Bible Commentaries
1 Corinthians 12

Verses 1-31

XIX

THE MISUSE AND ABUSE OF MIRACULOUS GIFTS

1 Corinthians 12:1-31.

The scope of this chapter, with two others, is 1 Corinthians 12-14, being the sixth Ecclesiastical Disorder at Corinth, to wit: The Misuse and Abuse of Miraculous Gifts, bestowed upon the members of the church, in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is partly a discussion of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and I take for the text 1 Corinthians 12:13, following the revised version: "For in one Spirit [that Is the element of the baptism, showing it was not a water baptism] were we all baptized into one body. I prefer to say "unto"; it makes better sense. Almost entirely throughout the New Testament the preposition eis, with the verb baptizo, is read "unto," not altogether, but in almost all cases.

Let us read the text again: "For in one Spirit were we all [past tense, referring to Paul’s baptism in the Spirit and the Corinthians’ baptism in the Spirit] baptized unto one body," that is, baptism in the Spirit did not refer to any man individually, though the baptism in his case was individual and in power. The baptism had reference to the church, the one body. That is the text.

There are certain preliminary scriptures that should be studied before we can fully comprehend 1 Corinthians 12-14. Indeed, I do not know a subject about which there Is so much incorrect thinking and confusion of mind as about the baptism in the Spirit. Not one preacher in a thousand, whether he be ignorant or learned, has any clear conception of the signification of the Baptism in the Spirit. There are two typical, or symbolical, Old Testament references that need first to be considered. One is Exodus 40. There, all of the material of the tabernacle was brought together into one place; brought together ready finished and put up; each piece, no matter whether stone, gold, silver, brass, wood, or cloth, each piece was so fully prepared that when they went to put it up they didn’t have to use tools; it just fitted exactly. As soon as this symbolical or typical house of God was set up and completed, then the cloud came down and filled that house.

The other Old Testament symbol is in I Kings. Just as soon as all the material for the Temple was prepared according to the divine pattern, and was put up without the sound of hammer, the cloud that had filled the tabernacle, a house now useless, came and filled the Temple, which succeeded the portable tent of the wilderness.

On the day of Pentecost, the church, which is the antitype of both tabernacle and Temple, and which is the new house of God that had been built by our Lord Jesus Christ in his lifetime, but up to that hour tenantless, was filled by the Holy Spirit, and every man and woman of the 120 who that day were baptized in the Holy Spirit, were baptized eis ten ecclesian – "unto the church." They were all baptized in one Spirit, but the purpose of that baptism was unto the church. Whatever may be said about that baptism in the way of power, it was for the purpose of attesting, or accrediting the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us carefully study, whether I discuss them or not, the following passages of scripture: Matthew 3:11-12; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:16-17; all of which refer to the prophecy of John the Baptist. He says, "I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, . . he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit." That is the baptism of the Spirit in promise. John is contrasted with Jesus: John is the administrator in the water baptism, and is contrasted with Jesus, the administrator of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The water is the element in one, the Spirit is the element of the other. John’s was a baptism which any man with ordinary power could carry out, but the baptism in the Spirit needed One mightier than John, because this baptism in the Spirit was a baptism in power.

The next case that we need to study by way of promise is John 7:37-39: "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given. In this passage there is a sharp contrast between the previous statement of Jesus to the woman of Samaria when he said that whoever would drink of the water he should give him would never thirst, but it should be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. That referred to conversion, and was for the benefit of him that received it. It was to be something in him that would forever supply his spiritual thirst. But in this case, in John 7, he refers to the gift of the Spirit that had not yet been bestowed. The result was not to put a well in the man, but from him should outflow streams of water. In other words, the object of the giving of the Spirit, as stated in this chapter of John, was not to make the recipient a better man, but to give the power to bestow benefits upon others. In this passage it is distinctly stated that in the sense meant by Jesus the Spirit was not yet. When John spoke, it was of something in the future: "He shall baptize you," and when John the apostle wrote, "The Spirit was not yet," he referred to the time when the Spirit had not been given, and before which there had been no baptism in the Spirit. There was no incident of it having occurred in the history of the world to this time. It was something that, up to the day of Pentecost, was merely prophecy or promise. So, therefore, it is not to be confounded in any way with any display that took place in the history of the world up to that time, therefore we cannot call it conversion. In conversion the Spirit is the agent, the sinner is the subject, and the object of regeneration is to make the man better; in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the administrator, the Spirit is the element, and the object is to confer power for the good of others, and to accredit.

I say there never had been a baptism in the Holy Spirit in the world up to that time; it had been foreshadowed in the cloud filling the tabernacle when the tabernacle was ready; foreshadowed in the cloud filling the Temple when the Temple was ready. That cloud over the tabernacle gave it the authority, the prestige of God. And so the cloud gave prestige to the Temple. The Temple was the dwelling place of the cloud, and so the baptism of the Holy Spirit filled the house that Jesus built in his lifetime, crying out on the cross, "It is finished." The veil of the Temple, or the old house, was rent in twain from top to bottom, and according to the prophecy in Daniel, after the Messiah came, and was cut off, there was to be an anointing of the holy place, for the holy place was the new Temple, or church.

Let us look next at John 14-17. Those four chapters constitute the New Testament book of comfort, as Isaiah from Isaiah 40 to the end of the book constitutes the Old Testament book of comfort. The Old Testament book of comfort speaks exclusively of the coming Lord; the New Testament book of comfort speaks exclusively of the coming Holy Spirit. Not everything in those four chapters of John is limited in meaning to the baptism in the Spirit, but very many of the references are strictly so limited.

The next antecedent scripture is Luke 24:49, in which Jesus, after rebuking them for not understanding what the law, the prophets, and the psalm said concerning himself, said, "Tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high," and "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you," as Luke gives it in Acts 1:8. Thus he says, "You are a church; you are organized; you have a commission to go out to preach to the whole world, but tarry until you are endued with power; wait ye at Jerusalem until ye receive power from on high." In Mark 16:17-18 those signs there give the meaning of the baptism in the Holy Spirit: "These signs shall accompany them that believe: if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them." These are the passages that need to be studied.

We now take up the fulfilment of those prophecies. The first is in Acts 2. On that day of Pentecost they were waiting and praying. The Spirit had been promised, but had not come. They had their commission. There was the house, but it was empty. On the day of Pentecost this baptism in the Spirit was manifested by the following phenomena: First, the sound; there comes the sound, the ear caught that; that sound was as a rushing, mighty wind. I stood once about 100 yards from the path of a cyclone, and watched it, and for the first time in my life I realized the awful sound of a rushing, mighty wind. The next phenomenon appealed, not to the ear, but to the sight. A luminous sheet like as of fire, but not fire, appeared, and that sheet of flame distributed itself as fire distributes itself, into tongues. When a fire is kindled it isn’t even around the edges, but it parts, or divides itself, into tongues of flame; and now this luminous appearance, as a vibrating, moving fire tongue, rested on the head of every one of the 120. That appealed to the sight. Now they all began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The whole city heard that cyclonic roar; it filled all the city, and they came rushing forward to the place where it seemed to be. And the people were gathered together, and they saw the whole 120 in ecstasy, speaking in foreign tongues, speaking to the gathered crowds that were there from every nation under heaven, and each man heard the praise of God spoken in the tongue in which that man was born. That was the first manifestation. A particular form of power is represented by tongues, that is, the capacity to speak in a language in which one has never been educated. There can be no mistake about that from Acts 2.

They do not receive this baptism in the Holy Spirit as individuals, but each man baptized in the Spirit that day was baptized eis ten ecclesian, "unto the church," that is, he received that power, not for his gratification, but in order to attest and accredit that church; it was to be a sign. Accrediting comes through the marvelous power given.

We take up the next example of fulfilment in Acts 8:14-24. Philip had preached to the Samaritans, not the Jews, but a mixed population. They had believed Philip and were baptized, both men and women, but no miraculous power of the Holy Spirit had come on them. The apostles in Jerusalem heard of it; they sent John and Peter down, and when they laid their hands on them they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The next case is presented in Acts 10:44-47, with a reference to it in Acts 11:15-17. Here is the one step for which Peter, preaching to the Gentiles, was called to account by the Jews. "And as Peter spake to Cornelius and his house, the Holy Spirit fell on them, and they spake with tongues and glorified God." Peter says, "I remember the prophecy of John the Baptist; that he baptized people in water, but One should come after him mightier than he, who would baptize in the Holy Spirit. Who was I that I should withstand God, when these Gentiles had received the gospel just the same as we Jews had."

The next case is given in Acts 19:6. Paul found at Ephesus twelve men who had known nothing but the baptism of John. They had been baptized, but they knew nothing of the Holy Spirit. The one that baptized them was certainly not John, for he had been dead twenty years. Somebody, without being sent to baptize, was trying to perpetuate John’s baptism – to administer it unauthorized. Paul says, "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?" They said, "No; we never so much as even heard that the Holy Spirit was given." Paul then expounded to them what John had preached and laid his hands on them, and they received the baptism of the Spirit and began to speak with tongues and prophesied.

The last particular case is in 1 Corinthians 12-14. It discusses the baptism that the members of the church at Corinth had received – a case ’in its typical foreshadowing, in its promise and prophecy, and in its effect, or its fulfilment.

With these things before us we are prepared to take up these three chapters, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit we will consider more particularly. These Corinthians had misunderstood, misused, and abused it, and had so misused it and abused it that it was not eis ten ecclesian, "unto the church," but it was bringing confusion and discord in the church and causing factions. In order to understand the phrase, eis ten ecclesian, let us consider two paragraphs of 1 Corinthians 12: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant," i.e., "you ought not to misunderstand such a matter as the baptism in the Holy Spirit." Then comes the text: "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free." Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, could not be together on the Jewish ecclesia, nor could they be together in the Greek ecclesia. In the ecclesia of Jesus Christ there were Gentiles, Jews, bond, free, Parthian, Scythian, male, or female, without any distinction of race, or previous condition of servitude. They all received this baptism of the Spirit, but received it with reference to its purpose, viz.: to accredit the church.

Speaking of the church as a body, he continues the discussion this way: "For the body is not one member, but many. All the members being one body, so also is Christ, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free." "If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. And the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body." But now in this baptism of the Holy Spirit, they were baptized eis, "unto," one body. "But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him. . . . But now they are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you."

He goes on to say that when one member suffers, all suffer; if one is honored, all rejoice. "Now we are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof." Notice their offices in the church, and the order in which he puts them: "First, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diverse kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" That shows the need of a church; that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was to accredit the church; that not the individual members received the baptism.

If that baptism in the Holy Spirit was conversion, it was not the same in all of them. One received the gift to heal; one the gift to speak in foreign tongues; one received the gift to interpret tongues; another received faith, not faith in Jesus, but mountain-moving faith, so that if he should say to the mountain, "Be thou cast into the sea," it would be done. And another would receive some other form of gifts. There was diversity of gifts, but they all came from one Spirit, and every one of them had reference to one body, the church.

Very abundantly did this Corinthian church receive miraculous power. In 1 Corinthians 14 it is brought out much more clearly. Every one of these miraculous gifts being to accredit the church, were circumstantially, temporarily in the church, as in the next chapter Paul says, "Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease." Whenever the church was sufficiently accredited, then these miracles passed away, i.e., as soon as they had fulfilled their mission.

A man once asked me if I had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I told him, "No; that I didn’t need it, for it was never given except to accredit the church, and that I would be ashamed to say that 1,900 years had elapsed and Christ’s church was not attested."

If any man of the present day says that he has the gift of the Holy Spirit, let him allow me to pick out the rattlesnake, let it bite him and see if it will hurt him; let me buy the poison and see if it hurts him; and let me go with him to the grave and see him raise a dead body. These are the signs: "These signs will follow them that believe." The commission was just given and they were not attested, but "whether there be prophecies they shall fail," or as David puts it in the Psalms, when he says, "the vision and the oblation shall cease." As soon as there is a sufficient revelation, as soon as the church and its faith are sufficiently accredited, then the vision ceases, and there is no more need of this sign now than there is for wings to fly now while we are earthly bodies. On the contrary, to ask for the sign now is to say, "Lord, the old attestation is played out; we want the thing attested again." Just like another argument where Paul says that if one who has once been enlightened and has tasted the power of the world to come, should fall away, it is impossible to renew him again unto repentance, etc. If he does fall away shall we preach Christ to him? He had Christ. Shall we preach regeneration to him? He had regeneration. Precisely, this is the character of the argument, about this baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is now no necessity for it.

Paul now makes his last point, that in their misuse and abuse of this miraculous power, they magnified miraculous power over grace; they put their miraculous displays higher than they put faith, hope, love. Love is the greatest thing in the world. Faith is the greatest power in the world. Hope is the most exalted beacon from the walls of the eternal city that ever waved its hand and said, "Come forward!" These three – faith, hope, and love, are going to stay with us. I will have utterly failed in this chapter if I have not sufficiently impressed upon the reader’s mind the baptism of the Holy Spirit in its Old Testament symbolism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit in its prophecies and promises, the baptism in fact, the baptism in its purpose, and then the temporary nature of the baptism because it was intended to be a sign.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the sixth ecclesiastical disorder, and where do we find Paul’s great discussion of it?

2. What text does the author use to express the central truth of this discussion, what is his preferred translation of it, and why?

3. What Old Testament symbols foreshadow the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and what the correspondence between these symbols and the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost?

4. What is the purpose of the baptism in the Spirit of Pentecost?

5. Where in the Old Testament do we find the baptism of the Holy Spirit in prophecy?

6. What passages in the New Testament show the baptism in the Holy Spirit in promise?

7. What are the contrasts of Matthew 3:11-12, and what the distinction between baptism in water and baptism in Spirit (1) as to administrator, (2) as to element, and (3) as to purpose?

8. What the contrast between the statement of Jesus in John 7:37-39, and his previous statement to the Samaritan woman at the well, and what the object of the giving of the Spirit as referred to in this chapter?

9. What the distinction between baptism in the Holy Spirit and conversion (regeneration), (1) as to the agent, (2) as to the subject, (3) as to the object?

10. What is the New Testament book of comfort, what the Old Testament book of comfort, and why was each so called, respectively?

11. What is the import of Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; Mark 16:17-18?

12. What passages in the New Testament show the baptism of the Holy Spirit in fulfilment?

13. By what phenomena was the baptism of the Holy Spirit manifested on the day of Pentecost, and to what human sense did each appeal severally?

14. Show how they were baptized on the day of Pentecost eis ten ecclesian.

15. What is the reason, especially for the baptism of the Holy Spirit ill the case of the Samaritans?

16. Why the baptism of the Spirit at the house of Cornelius?

17. Why were the twelve baptized in the Holy Spirit at Ephesus?

18. Where do we find the moat extended and elaborate discussion of the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

19. What called forth this discussion by Paul?

20. What is the object of the baptism in the Holy Spirit as shown clearly in this discussion?

21. How did the baptism in the Holy Spirit accredit the church!

22. Were these displays of power the same in every person?

23. What were the diversities of gifts resulting from the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

24. Prove the temporary nature of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and what do we really pray for if we pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

25. What were the Corinthians really doing in their misuse and abuse of those gifts?