Ep. 311. 1 Corinthians 12 | The Gifts

EPISODE 311

THE GIFTS: 1 CORINTHIANS 12

Talking about the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians is always interesting because I have such a different relationship with them now than when I was growing up. I certainly remember taking a couple of spiritual gift "tests" in college, and there may have been one in high school. It is just an interesting and probably unbiblical approach to the gifts. It is as though we could take what amounts to a personality test and thereby determine the gift the Holy Spirit of God has given us. Didn't we already see in chapter one of Corinthians that the wisdom of God CAN NOT be discerned through the wisdom of man?

I was also taught to take the test seriously enough to know that whatever "gift" I scored the highest on was MY gift, and I was told it probably wouldn't change. But that isn't how Corinthians reads to me. The Spirit gives gifts as he sees fit, and then God arranges those gifts in the body as he desires. I'm not saying people will have a new gift every six months, but I do believe, contrary to what I was taught growing up, that the Spirit may see fit to give me a gift tomorrow that I have not previously had.

And what are the gifts all for: The building up of the body. That's the other thing that I think I missed as a youth. Whatever gift I have and wherever God has placed me is for the good of the body of Christ and not for myself alone. That being said, I think there are a lot of believers, all with a spiritual gift, who just sit passively in their church communities without ever considering how they might benefit the body as a whole. Just imagine how effective the body of Christ would be if we all used the gifts the Spirit had given us.

ADDITIONAL READING: Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11