Of Spiritual Gifts, vs. 1-31.
The ancient prophets had clearly predicted that the Messianic period should be attended by a remarkable effusion of the Holy Spirit. " And it shall come to pass in those days," it is said in the prophecies of Joel, " saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." Our Lord, before his crucifixion, promised to send the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost, to instruct and guide his church, John 14, &c. And after his resurrection he said to his disciples, "These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover," 'Mark 16, 17. 18. And immediately before his as- cension he said to the disciples, " Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence," Acts 1, 5. Accord- ingly, on the day of Pentecost, these promises and prophecies were literally fulfilled. The peculiarity of the new dispensar tion consisted, in the first place, in the general diffusion of these gifts. They were not confined to any one class of the people, but extended to all classes ; male and female, young and old ; and secondly, in the wonderful diversity of these supernatural endowments. Under circumstances so extraordi- nary it was unavoidable that many disorders should arise. Some men would claim to be the organs of the Spirit, who were deluded or impostors ; some would be dissatisfied with the gifts which they had received, and envy those whom they regarded as more highly favoured ; others would be inflated, and make an ostentatious display of their extraordinary pow- ers ; and in the public assemblies it might be expected that the greatest confusion would arise from so many persons being desirous to exercise their gifts at the same time. To the cor- rection of these evils, all of which had manifested themselves in the church of Corinth, the apostle devotes this and the two following chapters. It is impossible to read these chapters without being deeply impressed by the divine wisdom with which they are pervaded. After contrasting the condition of