{"id":5547,"date":"2020-06-10T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=5547"},"modified":"2020-06-09T09:03:47","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T23:03:47","slug":"5547","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2020\/06\/10\/5547\/","title":{"rendered":"Further Gifts from the Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n

This verse continues the list of spiritual gifts. One question about the list of spiritual gifts is whether they are exhaustive, representative, or specific for the situation in Corinth. Probably the latter two choices are more likely because God makes us unique as individuals and there are many possible scenarios of gifting.<\/p>\n

The working of miracles refers to being an instrument of God’s power to transform lives. In most cases, this is understood in a physical sense. That is primarily what we see in Acts. There are many types of miracles that help people in holistic ways. A miracle is where God intervenes in a way that is not typical and cannot be explained in other ways. God may work through many means to make this happen. This gift, like all the others, can be manipulated, distorted, and imitated by charlatans who pretend to be performing miracles but are only deceiving people. When Moses appeared before Pharaoh, some of the magicians there performed signs and wonders. This suggest that there are people who can manipulate people and do minor miracles. We might debate how this happens: through Satanic power, shamanism, trickery, or other means. In the church, however, miracles should point to the power of God and point to faith in Christ. That is the type of miracles we see in the book of Acts.<\/p>\n

The gift of prophecy will be the topic of ch. 14. Prophecy is speaking forth the word of God and calling people to repent, turn to God, follow God’s will, in order to avoid certain responses from God in the future. Thus, it deals with the present and the future. Christian prophecy is always connected somehow to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is more than making predictions about future events. It points people to the power of God in Jesus Christ. It is “speaking forth” the truth so that people can understand it and respond.<\/p>\n

The next gift is discernment, the ability to distinguish false from true. This is a gift that helps the church move through the murky waters of false teachings and people who claim to have the truth. Discernment is more than knowledge, but it may be built on knowledge, especially knowledge of the truth of the Gospel. There is a supernatural element to all of these gifts. For discernment, the supernatural element may be the ability to see hypocrisy, demon possession, or fakes.<\/p>\n

Speaking in various tongues is one of the key issues in Corinth about which Paul will discus in ch. 14. This gift is highly debated among Christians today. In Acts, this gift is most often associated with speaking forth the gospel as a witness to others. It is speaking in a known language that points to Jesus. It is a miracle that comes with the filling of the Holy Spirit. The Corinthians may have been influenced by their pagan environment where ecstatic utterances were part of the religious cults of the area. As with other spiritual gifts, they misunderstood and misappropriated speaking in tongues, which led to divisions within the church. This topic will be discussed in more detail in ch. 14.<\/p>\n

The interpretation of tongues is the ability to interpret the tongues from the previous gift. It is also discussed in ch. 14. Paul directs the church that if someone speaks in tongues, there must be an interpreter otherwise, it should not be done in the church. This gift, like all the others, must point to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and contribute to the strength, unity, and mission of the church.<\/p>\n

For older posts, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. This verse continues the list of spiritual gifts. One question about the list of spiritual gifts is whether they are exhaustive, representative, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5562,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions\/5562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}