1 Corinthians 1:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Some will read this today and will immediately think of the gift of tongues, prophecy, and revelation. Well, they are included because the church at Corinth had gifted tongue speakers; they were still around, at this time. It is perfectly true that in Corinth the gift of speaking in tongues was still operating – the gift of being able to speak in real foreign languages that you had never learned. There were some people in Corinth to whom God gave that gift. Nobody has that gift today. People think they have, when they are speaking in disorganised speech patterns that don't resemble any language ever spoken on earth. That has nothing to do with the tongues of the Bible. So they really had that gift. Corinth had prophets. Why? Because the word of God was not complete yet. They are only just about to receive 1 Corinthians and in due course 2 Corinthians and all the other epistles, and the written form of the Gospels. What did the churches do before the New Testament was complete? God gave them prophets, New Testament prophets, who did not so much talk about the future, though some did, but they just were inspired to speak true doctrines. As they were written down and the Scripture became complete, the prophets passed away. But at this stage, Paul can say, ‘Ye come behind in no gift.’ God has given you in Corinth, the great privilege of a full range of gifts: revelatory gifts, but also of course the regular teachers; they had them too. The gifts of shepherding; they had shepherds among the flock, people who could exhort and help others. So it is true, they were not behind any other church even in those foundational gifts. But Paul is speaking here much more broadly. ‘Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Not only are they characterised by calling upon the name of the Lord, but a distinctive feature of every true church is that its members are fixed on one great thing: the end, the coming of Christ, or the revelation of Christ to us as individuals when we die, if we die before his coming. The Greek word translated ‘coming’ is revelation or disclosure or manifestation; you are waiting for the manifestation of Christ, either personally to you the very moment you cross the threshold of eternity, or when he comes and ends the world and brings in the day of judgement and takes all his people to be with him in everlasting glory. ‘Ye come behind in no gift’, and this; it's almost your chief characteristic that your eyes are fixed on the great and coming day. The Christian is not a person who builds heaven on earth, who wants the very best of everything material. He is someone who is fixed on eternal things and eternal values.