FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 12-13

Maturity: The Graces of the Spirit

Please review 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 for background to this section.

From Last Lesson: “Love “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.” The phrase “thinks no evil” means “does not keep any record of wrongs.”

Love is edifying (verses 4-7) – continued. Forgiveness means that we wipe the record clean and never hold things against people (Ephesians 4:26, 32). Love does not rejoice in iniquity, yet the Corinthians were boasting about sin in their church (1 Corinthians 5). Love “will cover a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Like Noah’s sons, we should seek to hide the sins of others, and then help them make things right (Genesis 9:20-23).

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 carefully and compare this with the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. You will see that all of the characteristics of love show up in that fruit. This is why love edifies: it releases the power of the Spirit in our lives and churches.

Love is enduring (verses 8-13). Prophecy, knowledge, and tongues are not permanent gifts, they are meant to build up the church. (Knowledge does not mean “education,” but the immediate imparting of spiritual truth to the mind.) These three gifts go together. God would impart knowledge to the prophet, and he would give the message in a tongue. Then an interpreter (sometimes the prophet himself) would explain the message. These were gifts that some of the Corinthians prized, especially the gift of tongues.

These gifts will fail (be abolished) and cease, but love will endure forever; for “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The Corinthians were like children playing with toys that would one day disappear in the face of love. You expect a child to think, understand, and speak like a child; but you also expect the child to mature and start thinking and speaking like an adult. The day comes when he must “put away childish things.”

In the New Testament (which at the time of the Corinthian Epistles was not completed) we have a complete revelation, but our understanding of it is partial. (Review 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 if you think otherwise.) There is a maturing process for the church as a whole (Ephesians 4:11-16) and also for the individual believer (1 Corinthians 14:20; 2 Peter 3:18). We will not be fully completed until Jesus returns, but we ought to be growing and maturing now. Children live for the temporary; adults live for the permanent. Love is enduring, and what it produces will endure.

Note that all three of the Christian graces will endure, even though “faith will become sight and hope will be fulfilled.” But the greatest of these graces is love; because when you love someone, you will trust him and will always be anticipating new joys. Faith, hope, and love go together, but it is love that energizes faith and hope.

Unfortunately, some of the emphasis today on the Holy Spirit has not been holy (because it has ignored Scripture) and has not been spiritual (because it has appealed to the carnal nature). We must not tell other believers what gifts they should have or how they can obtain them. This matter is in the sovereign will of God. Yet, we must not minimize gifts either, but neither should we neglect the graces of the Spirit. In my years of ministry to many congregations, I have run across too many church problems created by people who were zealous for the gifts, especially those they perceived as the sensational ones, but were careless of the graces that govern the application of them.

Remember, in the church body, of which Christ Jesus is the head, we strive for unity—diversity—maturity; and maturity comes through love.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 1.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 12-13

Maturity: The Graces of the Spirit

Please review 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 for background to this section.

It was Jonathan Swift, the satirical author of Gulliver’s Travels, who said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” Spiritual gifts, no matter how exciting and wonderful, are useless and even destructive if they are not ministered in love. In all three of the “body” passages in Paul’s letters, there is an emphasis on love. The main evidence of maturity in the Christian life is a growing love for God and for God’s people, as well as a love for lost souls. It has well been said that love is the “circulatory system” of the body of Christ.

Few chapters in the Bible have suffered more misinterpretation and misapplication than 1 Corinthians 13. Divorced from its context, it becomes “a hymn to love” or a sentimental sermon on Christian brotherhood, oftentimes based on feelings and emotion. Many people fail to see that Paul was still dealing with the Corinthians’ problems when he wrote these words: the abuse of the gift of tongues, division in the church, envy of others’ gifts, selfishness (remember the lawsuits?), impatience with one another in the public meetings, and behavior that was disgracing the Lord.

The only way spiritual gifts can be used creatively is when Christians are motivated by love; first for the Lord, and then for one another (Matthew 22:37-39). Paul explained three characteristics of Christian love that show why it is so important in ministry.

Love is enriching (verses 1-3). Paul named five spiritual gifts: tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and giving (sacrifice). He pointed out that, without love, the exercise of these gifts is nothing. Tongues apart from love is just a lot of noise! It is love that enriches the gift and that gives it value. Ministry without love cheapens both the minister and those who are touched by it; but ministry with love enriches the whole church. “Speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).

Christians are “taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). God the Father taught us to love by sending His Son (1 John 4:19), and God the Son taught us to love by giving His life and by commanding us to love each other (John 13:34-35). The Holy Spirit teaches us to love one another by pouring out God’s love in our hearts (Romans 5:5). The most important lesson in the school of faith is to love one another. Love (loving actions) enriches all that it touches.

Love is edifying (verses 4-7). “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies [builds up]” (1 Corinthians 8:1). The purpose of spiritual gifts is the edification of the church (1 Corinthians 12:7; 14:3-5, 12, 17, 26). This means we must not think of ourselves, but of others; and this demands love.

The Corinthians were also impatient in the public meetings (1 Corinthians 14:29-32), but love would make them long-suffering. They were envying each other’s gifts, but love would remove that envy. They were “puffed up” with pride (1 Corinthians 4:6, 18-19; 5:2), but love would remove pride and self-vaunting and replace it with a desire to promote others. “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (Romans 12:10).

At the “love feast” and the Lord’s Table, the Corinthians were behaving in a very unseemly manner. If they had known the meaning of real love, they would have behaved themselves in a manner pleasing to the Lord. They were even suing one another! But love “does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.” The phrase “thinks no evil” means “does not keep any record of wrongs.”

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 1.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 12-13

Diversity: The Gifts of the Spirit – Continued

Please review 1 Corinthians 12:14-31 for background to this section.

The members promote unity as they discover their dependence on one another (verses 21-26) – continued. Paul may be referring to the private parts of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:23-24. If so, then to “bestow honor” on them refers to the use of attractive clothing. The more beautiful parts of the body need no special help.

God’s desire is that there be no division (“schism”) in the church. Diversity leads to disunity when the members compete with one another; but diversity leads to unity when the members care for one another. How do the members care for each other? By each one functioning according to God’s will and helping the other members to function. If one member suffers, it affects every member. If one member is healthy, it helps the others to be strong.

Diversity of members fulfills the will of God in the body (verses 27-31). It is God who bestows the gifts and assigns the offices. He has a perfect plan, not only for the church universal as a whole, but also for each local congregation. We have no reason to believe that each congregation in the New Testament possessed all of the gifts. The church at Corinth was an especially gifted assembly (1 Corinthians 1:4-7; 2 Corinthians 8:7). However, God gives to each congregation just the gifts it needs when they are needed.

In this paragraph, Paul pointed out that there is a “priority list” for the gifts, that some have more significance (not necessarily more important) than others. But this fact does not contradict the lesson already shared—that each gift is important and each individual believer is important. Even in the human body, there are some parts that we can do without, even though their absence might handicap us a bit.

The Apostles and prophets, of course, appeared first on the “list” because they had a foundational ministry. Teachers were needed to help establish believers in the faith. The other gifts were needed from time to time to help individual believers and to build the church.

The construction of the Greek in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 demands “no” as the answer to each of these questions. No individual believer possesses all the spiritual gifts. Each believer has the gift (or gifts) assigned to him by the Lord as needed at the Lord’s appropriate time.

The word translated best in 1 Corinthians 12:31 simply means “greater.” Some spiritual gifts are greater in significance than others, and it is proper for the believer to desire these gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1). Paul put a high value on prophecy, the ability to teach and encourage one another, but the Corinthians valued the gift of tongues. Yet, Paul put tongues at the end of the list. If only some in today’s churches would take the Bible’s counsel as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Unity and diversity must be balanced by maturity, and that maturity comes with love. It is not enough to have the gift of the Spirit and gifts from the Spirit. We must also have the graces of the Spirit as we use our gifts to serve one another.

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 1.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 12-13

Diversity: The Gifts of the Spirit

Please review 1 Corinthians 12:14-31 for background to this section.

Unity without diversity would produce uniformity, and uniformity tends to produce stagnation and death. Life is a balance between unity and diversity. As a human body weakens, its “systems” slow down and everything tends to become uniform. The ultimate, of course, is that the body itself turns to dust.

This helps to explain why some churches (and other Christian ministries) have weakened and died: there was not sufficient diversity to keep unity from becoming uniformity. The late minister, Dr. Vance Havner (who often had a great turn of phrase) has expressed it this way, “First there is a man, then a movement, then a machine, and then a monument.” Many ministries that began as a protest against “dead orthodoxy” became dead themselves; because in their desire to remain pure and doctrinally sound, they stifled creativity and new ideas.

However, if diversity is not kept under control, it could destroy unity; and then you have anarchy. We shall discover in 1 Corinthians 13 that it is maturity that balances unity and diversity. The tension in the body between individual members and the total organism can only be solved by maturity.

Using the human body as his illustration, Paul explained three important facts about diversity in the body of Christ. Why are there different members?

The body needs different functions if it is to live, grow, and serve (verses 14-20). No member should compare or contrast itself with any other member, because each one is different and each one is important. I suppose I could learn to walk on my hands, but I prefer to use my feet, even though I have not yet learned to type or to eat with my feet. The ear cannot see and the eye cannot hear, yet each organ has an important ministry. For example, have you ever tried to smell through your ears?

There is a tendency today for some people to seek after and magnify the “sensational” gifts. Some believers feel very guilty or at the least, less of a believer, because they possess gifts that do not put them into the limelight. It is this attitude that Paul opposed and refuted in this paragraph. Diversity does not suggest inferiority. Are we to believe that the sovereign Lord made a mistake when He bestowed the gifts?

The members promote unity as they discover their dependence on one another (verses 21-26). Diversity in the body is an evidence of the wisdom of God. Each member needs the other members, and no member can afford to become independent. When a part of the human body becomes independent, you have a serious problem that could lead to sickness and even death. In a healthy human body, the various members cooperate with each other and even compensate for each other when a crisis occurs. The instant any part of the body says to any other part, “I don’t need you!” it begins to weaken and die and create problems for the whole body.

A famous preacher was speaking at a ministers’ meeting, and he took time before and after the meeting to shake hands with the pastors and chat with them. A friend asked him, “Why take time for a group of men you may never see again?” The world-renowned preacher smiled and said, “Well, I may be where I am because of them! Anyway, if I didn’t need them on the way up, I might need them on the way down!” No Christian servant can say to any other servant, “My ministry can get along without you!”

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 1.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 12-13

Unity: The Gift of the Spirit – Continued

Please review 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 for background to this section.

Some students have categorized the various gifts as the speaking gifts, the sign gifts, and the serving gifts. However, we should not be so fascinated by the individual gifts that we forget the main reason why Paul listed them: to remind us that they unite us in our ministries to the one body. The Holy Spirit bestows these gifts “as He will,” not as we will. No Christian should complain about his or her gifts, nor should any believer boast about his or her gifts. We are many members in one body, ministering to each other.

We have experienced the same baptism (verses 12-13). It is unfortunate that the term “baptism of the Spirit” has been divorced from its original New Testament meaning. God has spoken to us in Spirit-given words which we must not confuse (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). The baptism of the Spirit occurs at conversion when the Spirit enters the believing sinner, gives him new life, and makes his body the temple of God. All true believers have experienced this once-for-all baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13). It is the seal of the Spirit that we now belong to Christ. Nowhere does the Scripture command us to seek this baptism, because we have already experienced it and it doesn’t need to be repeated. In Ezekiel 36:26, God promised this “baptism” to all who turn to Him, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (love).”

The “filling of the Spirit” however, (Ephesians 5:18-21) has to do with the Spirit’s control of our lives. (In Scripture, to be filled by something means “to be controlled by.”) We are commanded to be filled, and we can be if we yield all to Christ and ask Him for the Spirit’s filling. This is a repeated experience, for we constantly need to be filled with spiritual power if we are to glorify Christ and allow our lives to exalt Him. To be baptized by the Spirit means that we belong to Christ’s body. To be filled with the Spirit means that our bodies belong to Christ.

The evidence of the Spirit’s baptism at conversion is the witness of the Spirit within and the actions of a changed heart to one of love for others (Romans 8:14-16; 2 Corinthians 5:17). I’m sorry that this might offend some of my brothers and sisters, but the evidence is not “speaking in tongues.” The evidence is our witness and our love. All of the believers in the Corinthian assembly had been baptized by the Spirit, but not all of them spoke in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:30). The evidences of the Spirit’s filling are: love for others (1 John 4:7-11), power for witnessing (Acts 1:8), joyfulness and submission (Ephesians 5:19-21), Christlikeness (Galatians 5:22-26), and a growing understanding of the Word (John 16:12-15).

Because of the gift of the Spirit, which is received at conversion, we are all members of the body of Christ, which is witnessed by “the Spirit Himself” (Romans 8:16). Race, social status, wealth, or even sex (Galatians 3:28) are neither advantages nor handicaps as we fellowship and serve the Lord.

To Be Continued

Adapted and modified excerpts from Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary Volume 1.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.