Monday: Gifts and the Gift
WEEK 12
MONDAY
GIFTS AND THE GIFT
1 Corinthians 14:1-3
We must spend another day on clarifying the meaning of speaking in tongues, for many have shied away from the Holy Spirit since some try to bind up his coming with speaking in tongues—no tongues, no Holy Spirit. That spoils it for many people, and rightly so. For that puts the gift of the Holy Spirit in the category of the weird instead of the wonderful.
Three times, the coming of the Spirit in Acts was accompanied by speaking in tongues: at Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Ephesus. All three point to our interpretation, for in all three this emancipation was necessary—at Jerusalem, as we have seen, there were Jews among foreigners; at Caesarea there were Romans among Jews (Acts 10); at Ephesus there were Asiatics with some Jews (Acts 19). This universalizing was needed in those three strategic places—the seat of Jewish nationalism, Jerusalem; the seat of Roman authority, Caesarea; and the seat of Asiatic paganism, Ephesus—and it took place. But once the lesson was learned, this temporary phenomenon disappeared.
What about the appearance in Corinth? At Corinth there appeared a different type of tongues—unknown tongues—needing an interpreter. At Pentecost no interpreter was needed, for everyone heard in their own languages the wonderful works of God. At Corinth the type of tongues that appeared was a gift of the Spirit.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given . . . gifts of healing . . . , to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each individually as he wills. . . . Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Cor 12:7-11, 30 RSV)
The gifts of the Spirit are not to be confounded with the gift of the Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is for all, but the gifts of the Spirit God “apportions to each one individually as he wills.” Paul urges seeking the two highest gifts of the Spirit—love and prophecy, power to love and power to forthtell the good news. These are necessary today and a permanent part of the coming of the Spirit.
O Holy Spirit, give me the power to love and the power to witness effectively for Jesus. For everyone needs love, and there are many who have never heard the good news. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The gift of love and the gift to forthtell the good news—my quest for the day.