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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday January 7, 2018
SPIRITUAL
GIFTS
1
Corinthians 12:1-11
In the first century “ecstatic
utterance” which is by definition, “nonsense speech” or “speaking in tongues” as
it is called by confused professed Christians today, was a popular sign that a
person was “possessed by certain gods of the pagan world”. In fact, in the
pagan world even “Epilepsy” which has a similar effect on people during a
seizure, as one would experience during a spell of ecstatic utterances, was
considered to be a “divine disease”.
The mutterings of drugged “female pagan
prophetesses” known as Sibyls, at places such as Delphi, Greece, and
Cumae, Italy, were believed by the people to convey messages, or prophecies
from idol gods. Today this attitude and belief has carried over to the
Christian Church, and now many Christians unwittingly are worshipping these
false gods through these ecstatic murmurings, as some truly believe that they
are communicating with the real GOD, even though they don’t understand a word
they are saying themselves.
In the Church at Corinth, many women who were
already familiar with these pagan Sibyls before they converted to Christianity,
continued to worship these female prophetesses and even considered themselves
to be more “spiritual” than other Christians. Even though their utterances were
interpreted only by those who spoke them, and clearly contradicted the laws and
principals of GOD, some Christians were awed enough by them to believe them
anyway.
And so, it is against this backdrop that
Paul began to develop his teachings on spirituality, spiritual gifts, and the
proper way to discern the difference between those abilities which truly come
from GOD, and those that don’t come from GOD. Paul felt that it was high time
that he correct the misunderstandings concerning “ecstatic utterances”, etc.,
which is something that doesn’t come from GOD (Vs.1-3a).
In verse 3b, Paul tells us that, “no one
speaking by the SPIRIT of GOD can curse JESUS (deny HIS humanity), and no one
is able to say, “JESUS is LORD” except when speaking by the HOLY SPIRIT”. One
of the first heresies of the Christian Church came from those false teachers
who denied JESUS’ “humanity”, not HIS “deity”. To deny JESUS’ humanity is to
curse HIM, and it robs us of the true understanding of the impact that JESUS
had on the human existence, in this world.
The Apostle John had to tackle this same
issue later on, and he dealt with it in his letters to the Churches (1 John
4:1-3, 2 John 1:7). It is extremely important to our understanding how we, like
JESUS, can become great overcomers of this world. However, we can’t do that
unless we first accept the fact that, like JESUS, we were all born with “GOD’s
nature” in us already, and along with the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, we have
within us, a power that is greater than “he who is in the world”, satan.
In verses 4-11 Paul goes on to list several
gifts, or “abilities” that the HOLY SPIRIT provides us with, as they are needed
in the various services that must be performed and addressed in “the Body of
CHRIST”, which is the Christian Church. Here he tells us that;
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives a word of special wisdom
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives special knowledge
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives special faith
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives the ability to heal the sick
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives the ability to perform miracles
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives the ability to prophesy
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives the ability to discern between (human) spirits
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives the ability to speak in different languages
·
To some,
the SPIRIT gives the ability to understand and interpret what is being said
The HOLY SPIRIT alone
decides who receives which abilities, but they all come from one source, GOD.
ONE
BODY WITH MANY PARTS
1
Corinthians 12:12-31
The human body has many parts, however, all
of those parts, only make up one body. That’s how it is in the “Body of
CHRIST”, the Christian Church. The Church is a living body, where each member,
or part of that body, needs to make a contribution in order for the body as a
whole, to maintain its health and functionality.
The use of the human body as an analogy in
this passage stresses the necessity of a close, interpersonal relationship
between each of its members, with their unique GOD-given abilities to succeed
in its service to CHRIST, in unison. Each part of the human anatomy belongs to
the body as a whole, and likewise, each member of the Body of CHRIST belongs to
HIM, and, we are responsible to HIM and to each other as a viable unit under
GOD.
This three-part summary of chapter 12, as it
is expressed by the Apostle Paul, is crystal clear, and it really brings home
the point about how the Church has to be viewed, in so far as to how it has to
work together in unison with all members being on board with CHRIST. Here we
see that;
·
The
Church body, like the human body, is a unit
·
The
Church body, like the human body, has many parts
·
The
Church body, like the human body, must work together as one
Everyone in the Body of CHRIST has been
baptized into the Church by the same HOLY SPIRIT, and therefore, no person is
inferior to the other, but rather we are interdependent upon each other. If the
SPIRIT gifted us all with the same abilities, the Church could only succeed in
one area of its business, and everything else would go lacking.
However, GOD made our bodies, and the Body
of CHRIST, the Church, with many working parts, and HE has put each part where
HE wants them to go. No part of our body or the Body of CHRIST can say “I don’t
need you”. In fact, on our bodies, some of the parts that seem weakest, or
least important, are really the ones that are the most necessary. And some of
the more important parts that the body naturally shields, such the heart, the
brain, and other internal organs, are never seen, but in reality, are what
keeps the body functioning as a whole.
The
parts we clothe with the greatest care, and regard as, less honorable, the ones
that we protect from the eyes of others, in reality, should not be seen.
However, there are other parts that do not require that kind of special care.
That is why GOD put the body together in such a way that, extra honor would be
given to those parts that have less dignity. Such an action provides harmony
among the members, and causes them to care for each other equally. If one part
of the body is hurt or suffers injury, the whole body is aware of it and senses
the pain.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
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