Unresolved

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

UNRESOLVED

1 Cor 14:33-40

As in all the congregations of the saints, 34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. 36 Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38 If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.  39 Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

NIV

This is a most difficult passage to come to grips with. Paul quotes or refers to the law as it relates to the Jewish Law, but these are not Jews, and this is a New Testament Church under the headship of Christ. This idea about women being silent in the church has wavered so far as if it has been completely ignored and never brought up, or at least brought up in the sense it was only meant for those women in Corinth. We even have women pastors today as well as very visible women tele-evangelists or speakers who have created great followers. Women in the church have been an equal force as men. They also serve on boards, become deaconesses, and participate in the leadership of the church. So how do we reconcile today’s church with these instructions for a New Testament church? The Prophet Joel does say the Lord says that after certain things, He will pour His Spirit out on all people, that both the sons and daughters will prophecy. This does fit into the day of Pentecost when the one hundred and twenty, which included women but does not explicitly say, were filled with the Spirit. God poured His Spirit on all people, men and, women and they went out in the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the greatest of God in many languages, they had not known or learned. Still, we also have Paul giving Timothy instructions regarding not permitting a woman to teach or have authority over a man, and they are to learn in quietness and full submission. Again, we come to a quandary as to how should we interpret this truth. It is certain, the church, in general, has completely set this passage aside. Perhaps we should take into account the culture of that day compared to our current culture. It was not uncommon and even accepted that men would argue in the synagogue, debating the scriptures. However, this was Corinth, a major city of Greek culture and the church was not a synagogue nor were the people of Jewish background. This was a pagan city, a church of converted pagans and so really should not be under the Law of Moses or Jewish law whatsoever. Nevertheless, even in that culture, it was not permitted for women to debate in public, it was still considered a patriarchal society. We have most definitely moved well past that, and have, for the most part, equality. So then why would this be in the canon? Why would we consider this as scripture, the word of God, because it seems we have dismissed it alltogether, with, of course, the idea of everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Although some very learned men might see how to deal with this, it would appear we are not going to come to a resolution as to how this women issue might apply to our lives today, so we are simply going to have to leave it unresolved.

A Case For Worship

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

A CASE FOR WORSHIP

1 Cor 14:26-33

26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two — or at the most three — should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. 29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

NIV

This is the New Testament Church working in concert with the Spirit. Paul is giving them the basis for this listening to the Spirit who is not coming from a place of disorder but of peace. It is fair to say that this Corinthian Church had gotten out of control and it might well be described as mass confusion. However, what also may be fair to say is that the New Testament church of today has gone entirely in the other direction leaving the Spirit wandering around outside somewhere. Of course, this may be due to the idea that the Spirit has stopped manifesting His gifts as they were only needed for those early New Testament churches. It seems today we are putting all the burden on the pastor to do all the speaking and being the only one who gets any revelation. True even back then, an order would have been preferred, giving way to the leading of the Spirit and people within the congregation would participate in worship by praying in tongues, lifting God up, with an interpretation so that all can join in rejoicing in worship and be encouraged. This too would be the reason for prophecy, as we have already seen, to strengthen, encourage and comfort those who hear such words. Again, all these verbal gifts are under the control or should be under the control of the Spirit, so the purpose is to edify the church, to build it up, strengthen it, encourage it, and comfort it. If this is not happening, it would also seem right to think the church is asleep, weak, unencouraged, and without comfort, thus in some form of turmoil or pain, sick, crippled, and wandering aimlessly about without direction. Why does the church today not want to Spirit to have His way? Why must we refuse Him access to His church? It seems we simply come to sort of worship, but most likely just put in our time sitting in our designated spot long enough to hear the pastor’s sermon. Are all these instructions ignored, or have we simply reasoned them away as instructions only for that early church in Corinth? If that is the case, then why is this letter even part of the Canon? What purpose does it serve, other than the only short segment about love that is quoted at many weddings? If we quote then part, why not the rest? If we believe that short part of this letter about love, then why do we not believe all this major part about the gifts? Because God is a God of order, and of peace, it would seem right that we, being His creation, should be subject to His order and peace. This is not a judgment of any church, but just thoughts as to why the way we are today versus the way they were back in the early days of the church. Maybe we might need to reconsider how we worship. Do we worship under our control or under the control of the Spirit? This instruction may well simply be a case for worship.

God is Really Among us

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GOD IS REALLY AMONG US

1 Cor 14:18-25

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21 In the Law it is written:

"Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

NIV

We have to take all of this in order to not get bogged down without the context. Paul is certainly not wanting them to stop allowing the Spirit to manifest His gift of tongues, as he does say that he speaks in tongues more than any of them in Corinth. The Spirit moves freely within Paul and he does not prohibit or quench the Spirit. However, from all the other references we understand that these Corinthians were out of control and may well been operating more in the flesh than in the Spirit, for we also know that Sprit is orderly and is not rude. These instructions are more to remind them to stay in step with the Spirit and that one of the missions of the church is spreading the good news about Jesus Christ. So then if a new person, who has yet to gain knowledge about God hears nothing but gibberish going on, he will not hear anything understandable about Jesus. This should give us a clue as to how we should conduct ourselves within a worship service. True, we sing in English and we rely on the pastor to bring some message pertaining to the scriptures, but does a new unbeliever fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”? How would an unbeliever think if he came into our church? Would he see and hear us prophesying? Doubtful, unless we actually believed in the gifts of the Spirit and did not quench Him, but rather gave Him free rein in our lives. Still, it seems that it falls in the church, not just the pastor to worship in a manner that an unbeliever would see God working among us. This would mean we cannot sit like bumps on a log but must actually worship our Lord in a manner it is visible or tangible enough to be seen or felt by an unbeliever. This is the whole point Paul is making here. We need to be seen and heard proclaiming the truth of God so that the heart of an unbeliever is laid bare and they will proclaim that God is really among us.

Edified

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

EDIFIED

1 Cor 14:13-17

13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.

NIV

We are going to get far more instructions regarding these gifts, especially this gift of tongues and interpretation. But what we should notice first is what occurs when the Spirit manifests His gift of tongues through someone. We have witnessed this occurrence of speaking in a worship service. Normally, the people in whom this gift was manifested spoke out and then shut up and everyone was waiting and waiting to hear someone used to interpret. These instructions were simply either forgotten or grossly ignored. We should also note there are no set parameters as to when the Spirit will stop manifesting His gifts, other than set by God as in the last day. Nevertheless, these instructions are clear enough that we should be able to understand them. When the Spirit manifests His gift of tongues through an individual, that person should pray, should ask the Spirit to manifest the interpretation as well, so the church will be edified, built up. There is something else here that is also good to understand. As it has already been said, tongues is man talking to God, while prophecy is God talking to man. So then, what is said here is that the manifestation of tongues is indeed always man either praying, singing, or giving thanks to God, in the Spirit and, through the Spirit. Therefore, whoever the Spirit uses to interpret, hopefully, the same person He used to speak in tongues, the interpretation needs to be what that man prayed, sang, or thanked God for. Then all the church would be built up as the Spirits prayer, song, or thanksgiving would always be the most beautiful words we will ever hear. Again, it is clear that all which is done through the Spirit will not edify an individual, but He will first edify God, and also edify or build up the whole church. What this also tells us, is that we should never refuse to acknowledge the working of the Spirit as He manifests His gifts when and through whom He determines. Yet, it seems that all this, all the gifts are in the hands of denominational bias, or the hands or minds of man, that man has decided for the Spirit as to when, where and, even if He may work in people. When this occurs, when man decides, it would seem to us, that neither God nor the church would be edified. So then the lesson we must learn is to always be ready, always yield to the work of the Spirit and then both God and the church will be edified.

To Build Up

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

TO BUILD UP

1 Cor 14:6-12

6 Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? 7 Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. 12 So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.

NIV

It does appear there were a lot of things getting out of control in this church in Corinth, and one of them was this speaking in tongues. This may be why so many churches today make it such a point to be non-Pentecostal in their theology. But that is not what Paul is saying at all. The fact remains that the Spirit is not out of control and everything the Spirit does is orderly. These people may well not have been operating in the Spirit but in the flesh. It is easy to make up any gibber gabber that sounds like, but is not, the manifestation of the Spirit. What good would it serve if everyone in the church was speaking some other language than their native tongue? That is the meaning here. There is more about this that follows, but for now, we need to see this concept that it is everyone’s responsibility to do and say that would build up the church. We are not sure who made up the idea that if you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything at all, but that makes perfect sense. Because we follow the way of love, it would not be consistent to say anything that was not helpful in building up the church. So it is with how we speak to each other, rather than some jibber jabber, we need to speak intelligible words to each other. This does not prohibit the gift of tongues, as no man is able or should attempt to be able to control the Spirit, which would be quashing the Spirit. But the Spirit is orderly, which Paul gets to eventually, and there should be order as to how tongues and the interpretation are manifested. There is no good in everyone speaking in tongues if there is no interpretation, and even then, it is man speaking to God, and thus some form of prayer, which Paul gets to also. That is not to say the prayer does not build up the church, but it must be understood by all in the church. So it is that this portion of this letter indicates. We should be eager to have spiritual gifts, rather than to resist them, but the gifts we should be most eager to have are those that build up the church. One of the main reasons for the Spirit is to lead us in all truth, and truth will always prevail in building up the church.

Love And

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE AND

              

1 Cor 14:1-5

14:1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.   3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

NIV

There are ideas all over the map as to what all this means and of course, that depends on their denominational bias. There is no question as to the fact we should follow the way of love, and we have spend numerous days delving into how this love is defined and all the traits of love that should be within us as well as evident in us. However, we are also to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, which we also spent quite a bit of time, many days, searching out the truth regarding each one of them. Now, we are told that the gift we should most earnestly seek, above all others, is prophecy. Having spent years in a denomination that firmly believed and practiced these three vocal gifts, tongues, interpretation, and prophecy, we noted that even though they believed them to be for today, for the most part, they did not thoroughly understand the true operation of these gifts. The scripture is quite clear that when the gift of tongues is manifested the speaker of such tongues is speaking to God and therefore the interpretation would be what this person said to God, such as a form of prayer, or exhortation of the greatness of God and not, as we have witnessed, an interpretation that begins with, 'thus says the Lord'. Prophecy, on the other hand, is not just a foretelling of the future, as some might want to think. This is not the office of prophet, who did and would foretell or warn people of what would happen if they did wrong or did not do right. This speaking of prophecy must meet three requirements. It must strengthen, encourage and comfort the church. Everything must be done for the edification of the church. When the Spirit manifests His gift of tongues, he will always manifest the interpretation so everyone in the church is built up regarding something about God. The whole of all of this is about the best for the whole church for it is not about individualism or edifying one person, lifting one up over another. This truth fits into all the truth of scripture, that we are all members of one body with Christ being our head. This would, in fact, be following the way of love as we eagerly desire gifts that edify the church. Thus, in love, we would desire that which builds up. So it is love and.

Love is Eternal

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE IS ETERNAL

1 Cor 13:8-13

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

NIV

Faith, hope, and love will always remain, which has to mean these three are eternal. There is the school of thought among the scholars of old, who by the way, were not from the Pentecostal persuasion, in fact, we might say they were from the anti-Pentecostal movement, that all the other gifts of the Spirit would cease at some time, expect these three would remain. The problem with that is twofold. First, this is a man determining the flowing or moving of the Spirit based on the word remain. The Greek word does have a meaning to continue to be, this would mean that continue means has no end. If somethings continue, if it is held or kept continually, not to perish, not to depart, which are all definitions of this Greek word menoo, then it has to be eternal, for all else will perish at the end of time. There will be no need for the gifts of the Spirit when we all stand before our Father in His new city for all eternity, for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit will all be present, being the light of the world. The second is, that Paul continues to say that we should follow the way of love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts. Thus, Paul is not saying everything will completely cease now while we live on the earth, but they will cease at the end of time. Even at the end of time faith, hope and love will always be a part of our relationship with God, but love is by far the greatest attribute that defines God. It may also be true that as we continue in our journey in this life we will still need faith, hope and love and of course, love is at the root of all we do. We have been looking at this love for many days, with all its traits, all its context, and if we do not have love, we are but sounding cymbals, a noise, a clashing of sound. As love is at the root of God’s relationship with us, then love has to be at the root of our relationship with Him, for that will always be, love is eternal.

To Fully Know

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

TO FULLY KNOW

1 Cor 13:8-13

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

NIV

Although there are several independent nuggets or jewels of truth among these verses, it would have been unfair, even wrong to not include the whole, thus not having the benefit if its context. Nevertheless, this first section may well have been misunderstood by some. We have heard teaching that this passage proves the gifts of the Spirit or at least the Pentecostal gifts have vanished. But this is not what the word says here. Because the point here is when perfection comes. This world and all the glory it may hold, being a creation of the Almighty God, is not perfection, for it is simply a reflection of His perfection. This world is temporary, at best, thus it is not eternal, as some may believe. According to God, he will do away with the world, however, that looks no one is sure. Nevertheless, everything in this world is only here for a while, a certain predetermined time by God. The only thing that will last is love, and we have to believe this is about the love of God. But then, as we stand in the eternal city of God, where there is no need of the sun or the moon, for His glory will give all the light that is needed, we will be filled to the brim with love for Him. So, in that sense, it is true that prophecy, tongues, and human knowledge will all pass away, for all else will pass away as well. All the imperfection will disappear in the face of perfection. This is the example that is used here to show how it will be. The difference between being and thinking like a child and being and thinking like an adult. This temporary world and what we see in it, or how we live in it is as if we were children, not really understanding everything, reasoning about the things of this world like little children. Someday, when perfection comes and all this childish thinking disappears, and we become fully man, as God intends, and we abide in His eternal city, as eternal beings, fully adult, then we will truly know. All we can see now is this world, which is only a reflection of the Glory of God, but when we stand in His presence, seeing face to face, we will know fully, even as we are fully known by Him.

Love Stays

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE STAYS

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and it also perseveres. This last characteristic of love has this meaning, according to the Greek, of remaining under, to stay under. Hupomeno sounds a lot like a hippopotamus, is an animal that stays under the water a lot. Nevertheless, it means that because we love, we will remain under even difficult times. This reminds us of the poem footprints with there always being two sets, ours and the Lords, but when times became difficult there was only one set, and the question was why did the Lord leave when it got tough and He answers because he was carrying us. That is love persevering. There seems no better explanation. Because we love, we will carry the burden of others. This is especially true in marriage, but it should also apply within the community of faith. Granted, we cannot take on the burden of every person in the church, but at the same time, if one of them is going through an extremely difficult time, perhaps even in a sinful situation, we the church would not stop loving them, but rather hold them up under pray. We would persevere through with them, as God does with us. Loving means we have that fortitude to stay the course, it is not responsive as any aspect of love is. In other words, love is not a response to being loved, although we are told that we love God because He first loved us. That is true, but in our loving others, it has to be our choice, not our response. So then no matter the circumstance, we remain faithful in our love toward others, we persevere, we endure, we remain steadfast.

Never Lose Hope

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

NEVER LOSE HOPE

 

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

What does it mean that love always hopes? What we find in the Greek gives us this idea of expectation, and in a certain sense a confident expectation, as in our hope in Christ. But how does that relate to our interactions with people? If we love someone then we have hope in them, which could be as we believe in them or we always have the hope they are doing the right thing. Even when it appears the opposite, hope will hold out believing things will turn around, repentance will occur, and this person will come back into right fellowship with the Lord. Because we love, then no one is hopeless, or rather we do not lose hope in them. When we think of how God loves us and that He always has that hope in us, that we will obey him, follow his ways, and continue to walk in the path he has set before us. How sad it would be if God lost hope in us, that he felt we were a hopeless case and simply turn us over to Satan. This makes us think of the letter to the Romans when Paul says that God gave them over to their depraved minds, which is akin to turning them over to Satan. For what reason would He do that. It would seem it was because they refused to acknowledge Him and made idols and did all sorts of wickedness. It would be too much to expound on all that is said in that first chapter of Romans. Still, would that mean that God gave up hope in them? Would that mean he stopped loving them? That is not consistent with his character, although he is just, and his decisions are just. He had a reason for that, and we have to believe it was to show them their wicked ways only harm themselves and hope they will repent. We need to go on in this letter to the Romans to see that we cannot pass that kind of judgment, so then we are only left with loving our neighbor as ourselves, or as we love God. That would then mean, we cannot turn someone over to their sinful mind, but we have to continue to love them and to have hope in them. Because we love them, we can never lose hope.

To Trust or Not to Trust

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

TO TRUST OR NOT TO TRUST

 

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

If it is love, then it always trusts. Again, it is extremely interesting the Greek word, pisteuo, is the word usually translated as faith. That is the direct meaning, to have faith in. It Also carries the meaning of to believe, to think to be true; to be persuaded of; to credit, place confidence in. Now this is how we think about others because we love them. We believe in them. Of course, it is not like we believe in God, because He is the only one who can offer us internal life, along with a host of other blessings. That is a question, why do we believe in God? what is the reason we believe in God? Without believing in God what hope do we have? But when it comes to people, especially in our marriage, there would also be no hope, if we did not believe in our spouse, if we did not have faith in them, trust them. We certainly trust in God because we love Him. That is what we are to do with people. We have heard some say that they trust someone until they do something to cause them to distrust them. Then that would have to also mean they stopped loving them. That would also mean by stopping to trust them, stopping to love them is sin, for we are commanded to love others as God loves us. What if God stopped loving us? What if He stopped trusting us, believing in us? Our personal world would crash, we would be devastated and lose all hope. It would seem this would be the situation if we discovered that we were seen as untrustworthy, and no one put their trust in us. It would seem we would feel hopeless, and there would be no reason to continue even trying. Therefore, we must love others, which means we must trust them, put our faith, believe in them in the sense that they are honest upright people. Of course, just as with ourselves, they will have sin in their lives, but that is not a reason to mistrust them, or we would have to mistrust ourselves as well. So then, we have to come to the conclusion that because we love them, we have to trust them.

Love covers

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Love has to protect, hope, trust and persevere, otherwise, it is not love. It would be good to see how the Greek words form to these translations. First, let us consider what it means to protect. The Greek word here is stego, which means roof over, to cover with silence, to keep secret, to hide. Because we love someone, and this would especially have significance in our marriages, that we cover or roof over protecting the one we love. We would never reveal any of their mistakes, or misgivings to anyone. We would always protect their honor and integrity. This would also apply to all our fellow believers, which then would have to put away anything that even resembles in any form to gossip. If we love each other as the body of Christ, then we would protect each other, keeping silent, roofing over, covering over with silence, keeping secret, hiding anything that would or could cause someone to think poorly of them. Just as the roof on our homes protects us from the storms that come our way, keeping the rain and wind outside, it keeps watch over our house without making any noise. It does not say, “Hey, roof up here, doing a fine job, aren’t you proud of me?”. It just protects us. This is love at work, this is doing love, just protecting and not having to make a deal of it, not making sure someone knows we have their back, but rather silently having their back. This covering reminds us of hiding under the shadow of His wings.

Ps 91:4

4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge;

NIV

It is remarkably interesting this Hebrew word translated as cover, means much the same as the Greek word translated as protects, it carries the meaning of to fence in, to cover, to protect. This is the love of God at work covering us, keeping, protecting. So then this is how we love others by covering them, protecting them.

Injustice or Truth

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

INJUSTICE OR TRUTH

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

How in the world could anyone delight in evil? This is not the best translation of this Greek word. A more direct translation would be iniquity or injustice, even unrighteousness. This would be in direct opposition to the truth. Injustice and truth are on the opposite sides of the fence. Because we love, we would not enjoy someone being the center of injustice. Then again, if someone commits a horrible crime, we will not rejoice in injustice either for we would want the truth to prevail. We know that God is just, that His justice is righteousness personified. However, we also know that His justice can only be satisfied through Himself. This is why He sent His Son to die on the cross to satisfy His justice so that through Christ, we are declared holy and blameless in His sight. This is how we are to live as we love others. We are not to be glad to see injustice, a wrong done to someone, nor are we supposed to do any wrong, any harm to anyone. This would also mean that we would not accuse anyone of something we have no knowledge about. In many cases we would be able to see someone doing wrong, but who are we to judge them, to accuse them? True, we are told if a brother sins against us, we are to go to him in private and rebuke or correct him, and if he repents, we have won him over. However, some manuscripts do not include the words “against you”, but merely infer a brother who is seen sinning. But, still, the point is that we should not rejoice because of a wrong, or injustice in any way. But then, we also should not be looking for wrongs that we can point out, for that would be an injustice by itself. That would go against all the rest of the characteristics of love. It certainly would not be protecting, trusting, hoping, and persevering at all, nor would it be kind, but in fact, it might even be rude, prideful, and keeping a record. So let us not be delighted in any injustice by others, or by ourselves, but instead, let us live by the truth. And what is the truth? The truth is that God is just, and through Jesus, he has forgiven us all our transgressions, therefore we should forgive those who transgress against us. When it comes down to the final analysis, injustice or truth.

No Recording

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

NO RECORDING

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

It seems almost impossible not to keep a record of wrongs. When we look at the Greek the direct interlinear says, no thinking evil. However, it would require a far deeper look into the Greek words, and this, it keeps no record of wrongs, appears to be a very good translation. Without dissecting each Greek word, we are going to focus on the concept. If we love someone, which we are supposed to love everyone, that is our neighbor, which most certainly includes our spouse. Marriage is most likely where this is going to show up more than elsewhere, although it does apply in church too, as well as in our daily life outside the community of faith. Nevertheless, it does not even have to be the fact that we were wronged to keep a record of someone’s wrongs. We merely need to have a somewhat critical attitude, watching to see if someone messes up and then make a mental note, so that we might be able to remind them at some time later, using that, somehow to our advantage. As far as when we are actually wronged in some way, then it will serve us even better to put that into our memory so that if the situation arises, we can get even. Oh, sweet revenge! Wait, that is not what we are supposed to do, because we love, we are not to keep any record whatsoever of any wrong done by anyone to us or, for that matter, to anyone. What we have to always remember is that God loves us and therefore He does not keep a record of our wrongs. He forgave us and He forgives us because we are in Christ. It is impossible for us to never do any wrongs in the case with God, for that would mean we never sin, and that is simply a lie, in that we would be deceiving ourselves to think we have attained perfection, that we have become as pure as God. Therefore, because God does not keep a record of our wrongs, who are we to keep a record of someone’s wrongs. Not only that, but because God loves us and does not keep a record of our wrongs, we should not keep a record of our wrongs either. If we did, then we would be overwhelmed with guilt and shame and would be crippled in our faith. No record means no record, putting it away, not ever bringing it up again. It may not mean we don’t remember, for our memory is what it is. However, we are not supposed to keep it locked up there, which would then be more like not forgiving. So no record, please.

Not Being Provoked into Anger

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

NOT BEING PROVOKED INTO ANGER

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Who likes to get angered? This is what this Greek word does mean in a sense, although the more direct meaning is to make sharp, but is used as to provoke or irritate or arouse to anger. So this translation is fairly good in expressing to allow someone to easily provoke us to become angry, and this would most likely be at the provoker. This is very akin to self-seeking as to be provoked to angry would mean we are very much thinking more about ourselves than others. This is not being angry about something that comes from within, which could be righteous anger as when Jesus went into the temple and drove out the animals and upset the tables of the money changers. This is being provoked by someone externally. This is someone doing something, either on purpose or just by saying or doing something specifically to get under our skin, or by just being who they are, one of those irregular people. The point is that we have to be in control of our self, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit, self-control. If we are living or walking in the Spirit and because He is working in our lives, if we allow him to, then His fruit will be evident in our lives and that includes being in control of self. This then would also mean that we would love and in so doing, we would not permit anyone to provoke us to become angry, except of course, unless it was righteous anger. To be filled with righteous anger regarding how the church has become a business rather than a house of prayer, or the house of God would seem appropriate. To watch the folly, or the frolicking around within the sanctuary, the almost disrespect for a holy place, a place we are expecting to meet, expected to prepare ourselves to meet with the living God would seem right to be filled with righteous anger. But this being easily angered is not that, it is a fit of wrong anger, an anger that is akin to rage, to being irritated, or exasperated, incensed, inflamed by what someone says to us, or does that we do not like. This is allowing someone else to have full control of our emotions. This is submitting ourselves to the will of another person of evil purposes. This being easily angered has nothing to do with love.

Love Does Not Worship Self

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE DOES NOT WORSHIP SELF

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Alright, we have come to this love that is not self-seeking. First, we should note the word 'seek' is also used as when we would seek God and has been used in the sense of to seek Him to worship. We could make this jump and use this seeking-self as like self-worship. However, the idea is still the same in that we would be wanting what we want when we want it, before giving any attention to what someone else wants or needs. This may be one of the most difficult tracts of love to overcome as we spend so much time, actually, all our time, with ourselves and have usually, if not always, been concerned about how our self is. We eat when we are hungry, we only eat what we like, and we sleep when we are tired, and do pretty much whatever we like, going, or not going somewhere based on our own desires. So then when do we yield all that for the sake of another? It would seem it is when we love them. Of course, there are those who the Spirit manifests his gift of helps through and that is what they do, usually helping others all when help needed. But this love also requires that we put self aside, at times, when another has a need and cannot help, or meet their own need. Of course, this applies most generally in a marriage when we most likely defer to our spouse. However, just because we love, does that mean we cannot ever have our own needs and desires and spend time on them? If we were always not seeking self, then it would seem self would suffer, and then what about others who are supposed to love us and not seek their self, but defer to our needs. How does that work? If all of us are always giving up self to meet the needs of another, then this would kind of be like a stalemate. Then what about those who just don’t care about meeting our needs, putting us ahead of them and they are just selfish people, always wanting more and more from us. Oh, this is a sticky-wicked situation, because that should not matter if we love. There are going to be some who would take advantage of our love, but again, we are simply supposed to love, and therefore we should not always be about seeking or worshipping self.

Love is Not Rude

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE IS NOT RUDE

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Love is not rude, or as the Greek word could imply in a more direct way, behave in an unbecoming manner. This word might also be translated as impolite, uncivil, disrespectful and impertinent, or even unpleasant. The definition of this word rude is to be offensively impolite. When we think about rudeness being offensive it reminds us of the offense played in football. They make plans to overpower the defense, to get through and make a touchdown. This seems to be the way rudeness works. It is offensive, but it is also an offense, an attack upon someone, almost in a manner to overpower a person’s natural defense. Being rude is intentional, it does not just happen, although it is possible rudeness might be a natural characteristic of some individuals. However, it cannot be so with a believer. We cannot allow this type of behavior to exist in us for that would not be loving our neighbor. It would seem it would be pretty obvious when rudeness appears, especially looking at its synonyms along with the definition of rude. This is one of those behaviors that is an outpouring of an attitude of disrespectfulness. If we do not respect someone it would seem natural to be rude to them. However, as a Christian, because we love our spouse, our neighbor or our fellow believers, and all those non-believers we have contact with throughout our day, we would never ever think to exhibit any disrespect, and thus be rude to them. The problem that we might face is with that one or two irregular people in our lives. These are those people that seem to simply rub us the wrong way, as in fingernails screeching down a chalkboard. No matter how much we try to like them, it seems all we want to do is avoid them, almost at all cost. But when we work with them, or worship with them, or have to engage with them in some business, we need the grace of God so as to not be, in any way, rude, but rather exhibit the love of God. Not everyone is easy to love, but that is exactly what we are commanded to do, love so we will not be rude.

Not Being Proud

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

NOT BEING PROUD

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Not being proud is a lot like not boasting,  except boasting requires speaking whereas being proud can be held within without any words. However, we think in most cases that this being proud will simple spill out all over the place and those haughty words will pour out. There are quite a few things that we could get a prideful attitude about. Let see, how about our education, or what kind, or how many degrees we have, or that we are smarter than others. Then there is our position in life, what kind of title we have. We might even feel that we are better looking than others, or dress better. There are all sorts of reasons we could think more highly of ourselves than we should, be so proud of ourselves. However, that would mean we really do not love others, but rather have this love affair with ourselves. Now, on the other hand, we should not be self-loathing either, after all, we are a creation of God, in fact, created in his image. Still, we need to see that we are a member of the body of Christ and as such we serve all the other members, doing that which God has called us to do. That requires that we first love the other members of the body and understand that they need us and we need them. We are all one and Jesus and the Father are one. So what is there to be proud about? All the parts are under the direction of the head, and Christ is the head. So then it seems simple enough, we cannot be proud for love is not proud.  

Love Does Not Boast

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE DOES NOT BOAST

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Alright, now we get to this boasting and the fact that love does not boast. The Greek word does give us some insight, but not much, other than to mean to vault oneself, or to be a braggart, which is boasting. When we think about it, most people like to talk about themselves and it can turn into boasting very easily. This would look like someone who is always telling of their accomplishments, or what they have been doing, or where they are going, or have been. Boasting can even be about ministry, as to how much of whatever we do for the Lord. There is room to be a witness for what the Lord has done or is doing in our lives, without boasting about ourselves. We have to make sure we always give all the credit to the Lord for all things concerning our life. He is the potter and we are the clay, so then it is up to Him as to who we are, in the sense of the type of vessel, and what we are doing, as to how the vessel is used, and what gifts we have or the Spirit manifests in us, as in how he fills us. When we start thinking it is about our talent, our education, our abilities, it can turn into being boastful even if we do not voice it out loud. We can get this boastful attitude within ourselves, but then the scripture says that as a man thinks, so is he. So then, even if all our boasting is internal, what we think of ourselves, then we are still in danger, for we should not think more highly of ourselves than we should. However, this internal attitude does eventually show up externally. This just cannot be helped, as we want to be seen as important, useful, and needed. However, if we love, then we would not even think like that. We would want to build up others, not tear them down by making ourselves so special. It would seem this takes effort not to boast, yet if we are living for Christ, and the Spirit is dwelling and influencing our lives, then it should be effortless, as boasting would not come naturally to us, but rather love would, and we know that love does not boast.  

Love Does Not Envy

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE DOES NOT ENVY

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Now that we have garnered the idea of being patient and having kindness, we turn our attention to this attitude of envy. It is interesting, this Greek word translated as envy is the same word that Paul just used to tell them to earnestly desire the greater gifts, or as the KJV says covet earnestly. This Greek word, zeloo, carries the meaning to burn with zeal, to desire earnestly, to pursue. It also has this concept to be heated, to boil, to strive after, and to busy oneself about. We take this longer look at this word because we simply see this English word envy, as to want what someone else has or to be envious of them because they have more than we do. However, it seems more than that. We get the impression that not only do we want what they have, we burn with desire for it and busy ourselves in an effort to get it. Perhaps we are not attempting to steal it from them, but we desire what they have so much that we make every effort to pursue after it, as in, trying to get the same thing. The English definition of envy has this idea of the feeling of discontentment or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions or qualities. This would imply that we either think they are better in some way than we are, or that God has blessed them more than he has us, or that we have such low self-esteem because we don’t have as much as others. However, love does not do that. Because we love, we rejoice about what God has done, is doing in and for someone. Because we have chosen the path of love, we do not feel the need to walk in the life of another, or desire their position in life, or their amount of possessions. Because we choose to love, we do not envy, instead, we are perfectly content in Christ and where he leads us, and how He is working in our life. We think of the potter and the clay, we sing that song, break me, mold me, fill me and use me. It is up to the Lord as to what type and size vessel he molds us into and thus how he uses us for His purpose. Therefore, we are not the same vessel as He molds another, nor are we the same size, for each member of the body of Christ, has its own purpose. The eye cannot say it wants to be the mouth, or because it is not the mouth it does not belong to the body. Love does not envy, it does not burn with desire for something else, whether position or possession. Love does not envy

Love is kind

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE IS KIND

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Love is kind, which is an extension to love is patient. But then, all of these traits of love are so interconnected it is difficult to cut one out from all the rest. Still, in some sense, it is right to deal with each of these aspects of love to see how they fit in. So what is kind, or being kind mean? How do we define kind? The Greek word does not give us too much help here for it means being kind, however, its meaning does include showing oneself to be useful, beneficial. It also means to show oneself mild. It is interesting this form of the Greek word is used only once and it is here. If we were to include kindness, as a verb, instead of this word kind as an adverb, we could find several places it is used, one of which is in the fruit of the Spirit. But still, it gets defined as being kind or showing kindness. It still does not give us a full understanding of what it means to be kind. We think how the English word ‘kind’ means and still come up with being kindhearted, courteous, amiable, charitable, affectionate, cordial, sympathetic, thoughtful, considerate, gracious, compassionate, and gentle as synonyms, and still, it seems we come up short to fully understanding this word. Perhaps if we investigated some antonyms we would get a better picture. These would be aloof, antagonistic, disagreeable, harsh, cruel, hateful, inattentive, unfeeling, and thoughtless, just to name a few. Now we are getting this fuller picture of what type of an attitude and behavior being kind looks like. So then because we love, and that itself is altogether the point. Love is a choice, we choose to love. One, because we are told to love as a command of God, and two, we choose to obey or disobey God, and thus if we choose to obey him, then we have to choose to love others, and therefore act in a manner of kindness. It is our choice, it does not come naturally, but we choose to love and therefore we choose to be kind, with all its similar words, and set aside all those opposing words. Love is kind.  

Being Patient

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

BEING PATIENT

1 Cor 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

NIV

Could we entitle these verses as the wedding verses, for it seems many couples want them to be read at their wedding? It is certainly good for spouses to consider the merits of love. However, it would also be true that all believers would be wise to consider the merits of love in our interactions with each other as well as other people we encounter throughout our life. There is no question there are certain individuals it might be very difficult to exhibit these characteristics of love toward. Those are the people who just rub us the wrong way, as like fingernails on a chalkboard. Nevertheless, that does not relieve us from being who we should be and love our neighbor as He has loved us. If we look at these qualities of love, we most certainly can see God’s love for us. Still, we need to see how these traits apply in our relationships with our spouse as well as others. When we read that love is patient and we look at this Greek word, we begin to get this idea of being long of spirit, not to lose heart, which is the more direct translation. But that carries this meaning of not losing heart in our relationships with others. Being forbearing, or patient with others may take a little effort. It is not so much of patiently waiting for someone to show up, or be ready to leave the house, as is the case some husbands may need to do as their wives finish their preparations to appear in public. This is putting up with that irregular person or bearing an offense without being vengeful. This is living being mild, to preserve through, without getting upset, angry, or feeling hurt or injured by what someone did or said. If we love them, then we would be patient with them. It would be easier to understand this patient if we took all the rest of their qualities and lump them all in, but it also seems right to focus on one at a time. Maybe we need to get this kind of focus so we can remember it and become more a part of our everyday life so that we can be as patient with others as God is with us.

Love Gains Everything

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

LOVE GAINS EVERYTHING

1 Cor 13:1-3

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

NIV

Now we are going to get to the most excellent way, which is love. As we have been seeing the gifts of the Spirit are for the common good and all are to be done from the motivation of love. This means nothing can be done for the edification of self for that would not be love, for we can only love someone else. Of course, there is self-love. We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves. Who hates his own self? We will get into all those definitions of what love is and what it isn’t that is usually read at many weddings, which in all reality have little to do with spousal love. Although, we would have to say it would be right to apply all those principles of love not just to everyone, but also to our spouse. In fact, this may be why we have to yield more to the influence of the Spirit because we may tend to somewhat let our guard down when we are alone with our spouse. This is where we might forget all those do’s and don’ts of love. However, first, we should note that Paul is making it clear that it does not matter how much we do, what kind of gifts we are being manifested in us, or how many good deeds we do, or holy and righteous we may be, even suffering for the sake of others, if whatever we do in the body of Christ is not motivated by our love for others, then it is meaningless, we gain nothing, it holds no reward. There is no reward without love. Would that mean the reward of salvation needs to be based on love? How could we say that we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior if we did not love him? That would be ludicrous! That comes first, before loving our neighbor as ourselves. We have to love God with all our being, our heart, mind, soul, and strength, then our neighbor. So then although we apply all these next attributes of love to each other, we ought to also think of them in terms of love toward God, as well as how God loves us. In essence, we could say that love gains everything.

Eagerly Desire

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

EAGERLY DESIRE

1 Cor 12:27-31

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

NIV

As we have dealt fairly well with this speaking in tongues and interpretation, we should move on and ask the question which Paul is asking. Not everyone is given the same gift, although with as many people or believers there are we would have to believe there are many repeats. There are only, or at least it seems, only a few different gifts that can go around. From what we can gather there are about twelve gifts and then those four that are given to the church at large. So then if all the stores in town only had twelve items and there were, as an example, three hundred people in the family and all wanted to give someone a birthday gift, there would have to be repeats. Nevertheless, the fact remains the gifts are meant to be given and the Spirit gives to each as he determines and they all have the express reason for the common good. Therefore, there should be no pride in having or being gifted with any particular gift, as each should be for the common good, which is to serve the others. But what we have to consider is this statement that we are to eagerly desire the greater gifts. We should note at the conclusion of all this discussion of the gifts that there are those scholars, many of old, that is past scholars who have already gone, but are of a particular denominational persuasion, insist all these gifts have ceased. There were only intended for the early church during its formation and were never intended to be a permanent part of the church. We could not be any more in disagreement with them as we have witnessed many of the various manifestations of the Spirit in the church today and have been gifted at times with the discernment to know it was the Spirit giving a gift for the common good. In addition, if those scholars of old are so convinced the gifts have ceased, then they are the ones making that claim and are therefore determining there shall be no manifestation of any gifts by the Spirit, thus telling the Spirit that he is not welcome in the church. Who is man to inform God as to what he can do and cannot do in the church? The fact remains that if we insist one aspect of the scripture has no bearing in the church today, then who is to say any of the scripture does, or which part does and which part doesn’t. We might as well just throw it all out because we only want to believe some and not the rest. Maybe we can just start tearing certain pages out, maybe that would work, but then which ones would we choose. We need to move on to eagerly desire the greater gifts, and find this most excellent way. We know it, and we will explore various aspects of love when we get to these next passages. For now let us just consider we should desire the Spirit to have His way in our lives so that we the church function as we should, as one, the body of Christ. So we look forward to the most excellent way.

Gift of Governing

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GIFT OF GOVERNING

1 Cor 12:27-31

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

NIV

What about this gift of administration? The Greek word might better be translated as govern or governing, as in to steer, to direct the course. Some have seen this as a dictatorship in the church, figuratively. If we were to take this translation of administration, then we might think of a church secretary as being the organizer, the admin of the church. But that would be wrong in the sense that this is not a position of employment or is it a position of dictatorship, such as some might think a pastor might be, or in the catholic faith, the pope. Because this is a gift it has to be the choice of the Spirit as to who he manifests governing in. Now, we also should consider because of the context that includes what we would think could be permanent manifestations, this could be seen in one person over a period of time, such as apostles, prophets, teachers and pastors, and evangelists. Those are gifts to the church and it would appear they are somewhat of a permanent gift. It is possible the Spirit could withdraw his manifesting any gift if there was a reason. Nevertheless, maybe we should see this gift of governing as somewhat of a permanent gift so that someone performs the duties of directing the church. This seems to be what had happened in the early church when the apostles decided the church needed deacons, to manage the businesslike affairs of the church, while they focused on the spiritual matters of the church. The Greek word used in the 6^th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles when they decided the church should select seven men who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom to serve or see to the distribution of food, is diekoneoo, which is where we get the English word deacon. So, it might be that deacons should be seen as having the gift of administration, but then they would also need to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. Still, it may be that this gift is placed within people for extended periods of time, so governing or administrating can take place within the church. Maybe all the gifts should be seen in this manner. Maybe even all those gifts mentioned before could be semi-permanently manifested in certain people for the benefit of the common good. If this were the case as with those gifted with administration, such as those we use the term deacon for, would not have manmade terms of office, as this would be a gift of the Spirit, determined by the Spirit. This would apply to all those gifts to the church. Instead of having a vote of confidence, as some churches do for the pastor, the Spirit has control of this, and not the people. Then pastors or deacons in this case could be hired or fired at the whim of man, ignoring the Spirit. So, once again, let us yield to the Spirit and see this gift of administration as it should be, one used for the common good.

Giving Relief

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GIVING RELIEF

1 Cor 12:27-31

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

NIV

There is a new gift mentioned here in this list and that is the gift of helping others. The Greek word here means directly that, although it carries the meaning of relief or aid. To give someone relief, to give them aid, or helping them so their burden is not too much to bear. This might be difficult to distinguish from the normal humanitarian aid of which there is so much given. There are many people who help other people in various ways, almost too many to even attempt to enumerate. So then, how do we determine the difference between the Spirit manifesting the gift of help, and the ordinary human helping his fellow man? We would think this gift, like the rest of them, would have to be something supernatural, rather than humanitarian. There are some people who naturally gravitate toward being helpful, which others seem not to be, although if asked, are willing to lend a helping hand. However, that is not the gift of help. Sometimes we get the impression that we own these gifts, or that they permanently reside within us. That is to say, the Spirit choices who he will manifest one of his gifts in and that is it for the rest of time, that gift remains within, or with us. This might be due to seeing a pastor as a long-time recipient of that gift. However, that may not be the case, as there may be many pastors who may have been called, and spent years in study to receive enough education to be credentialed by a denomination, but may not be the gift of pastor to the church. A gift by definition is just that a gift, and it requires nothing from the receiver, other than to open it, it is freely given, at no cost to the recipient. Of course, within any organization, rules apply and qualifications for entry or membership may exist, and such is the case for the position of pastor. One has to apply for that position and meet the organization's qualifications to be granted the right to be a pastor, and then in some churches, need the approval of the board, and actually be hired, while other churches send their pastors where needed. With this gift of help, it could be that same way, in that a person may have this gift residing within and simply is always about helping, while that could also be simply their natural disposition. Again, how do we determine if the gift is active within someone, and does the Spirit chose to reside this gift as a permanent part of a person’s life? If we think of this gift as giving relief, as the Greek word suggests, then maybe that is different than helping, or at least, beyond normal helping. To give relief gives us the impression that the pressure of a particular burden is lifted from someone, they have been relieved from that burden, given relief, freed from it by the aid of this gift of help by the Spirit. This would need to be supernatural to be able to give relief, to free someone from their burden.