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Wednesday 6 October 2010

1 Corinthians 12: 1-6 - Many gifts, one Spirit

Paul now turns to spiritual gifts. Now we need to remember that some of the pagan worship many of them would have been experienced before would have involved ecstatic acts of various sorts, perhaps going crazy at a rave is a good way to think of it. Now that they had received the Holy Spirit the gifts they received involved tongues and prophecy (the two which receive most attention from Paul in chapters 12 and 14). A key part of the fruit of the spirit is self-control, but they would have come from a background of lack of control (not much different to today!). So they needed to be taught proper use of the gifts, and that they are not a matter of losing control. In particular, not every urging comes from God! So if someone felt the urge to cry out "Jesus be cursed" they can be absolutely sure that it is not the Holy Spirit who is giving them that urge and they should resist it. Conversely things that lead to Jesus being honoured and glorified do come from the Holy Spirit.
Paul then moves to proper use of the gifts. The underlying principle is that there are different gifts, but all come from the same Spirit, and all are given to serve the same Lord. We can easily get concerned about our status, or look at what I can do. Or start feeling down because I cannot do something. This is evidence that we are looking at things in the wrong way. The gifts are given by God through the Holy Spirit to help us serve the Lord, not to puff anyone up, or show that one person is more favoured than another.

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