1 Corinthians 12

verse 1

1.	To whom is Paul writing?

a.	Brethren

2.	What is he writing about?

a.	Spiritual gifts/ what is spiritual/ spiritual people

3.	What is his concern for the brethren?

a.	He does not want them to be unaware/ignorant. Lit. "not knowing."

Verse 2

1.	What were his readers previously?

a.	Pagans

2.	What happened to them when they were pagans?

a.	They were led astray to mute idols, however they were led.

Interp

1.	What does the last phrase, "however you were led." Imply?

a.	They were stuck. There was no other way to go. This is all they have experienced, idolatry/worship of speechless things with which they can have no relationship.

2.	How does this help us understand Paul's concern for them? Why might they be in danger of not knowing about spiritual things?

Verse 3

1.	In light of his concern and their past, what does he tell them?

a.	Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by . . . .

2.	What is the main verb in this sentence?

a.	Make known

3.	How does that fit into what he has been saying so far?

a.	He does not want them to be not knowing about spirituality, so here he is making known to them something

4.	about what?

a.	Spirituality.

5.	What contrast does he draw?

a.	No one speaking by the spirit of God says Jesus be cursed,

b.	and no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

6.	What does curse mean in scripture?

a.	The word here is anathema which is also in Acts 23:14; Rom. 9:3; 1 Co. 16:22; Gal. 1:8; Gal. 1:9

Interp:

1.	From the context (don't need to leave chapter 12) tell me what one would say if one were cursing Jesus. Big clue–look in the context for any speaking going on.

a.	Who in the context is speaking? Anyone speaking that is unusual?

i.	Parts of the body are speaking–parts that aren't the mouth!

b.	What are they saying?

i.	"I don't need you.

c.	(Some say that there were those who were fine cursing Jesus 'cause they were 'spiritual' and they could do anything they pleased and still be okay. They had the divine spark in them, and they could do no wrong!

i.	That may be exactly what was going on in which case Paul is trying to point out that these 'super-spiritual' people aren't really spiritual at all.)

2.	How is saying this stuff cursing Jesus?

a.	I don't need you is cutting off part of Jesus' body. Cutting off the least of these my brethren is cutting off me.

3.	(Who in the context is actually declaring "I don't need you" to the church at Corinth?

a.	Some look in 10-11, others in 13-14.

b.	Idolaters, immoral, drunkards, and tongues speakers

c.	On the one side were people who thought they could that spirituality allowed them to be carnal and have no morality or regard for the other members of the body, and on the other hand are those who thought spiritual allowed them to sink into ecstatic experiences and not need the other members of the body.

Applic:

1.	Are you in danger of being ignorant of the spiritual life/gifts?

a.	Most of us are not deep into immorality or ecstatic experiences, but what are ways today that we show we do not need each other?

i.	List:

b.	What about you? Do your actions say, "I don't need you" to the other members of Jesus' body?

i.	How much do you need the other members of the body?

ii.	I'm glad the parts of my body don't say hi to each other once a week.

V 3

Interp:

1.	Why can no one say 'Jesus is Lord" except by HS? In two parts"

2.	What does it mean to say "Jesus is Lord?" and then why must one by speaking by the Spirit in order to say it?

In order to understand this we need to understand the rest of the chapter.

Read Verses 4-6

Facts:

1.	Note the facts

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

a.	What two words mark the contrasts?

i.	Different or varieties vs same

b.	Why gifts, ministries, effects, in that order?

i.	What are gifts compared to in the chapter?

(1)	parts of body

ii.	what makes a toe a toe? How do you know what it is? What give it it's giftedness for doing the work of a toe?

c.	Many/one

d.	Spirit, Lord, God

e.	Gifts, ministries, effects/working

Interp:

1.	What interesting patterns are you seeing? Why are these three together, why in this order?

2.	Look for enlargement of this pattern in the chapter.

3.	Enlarge the relationships between these things.

4.	Why is the spirit assoc w/ gifts?

V. 7

1.	What is given to each?

a.	Manifestation of the Spirit

2.	For whom?

a.	The common good

interp

3.	Who in the context was claiming that their manifestation of the spirit was not for the common good?

a.	Tongues speakers

Principles of spiritual life in 1 Cor 12

v 6 God works all things in all

v 18 God has arranged parts

v 24 God combines them and God has appointed greater honor to weak parts

v 28 God has appointed different gifts

What does it take to declare that Jesus is Lord?

Many different and diverse people becoming unified

Are you interested in declaring Jesus Lord?

Applic

What would one say to declare Jesus Lord? I need you.

Words aren't enough, what would it really look like?

3 parts

I am needed

we must have diversity and unity

therefore you are needed too.

How do you do this if you don't trust people? Don't. But that means we've got a lot of work to do. How do you find out if you can trust people if you don't spend time with them or give them honest feedback when something bugs you? They may be trustworthy, but we don't know 'cause we're scared of something they did and we've never asked them to explain, or told them that what they did scared us.

3 parts: three principles

giftedness my gift is for common good (I am God's gift to the body)

body needs diversity and unity to be a body

Therefore we need each other and cannot discount others

I have been given a specific gift as has (everyone else in the body) which means I belong to the body even if I don't like my gift

In fact the body must operate on unity through diversity.

And I need the other parts of the body/therefore I cannot discount them or abuse them