Recognizing God's Spirit It must be remembered that the people of Corinth were primarily Gentiles who had served idols all their lives. They were ignorant of God's will. Spiritual gifts were given by God to alleviate the problems produced by such a background. Lipscomb says these gifts "carried wit... [ Continue Reading ]
The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts Different gifts allowed their possesser to accomplish different tasks, but one Spirit gave all gifts. Further, the apostle said different services were rendered by Christians in behalf of their Lord. For instance, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the apos... [ Continue Reading ]
The Miraculous Gifts Paul next went on to list the various ways in which the Spirit miraculously empowered those first century Christians. Wisdom was the gospel, which was given completely to the apostles and partially to the prophets. Knowledge was the inspiration necessary to teach that revealed... [ Continue Reading ]
The Unity of the Body There is but one body. That body is the church. Paul told the Ephesian brethren, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling." Earlier in the same letter, he had said, "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head ove... [ Continue Reading ]
The Need For Different Members God put different members in the body to perform specific functions. If all were the same part, even the most important, they would not have made up a body. Different members are needed to make a body. McGarvey suggests the higher the animal was in God's creative orde... [ Continue Reading ]
Division Is Undesirable Clearly, the facts Paul presented proved God created the body in such a way that division is undesirable. Every member of the physical body feels for the other members. If one member suffers, the whole body feels pain. Anyone who has ever smashed his thumb or stubbed his toe... [ Continue Reading ]