Bible Verse of the Day Saturday October 28th, 2023

1 Corinthians 12:8-10 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,  to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

There is some confusion in today's Church centered around the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their proper usage. The Corinthian Christians lacked no spiritual gifts. God had endowed them with all speech, enriched in all knowledge, and equipped with incredible spiritual giftings as a testimony of the conformation of Christ among them. However, we learned they were argumentative, sexually impure, and had retrogressed into unparalleled evil, immorality, and spiritual infancy.

In the beginning of the Christian Church on earth, the gospel message was spread from person to person by word of mouth since the Word of God had not yet been mass-produced, such as we have today. There was an explosion of spiritual gifts in the early days of the Christian church. Paul expounded in the Book of Romans that a significant cause for the intense numbers of spiritual gifts and grace given to the Gentile believers in the early days of the Christian movement was to incite Israel to jealousy.

In the writings of the Apostle Paul, we learn that the Jews needed a sign. At the same time, the Gentiles longed for wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:22). It must have been a difficult period for the Jewish people to grasp the administrative change that came about because of the substitutionary work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. It was challenging for the Jews to let go of their Temple worship and other religious trappings. It was tough for the Jewish people to acknowledge and recognize that God accepted the Gentile believers, just as He had always accepted Jewish believers. The fact that together, the Jews and the Gentiles had become a new mission in God's economy, the Church, which is the Body of Christ, was more than many of the Jewish people could accept.

God made atonement available for the sins of all who accepted Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Jew and Gentile alike. Salvation is for anyone who surrenders their lives to Christ Jesus and accepts him as the Lord and Savior. His resurrection from the dead fulfilled much of the prophetic writings in Scripture and pointed to Christ as the long-awaited and promised Messiah-King.

When used appropriately, the gifts of the Holy Spirit were excellent tools the Lord used to spread the good news of salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike in those early days of the Church. The gifts of the Spirit also validated the authenticity of Christianity before God gave the world the New Testament Scripture. God also used Spiritual gifts as a sign to the Jewish people that the Gentiles indwelled the Gentiles with the Holy Spirit, as were the Jews.

Just as many people in antiquity exploited spiritual gifts, there are many in this day and age who still use their spiritual gifts for selfish purposes: for self-gratification, self-acclamation, ungodly exploitation, or to influence and command others. We should always use God's spiritual gifts with humbleness and sincerity and always for God's glory. If we fail in that mission, we will like an undistinguishable bugle that only stands to confuse the listeners and brings great dishonor to the name of Christ Jesus.