particular.
Remember, this is a church that is doing almost everything wrong. What is said in these chapters about the spiritual gifts is to correct them, not to praise them.
We will get the groundwork laid for the rest of the passage by studying verses 1-11. I have divided it into these three sections:
1 Corinthians 12:1-2 (KJV)
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
There are two accusations that are made against the church at Corinth in regard to the spiritual gifts:
A. They were ignorant
No punches were pulled here.
The Corinthians believers were ignorant about the spiritual gifts and Paul did not want them that way any more.
What we find then in the rest of chapters 12-14, are very detailed instructions concerning the spiritual gifts so they would not be ignorant any more.
Ignorance is not the same thing as stupid. A stupid person can't learn, an ignorant person can. There is no excuse for ignorance.
But this would have been a blow to the Corinthians, because they thought of themselves as spiritually mature and above the rest.
They were proud of their spiritual accomplishments. To have been sitting there in the service, when their pastor read publicly, this letter from Paul, would have been quite a humbling experience.
Paul called them ignorant.
Accusation number two
B. They were blasphemous
In their ignorance of the spiritual gifts, they had actually accepted a demonic spirit as the power of God.
Paul reminds them that before they were saved, they were "carried away with dumb idols even as they were led."
It is a well-documented fact that many pagan religions have as a part of their worship, an ecstatic trance, often involving the speaking of a language not known by the one in the trance.
Indians use the peyote weed to put themselves in drug induced hallucinogenic trance.
Such ecstatic trances and the speaking in other tongues can be documented among almost every type of false religion, among them, Muslims and Buddhists.
Only when they do it, there is no doubt whose spirit it is who led them.
The accusation Paul makes is that these Christians, in a desire to have a spiritual power, ignorantly had allowed themselves to be carried away with these demonic spirits and were calling Jesus accursed. (Even though they might not have known it was in an “ecstatic”[1]language.)
I have been told by Charismatics that I am committing blasphemy of the Holy Ghost when I say this, but they are really the ones blaspheming God.
Speaking in tongues, as they do, does not come from God, but the devil.
As Paul lays the groundwork for the rest of the passage, he gives us secondly,
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (KJV)
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
There are three crucial words here:
A. Gifts
It is the Greek word "charisma." It means a divine endowment or gift.
It is speaking about the gifts that God the Holy Spirit gives to every Christian for serving the Lord.
God does not give every Christian the same gifts. There are diversities of gifts. This again is a direct teaching against the Charismatic churches today. They like to teach that if you do not speak in tongues, you are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
There are diversities of these gifts. We get them as the Holy Spirit chooses.
B. Administrations
Is the word "diakonia." It means, service, aid, or office (like a deacon).
God gives each of us spiritual gifts as He pleases, and then he gives us different places to serve him with the gift.
Two people may have the same spiritual gift but may not use it in the same ministry.
C. Operations
Is the Greek word "energema." It means, "an effect or result from the work."
So
· God Gives the gifts as He will
· God places us in the position He will
· And God gives the results He will
Two people with the same spiritual gifts
· May not use them for the same ministry and
· May not have the same results with them
And then look at the third part of this foundation,
*III. THE MANIFESTATIONS
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (KJV)
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
Here is one list of spiritual gifts, the ones that Paul will spend most of his time upon in this chapter
Another list of Spiritual gifts is found in Romans 12:6-8 (KJV)
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Peter summarizes both lists in,
1 Peter 4:10-11 (KJV)
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak,let him speak as the oracles of God; if any manminister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Peter calls them:
· Speaking gifts and
· Serving gifts
Another way to divide them would be:
· The Charismatic gifts and
· The Christian ministry gifts
We will see, before we finish these three chapters, that the Charismatic gifts have all ceased to be given by the Holy Spirit in our day.
We will also find that these gifts are not to be sought after. We are to seek rather to have Christian faith, hope and charity and to allow the Holy Spirit to assign what spiritual gifts we have or do not have.
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