by Timothy W. Burnett
The very first verse of chapter 12 gives the foundation, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant."
It is not God's will that His people be ignorant or lack in knowledge. We have His word that was given through holy men of God who spoke by His spirit (1Peter 1:21).
Moreover, we have been given all things unto life and godliness (1Peter 1:3).
The word gifts is a bad translation. In the King James Bible this word is in italics. The writers of the Bible did there best to show where they added words that were not in the earlier known texts. They did so by using the italic font style for them.
The word spiritual came from an earlier Greek word that meant spiritual matters. With this in mind, it would not be out of place to draw a line over the word gifts and write in "matters."
The use of the word gifts has led to confusion in the church concerning spiritual matters.
Today many churches believe that people who prophecy have the "gift of prophecy." Or they who speak in tongues have the "gift of tongues."
As we continue in this study, it will be seen that this belief does not match God's rightly divided word.
God wants His people to be informed of the truth concerning spiritual matters. The next four chapters cover spiritual matters.
Continuing with 1Corinthians 12:2, "You know that you were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as you were led."
Paul was talking to the brethren, the born again saints. He reminded them of who they were before getting saved. They were carried away and led unto dumb or ignorant idols.
The body of Christ is no longer counted as Gentiles in God's eyes. At the same time they are reminded that at one time they were Gentiles, blinded by there unbelief of the truth and led away unto following ignorant idols that had nothing to do with the truth.
These two verses prepare the readers for what they are about to read. God lovingly emphasizes that He does not want us to be ignorant of the spiritual matters of life and that He is the true source for understanding them, not the world with its ignorant idols that appear as truth.
Praise God for the light of His word which teaches us how to grow spiritually! Next week we will dive into the spiritual matters in 1Corinthians 12:3-12.
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