12:1
Now we come to spiritual gifts. There are some who are “cessationists”, ie they believe the gifts mentioned here were for the apostolic era only. I have to say that I can see no Biblical support for this notion whatsoever. That is not to say that there are not those who misuse or abuse the gifts, or talk a lot of nonsense, but there are no indications in Scripture that the gifts will cease before the return of Christ. So we will look at these next three chapters assuming that all that Paul teaches about is relevant for us today and that we need to pay attention. Indeed, Paul starts this section by declaring that he does not want his readers to be uninformed. It seems that the Corinthian church was perhaps treating the gifts as toys (and some churches today do the same). They are to be used with godly wisdom, and indeed common sense!
12:2
First Paul addresses some things that they needed to unlearn. We are all influenced by the culture we came from, and by the culture we live in. Prior to being Christians the Corinthians had worshipped idols. Now idol worship is one of the worst sins in the Bible, again and again Israel was condemned for this in the Old Testament. Yet the Corinthian converts came from a background of idol worship. The gospel can reach into any culture, no matter how ungodly, and bring people out of the darkness into the light. Now even though the idols were mute, were nothings, they led them astray. How did this happen if idols were mute, were just wood and stone? It was because behind the idols were demons. Note that it says they were “led to” these idols. Today we see society being led astray to the madness of LGBT stuff. The LGBT agenda is nonsensical and so clearly wrong, yet it seems to be having such a hold on society. Why is this? It is because of the things that are behind it. As Paul says in Ephesians 6, our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.
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