551
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
September 1928
Spirit" (v. 7) is given in every case “ to profit withal” —that is, for the blessing of others. God’s gifts are not for selfish enjoyment, but to be used to edify others. Here is an important’ test of spiritual gifts, Paul enumerates some o f the ways men are enabled to manifest the Spirit for the common good. We discover three series: intellectual gifts (v. 8 ) ; miracu lous gifts (vs. 9-10); gifts connected with tongues (v. 10). The only passage where Paul refers to “gifts o f healing” is v. 9 and “gifts” is plural, indicating that different kinds o f cases would re quire different methods of healing. There is no one method of healing. All human skill is of God. Some cases are beyond human skill, and where it is for God’s glory, He may miraculously heal in an swer to the prayer of faith. Such faith, remember, is not pumped up, but given by the Spirit (v. 9) and always operates in harmony with the will o f God. “A ll these worketh the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as H e will" (v. 11). I f this were understood, people would not be seeking a certain gift because someone else has manifested it. Our great-concern should be, not to have
cursed : and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." Here is one sure way to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from the voice of an evil spirit. The Spirit-taught believer is certain to assert the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ and to honor Him in every way. One who is led of the Holy Spirit cannot utter lies, nor can he speak without edifying others in regard to Christ. “ There are diversities o f gifts, but the same Spirit" (v. 4). God has acted with the souls o f men as He has with the dif ferent countries o f the earth. He might have given all kinds of fruits and flowers to all lands, but if each land did not need the products o f others, fellowship between peoples would be destroyed. Hence to one, God gives what another has not, so that we may be united by communicating our blessings. Though there are essen tial differences in our lives, there is also in true Christians an essential unity, for “ the same Spirit" uses us. “ There are differences o f administra tion, but the same Lord" (v. 5). Tkjs suggests that all gifts involve ministra tion—service. They are not for private ecstasy. “ The manifestation o f the
O ctober 14, 1928 Spiritual Gifts Texts : 1 Cor. 12:4-7, 31; 13:1-8, 13 L esson in O utline I. Diversity o f Gifts. 12:1-31. 1. Test o f one who possesses a super natural gift. Vs. 1-3. 2. Various gifts o f the one Spirit. Vs. 4 - n . 3. Unity o f the body o f Christ. Vs. 12-13. II. Love, the Supreme Gift o f the Spirit. 13:1-13. 1. -The necessity of love. Vs. 1-3. 2. The manifestations o f love. Vs. 4-7. 3. The enduring character of love. Vs. 8-13. III. Desire for Spiritual Gifts. 14:1-40. 1. Prophesying superior to speaking in tongues. Vs. 1-19. 2. Purpose o f the gift o f tongues. Vs. 20-25. 3. The necessity for order and decorum. Vs. 26-33a. 4. Prohibition against women’s enter ing the public ministry. Vs. 33b-36. 5. Appeal to the spiritually minded to acknowledge the divine origin of the message. Vs. 37, 38. 6 . Exhortation to have all things done decently and in order. Vs. 39, 40. — o — rPHE Corinthian Church was rich in gifted people, yet Paul found scanda lous conditions existing. We need to be reminded that gifted church members may be utterly out of divine favor. Di vinely given tal ents may be greatly abused. Gifts with out spiritual life are worse than useless to God. It was this condition o f things at Corinth that called forth chapters 12 , 13 and 14 of this first epistle. “ Concerning spiritual gifts, brethren," he begins, “I would not have you igno rant." They had formerly been carried away by idol worship. The next verse would seem to indicate that in their heathen ecstasies they had expressed themselves in some o f the same manifes tations now cropping out in the Christian church at Corinth. Is it possible that one! may work himself into such a state of mind, whether heathen or Christian, that his faculties will be temporarily suspend ed and he will mumble strange things? The three chapters that follow would in dicate this danger and it is a well-known fact that some modern “tongues” mani festations are not unlike what may be witnessed in heathen lands today. It is, therefore, imperative to have some tests o f true and false spirits in the church. In these chapters Paul clearly lays down the tests of good and evil. It is recorded that some strange things happened in the early church. Some at Corinth were carried away by what they called “the power o f the Spirit," and yet in these trances they actually blasphemed Christ. Similar cases have been known in “tongues meetings” in recent years. Paul, in v. 3, meets this very situation. “I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit o f God calleth Jesus ac
Keystone View Co. ONCE UPON A TIME THE CLATTER OF HORSES*. HOOFS FILLED THESE GREAT CORRIDORS. WE ARE LOOKING INTO S o l o m o n ’ s st a b l e (P a l e s t in e )
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