29
`Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Ye know that ye were Gentiles' (1 Cor. 12:1,2).
To those who believe that `all Scripture is given by inspiration
of God' these things will be the end of the argument.
1 Corinthians 12 to 14 deals with these spiritual gifts from
various angles. We are not at the moment concerned with the
nature of these gifts, their variety, permanence or cessation, but
we are concerned with the reason why Isaiah 28 should have
been quoted. This quotation from Isaiah is rather similar to the
passage in Deuteronomy 32:
`I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people;
I will
provoke them to anger with a foolish nation' (Deut. 32:21).
This passage is quoted or referred to in Romans 10:19; 11:11
and 11:14. After having stressed the blessing of the Gentile, the
apostle uses the illustration of the olive tree. The Gentile
believer is likened to a wild olive graffed in contrary to nature,
partaking in both the root and the fatness of the olive tree. The
apostle magnifies his office as the apostle of the Gentiles `if by
any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh,
and might save some of them' (Rom. 11:14).
We learn from these passages that one of the reasons for the
abundance of spiritual gifts that characterised the Gentile
churches, was that Israel might, if it were possible, be awakened
to see their prerogatives passing to the uncircumcision, and so
be provoked to jealousy, and repent and be saved. This,
however, was not to be. Israel were not provoked; they passed
out into their present blindness, and the gifts ceased.