MATTERS OF THE SPIRIT
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
“Now about matters of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” (Translation by Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Revised Edition), New International Commentary on the New Testament.)
The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy Trinity — God himself. There is no way we can describe him or define what he does and how he does what he does. He is not visible, being Spirit. He does not leave a trail of evidence of his presence. Yet he is vitally involved with every Christian and Christian community.
This being the case, it is easy for people to put him in a box, and especially where he is manifested in visible or audible ways, people would desire to experience these manifestations above others. Unfortunately, it is also easy to be wrongly influenced and led astray. Not all spiritual manifestations are of the Spirit of God and when we are unclear about matters of the Spirit, we can get in the way of his work.
So Paul, in response to what the church in Corinth was saying to him, felt it necessary to establish some baseline principles.
Firstly the Holy Spirit would never lead a person to curse Jesus, and only the Holy Spirit would affirm that Jesus is indeed the Anointed One. Flowing from this, I think it is safe to infer that the Spirit of God would never lead a Christian to sin and go against God’s word, but where a person is led to obey the word of God, to express God’s character in terms of love and light, one can safely believe that they are being led by the Spirit of God. Paul clearly believes that it is vital that we are sure when we claim we are speaking by the Spirit of God. In the same vein, we should be circumspect in claiming that we are led by the Spirit, or that we speak in his stead because we should always desire, and be careful, that others are led by the Spirit of God and no one else.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit is not one-dimensional, just as God himself is not one-dimensional. As we glory in the creative genius of God in Creation, we should celebrate the creative ways in which the Spirit works in our lives. At the same time the multiplicity of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit comes from the mind and heart of the One God; they are not intended to divide but to express the nature of the Triune God who is the One God.
Finally, the intention of the Holy Spirit is for the common good of the community of saints and that intention must shape our attitude towards his interactions with our lives. It is not about gifts to satisfy the individual, it is not even about gifts per se — it is about what is good for the community of saints. No one should be self-centred in their regard of the work of the Holy Spirit. No one should regard the manifestations of the Spirit as means to elevate themselves, or even the community, above others. They are not prizes to mark how spiritual you have become. It is his work, and his intention is for the benefit of all in the community, and he does his work as he freely determines.
These baseline principles should give us a clear idea how we are to view and respond to the work of the Holy Spirit. Consider yourself informed!
“All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”