Useful Bible Studies > 1 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 12
Many Christians are afraid of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They worry about something that they cannot control. They would prefer if their Christian belief was only in their minds and not their spirits.
That fear is wrong. The Holy Spirit comes from God, who loves us. Without the Holy Spirit’s work, nobody could ever become a Christian. The Holy Spirit helps us to develop in our Christian lives. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit are good.
Paul told the Christians in Corinth that they should desire ‘the greater gifts’. He shows the meaning of that phrase in 1 Corinthians 14:1-6. The greater gifts are the ones that benefit other people. The gifts that God gives us for our own benefit are good; but it is even more wonderful when we can use those gifts to help other people. Our desire should always be to show love to other people.
Love is excellent and it is perfect. It is the most wonderful thing in our Christian lives when we show God’s love to other people. This is what it means to be a mature Christian. A Christians who is not mature cares too much about himself (3:3). A Christian who is mature cares about other people.
Of course people who are not Christians can show genuine love. It is wonderful when anyone does that. But without a relationship with God, a person can only show human love. A mature Christian acts in the power of the Holy Spirit to show God’s love to people in this world.
Next part: Without love, our words achieve nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.