HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-31.-Spiritual gifts. A transition occurs here to a class of topics most important and interesting, since they involve the character and glory of the new dispensation. It was the special economy of the Holy Ghost which St. Paul was now to consider. All along we have had an insight into mistakes and disorders, iuto disputes and wrnnglings e.nd, at times, into shameful vices. A quarter of a century had little more than passed since Christ ascended to tho throne of the Father as the God-Man of the universe, and the Spirit had descended as the promised Paraclete. Yet what strife nnd confusion! The marvellous gifts were strangely misunder~tood. Once these Corinthians-so the apostle reminds them-had been Gentiles, "led away unto dumb idols, howsoever they might be led." Ilut for t-hom the age of "dumb idols" had ended and the great dispensation of speech had opened. No man sharing this speech from heaven-" speaking by the Spirit of God "-could call "Jesus accursed;" and only such as were enlightened and directed by tho Holy Ghost could say from the heart of love and faith that "Jesus is the Lord." At the outset, this principle is le.id down as fundamental to the economy of gifts; it i·s a Divine economy; it is the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. Something was gained when this was made clear. Inspiration was no wild, s'pasmodic, frantic thing. It was not individuality unloosed and driven into gross eccentricity. Whatever mysteries were connected with these manifestations, there was a grnnd system to which they appertained, and it was upheld, applied, administered, by the Holy Ghost. Such. I. OORINTHIANB. 2 D 402 THE FIRST EPISTLE '£0 THE CORINTHIANS. [en. xn. 1-31..
then, is the position assumed, and it commands the whole question. This done> the places occupied by different parties, the diversity of gifts, their number and multiformity, the relativity of each to a controlling general idea, and the unity sought as a final end, could be ascertained, Naturally, then, divei·sities of gifts would be the· first to attract attention. Difference between objects begins our perceptive educa- tion, difference in our moods of mind cultivates our consciousness, difference must be seen before the higher intellect can perform the processes of abstraction and gcn~rnlization. Accordingly St. Paul starts with "diversities of gifts." It was not a new idea. The Prophet Joel had it substantially, along with tho conception of universality, when he spoke of prophesyings, of dreams, of visions, and declared that servants and handmaids should rejoice in the possession of this power. Christ had closed his earthly revelation of the Father by unfolding the manifoldness of the Spirit's office. Pentecost had made good the promise, and had shown as the firstfruits of the harvest the recovery of the world's languages to the service of Ciiristianity. St. Paul, however, handles the idea in a way altogether new, Genius passes old truths through its transforming brain, and they charm the world as fresh and wondrous disclosures. Inspiration honours individuality; nothincr treats the personality of the man with such respect; and hence St. Paul's speiialization of" the fact of diversity. Mark how he treats it. Gij'ts themselves, as relative to men who are their recipients, are very unlike. Capacity in each case is a pre-existent fact of providence, and the Spirit consults providence. But in the next place, gifts. are ministries, and the diversities ( distributions) are for various spheres. Functional work is of many kinds, offices have each its speciality, and, as earthly industry must achieve its results by division of labour, so the economy of the Holy Ghost must differentiate one form of energy from another. Ministers are servants, and these- ministries are serving forces. And again, the gifts are represented as operations Ly whose effects, as incorporated in society, the kingdom of God is built up. "These are not to be limited to rnira·culous effects, but understood commensurately with the gifts of whose working they are the results" (Alford). If, in other passages of Scripture, the person of the Father or of the Son is prominently displayed, the personality of the Holy Ghost, as proceeding from the Father and the Son, is here set forth with a distinctness and emphasis characteristic of his relations to the plan of salvation. Just before (ver. 3), St. Paul had declared the presence of the Holy Ghost in the confession of Jesus as Lord, and the name, by which he was known among men (Jesus of Nazareth) and recognized in his trial, condemnation, and crucifixion, is borne up from earth and glorified in his exaltation. And here he is the "same Spirit" in the openi11g thought, "diversities of gifts." There are "differ- ences of administrations," but the "same Lord;" "diversities of operations," but the "same God that worketh all in all;" nor will the apostle specify the fulness of the Spirit's gifts and the greatness of bis presiding agency over the Church with- out connecting him with the Father and the Son. The mystery of the Trinity remains. But the doctrine becomes a very real and practical fact, and, as such, assimilable in Christian experience, when thus identified with grace in all its workings through the Church. A.nd so true is this that the very mystery is essential to the effect the doctrine produces, by forming an infinite background, against which the fact stands in- relief. Under these circumstances, mystery commends itself, not simply to reverence, but to experimental appreciation. Reason, if made conscious of its own instinct, finds a basis fo1· itself and a vindication of its functions in the exercise of faith, and, by means of this illumination, reason is assured that the faculties of the human mind have their laws and are bound in obedience thereunto, because the law of mystery is the primal law whence they draw their life and support. No marvel, then, that the apostle presents God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit with such prominence in the initial stage of his argument on spiritual gifts. Most closely is the doctrine identified with the experimental and 1iractical truths he was about to enforce. From no lower source than the mystery of all mysteries will he bring the awe, the sense of responsibility under trust, and the greatness of Church duties arising from the diversities of gifts. It is not this. or that gift alone, nor this or that office-bearer alone, nor this or that outwrought result alone, but their union in one economy and their combination in a totality,. CH. xu. 1-31.] 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE TO 'fHE CORINTHIANS. 403