THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
(Chapters 12-13)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Timothy Sparks and Ben Bailey.
Timothy Sparks:
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, my brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant” (1 Cor. 12:1). I’m Timothy Sparks.
Ben Bailey:
And I’m Ben Bailey. Welcome to our broadcast today. We are thankful that you have joined us in our study of the Word of God. Today we are going to be discussing the subject of spiritual gifts. Chapters 12-14 of the Book of 1 Corinthians deal with this subject. This lesson is being brought to you by individual members and congregations of the churches of Christ. We hope you will visit with the churches of Christ in your area, and let them know how much you appreciate their support of this broadcast. As always, we would like to offer an invitation for a free copy of our lessons on DVD or CDs. All of our lessons are available free of charge. All you need to do is let us know which ones you want. Visit us on our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com, fill out the request form to let us know which lessons you want, and we will be more than happy to send those to you.
First Corinthians 12 offers an introduction into the topic of miraculous gifts. The church in Corinth was plagued by numerous problems, but one of the overriding issues seems to have been that of miracles. There were many questions that the Christians in Corinth had about miracles. What’s their purpose? Is there any “order” in regard to their importance? Who can perform miracles? The text of 1 Corinthians 12 explains that different gifts were given to different people. There was a diversity of gifts, yet there was but one Spirit. The Holy Spirit endowed different people with different gifts. As we discuss miraculous knowledge and miraculous powers, we need to remember what the purpose of these miraculous gifts was. Miracles were never for self-gratification. They were never given for the purpose of making someone feel good. Nor were they given solely for the purpose of healing the sick, per se. Such passages as Mark 16:20 and Hebrews 2:3-6 clearly teach that the purpose of miracles was to confirm the Word. Remember that during the first century, people in Corinth and other places did not have the written text of the Bible as we do today. They did not have a book containing the full revelation of God from Genesis to Revelation. Thus, they were dependent on people coming to speak to them orally—people who were inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. Suppose that someone came to speak to a group of people, and they claimed to have an inspired message from God? How could you know that person was, in fact, speaking with God’s authority? That was one of the purposes of miracles. They were a sign of God’s approval for what the speaker was saying. If someone was performing a genuine miracle—such as raising someone from the dead, or healing deformed limbs (such as we find in the Books of John or Acts)—then people could know that the one who did the miracles was a person from God, someone in line with God’s teaching. This is a very real issue in our world today. Many people want to know about miracles—so much so, it seems, that, at times, they are more interested in miracles than in what the Bible has to say.
Timothy Sparks:
One of the purposes of miracles was to confirm the Word of God. But we also learn in 1 Corinthians 12-14 that yet another purpose was to reveal the Word. In 1 Corinthians, we see a misuse, an abuse, of miracles such as speaking in tongues and prophesying. The one that comes to the forefront is speaking in tongues (i.e., speaking in other languages). This is the one that captures the primary focus of Paul’s discussion. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul makes it clear that Christians are to function as the body of Christ. We are members of the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul says that we were all baptized into one body by one Spirit, so we are the body of Christ. We are the church of Christ—the family of God. Paul enters into this discussion about miraculous gifts in the spirit of the theme and thesis of the entire book—found in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” The Christians’ misuse of their miraculous gifts were causing division, strife, and contention to arise in their midst. Paul pleads with them to use these gifts properly, to consider one another, and not to misuse the gifts. The gifts were not to be used to exalt oneself above another, or to cause another brother or sister to be debased. Paul tells them that if one member suffers, then all the members suffer. I heard of a man who accidentally cut off one of his fingers. He was wearing gloves at the time, and the same finger on the other hand—the finger that had not been cut off—began to throb with pain. He took off the glove, but saw that there was nothing wrong with the finger. It simply had begun experiencing pain as it “sympathized” with the pain being felt in the other hand. That’s how the body of Christ should function. When one member of the body of Christ is hurting, then we should all be hurting along with that person. We should all suffer because we are all part of Christ. Misusing spiritual gifts harms not just you, but also the body of Christ, of which you are a member. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul explains the use of these various miraculous gifts. Then, at the end of the chapter, he says: “But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And yet I show you a far better way” (vs. 31). First Corinthians 12:31 is the introduction to Paul’s discussion of “the far better way,” which is found in the next chapter.
Ben Bailey:
When Paul speaks of “a better way,” he is speaking of love. He says, “Yet I show you a far better way.” Some might ask, “But what could be better than miracles?” We see the answer to that question in 1 Corinthians 13—that love is the greatest gift of all. Many people desire to be able to perform miracles, and to have miracles as a part of their lives. But we need to remember that love is more powerful than any miracle. In fact, Paul will say in the first three verses of chapter 13, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” Eloquence without love amounts to nothing. Miraculous power or miraculous knowledge, without love in our hearts, amounts to nothing. Paul stresses that even if we give our goods to the poor, and our bodies to be burned, but do it without love, it still amounts to nothing. Sacrifice without love is useless. A person may have been eloquent, may have had immense miraculous power, and may even have sacrificed their body during the first century, but Paul says that love remains the greatest. Timothy, tell us how Paul defines love in this chapter.
Timothy Sparks:
The Greek word Paul employed in 1 Corinthians 13 for “love” is agape. A lot of people today are familiar with this word, but few seem to actually know what it really means. Some might suggest that agape is the type of love that is “better felt than told,” and that makes you feel “warm and fuzzy all over.” Yet as we examine 1 Corinthians 13, we will see that agape-type love is the type of love that always has another person’s best interests in mind. We learned, for example, in 1 Corinthians 5 that this type of love can even cause us to withdraw Christian fellowship from an ungodly member of the church. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul is showing us a superior way, a better way, a more excellent way. In the first three verses, Paul makes it clear that if we are the most eloquent person, or the most knowledgeable person, or the most sacrificial person—yet act without love—then we accomplish nothing. A person could be the most eloquent, most knowledgeable, and most sacrificial person possible, yet have no love—and be a “spiritual zero.” In essence, anything, minus love, equals nothing. Paul is stressing here how important agape love really is. Love will provide the solution to the problem of division. Paul stressed in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” So, regardless of all the vain human philosophy, regardless of all the knowledge you may have, if you do not have a true knowledge of God that leads you to love God and to love your brothers and sisters and other people, then you have no knowledge that is worth anything.
In verses 4-6, Paul tells us what love does, and what it doesn’t do. He says that love is patient and kind. We will see here that love can be both passive and active. Love is patient. Sometimes, we’re going to have to simply “wait things out.” Some translations say that love is longsuffering. In other words, we’re going to have to “suffer long.” We have to be patient and endure some things. That’s the passive part of love. But love is kind—which is an active part of the trait. Love is going to do good for other people. Remember the “Golden Rule” from Matthew 7:12?—As you want people to do to you, do also to them. That’s the law of love—which exemplifies the fact that love is kind. But love will not do some things. For example, love is not jealous. Love will not envy other people, or wish bad things to happen to other people. Paul is addressing the heart and core of the problems with which the Corinthian Christians were struggling due to their feuding, their bickering, their envy, their jealousy, and their failure to have genuine concern for the other brother or sister. This is what was causing their divisions. It was a manifestation of their lack of love. When we do not love one another, we will be divided, but this is not what our Lord prayed for in John 17. He prayed for unity. He died that we might be united in the forgiveness of our sins, and in His grace through our faithfulness. When we have a lack of love, and don’t genuinely love other people as we manifest patience and kindness—or when we are rude, or boast, or exalt ourselves, then we are destroying the very thing for which Christ died.
Ben Bailey:
From 1 Corinthians 7, we learn that love bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things. This teaches us that love looks for the best in others. True love is not looking to find errors or problems or something we can hold against another person. True love wants to help bear those burdens. It wants to believe all things and rejoice in all things. It’s a “want to” type of trait that genuine love exhibits. Love wants the best in, and for, others. So, when we look at our own Christian lives, our relationships with others, or the relationship between husbands and wives, this passage gives us teaching about how to truly love one another. I think the clearest example of all must be seen in the example of Jesus. The Bible teaches us in Romans 5:6-8, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That is what true love is. We were without strength. We were without help. We were unlovely. Yet in that very moment, God sent His Son to die for us. It was agape-type love on His part. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). This is a giving type of love.
Paul shows the Corinthians the greatest way of all—love. But then we come to the heart of the matter. In 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, Paul says, “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” In this text, Paul clearly taught that during the first century, miraculous power, miraculous knowledge, and the age of miracles in general would come to end. Love, however, never fails. It remains true. Prophecy, tongue speaking, and miraculous knowledge were all going to cease. Notice in verse 9 that he says, “we know in part, and we prophesy in part.” That teaches us that prophecy and miraculous knowledge were partial and incomplete—like having a partial paycheck as compared to a whole paycheck. You can get by on a partial paycheck. You may have to cut back on your expenses. You may not be able to spend as much. You need the complete paycheck, but you can survive on the partial until the complete arrives. The same is true of miracles. Miracles were a “partial, temporary” measure intended to help Christians while the written Word was being produced. But when the complete has come, then the partial will be done away with. Partial miracles, partial knowledge, would be done away. The question then arises: What is the complete or the perfect? The root word means “absolute” or “complete”—lacking in nothing. It seems unlikely that Paul is talking here about the Second Coming of Christ, for if he had been discussing that event, he most likely would have used the words “come again”—since Jesus had already been here and left. Timothy, tell us what Paul has in mind here, and how it relates to the concept of modern-day miracles.
Timothy Sparks:
When we examine verses 7 and 8, we can see what Paul has in mind. Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” Here, Paul is talking about knowledge, speaking in tongues, and other such miracles as being temporary. Eventually, the complete, the perfect, will come. Paul is clearly contrasting that which is temporary (miracles) with that which is permanent (the revealed Word of God). James referred to it as “the perfect law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25). Peter says that God “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). Jesus promised the apostles that when He [the Spirit of truth] shall come, “He will guide you into all truth” (Jn. 16:13). So, we can rest assured that with the death of the last apostle, all the truth had been revealed. Such things as miracles, prophecies, tongue speaking, etc., would then be done away with. It’s much like building a skyscraper. While the building is under construction, scaffolding is present because it’s necessary. But once the building is complete, the scaffolding is no longer needed, and it can be removed. In the first century, miracles served as confirmation of the Word of God (Mk. 16:20), but also to reveal the Word of God (1 Cor. 12-14). They had several purposes, but once those purposes were completed and fulfilled, and once we had in our possession the New Testament—the New Covenant of Christ under which we now live—then miracles were done away. We can rest assured that God’s Word is true. Jesus said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). We can know that God has a plan, and that He has fully revealed it. There will be no latter-day revelations. There is no “other covenant” of Christ. Some would say that there are latter-day revelations of Jesus. But to suggest such is to strike at the very heart and core of the message of the Bible. Those who suggest that modern-day miracles still exist simply do not understand what the Bible teaches on this important subject. Regardless of how well intentioned such people may be, we must come back to the authority of the Bible in such matters.
Another comment we can make on verses 7 and 8 comes from a paraphrase of these verses as found in the Phillips translation of the Bible. Phillips says that “love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope. It can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.” God loves us so much that He has given us love (Jn. 3:16). In fact, we love because He first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19). We therefore have the sublime privilege of loving one another. “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8). In order to know God, we must love because God is love. He defines love, and gives the greatest example and demonstration of love, as we learn from Romans 5:8-9—“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” When we look at 1 Corinthians 13 and learn that Christians are to love one another, this should remind us of Jesus’ teaching in John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So, as we talk about the concept of love, and about it being the solution to the problem of division, what are some practical lessons that we can learn in regard to our need to love one another?
Ben Bailey:
We learn from this context that love puts others first. This is a great example from Jesus. You’ve heard the idea that we are to love God, and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. And this is true, as Mark 12:30-36 points out. But as you think about miracles and miraculous gifts, remember that those things were temporary and partial, while God’s Word is permanent and complete. Let us remember that we can do much more good with true love than could ever be done with miracles. Yes, miracles had a specific purpose. But no, they weren’t intended to last. Now that we have the confirmed Word of God, we need to concentrate not on miracles, but on loving one another.
Friend, we want you to know that God loves you, and that we love you. We love your soul, and want you to become a child of God. If you’re not, if you’ve never obeyed the Gospel plan of salvation, we would like to hear from you. We would like to sit down with you, or put you in touch with a member of the church of Christ in your area, to study God’s Word and the plan of salvation. Jesus teaches us very plainly what that plan of salvation is. In John 8:24, Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” We must believe that Jesus is Lord of our lives, and is the risen Savior Who died for our sins. We must believe that so much that we are willing to change. Jesus demands that when I become His child, I change from the world to Him. In Luke 13:3, Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” So, we must believe. And we must repent. Plus, we must make the good confession that Jesus is the Son of God, and then we must be baptized in water for the remission of our sins. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, we read, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” How important is baptism? Without baptism, you cannot be a member of Christ’s body. We will see later in this study, from 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus is coming back to redeem the body, and if we aren’t a member of it, then we will not be going to Heaven. Baptism is what puts us into that body. Today, it is our hope and prayer that you will continue in your study of the Word of God. Do not take our word on any of this, but search the Bible. And if the things we are saying are true, they are true because God said them, not because we said them. If you would like to have a copy of this broadcast dealing with miracles, we will be happy to send it to you free of charge. Log onto our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com,, fill out the request form you will find there, and we will be happy to send you a DVD or CD of this lesson. Also, on our website you can view these lessons, or listen to them, via streaming video and/or audio. We also make available a Bible correspondence course at no charge. It is our prayer that you will continue to study with us as we endeavor to discover more of “the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
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1. The church in Corinth was experiencing problems in regard to miracles. Discuss why miracles were an issue?
2. There were at least two major purposes for miracles. What were they?
3. Paul made it clear that some Christians in the church in Corinth were misusing spiritual gifts. What was the end result of such an action?
4. Why were miracles important in confirming God’s Word as given through oral presentations?
5. Paul used the Greek word agape for “love” in his discussion in 1 Corinthians 13. What is the meaning of that term? What other types of love can you call to mind?
6. Love can be either passive or active. Give two examples of each.
7. How does Christ’s “Golden Rule” (Matthew 7:12) correlate with Paul’s discussion of love in 1 Corinthians 13?
8. God loved us even when we were “ungodly” (Rom. 5:6-8). What is the implication of that for us today? Bring into your discussion John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 13.
9. Paul discusses in 1 Corinthians 13 the temporary nature of miracles. Explain how he does that—and why.
10. What is “the perfect” of 1 Corinthians 13:10?
11. What is “the perfect” of 1 Corinthians 13:10 not? Why?
12. Miracles, according to Paul’s discussion in 1 Corinthians 13, were always intended to be temporary, rather than permanent. Why?
13. If miracles were intended to confirm the Word of God in the first century, and if Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the apostles into “all truth” (Jn. 16:13), what is the implication of these two things for those who suggest that miracles are still available today? Bring into your discussion such passages as James 1:5 and 2 Peter 1:3.
14. There are several ways people should be able to distinguish Christians from other people. According to John 13:35, what is one of them?
15. According to John 14:15, what is another distinguishing mark of a Christian?
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