Sermon - Audio1 Cor 12-14 - Reading
1 Cor 12-14 - Audio
Daily Insights - Please Comment
12:1-3 - spiritual gifts - “Gracious endowments, leading to miraculous results . . . these all came by the extraordinary influences of the Holy Spirit.” Clarke
Ignorance is not something Christians should be or desire. If we are ignorant, we are easily carried away as the others are. We need to be able to judge and discern things that are happening..."do they glorify Jesus?" "do they edify the body of Christ?"
4-6 - It is important to note that Paul tells us there are a diversity of gifts. Paul lists many throughout other texts, but there more that he doesn't list as well. The activities of these gifts may look different as well. It's good that we all differ, as we make up one body with many giftings.
7-11 - The Spirit is always present within you, however manifestations of the Spirit may come at various times. The purpose of these is to profit the church body, not just ourselves. Some of these mentioned are a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, gift of faith, gift of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of Spirits, the gift of toungues, the interpretation of toungues. Paul focuses heavily not on the meaning of these gifts, but on their oneness in purpose. These gifts are distributed as the Holy Spirit desires. This is where the question of gifts existing or not comes usually comes into play. I'm a "gifts guy," thus I believe they still exist today, but I also will add that they exist in the manner in which the Holy Spirit desires to use them. Some of them are much more prevalent than others.
12-14 - We all are "one body." It is not something to be achieved, but to live out...it is truth. We all are to be built together as one.
15-20 - If we negate the benefits of each part of the body, we lose the body.
21-26 - There is no person, with any gifts or abilities, that is more important than another. We are all one body.
27-31 - God gives gifting as he pleases.
13
1-2 - It is thought that the Corinthians were enamored with "getting the gifts," specifically toungues (12:21)...Paul is making it clear here that none of them matter if they have not love as their foundation.
3 - Motives behind our actions is what matters.
7 - The terms believes and hopes are sandwiched between bears and endures and, like them, probably refer to relationships between people rather than to faith and hope in God. Love believes the best of others and hopes the best for them. -ESVSB-
8 - Interpreters differ over the time when Paul expects prophecies to pass away and tongues to cease (along with other gifts represented by these examples). The “cessationist” view is that miraculous gifts such as prophecy, healing, tongues, interpretation, and miracles were given to authenticate the apostles and their writings in the early years of the church, but those gifts “ceased” once the entire NT was written and the apostles died (c. A.D. 100). Others hold that Paul expected these gifts to continue until Christ returns, which will be the time when “the perfect” (v. 10) ways of speaking and knowing in the age to come replace the “in part” (v. 9) gifts of this age. Support for the second position is found in v. 12, which indicates that “then” (the time when these gifts will cease) is the time of Christ’s return. -ESVSB-
12 - mirror dimly. Ancient mirrors were made from polished metal (such as bronze), and thus one’s reflection was even more “dim” than in modern mirrors. Face to face suggests a reference to Christ’s second coming (the OT uses this phrase to refer to seeing God personally; cf. Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:11; Deut. 5:4; 34:10; Judg. 6:22; Ezek. 20:35). Then, the spiritual gifts of this present age will no longer be needed.
14
14:1 - Why Prophecy? - The word “prophecy” (Gk. propheœteia) as used by Paul in 1 Corinthians refers generally to speech that reports something that God spontaneously brings to mind or “reveals” to the speaker but which is spoken in merely human words, not words of God. Therefore it can have mistakes and must be tested or evaluated (see 1 Cor. 12:29; 1 Thess. 5:19–21). An alternative view of this gift, held by some, is that it involves speaking the very words of God, with authority equal to the OT prophets and equal to the word of Scripture. A third view is that it is very similar to the gifts of preaching or teaching. This gift is widely indicated throughout the NT churches (see 1 Cor. 11:2–5; 12:28–29; 13:2, 8–9; 14:1–40; Acts 2:17–18; 11:27–28; 19:6; 21:9–11; Rom. 12:6; 1 Thess. 5:19–21; 1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14; 1 John 4:1). Prophecy is used to build up, encourage, and comfort the gathered community (1 Cor. 14:3). Prophecy is also used evangelistically to disclose the secrets of the hearts of unbelievers and lead them to worship God (14:24–25). Because God used this gift to build up the Christian community, Paul urged the Corinthians to value it highly (14:4–5, 39). -ESVSB-
2-3 - tongues is man-to-God, while prophecy is man-to-man communication. It is revealing the things of God to man through a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit. This is why Paul places such a higher emphasis on prophecy.
4-5 - while tongues builds a person up, prophecy can serve to edify the entire body of believers.
7-9 - Musical instruments must use a certain pitch and beat to communicate a song. If they do not, the music is not accessible to the listener. Sounds are coming forth, but they cannot be understood. The same is true for a trumpet that makes an uncertain sound. It is of no profit for others.
10-19 - Paul uses a variety of illustrations to teach that speaking in tongues without an interpretation does not edify others, indicating that edification comes through understanding.
14 - The comparison between my spirit and my mind shows that Paul is not speaking of the Holy Spirit but of his own human spirit.
16-17 - with your spirit. That is, with your spirit only (in tongues) but not understanding with your mind (see note on v. 2). outsider. An interested inquirer into Christianity (see vv. 23–24). Uninterpreted tongues in the assembly do nothing to build this person up and therefore nothing to move him or her toward a full commitment to Christ. -ESVSB-
21 - Paul alludes to Isa. 28:11, where God’s word of judgment against Israel is spoken in a foreign, unintelligible language by the invading Assyrian army. -ESVSB-
22-25 - Prophecy is much more beneficial to both believer and unbeliever than tongues.
26 - "When you come together." a fascinating glimpse into the kinds of activities that took place when the early church gathered as the body of Christ to worship the Lord. The worship included a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. In order to prevent discord and confusion (cf. 23, 33), Paul concludes his description of early church worship by emphasizing that all of these activities must be “done decently and in order” (v. 39). The goal of building up is analogous to the building of the temple (see 3:16; cf. Ex. 25:8)
*We see accountability and truth being the focus in these verses pertaining to the gifts. It is important that Christians keep one another accountable, otherwise we may abuse God.
33 - God of Peace, Not Confusion - The gifts should not confuse us as to the things of God, they should promote peace, unity, and love.
2 comments:
How do we reconcile the comments in chapter 14 regarding women's role in the church worship with how women are involved today?
Hi Sandy,
Thanks for your question. When reading first Corinthians 14 where Paul tells us that women should remain silent in the churches, we need to read two other things first we need to read first Corinthians 11 where we are told that women may speak prophesy and pray in church as long as they have their heads covered. Second, we need to note 14:26–28 where it is clear that everyone may speak. The question then becomes what is Paul referencing in 14:34–35? Many believe wives were disrupting the service by asking questions of their husbands during the service. What Paul is doing is encouraging wives asked those questions at home rather than in the middle the worship service.
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