1 Corinthians 12:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 12:7

Comments

Here the theme changes a little, and we are going to be looking at verses which stress that each spiritual gift is given to serve the whole body. So the gifted people in the church of Corinth, were given their particular gifts to benefit the entire church at Corinth. Indeed, the apostles were given to benefit the entire church wherever it is: through them came God's inspired word. The meaning is that what is given to one is given for all, and that is repeated in the verses that follow. A gift was never given for personal gratification or for personal use; it wasn't given to benefit the one who received it. So there is no such thing a as private prophecy or a private revelation or a private tongue, because the few people who had these gifts were given them expressly so that all should benefit and hear the word.Then also, the gifts are further tested in these verses. They will edify; they will all build you up in understanding and truth. But if I speak personally in tongues and I don't even understand what it means, that is not building me up in truth. It is not, in the Bible sense, edifying me: building my understanding, my spiritual life. It is something incoherent; it is just an emotion, and it is an artificial one because it is not for all; it is just for me. These gifts are all public; they are a manifestation, a public demonstration of these spiritual gifts. None of them are private. You hear today, for example, of people speaking in private tongues. Not only are they not speaking in real languages – which is what is in the Bible – but they are not supposed to be doing it privately anyway, because these are supposed to be an open manifestation, so that the word of God will become known.How did they know that someone who claimed to have this gift was genuine? Well, there were authenticating signs. The apostles could work miracles, so the gifts were either gifts where the word was directly revealed, or they were powers that people had to work miracles which authenticated them as God spokesman. The two were linked together – the giving of the Word, and the authenticating of the messenger, and the gifts that are mentioned here are all of that kind. There are other gifts at the end of the chapter which are broader; and also in the letter to the Romans, but here in the first half of the chapter they are all apostolic prophecy type gifts.

Application

Today, confusingly, that is exactly what how they are treated: they are seen as for the individual’s personal benefit. Clearly, they are not authentic gifts. A person will say, ‘I was given the gift of speaking in tongues.’ Well what does that do for you? ‘Oh,’ they will reply, ‘it brings me close to God. It stirs my heart. It lifts me up. It strengthens me. It is a kind of mysterious ecstatic experience for me.’ But these verses will say, that is not how the gifts work. They are given for the whole body. So a prophet would be given a message from God, a doctrine, an application of a doctrine, to be preached to the whole body. Yes, the individual prophet would himself benefit from the prophecy, but it wasn't primary for him; it was for all. The modern idea of gifts is not the biblical teaching; it is something for me.

Now, well-meaning people may speak in tongues – actually you don't have to be saved to speak in tongues; anybody can do it if you put your mind to it. Well-meaning people may indulge in this because their teachers have told them that it is a spiritual gift, and it becomes important for them to do it, but it isn't the biblical gift of speaking in tongues. That was a real language.

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1 Corinthians 12:7 Commentary and Bible Study