Evening star., 1928-10-13

One of the problems presented by the
Corinthian Church to Paul for, solution
was the question of spiritual gifts. In
our former lessons We considered his
treatment of their divisions that had
been increased by certain moral QueS-
tions, marriage, meats offered to idols,
and today's study brings us face to face
with abuses in church worship. The
Church of Corinth was located in a
cosmopolitan city that was at heart of
Gentle, and the life of the Christians
and the church had been permeated by
Gentle associations and pagan past.
Most of the members had been won for
the Lord Jesus from the Gentiles of
Corinth, who had not completely laid
aside their former ideals.
The membership of the Corinthian
Church was drawn from various classes
and people. Different countries, dis
positions and temperamentS were identi-
fed with this Christian organization.
Their natural gifts were not annulled
by the Holy Spirit, who not only re-
newed their hearts at their conversion
but equipped them with power for SER
vice. This resulted in their using their
spiritual energy in different ways
There was all sorts of work to be done,
and the various groups were jealous of
one another, each claimed special
prestige for his particular "gift"-the
thing he could do best of all. They for
got that the source of their spiritual
gift was the Holy Spirit and that all of
them together made up the body of
Christ" They had a tendency to
estimate spiritual gifts by their snowy
rather than their solid character" This
extravagant pride in the more emo
tional and less useful gifts of the Spirit
Paul sought to correct by pointing out
the difference between the miraculous
and the ethical in a manner that
modern psychology has confirmed.
Spiritual Gifts.
No feature of the religious conditions
of the Corinthians stirred the Apostle
more than that of their spiritual gifts
He emphasized the deep distinction
between the manifestations of the
spiritual power among themselves and
such psychical phenomena as were
known among the Gentiles." Glover
has pointed out that from the first
advent of DionySos to Greece down to
modern times men have been confused
and perplexed by psychical phenomena
which crossed the work of religion. {"
Paul, without the knowledge of the
modern teachings of psychology, took a
practical position that the test of ones
spiritual gifts was their relation to the
Lord Jesus. Any one who, under the
influence of some spirit, announced
that Jesus was accursed," was not
being influenced by the Holy Spirit
If we confess the Master as our Lord
that he insisted we are under the guild
ance of the Holy Spirit. The use of
this practical test would enable them
tn Ntun tIn kNv1n rifk fkr
Of the professors, who did not possess
Jesus as their Lord.
There appears to have been a sim
gular wealth of spiritual gifts that the
members attributed to their possession
of the Holy Spirit. The nine he mem
tionS were probably not all. 1t is doubt
ful II such small list would exhaust
the spiritual manifestations among the
members of the Corinthian Church.
Wisdom In speech. knowledge of things
hidden from ordinary sight, faith,
power of soothing and thereby healing
physical ailments, power of working
ment in spiritual matters, the gift
Of tongues the Interpretation of
tongues'--all these were the working of
the same Spirit
Unity Of the Gifts.
In the judgment of Paul there was
room for all kinds of gifts in the work
OF the church. There was a place for
the diversity of personalities, opinions
and activities In building up the church
ana In the enlargement of the kingdom
OF God among men. He did not make
the mistake OF requiring uniformity He
Taught that unity was possible without
1t by his illustration of the church as
the body OF Christ" Paul had three
portraits that he used of the church.
the family, the human body and the
temple OF God-every one of them i'm
plying new unity in design with great
diversity OF function, many members of
the one body, all different but all one
a unity Of experience, a unity. of pur-
pose. unity Of the redeeming love of
God. On this principle Earl has said
that all kinds of Christians, from the
Quaker to the Catholic, should be CO.
operating in building of Gods kingdom
on earth, while each group continues
with goodwill toward all other groups,
to worship and serve God according to
the dictates of its inherited traditions
Christians are not separate, unrelated
units; they are not like grains of sand
or isolated trees. They are members of
Christ's body and He is the head and
ldirecting personality, controlling through
the holy spirit the operations of each
member.
No one could possibly mistake Pauls
emphasis upon Christ and the meaning
OF his test question concerning the use
OF spiritual gifts. The use of the gifts
should be for the building up of the
church. He possessed the gift of
tongues" meaning apparently the
same phenomenon that some members
of the Corinthian Church exercised.
This did not refer to his use of several
different languages. He pointed out
that the Corinthians were childish in
their desire to possess this gift, the most
spectacular Of all, but of the least DOS
sible practical value. These inarticu-
late utterances of emotion were mean
ingless without an interpreter. He urged
them to cultivate the gift of prophecy.
or better still, the grace of love. Chris
tianity differs from other religions In its
origin and In its essence 1t originated
In Gods love for men, and its essence is
love, which is the only possible uniting
and harmonizing principle of the spirit
ual universe in the material realm,
Supremacy Of Love.
Paul insisted that the possession of
gifts without the grace of love was
worthless He sought to change the
contentious spirit of the Corinthian
Church into the better way of love.
While he appreciated the gifts of the
spirit-f1lled man, the apostle pointed out
that the gift of tongues, of prophecy. of
miracle working faith and of beneficence
were all valuelesS unless the gifts were