The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXXIII): “When Will Certain Spiritual Gifts Cease (Conclusion)?”

As I begin, let me express my deep thanks to David Rogers for a perceptive comment after my post last Wednesday.  He noted the apparent preview of the discussion in 1 Corinthians 12-14 in 1:4-7 and, in that regard, he is most certainly right.

Lets’ take a quick look at Paul’s words there (please note the words I have emphasized by placing them in italics): “I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus, that by Him you were made rich in everything–in all speaking and all knowledge–as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (HCSB).

David’s main point is that this first mention of “spiritual gifts” (charismati) in 1 Corinthians appears to say very clearly that the readers will have every spiritual gift available until the Second Coming of Christ (1:7).  At first glance–then quite a few long, hard looks beyond that–verse 7 seems to lock up the question of when certain spiritual gifts cease long before we get to ch. 13.

Of course, I am sure that there are some hardcore cessationists who would argue that 1:7 is a general initial statement about spiritual gifts, while 13:8b-12 gets down to the details in regard to the timing of the end of some of the gifts.  The only problem with that perspective, of course, is that neither 1:7 nor 13:8b-12 seem to leave that kind of room for a cessationist perspective.

Why do I say that?  Because of Paul’s second illustration of “when the perfect comes” and the “partial” (see 13:8b-9) comes to an end.  Believers will only “see… face to face” and “know fully” when we are in the presence of the Lord at His coming (13:12; compare 1:7).

Still, there is one further nuance in all this that I really think is worth pursuing.  And, that emerges from the confluence of several factors in this passage: 1) Paul’s choice to use the Greek middle of pauo in regard to tongues (“languages” in HCSB–in what I think is a poor translation choice); 2) the use of teleion, with its field of meaning encompassing “perfect, complete, mature,” in 13:10; and 3) Paul’s first illustration of the coming of the teleion to replace “the partial” (v. 10, HCSB) in v. 11: growing up from childhood to adulthood (i.e., maturity). 

In regard to those latter two factors, I would ask you to note that the only other two uses of teleion in 1 Corinthians (2:6 and 14:20) both unboubtedly mean “mature” (i.e., adult or grown up spiritually).  Second, since that is the clear meaning of 13:11, we cannot afford to just ignore the possibility of “maturity” being in view in 13:10.  Finally, in 3:1-4, Paul had made it crystal clear that the Corinthian church was “fleshly” in its attitudes and behavior, thus showing itself to be extremely spiritually immature.  Since that is true, we must admit that it would not be at all surprising for Paul to bring up the crying need for maturity in regard to spiritual gifts because, from a spiritual “big picture” standpoint, maturity in Christ was the single biggest need of the Corinthian church.

You may well be asking yourself now: How can you reconcile that teleion in 13:10 can just as easily mean “mature” and “perfect” and that Paul’s illustration in 13:11 speaks of maturity, while the picture in 13:12 is of Christ’s Second Coming?  Aren’t these contradictory perspectives?

In answer to that last question: In my humble opinion, not necessarily.  You see, it might be a long time until the “perfect” (i.e., the Second Coming–and it has turned out to be going on 2,000 years since Paul wrote 1 Corinthians) comes around.  But, a balanced “mature” view of spiritual gifts, one that would certainly lower the valuing of tongues considerably (see ch. 14), was needed right then and there.  The Corinthian believers desperately needed to “grow up” in how they looked at tongues in particular (14:20 compared to 13:11).

So, here’s the fresh aspect of my view in a nutshell: whether you want to call Paul’s use of teleion in 13:10 a double intendre, or just being purposefully vague, I think a good case can be made for a both/and meaning: “perfect” and “mature.”  On the one hand, the up close and personal meaning was that the Corinthians needed to “grow up” to spiritual maturity as quickly as possible (13:11), which would require a very different outlook on tongues (14:20, in context), likely even the disuse (i.e., ceasing) by some.  On the other hand, all the spiritual gifts would, without question, continue until the end of the age (13:12).

Related to this view, all the spiritual gifts are given to the Body of Christ for mutual edification (ch. 12).  However (as we will explore in my next posts), as you mature in Christ, you must come to understand and apply the fact that some gifts are of much greater, and some of much lesser, value to the Body as its grows (14:1-25).

Selah and Amen.

What thinkest thou?

Coming Wednesday: “Prophecy and Tongues: A First Look” (1 Cor. 14:1-25)

Fridays are for Newspaper Articles

 As per usual, here is my weekly article from the Canyon Lake (TX) Times-Guardian:

                 “‘March Madness’ vs. ‘Real Life’” 

            I am a close to rabid basketball fan.  I have been since growing up in a basketball “hotbed” small town in Mississippi.  While playing varsity high school basketball, my team went to state tournament two of the three years and still won our conference tournament the other year.

            As you might imagine, I love this time of the year.  NBA teams are making their moves for the playoffs (starting next month)—though, sadly, my Dallas Mavs (the Spurs are my second favorite team!) appear to be fading in the stretch.  However, the NCAA tournament is the biggest draw, which is fair, given the purity of the college vs. the pro games and also the potential for upsets (such as what my Mississippi State Bulldogs almost pulled on the University of Memphis this past weekend!).

            The excitement and passion of true roundball fans at tournament time in March is, obviously, why they call it “March Madness.”  For those who live and breathe college basketball, it is only natural to eat and sleep it too.  For some men, especially, there is not anything else worth knowing about while the NCAA tourney is under way.  They are basketball crazy for that period of time.

            However, on occasion, “real life” has its way of intruding into the experience of the basketball fanatic (since that is, after all, where the word “fan” came from—as a shortened version of “fanatic”).  The birth of babies, car wrecks, heart attacks and a whole host of other unscheduled or, at least, ill-timed realities just happen.  So, what does the sports fan do?

            Well, the “sports nut” might be so focused as to actually try to ignore “real life.”  In particular, men whose wives are having babies at this time of the year may only see their hubbies if the TV in the hospital room is tuned in to the NCAA games. 

            Now, this may be laughable up to a point.  But, clearly, there is a major problem with the life priorities of such men (or women, if they are also that fanatical).  If you want to tune everything out to that extent, why did you bother to get married and have children in the first place?  What is wrong with that picture?

            As I hope I made clear above, I love basketball and I love watching “March Madness.”  However, I do realize that, when “real life” happens, the basketball tourney is simply not that important.  I need to keep my priorities straight.

            What are those top priorities, you might ask?  According to Jesus (Matthew 22:34-40), you can reduce them to two: 1) Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

            How does this apply in the case of “March Madness,” you wonder?  Well, it seems pretty clear that, if your desire to follow the NCAA tournament comes in the way of either loving the Lord or loving your “neighbor” (and your spouse, children and wider family would be your closest “neighbors,” for sure), you’ve got a major problem with your priorities.  It’s as simple as that.

            Remember: “March Madness” will roll around next year (every year, in fact!).  But, you could drive a horrible wedge between yourself and God, as well as between yourself and your family, this year if you go the fanatical route and ignore either of those two most important priorities in your life.

Coming Monday: “When Will Certain Spiritual Gifts Cease (Conclusion)?”

The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXXII): “When Will Certain Spiritual Gifts Cease (Continued)?”

If the last post seemed pretty boring to you, I am going to begin to flesh out the implications of what I laid out last time in such a way that I hope you are able to “get” what’s riding on the details of the text I poked through last time.  If not, please lambaste me with comments that I have not been clear.  OK?

To recall the “big picture” of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, simply put, it is about spiritual gifts being temporary/temporal, while love is permanent/eternal.  The implication of that is, while spiritual gifts–the lesser, temporary element in the equation–remain in force, they are to be exercised in love–the greater, permament element.  That, of course, is right in line with 13:1-7, which explains that the unloving use of spiritual gifts is, from God’s perspective, a big fat zero (13:1-3), then describes the attributes by which we can know when love is truly present in the use of the gifts (13:4-7).

So, the debate over whether a continuationist or a cessationist understanding of spiritual gifts from 13:8b-12 is correct is highly hypocritical if it is done in an unloving manner.  it is nothing less than a complete ignoring of the practical context of Paul’s wider argument in ch. 13.

If anything, it is even worse for someone to think or claim that he or she has all the answers in this area.  That is precisely what Paul is saying must never be true in regard to using the gifts when he observes that the proper kind of love “is not boastful” and “is not conceited (i.e., prideful/arrogant; both HCSB).  For some reason, though, many theologians and pastors seem to think that what is said about love in ch. 13 applies to eveyone else but them.  Or, it applies to other situations, but–mysteriously–not when they are adamantly arguing their view on 13:8b-12.

For the last part of this post, I am going to lay out the puzzle pieces, so to speak, of an at least partly fresh position that I have been prayerfully considering for some time.  And, after what I just said above, I pray that it is presented in humility and love.  Clearly, based on the unavoidable practical implications of this wider chapter, I have absolutely no right to do otherwise.

Here we go…

As I see it, there is no clear reason why the gifts called “prophecies,” “languages” (i.e., tongues) or “(word of) knowledge” should “come to an end” (all HCSB; 13:8) before the Second Coming of Christ.  However, it is possible that the wording “will cease” in regard to tongues has some significance.  You see, as has been widely observed by cessationists, pausontai is in the middle voice and could be translated “cease in and of itself.”

The related issue here is what you make of the key term teleion (usually translated “the perfect”) in 13:10.  That is particularly tough in this context, given Paul’s two illustrations which follow immediately.  In verse 11, the growing to being a mature man analogy favors the translation “mature” for teleion.  But, verse 12, with its “face to face” wording, definitely favors the Second Coming of Christ, when we will finally see and understand “fully.”

Add to those differing images for “the perfect” (13:10) the fact that the only other uses of teleion in 1 Corinthians both support the “mature” shade of meaning.  In 2:6 and 14:20, it is very hard to get around the intended meaning of spiritual maturity (2:6) and mature (i.e., adult) thinking (14:20).

What are we to make of these exegetical points in our exegetical/theological understanding of 13:8b-12, especially as it relates to the ongoing continuationist-cessationist controversy in wider evangelical circles, especially over the last several years in the Southern Baptist Convention?  That is what my final installment on this key passage will deal with next Monday.

Until then, I would really appreciate your feedback and/or related questions.

Coming Friday: “Fridays are for Newpaper Articles”

The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXXI): “When Will Certain Spiritual Gifts Cease (1 Cor. 13:8-13)?”

(Note: This is going to have to be brief and to the point today.  I do not have much time at all to write.)

Clearly, 1 Corinthians 13 is about the need to employ our spiritual gifts with love.  Paul’s argument is not just the using your gift(s) unlovingly is a spiritual zero for the present (13:1-3), but also that gifts are temporary, while love is eternal (13:8-13).

The question that is left, then, is when will spiritual gifts–at least some of the more controversial ones–cease?  That is where 13:8b-12 comes into play.

From a big picture theological standpoint, this is not the only passage in the New Testament that is argued in regard to the continuationist vs. cessationist debate.  A number of passages in Acts, as well as 2 Corinthians 12:12 and Hebrews 2:3-4 are usually brought into the discussion.

However, I think it is fair to say that 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 is the most detailed and, thus, the most significant of the relevant passages.

All I have time to do today is two things: 1) to lay out the overall argument of the passage; and 2) to point out a couple of key exegetical issues that must be nailed down to make as objective of an exegetical decision on this passage as possible.

Here’s the argument:

- It starts and concludes on the same note: “Love never ends” (i.e., goes on eternally; 13:8a) and, at the end of the age, faith, hope and love will abide, the greatest of which is love (13:13).

- In between, we find out what happens to spiritual gifts: At least some of the gifts (e.g., prophecy, tongues and word of knowledge) will end at some point (13:8b) for the simple reason that they are imperfect, partial or incomplete (i.e., depending on how you chosoe to translate the Greek terms; 13:9).  At some point, these lacking spiritual gifts will be replaced by “the perfect” (or “the complete” or “the mature,” again depending on how you translate the terminology (13:10).

Following that is what appears to be two illustrations that help the reader understand what has just been said in 13:8b-10: 1) Childhood–and its childish ways–giving way to mature talking, beliefs and thinking (13:11); and 2) The unclear image in a cloudy mirror giving way to a sharp face-to-face image (13:12a). 

The latter part of 13:12 then seems to point to that happening at the Second Coming of Christ.

That is the basic argument of the paragraph.  Here are the two major exegetical issues: 1) Is it exegetically significant that prophecy and knowledge “come to an end” (Gk. katargeo; 13:8), while tongues are said to “cease” (Gk. pauo; 13:8).  And, if so, what is the significance? and 2) How should to teleion in 13:10 be rendered?  As noted above, the field of meaning is “perfect, complete, mature.”  Which shade of meaning is best?  And, do the other two uses of teleios in 1 Corinthians (in 2:6 and 13:10) help in making that decision?

There are other issues, yes.  But, this is enough to get us started.

Let me know what you think.

Coming Wednesday: “When Will Certain Spiritual Gifts Cease (Continued)?”

Fridays are for Newpaper Articles

The following may not seem like much of an “Easter” article.  But, I ask you to remember that my readership with the Canyon Lake (TX) Times-Guardian is hardly a uniformly Christian audience.  I’m trying to get them to think and, in the process, consider Christ. 

For your information, the T-G thinks that it has about 75-80% the same readership every week.  Thus, while I try to make each installment complete in itself, I also have the opportunity for a “cumulative” impact of a sort.

                            “Under the Veneer” 

            When I lived at Canyon Lake the first time, from the late 1970s through the early 1980s, we were just acquiring the furnishing for our home.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford to get expensive new furniture and, although my wife had a taste for antiques, we couldn’t afford them either.  So, were there any options left?

            Yes, we could have gotten cheap furniture, which, of course, looks cheap and falls apart quickly.  We did not want to go that route.  That left only one alternative: buy old furniture, which has more staying power, then try to make it look as good as possible.

            Frankly, I never did get very good at refinishing the older furniture we purchased from the back rooms of a number of antique dealers here at the Lake or in New Braunfels.  However, I did acquire a certain amount of skill in stripping off the original veneer and finding out what we were dealing with under the exterior.

            Once or twice, I admit that I was less than excited about having purchased a particular piece of furniture when I got under the veneer.  Usually, that was when I had gotten what had been presented to me as a “heck of a deal,” but definitely was not, given the kind and condition of the wood I found underneath.

            Most of the time, however, the furniture itself was still solid and quite durable, in spite of age and a ratty exterior appearance, which had faded or been significantly marred over the years.  That made the effort of the purchase and the refinishing well worth it.

            This week, within a span of six days, our culture is celebrating two holidays—St. Patrick’s Day and Easter—that also suffer seriously from problems with their “veneer.”  They are very old holidays and, thus, have had plenty of time for their original appearances to give way to refinishing which, tragically, has strongly obscured their original meaning.

            I am going to take the remainder of this article to strip away the secularizing veneer so that you, the reader, can see the beautiful original underneath.  And, I hope that you pay attention carefully.  The same secular veneer has been applied to Christmas and Thanksgiving, both of which our culture has turned into occasions which have come to be, in many cases, almost diametrically opposed to their original meaning.

            But, those are articles for other seasons of the year.  In 2008, though, St. Patrick’s Day and Easter fall very close together.  So, it makes very good sense to look beneath the surface appearance on both of them together.

            What is the cultural understanding today of “St. Pattie’s?”  It’s become a celebration of being Irish, with emphasis on wearing green, displaying shamrocks and drinking Irish beverages.

            What was the original meaning?  St. Patrick was a Christian missionary to Ireland, who brought the gospel to a very pagan land at that time.  He had nothing to do with the legendary snakes and his life and ministry certainly were not about Irishness, but Christianity, and had nothing to do with wearing green or drinking Irish alcoholic beverages.  There is the bare possibility that he used the shamrock as an illustration of the Trinity, but even that is unlikely.

            What is the cultural understanding of Easter?  Go through the average retail store and you see very clearly.  Easter egg hunts, of course, and family gatherings are quite prominent, given that kids are often off from school for a brief holiday.

            What was the original meaning?  Neither of the above, and even the name Easter and the eggs idea both come from pagan sources.  No, the reality beneath the cultural veneer with Easter is the day of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. 

            Are you willing to look beyond the short-sighted secular veneer and see the beautiful original realities of St. Patrick’s Day and Easter?  If you choose to do so, “the real thing” can change not only your way of thinking, but your whole life.

Coming Monday: “When Will Certain Spiritual Gifts Cease?”

The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXXI): “The Temporary Nature of Spriritual Gifts”

(Note: I am not going to write anything special in my regular posts on Resurrection Day [a.k.a. Easter] this week.  My typical Friday newspaper article will address it to some degree.  However, I do hope that every one of you who reads this has a blessed Resurrection Day, to the glory of our living Savior and Lord!)

Because of its crucial significance in the cessationist-continuationist controversy, it is easy to forget that 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 is actually about the temporary nature of spiritual gifts and the permanency of love.  In fact, in the white hot heat of that debate, it is almost as if verses 8b-12 are lifted completely out of the context in chapter 13 and the overarching discussion of the necessity of love in the use of spiritual gifts is competely forgotten.

This is very sad.  After all, the Apostle Paul is simply continuing his argument from verses 1-7 about the importance of love in regard to the gifts by making the point that, long after all the gifts are no longer in use–and eternally–love will still be center stage for God’s people. 

The Holman Christian Standard Bible should be commended at this point for its helpful rendering in verse 8a.  Many otherwise excellent translations have “Love never fails,” apparently thinking only about the description of love which has just been laid out in verses 4-7.  However, the HCSB recognizes that 13:8a is transitional and must be understood in regard to both what comes immediately before and after it.  Thus, with a more balanced sense of context, the HCSB wording “Love never ends” definitely makes better sense.

Read with this realization, 13:8-13 flows more easily.  It basically teaches that, by the time believers are “face to face” with the Lord (v. 12), all spiritual gifts will have ended.  In fact, all that will remain in the Lord’s presence will be the triad of “faith, hope, and love,” the “greatest” of which “is love” (v. 13).

Before proceeding further, it is worth asking why love is greater than faith or hope, in case you have never noticed the simple answer in the context.  It is because verse 7 has already told us that true love “believes all things” and “hopes all things.”  What that means, of course, is that love is the greatest of these heavenly qualities because faith (“believes”) and hope are, when the dust settles, simply essential qualities of love.

In the meantime, all the spiritual gifts, such as the prominently mentioned gifts of prophecy (13:8b), tongues (13:8c [rendered as the less probable "languages" by HCSB]) and word of knowledge (13:8d), will come to an end.  Of course, the love that should be energizing those gifts–and all the others, also–will never end, but will continue (presumably) eternally.

Sadly, it is so very easy to get caught up in the argument over which temporary gifts are still for today, when Paul’s intent in this passage is clearly very different: He wants his readers to maximize the permanent eternal perspective of love and minimize their fascination with spiritual gifts, all of which are temporary.

Now, this is not to say that there is no reason to carefully think through 13:8-13 and what it teaches in regard to spiritual gifts for today.  But, it is very clearly to say that the overall subject of verses 8-13 is still the relationship of love to spiritual gifts, as it was in verses 1-7.

I am going to wait until next Monday’s post to go into the exegesis of this paragraph in any depth.  But, as I close today, I think it is helpful to make the following twin appeals (which I certainly need to take to heart as much as the next person within our midst!):

- If you are a continuationist, does not this context exhort you to make sure that, whatever else you do, you must lovingly exercise all the gifts that you have, even patiently and kindly (v. 4) edifying your cessationist brethren, if possible?

- If you have a cessationist understanding, does not this context exhort you to act in love toward your continuationist brethren, given that the necessity of love does not cease with the gifts (v. 8a)?

Obviously, if both groups acted in the loving manner that Paul calls for in chapter 13, the “discussion” on spiritual gifts in the SBC would be much less acrimonious.  May we all be convicted by the clear need for loving application in this area in the time immediately ahead!

Coming Friday: “Fridays are for Newpaper Articles”

The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXX): “Concluding Reflections on Love and the Exercise of Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 13:1-7)”

Earlier in 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul had said, “Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up” (8:1, HCSB).  Then, in 13:1-3, he tells us that nothing positive from a spiritual standpoint occurs when spiritual gifts are exercised without love. 

In other words, without love motivating and energizing our giftedness, we may get the big head and the accolades of certain witnesses, but that’s it.  We’re in very much the same situation as the hypocrites that Jesus speaks of in regard to giving, praying and fasting in Matthew 6.  Their rewards are from their onlookers and go no further.  What a spiritual tragedy!

Sadly, many greatly gifted Christians are addicted to “the roar of the crowd,” praising their giftedness.  Yet, those same people have little, if any, corresponding love for that adoring crowd–especially as it breaks down into needy individuals who desperately need love.

As we saw in the last installment, it is very easy for gifted speakers and leaders to be impatient or unkind with their hearers or followers (13:4a, b).  It is equally, if not more, common for those with speaking or leadership gifts to be boastful or conceited (13:4d, e).  After all, they are “the best and the brightest,” right?  Perhaps, but only by God’s grace, not their own ability!

When the dust settles, there is no excuse for a person gifted by the Spirit to ever get out of line in regard to a lack of love.  And, that includes envy (13:4c), any sort of improper actions (13:5a) or self-centeredness (13:5b).  It includes allowing yourself to be provoked by someone’s words or actions (13:5c) or holding a grudge (13:5d).  If you ever see a preacher, teacher or obviously gifted leader acting in any of those ways, you can be sure that his or her amazing gift from the Lord is, at that point, amounting to absolutely nothing spiritually (13:1-3).  It really and truly is that simple!

Even worse, at least to me, is when a gifted speaker or leader is heard cackling over some opponent getting caught in some wrong action or having some misfortune come their way.  You can know for sure that it is not love in play, no matter how skillfully worded, unless any rejoicing that takes place is in regard to God’s truth being reflected and honored (13:6).

The kind of love Paul is describing is also incredibly durable and persevering: it “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (13:7).  In other words, the kind of love that is to energize our spiritual gifts is anything but ’on again, off again.’  It is steadfast in any situation that comes up.  Thus, the gifted cannot try to use the excuse that, since they are so gifted, they should be excused for being temperamental or volatile.  Exactly the opposite is true!

Why is it that we–yes, we–the adoring “fan base” have given so many of our leaders and preferred preachers, teachers and writers such a long “pass” on their attitudes and behavior in the use of their gifts?  Would Paul say that we should do so and just be “patient” with them to come to realize that their egos and short fuses are profoundly unbiblical?  Absolutely not.  If anything, we are serving as the “enablers” for such people as we effectively applaud their improper behavior (13:5), while at the same time unwittingly allowing them to be spiritual zeros in the process (13:1-3).

What a tragedy if they–or we–get to heaven and are told “No rewards for you!  You got the praise of mankind on earth, but drew a blank spiritually here.”

It could happen.  We each need to think about that possibility very carefully and re-think our tendency to “worship” those whose gifts are amazing, but whose attitudes are arrogant and self-serving.  Is God glorified when we praise gifted human being, especially when it clearly swells the heads of so many?

Coming Wednesday: “The Temporary Nature of Spriritual Gifts”

Fridays are for Newspaper Articles

You probably already know the drill, but I still should credit the Canyon Lake (TX) Times-Guardian, which is nice enough to let me do double duty with my weekly article:

                                   “Denial” 

            As the joke goes, denial is not just a river in Egypt.  No, it is an ugly reality in the lives of many people.

            From time to time, I have to deal with people who remind me of points in my own life in which I was in denial—sometimes very deep denial.  It is sad to see them, in many cases, making the same exact kinds of mistakes that I have in the past.  However, with rare exceptions, it seems that people have to learn the hard way in regard to denial: they have to suffer enough to choose to face reality.

            For some of you, this may be the first time you have ever read anything dealing with denial.  If so, perhaps it will be helpful to stop here for some defining and explaining in regard to what we are talking about here.

            In wider discussions, “denial” became an object of significant interest in dealing with the stages of grief back in the 1960s and ‘70s.  As the immediate shock of a setback, tragedy or loss lessens, many people remain “in denial.”  In other words, they just can’t believe that whatever it was actually happened.  They simply can’t come to grips with the event and its consequences.

            For an example from my life, my toddler son was in the bathtub and I turned away for a few seconds to get a towel from a cabinet about six feet away from where I had been sitting, giving him his bath.  In that split second, he pulled himself up and managed to cut off the cold water.  When he did, the remaining scalding hot water caused very serious burns on his abdomen and groin areas.

            Of course, I immediately got him to the hospital.  But, while my wife stayed by his side, I went outside and paced the halls, saying over and over, “I can’t believe this happened.”  And, for a stretch of several hours, my brain basically refused to accept that reality.

            I did, however, soon come to grips with that tragedy—which the Lord graciously healed overnight, much to the shock of the doctors (and somewhat to the shame of my wife and I, who prayed, but really didn’t believe very strongly that it would happen!).  But, I have not always been able to work through the denial anywhere near that quickly.

            Let’s face it—and that is what we need to do: face things realistically!—it is far from easy, and often very painful, to face those events in our lives that represent our most disturbing or disappointing mistakes or losses.  But, we have to do it.  What kind of life is it to try to keep living as if everything is the way it was before the disaster?  A life of untruth, to say the least, not to mention a life that will never be that way again, no matter how badly we want it to be or how desperately we want to avoid admitting what has happened.

            Hey, I’m not that good at dealing with denial, but I am getting better.  One of the things that has helped me greatly is to realize and experience that the pain of facing the reality will not kill you.  It will hurt very deeply, but it will subside.  Then, you will be able to move on—something that cannot happen until you choose to face the reality that confronts you.

            Denial can be present in our lives in regard to an almost endless array of issues and losses.  However, as I conclude this article, I would like to speak to one of the most classic aspects of denial of the human race in general: the denial of sin and its consequences.

            You see, the Bible clearly says “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  Thus, with the exception of Jesus, the sinless God become man, we are all guilty before God.  The even worse news is “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a), though the related good news is “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:23b).

            Don’t let your prideful denial of your sin and its eternal consequences—death and separation from God forever—stop you from receiving Jesus Christ by faith.  Unlike many other denial situations, there is light at the end of this tunnel: eternal life!

Coming Monday: “Concluding Reflections on Love and the Exercise of Spiritual Gifts” (1 Cor. 13:1-7)

The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXIX): “More Reflections on the Loving Use of Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 13:1-7)”

Without question, this passage is the most personally troubling of any of this wider amazing section on spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-14).  Sadly, in most cases that I have observed–and, on occasion, in my own life–the debate has raged so strongly on what gifts are legitimate today from ch. 12 and 13:8b-13 that 13:1-8a has not received its just due.

There is a personal irony here for me.  I grew up in a liberal mainline church.  In that context, I never heard the gospel preached, but I did hear 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 emphasized quite a bit.  Yes, they talked a much better game than they lived, but they at least frequently referred to Paul’s call for Christians to be loving in the manner 13:4-7 describes.

As a cessationist for several decades (seminary training and forward, until the last period of my life), I was very concerned as to how to “short-circuit” several of the spiritual gifts mentioned in ch. 12 and the latter part of ch. 13.  For some odd reason that I still do not understand, though, I managed to just argue my way around the overall point that Paul is making in 13:1-7: None of the gifts is worth a plug nickel unless it is being exercised in love; specifically, the kind of love detailed in vv. 4-7!

In other words, in God’s eyes, it does not matter one whit whether you are a cessationist who thinks you are right about the gifts or a continuationist who is equally convinced of the rightness of your position… if you are not loving when you employ the gift(s) you have been graced with by the Lord.  According to the strongest implication from vv. 2 and 3, the unloving use of any of the gifts, no matter how right your understanding or teaching is, for that gifted person, a big fat spiritual zero!

OK, maybe that wording was a tad harsh.  But, practically speaking, how else can we understand “I am nothing” at the end of verse 2 and “I gain nothing” (both HCSB) at the end of verse 3?

So, let’s take a somewhat deeper look at the lengthy defining characteristics of the kind of love that should energize our use of spiritual gifts in 13:4-7.  As I broke things down in my last installment, this is the kind of love that people being ministered to by our spiritual gifts need to sense from us as we minister:

- Patience (a.k.a. long-suffering; v. 4)

- Kindness (v. 4)

- Absence of envy (v. 4)

- Absence of boasting (v. 4)

- Absence of conceit (arrogance; v. 4)

- Absence of improper actions (v. 5)

- Absence of selfishness (and self-serving; v. 5)

- Unresponsiveness to provocation (v. 5)

- Not guilty of holding grudges (v. 5)

- Rejoicing in the truth, not untruth or half-truths or any other kind of unrighteous speech or behavior (v. 6)

- Choosing to bear and endure whatever happens (v. 7)

- Choosing to believe the Lord and the best and not lose hope, no matter what (v. 7)

Let’s begin to think through the ramifications of these characteristics in the rest of this post, focusing on v. 4.  Then, I will come back and complete my treatment of 13:1-7 in next Monday’s installment by looking at vv. 5-7.

An immediate illustration of how the quality of patience would relate to the use of spiritual gifts has to do with teaching.  How patient is the teacher with students asking questions, some of which, we must admit, are far less than brilliant and some of which, we should also admit, are nothing more than the student showing off his or her own knowledge?

As a professor for many years (using one of my gifts [i.e., teaching]), I have fielded more than my fair share of both kinds of questions.  So, what did I do?  I do so wish I could tell you that I was always patient, but I wasn’t.  Yes, I got better over the years, but still got impatient from time to time even as a veteran instructor.

How did the Lord view me in these situations?  When I was lovingly patient, He was glorified and the students were, hopefully, edified as I used that gift from the Spirit.  But, when I was impatient or unkind–the next characteristic, probably because I was acting in a conceited (typical arrogant professor mode!) manner (see v. 4), the spiritual result was a loud “clang” (v. 1) that produced no spiritual gain for me at all (v. 3).

As we also see in v. 4, envy and boastfulness are further signs that love is not in the equation.  Are there any less attractive characteristics of leaders than a clear burning jealousy of someone else or a tendency to brag?  If not the worst, they are certainly right up there.

Have I been guilty of both?  Yes, and I am thoroughly ashamed.  You see, both of these ugly flaws are highly self-centered.  And, simply put, when a person is totally in love with himself or herself, it is impossible to really love anybody else.

Yes, Jesus did tell us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  So, the corrective to the self-indulgent qualities of envy and boasting is not self-loathing.  Instead, it is the control of the Holy Spirit, which produces the fruit of the Spirit, including love (Gal. 5:16, 18, 22-23).

Suffice it to say here that, when you detect envy or you hear boasting from a gifted Christian brother or sister, they cannot be loving–as Paul admonishes in 1 Corinthians 13–at the same time.  And, if he or she is ministering a spiritual gift at the time, that person is registering a spiritual ‘goose egg’ with the Lord. 

I’m going to stop now.  This is getting too convicting.

Coming Friday: “Fridays are for Newspaper Articles”

The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XXVIII): “Without Love… (1 Corinthians 13:1-7)”

In many ways, 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 is a very straightforward passage.  The only really tricky part has to do with why the Holman Christian Standard Bible has it set off as verse:  It does flow poetically–like marvelous poetry (and, in the classic ‘Bible as great literature’ outlook, it is generally viewed as the most beautiful example of poetry in the New Testament, if not the whole Bible). 

The other reason is that “if” at the beginning of verses 1, 2 and 3 can be taken as merely hypothetical.  Thus, some have decided on that basis to discount certain aspects.

With those disclaimers out of the way, verses 1-7 is made up of two clearly different, but complementary, parts: 1) three conditional assertions related to the use of certain illustrative spiritual gifts without love (vv. 1-3); and 2) a lengthy positive and negative description of the kind of love that is needed in the use of spiritual gifts.  (Yes, this kind of love should definitely be applied elsewhere.  But, in this context, it is focused on the kind of love that must energize the proper ministry of the gifts.)

In verse 1, it is clearly the spiritual gift of tongues (“languages” in the HCSB renders glossa, which is more normally translated “tongues”) that Paul has in view.  In verse 2a, it is prophecy.  In verse 2b, it is faith.  All three gifts were mentioned prominently in Paul’s first list of spiritual gifts in 12:9, 10.

What Paul is referring to in 13:3 is not as clear.  It may be the gift of giving, which, while not mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, is mentioned in the list in Romans 12 (see verse 8).  Or, it could be that Paul has moved away from talking about spiritual gifts per se and is simply observing that no act, no matter how generous (v. 3a) or courageous (3b), amounts to anything spiritually, if it is not motivated by love.

That, of course, is the main point of vv. 1-3: that, in the ultimate spiritual reckoning, it does not matter at all how gifted you are, if you are employing your spiritual gifts without love!

Before ever going to vv. 4-7 to find out precisely what kind of love is expected in the exercise of spiritual gifts, just thinking about vv. 1-3 for even a moment should be enough to send shivers up most of our spines.

Why?  Because many, if not most, of us have either been guilty of using our gifts in an unloving way or have seen others do the same.

From a wider perspective, it is a sad realization that many of the well-known–and highly gifted–leaders in the SBC appear to do the same.  The tones of arrogance or anger in their voices or mannerisms when they speak (which is where the vast majority of them are most gifted) is a dead giveaway, as we will see in looking at vv. 4-7 now.

And, why should this bother us?  Because, if what I am saying is correct, a great deal of what has happened in at least the public speaking realm in the last almost 30 years of much more conservative theology in the SBC may have well been essentially worthless spiritually.  Or, at least that is the case if we really believe what 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 is saying.

So, how will we be able to recognize a loving use of the gifts (as opposed to an unloving, or self-centered, use)?  We find that in vv. 4-7.  Such love has the following characteristics:

- Patience (a.k.a. long-suffering)

- Kindness

- Absence of envy

- Absence of boasting

- Absence of conceit (arrogance)

- Absence of improper actions

- Absence of selfishness (and self-serving)

- Unresponsiveness to provocation

- Not guilty of holding grudges

- Rejoicing in the truth, not untruth or half-truths or any other kind of unrighteous speech or behavior

- Willingness to choose to bear and endure whatever happens

- Choosing to believe the Lord and the best and not lose hope, no matter what

I am going to pick up at this point on Wednesday.  But, in the meantime, I ask you to think about three questions: 1) Who can you recall that you are convinced is highly gifted by the Spirit who is truly loving, according to the charactristics Paul lists in vv. 4-7? 2) Who comes to your mind that is also supremely gifted in which you saw either a vitual complete absence of these characteristics of love, or at least a highly inconsisent presence? and 3) How would the Apostle Paul have viewed those persons you thought of, given what he wrote to the Corinthians in 13:1-7.

And, yes, none of us has a right to feel smug in regard to our answers to questions 2 and 3.  That would be as unloving as case of some leaders among us when what we should be seeking here is to face the hard–and spiritually unattrative–reality around us and to be repentant and learn ourselves.

Coming Wednesday: “More Reflections on the Loving Use of Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 13:1-7)”