Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Paul opens formal instruction on spiritual gifts to the brethren so the church will understand the subject and not remain ignorant. The one Spirit works through diversities of operation in different offices and gifts, as members of the human body each fill a particular place in unity to form one harmonious body under Christ as head. The gifts are to be actively used together in tenderness and love, with each laborer faithfully doing his own God-given work without self-sufficiency, crowding, judging, or telling another member there is no need for him. This calls those gathered in church capacity to gain united, intelligent understanding by studying, digesting, believing and obeying chapters 12 and 13, especially chapter 13. The gifts, including prophets, miracles, healings, teachers, helps and leadership, were placed in the church for its edification because it needs them, to remain until Christ returns and to carry greater weight in the dangers and testing of the last days, with no indication they were for the first Christians only.
Paul's Call to Understand
The opening words introduce formal instruction on spiritual gifts given to the Corinthian church twenty-eight years after Pentecost, marking the subject as one that must be understood in the Christian church. The instruction was important enough to be set before the brethren expressly so they would not remain ignorant about it. It is therefore a subject to be taught to the brethren, that they may know it.
Not to be ignorant means those brought together in church capacity are to be united in understanding it understandingly and intelligently. That requires committing the instruction to memory and writing it in mind and heart, rather than ignoring it. It requires professed people of God in church capacity to study and digest what is taught about the members composing the body and the relation its members should sustain to one another. It requires studying and applying the teaching of chapters 12 and 13, beginning with self-examination for the continual humbling of self and for taking self critically in hand. It directs special attention to chapter 13, whose instruction is to be believed and obeyed, for believers who divide into factions fail to show the power of the truth.
The verse opens the explanation that the Spirit is one yet has diversities of operation, working through various channels in different offices and gifts. This is set forth by the figure of the human body, whose various members each fill a particular office and work together in unity of purpose to make one harmonious whole. So the church is constituted with different offices and gifts, through which the Spirit operates to constitute a perfect religious body.
Unity and Love in Exercise
The verse teaches that the various gifts are to be actively used together in one body with Jesus Christ as head. No member is to hold a spirit of self-sufficiency or to say to another member that there is no need for him, and among the members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, for many gifts are needed yet all remain members of one body. Each laborer is to faithfully do his own God-given work without leaving it for another's work, so that all parts move in harmony. This expresses the simple organization and church order ordained for the unity and perfection of the church.
Read with chapter 13, the verse directs that gifts be exercised with tenderness and love, strengthening fellow believers and guarding their interests rather than standing apart to criticize or condemn them. Believers are to care for one another's interests and to exercise their gifts in a way that serves and strengthens the church. The instruction in chapters 12 and 13, especially chapter 13, is to be believed and obeyed, and believers who divide into factions fail to show the power of the truth.
One holding church office is to stand as leader, adviser, counselor, helper in carrying the burdens of the work, and leader in offering thanksgiving to God. He is not appointed to order and command laborers, to control and rule fellow workers and assume powers not given, or to exercise kingly authority, but those carrying responsibilities must treat co-laborers with the same consideration they would wish to receive, while the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people if they will be led. The verse calls members to self-examination and to the continual humbling of self and taking of self critically in hand through studying and applying the teaching of chapters 12 and 13. The gifts of the church should not be neglected, for when they are revived and active they encourage those who are fainthearted and correct and reprove those who err.
Continuance to the End
Now concerning spiritual gifts shows how Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth was to be fulfilled to the church. Certain gifts of the Spirit have been placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time, because the church needs them, and they are to remain until Christ returns. Those gifts God established include prophets, miracles, and healings as well as teachers, helps, and leadership.
The church needed them in its earliest days and through persecution and martyrdom, and needs them to face the dangers of the last days and prepare for Christ's return. In the time of trial and testing this instruction about spiritual gifts must have more weight, shutting believers in with God so the wicked one has no power over them. Each laborer is then to faithfully do his own God-given work without leaving it for another's work, so all parts move in harmony.
The instruction gives no indication that the gifts were intended only for the first Christians or would cease before the perfect state of glory. Their cessation is associated with the coming of what is perfect, which argues their continuance. The gifts and operations of God's Spirit are real, and fanaticism must lead neither to accepting deception nor to denying them. That teaching about their continuance must therefore be made clear amid claims associating it with Mormonism.
Paul opens formal instruction on spiritual gifts to the brethren so the church will understand the subject and not remain ignorant. The one Spirit works through diversities of operation in different offices and gifts, as members of the human body each fill a particular place in unity to form one harmonious body under Christ as head. The gifts are to be actively used together in tenderness and love, with each laborer faithfully doing his own God-given work without self-sufficiency, crowding, judging, or telling another member there is no need for him. This calls those gathered in church capacity to gain united, intelligent understanding by studying, digesting, believing and obeying chapters 12 and 13, especially chapter 13. The gifts, including prophets, miracles, healings, teachers, helps and leadership, were placed in the church for its edification because it needs them, to remain until Christ returns and to carry greater weight in the dangers and testing of the last days, with no indication they were for the first Christians only.
Paul's Call to Understand
The opening words introduce formal instruction on spiritual gifts given to the Corinthian church twenty-eight years after Pentecost, marking the subject as one that must be understood in the Christian church. The instruction was important enough to be set before the brethren expressly so they would not remain ignorant about it. It is therefore a subject to be taught to the brethren, that they may know it.
Not to be ignorant means those brought together in church capacity are to be united in understanding it understandingly and intelligently. That requires committing the instruction to memory and writing it in mind and heart, rather than ignoring it. It requires professed people of God in church capacity to study and digest what is taught about the members composing the body and the relation its members should sustain to one another. It requires studying and applying the teaching of chapters 12 and 13, beginning with self-examination for the continual humbling of self and for taking self critically in hand. It directs special attention to chapter 13, whose instruction is to be believed and obeyed, for believers who divide into factions fail to show the power of the truth.
The verse opens the explanation that the Spirit is one yet has diversities of operation, working through various channels in different offices and gifts. This is set forth by the figure of the human body, whose various members each fill a particular office and work together in unity of purpose to make one harmonious whole. So the church is constituted with different offices and gifts, through which the Spirit operates to constitute a perfect religious body.
Unity and Love in Exercise
The verse teaches that the various gifts are to be actively used together in one body with Jesus Christ as head. No member is to hold a spirit of self-sufficiency or to say to another member that there is no need for him, and among the members there is to be no crowding, no judging, and no measuring of one gift by another, for many gifts are needed yet all remain members of one body. Each laborer is to faithfully do his own God-given work without leaving it for another's work, so that all parts move in harmony. This expresses the simple organization and church order ordained for the unity and perfection of the church.
Read with chapter 13, the verse directs that gifts be exercised with tenderness and love, strengthening fellow believers and guarding their interests rather than standing apart to criticize or condemn them. Believers are to care for one another's interests and to exercise their gifts in a way that serves and strengthens the church. The instruction in chapters 12 and 13, especially chapter 13, is to be believed and obeyed, and believers who divide into factions fail to show the power of the truth.
One holding church office is to stand as leader, adviser, counselor, helper in carrying the burdens of the work, and leader in offering thanksgiving to God. He is not appointed to order and command laborers, to control and rule fellow workers and assume powers not given, or to exercise kingly authority, but those carrying responsibilities must treat co-laborers with the same consideration they would wish to receive, while the Lord Himself is over His heritage and will lead His people if they will be led. The verse calls members to self-examination and to the continual humbling of self and taking of self critically in hand through studying and applying the teaching of chapters 12 and 13. The gifts of the church should not be neglected, for when they are revived and active they encourage those who are fainthearted and correct and reprove those who err.
Continuance to the End
Now concerning spiritual gifts shows how Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth was to be fulfilled to the church. Certain gifts of the Spirit have been placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time, because the church needs them, and they are to remain until Christ returns. Those gifts God established include prophets, miracles, and healings as well as teachers, helps, and leadership.
The church needed them in its earliest days and through persecution and martyrdom, and needs them to face the dangers of the last days and prepare for Christ's return. In the time of trial and testing this instruction about spiritual gifts must have more weight, shutting believers in with God so the wicked one has no power over them. Each laborer is then to faithfully do his own God-given work without leaving it for another's work, so all parts move in harmony.
The instruction gives no indication that the gifts were intended only for the first Christians or would cease before the perfect state of glory. Their cessation is associated with the coming of what is perfect, which argues their continuance. The gifts and operations of God's Spirit are real, and fanaticism must lead neither to accepting deception nor to denying them. That teaching about their continuance must therefore be made clear amid claims associating it with Mormonism.