 |  |
Paul now commences an important section dealing with spiritual gifts. It is clear that
the Corinthian church had an abundance of these gifts, and this in spite of their carnal
state. To teach that the possession of these gifts today is a mark of spirituality, or of
some special filling of the Spirit, is quite contrary to Scriptural facts, as we shall see. It is
possible that the believers at Corinth had raised the matter concerning gifts in their
communication with him. As this matter was directly connected with their public
worship, the Apostle now deals with it.
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know
that when ye were Gentiles, ye were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye
might be led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking in the Spirit of
God saith, Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit"
(12: 1-3 R.V.).
The word `gifts' is not in the original; it could be rendered "spiritual matters", but as
the context makes clear that it is special gifts of the Holy Spirit which are being
discussed, it is better to supply the word "gifts". There was evidently a large Gentile
section in the Corinthian assembly, for the Apostle refers to their pre-conversion days as
idolaters under the domination of the evil Satanic spirits that were behind the dumb idols
they worshipped.
While redemption had delivered them from this bondage, it was a mistake to suppose
that there was no danger now from Satanic activity. In one sense these gifts constituted a
danger, for Paul makes it clear in this epistles and the one that was to follow, that Satan,
as an angel of light, can travesty these gifts and so deceive the unwary. It is quite wrong
to imagine that the great enemy of God and His children, gave believers a holiday, as it
were, till the second century with its developed Gnosticism. The battle between light and
darkness never ceases, and the error that the Apostle combated at Colossae, the warnings
contained in the Pastoral epistles and the command of the Apostle John to "test the
spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world
(I John 4: 1) and that the spirit of antichrist was already present (2: 18), show quite
clearly that this was so, and therefore the danger existed of being led astray.
We wish that those today who are anxious to bring back some of these gifts, in
particular tongue speaking, would bear in mind the danger of what they are seeking to do.
In N.T. times ecstatic heathen worship was a fact, as it is still today in dark centres of
heathendom. Paul either knew that this had already entered the Corinthian church, or
there was the possibility of it doing so.
Thus he states categorically that no one under the influence of God's Spirit can say
that Jesus is accursed, nor would anyone under Satanic domination own His lordship, for
this is the very thing that Satan covets for himself, and he certainly would not allow any
of his dupes to advertise the supremacy of Christ!
It seems clear that the Apostle had the worship of the assembly in mind in this long
section dealing with spiritual gifts, which occupies this chapter and also chapters 13: &