Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this.
1 Corinthians 12:1
Remember we are still dealing with the Corinthians’ questions to Paul. In Bible Gem 363 I gave you the run down of the section breaks for Corinthians’ questions.
- 1 Cor 7:1 Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to live a celibate life.
- 1 Cor 7:25 Now regarding your question about the young women who are not yet married. I do not have a command from the Lord for them. But the Lord in His mercy has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will share it with you.
- 1 Cor 8:1 Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.
- 1 Cor 12:1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this.
- 1 Cor 16:1 Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia.
So notice the section we have been dealing with started at chapter 8:1. Notice Paul’s thought process was linked to food which led him into addressing the issue of communion because of the way they were thinking of it. There was a lot packed into the last question. But that is no problem. I guess is it the same with some of us, when a question prompts our minds to link a number of things together. These were obviously all issues for the Corinthians, whether they realised it or not. They didn’t ask a question about their practice of communion but it is only natural for Paul to bring it up when it was such a deviation from the norm.
Now Paul addresses their next question: regarding the special abilities the Spirit gives us. Or as other versions put it – concerning spiritual gifts, about the things of the spirit, concerning what you wro e about the gifts from the Holy Spirit.
The Greek is:
Περὶ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν
Concerning now the {spiritual things}
Paul responded to the first of their questions with Now concerning the things about which you wrote (1 Cor 7:1) In all subsequent “questions” or matters raised by them Paul begins each one with “Περὶ δὲ . . .”
Now concerning . . . Clearly this is the way he marks when he is on to a new topic the Corinthians have asked about. As I have said before it would help to know exactly what their question was each time but we don’t have their letter. We just have to guess.
It is interesting in this case when we get into something even more controversial than the other matters Paul says:
- I do not want you to be misinformed.
- I do not want you to be ignorant
- I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding concerning spiritual gifts
I like the way Eugene Peterson puts it in the Message version: “What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable.”
This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. He could have added and controversial. There are all sorts of opinions and emotions on this topic. I will deal with what the text says but where appropriate will make my own comments. I will always seek to distinguish (following Paul’s example) between what the text says and what Ian says.
Even though we don’t have their actual question(s), we can prefigure them by thinking about our questions on this topic. Many of their questions are our questions also. I find frequently in life questions come in sets and often times the question one person is asking; many are asking. Let’s dare to go deeper on this topic.
Life is less a matter of getting the right answers and more a matter of asking the right questions.
Ian Vail
Grace is not theoretical, it’s experiential.
Anon
Amongst humans there is no perfection. We must learn how to live with imperfection, both others and ours.
A R Bernard