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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
April 16
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Today's Pathway:
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Yesterday Paul began discussing the fact that the local church has members in it with varying abilities and gifts. He continues that topic in verses 6-8. He notes in the beginning of verse 6 that our gifts are given by grace. Were it not for the Lord's graciousness to us, none of us would have any gift that we could use to serve Him. In I Corinthians 12:7 Paul tells us that
"the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal",
and in verse 11 he adds,
"But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
The Holy Spirit gives gifts to all those who have received Christ. He gives them according to the will of God, and He gives them to be used for the benefit of the church (I Corinthians 4:12). Please note that spiritual gifts are not the same as talents or skills. Being a musician or an artist is not a gift of the Spirit. Neither is mechanical skill, athletic prowess, or genius-level intelligence. These are all things that God gives to men,and they can and should be used for God's glory, but they are not specifically the gifts of the Spirit.
Beginning in the second half of verse 6 Paul mentions several different spiritual gifts. Others are listed in I Corinthians 12, but for now we will stick with the ones in Romans 12. He begins with prophecy. Prophecy deals with foretelling the future, but it also deals with telling to others specific information that could only have come directly from God. In Galatians 1:12, Paul said that he was taught the Gospel that he preached "by the revelation of Jesus Christ". In other words, God gave Paul information that he could not have learned anywhere else and that no one else had access to. Some have taught that "prophecy" also includes preaching, but nowhere in the Scriptures is "prophecy" used as a synonym for "preaching". Preaching is telling other people that which has already been revealed in the Bible, and which they could find out for themselves by reading it. Prophecy is telling people things that had not yet been written in the Bible and thus could not be found out by reading it. Prophecy was an important gift in the early church. In I Corinthians 13:9-10 Paul wrote,
"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."
The churches of Paul's day "knew" much, because they had the Old Testament Scriptures and also some of the New Testament as well. However, there were things that God wanted them to know that had not yet been written down in Scripture. For example, when Paul writes First Corinthians 13, the book of Second Corinthians had not yet been written. Neither had some of Paul's other epistles nor the book of Revelation, to name a few. So, anything that God wanted His people to know that had not yet been given by inspiration needed to be given by prophecy. The gift of prophecy is no longer necessary because it was to be done away when "that which was perfect" came. "That" would be the completed canon of Scripture. When John finished the Book of Revelation, God had written down for us everything that we needed to know, and thus there was no longer any need for prophecy. That gift, and the office of the Prophet (Ephesians 4:11), have been abolished.
However, because that gift was still valid when Paul was writing the Book of Romans, he tells those who have that gift to use it. This is his message throughout verses 6-8: whatever gifts God has given you, use them. Tomorrow we will look at some of those other gifts specifically, but for today the challenge is this: whatever God has given you, use it for His glory and for the church's benefit.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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