In 1 Corinthians 12-14, the Apostle Paul has his most extensive teaching on the proper exercise of spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ, the Church. He begins his instruction by these words: “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant” (1 Cor. 12:1). The sad truth is that many Christians today are woefully ignorant of what spiritual gifts are, and they are ignorant of the spiritual gift(s) that the Holy Spirit has equipped them with.

I think that this deficiency is connected with our lack of familiarity how the Holy Spirit works in our life. I think many Christians understand that when they turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, in repentance and faith, they not only received forgiveness of sins, but they also received the Holy Spirit to indwell them. But we need to understand in a more fuller way of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.

Learning To Live By God’s Spirit

Paul teaches in Romans 8:9 that if a person doesn’t have the indwelling Spirit, he does not belong to Christ. In other words, he is not converted, he is not regenerated, he is still dead to God. But if the Holy Spirit indwells us, He testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. He gives us an assurance of our salvation. The presence of our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ is experienced by us on earth through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The indwelling Spirit cries out “Abba, Father“, and He leads us in the obedience of God’s children. The Spirit enables us to put to death ungodly desires and behavior, as we learn to live by dependence on the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8:12-17).

If we try to grow in Christ-like character in our lives by our own strength, we will get very frustrated. We will end in failure. Only Jesus can live like Jesus. But part of the Good News is that as we learn to live by daily dependence on the Holy Spirit, His fruit starts growing within our character. In Galatians 5:16, Paul says: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” He goes on to say in Gal. 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” We grow in spiritual maturity and Christian character, as we learn to trust God’s Spirit and let Him have His way in us and through us.

Using Spiritual Gifts The Proper Way

This discussion regarding the fruit of God’s Spirit is profitable as we approach Paul’s teaching on the proper exercise of gifts of God’s Spirit. We are going to see that it was the Corinthian Christians’ spiritual immaturity that was causing division in the church regarding their use of spiritual gifts. They seemed to take excessive pride in the more showy gifts like speaking in tongues (1 Cor. 14:1-33).

Paul counters this wrongheaded emphasis by saying that that “in church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Cor. 14:19). The reason is simple: when tongues are not interpreted into a language that the church understands, it ends up edifying no one except the spirit of the tongue speaker. This is why Paul insists that tongues in the context of a worship service needs to be interpreted.  If it’s not interpreted into a known language, no one can be edified. Therefore, without interpretation, the tongue speaker has to sit down (1 Cor. 14:28).

Because Paul places such a high value on spiritual gifts that encourage and edify the church, Paul prefers the gift of prophetic teaching (1 Cor. 14:1-5). Paul also wants the Corinthians to realize that everyone in the Body of Christ is gifted, and that everyone’s spiritual gifts should be appreciated and allowed to be exercised (1 Cor. 12:12-30). The power and effectiveness of Christ’s Body, the Church, is seen when the different members work interdependently with each other.

The LORD is particularly concerned that those who have less honor, in the sight of the world, are given the opportunity to exercise their spiritual gifts. There is no room for false pride or false modesty among God’s people. The body needs the foot, just as much as it needs the eye, in order to function properly (1 Cor. 12:14-26).

This kind of deference to one another requires the fruit of God’s Spirit in the Corinthians’ lives. It requires that they mature in God’s love. That is why Paul injects his great treatise on Christian love in 1 Cor. 13, right in the middle of his discussion on the proper exercise of spiritual gifts. As Paul puts it: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging symbol” (1 Cor. 13:1). The proper exercise of spiritual gifts requires the growing fruit of God’s Spirit, in both the Christian individual’s life and in the life of the Christian congregation. Spiritual gifts exercised by self-centered people will edify no one and will not glorify the LORD.

QOTD: Do you know what your spiritual gift(s) are, and are you using them  to edify others and to glorify the LORD?