Inductive Bible Study
January, 30, 2013
1 Corinthians 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same
Spirit;
Interpretation
God uses His Spirit as he wills to do ‘signs and wonders’
through His people for His purposes and for His glory. One thing we cannot do
is completely focus on attaining the gift of tongues or the gift of healing. In
faith, God certainly can do those things through us but only if it is in His
will and for His purposes. Hebrews 2:4 says ‘God also testified to it by signs,
wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed
according to His will’. And also Romans 12:6 says ‘We have different gifts,
according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it
in proportion to his faith.’ One thing we can tell from this verse from
Romans is that if God distributes, according to His will, a spiritual gift to a
believer; that gift is only used in proportion to his faith. So we could be
just a mustard seed of faith away from prophesying or healing or moving
mountains, but only in the will of God.
However, we can’t forget to take this verse in the context of
the book. 1 Corinthians 13, the love
chapter, is sandwiched right between chapter 12 and 14 which are both concerning spiritual gifts. Obviously chapter 13 is very important in understanding the context of chapter 12 and 14. Even if we have this ‘proportion of faith’, 1
Corinthians 13:2 says ‘And If I have prophetic powers, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.’ In 13:8 and 13 we read ‘Love
never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will
cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. So now faith, hope, and love
abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’
Having a good ‘proportion of faith’ is great. But our
pursuit should be on the greatest virtue, love. The 2 commandments given to us
by Jesus was: love God with everything you are and love your neighbor as
yourself. To close out I want to finish with 1 Corinthians 14:1 which sums up
this study pretty well, ‘Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual
gifts.’
Application
Today to pursue love and in light of the greatest commandments,
I will spend extra time in God’s Word and prayer outside of my morning
devotions.
