Daily Bread

1 Corinthians 12: 1 - Now concerning the spiritual brethren I would not have you ignorant.

Paul lays out in this chapter and in Chapter 14 very specific details as to how the saints should function in the context of the church. In the opening statements that Paul made in this letter he testified that the saints at Corinth were not lacking in any of the 'charismata' (gifts), 1 Corinthians 1:7. However, Paul is now speaking of something that extends beyond the charismata.' At this juncture Paul is talking about the 'pneumatikos' (the spiritual). The Authorized Version adds a word that does not exist in any Greek manuscripts, 'gift.' To include this word actually narrows the focus from a broader application of the 'spiritual.' The 'spiritual' is the realm of the Spirit - including all of the activities of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual refers to everything that pertains to the Kingdom of God, the realm in which God and all of His heavenly host function. As Jesus said inMatthew 12:28, "If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come to you." When the Kingdom of God is revealed it is revealed through the spiritual activity of the Holy Spirit. In fact, when Jesus ministered, the scripture says that he "went about all of the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all sickness and every disease among the people (Matthew 9:35). He also told His disciples to go and preach the gospel of the Kingdom by healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils (Matthew 10:8; Luke 9:1-2). After that, Jesus sent out seventy other to declare the things of the Kingdom by the same signs and wonders(Luke 10:1,9,17). Finally, the same commission was given to everyone who believes, "These signs shall follow them that believe; in my name they will cast out devils; they will speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it will not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17). At the time that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost the realms of the spiritual began to manifest through those in the church. They were baptized in Holy Spirit even as one may be baptized in water. And just as Jesus had promised out of their bellies began to flow rivers of living water, which is unlimited manifestations of the spiritual. Of the 27 times that this word is found in the New Testament Paul uses it 26 times to express the operation of the Holy Spirit through the saints in signs and wonders or to express that which belongs to the realms of God. The first time that Paul uses this word is in Romans 1:11 for the impartation of the spiritual into the saints. The first time that he uses the word in this letter to the church at Corinth is in 2:13 in which he describes how he ministers and uses it as the contrast to the realm of the natural. In chapter 2, Paul contrasts the spiritual 'pneumatikos,' which is the realm of God to the natural 'psuchikos,' which is the realm of men. The same contrast between the spiritual and the natural are made in 1 Corinthians 15:44-46). And, finally, both Jude and James define that which is of the natural realm 'psuchikos' as that which has not the Spirit (Jude 19; James 3:15).

Blessings

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org