1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 Some Corinthian Christians seem to have been creating divisions over spiritual gifts. Paul’s use of the body analogy in 1 Corinthians 12:12 implies that they have placed so much emphasis on one gift that those without that gift feel that they are not part of... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:2 PAGANS. Literally, “Gentiles” or non-Jews. The Corinthians, although not ethnic Jews, are now part of God’s people. They are connected to OT Israel. See v. 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Corinthians 10:1, 1 Corinthians 10:32. ⇐ ⇔... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:3 Because of their pre-Christian experience of pagan worship services (v. 1 Corinthians 12:2), some Corinthians may have had concerns about speaking in tongues (see discussion of tongues in note on v. 1 Corinthians 12:10). Paul first assures them that they shou... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4 SPIRIT... LORD... GOD. A Trinitarian reference to the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and God the Father (compare 2 Corinthians 13:14). ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:8 UTTERANCE OF WISDOM... UTTERANCE OF KNOWLEDGE. Some understand these to be miraculous gifts; God gives a person supernatural “wisdom” or “knowledge” to share in a particular situation. Others take these to be more “natural” gifts—the ability to speak wisely o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:9 FAITH. Probably a special gift of faith for accomplishing a particular task (see 1 Corinthians 13:2; Acts 14:9; James 5:15). GIFTS OF HEALING. Both terms are plural (“gifts of healings”), suggesting that different people may be gifted regarding different kind... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:10 MIRACLES. Probably including but not limited to healing (see Acts 8:13; Acts 14:8; Acts 19:11; Romans 15:19; Galatians 3:5; Hebrews 2:4). PROPHECY, as used by Paul in... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:13 IN ONE SPIRIT WE WERE ALL BAPTIZED. Like the other “baptism in the Holy Spirit” passages in the NT (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:16), this one seems to refer to the cleansing and empowering [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:14 BODY... MEMBER. See Romans 12:4; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 4:11. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, i [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:28 On APOSTLES, see notes on Matt. 10:2; Romans 1:1. PROPHETS. See note on 1 Cor. 12:10. FIRST... SECOND... THIRD... THEN seems to be a ranking of importance or benefit to the church. TEACHERS, HELPING, and ADMINISTRATING do not appear in the list in vv. 1 Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:29 ARE ALL APOSTLES? The answer is obviously no. Paul also expects the reader to answer no to all of the following questions. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
1 CORINTHIANS—NOTE ON 1 CORINTHIANS 12:31 EARNESTLY DESIRE implies that Christians can and should want additional spiritual gifts (see 1 Corinthians 14:1, 1 Corinthians 14:13; James 1:5). THE HIGHER GIFTS means those that do more to build up the church (see 1 Corinthians 14:5,... [ Continue Reading ]