Werk van die Heilige Gees (03): Inleidende studie oor genadegawes

DIE GAWES VAN DIE GEES
Genadegawes (Gr.: charismata χαρισμάτα )
Lees 1Kor 12.
6.1 Wie gee die gawes?
6.2 Kan mens besluit watter gawes jy wil hê? (vv 11 en 18)
6.3 Wie ontvang gawes van die Here? (v7. Vgl ook Ef 4:7)
6.4 Waarom is daar ‘n verskeidenheid van gawes?
Wat sê dit van die eenheid van die liggaam van Christus? (1Kor 12:4-6)
6.5 Hoekom het almal nie dieselfde gawes ontvang nie? (v27. Vgl ook Rm 12:5)
6.6 Waarvoor is die genadegawes bedoel? (Vergelyk ook 1Pt 4:10; Ef 4:11-12)
6.7 Wat is die verband tussen genadegawes en (natuurlike) aanleg? (Rm 12:6-8)
‘n Nadink vraag: Wat dink jy is die doel van hierdie hoofstuk in die Bybel?

Oorsig oor 1 Kor 12
(Geneem uit:Richards, L., & Richards, L. O. 1987. The teacher's commentary. Includes index. Victor Books: Wheaton)
One of the problems in Corinth focused on spiritual gifts, and their relationship to spirituality. Today too similar questions surface, and similar confusion exists. Yet in this three-chapter section of 1 Corinthians Paul provided clear teaching. For instance, our study of 1 Corinthians 12–14 will tell us which of the following are true and which are false—and explain why!
• T or F? The more important the spiritual gift, the more mature and spiritual the person.
• T or F? The major evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is his or her ability to speak in tongues.
• T or F? We must ask God for the spiritual gift we want.
• T or F? A person “under the influence” of the Spirit can’t help shouting out.
• T or F? Some Christians have little to contribute to others.
• T or F? In church meetings, only the pastor should teach, because he’s usually the only one with seminary training.
• T or F? There is no real test for “spirituality.”
• T or F? Some people are more important than others in the church as in every other situation.
If your group members have ever had questions like these, or are uncertain about spiritual gifts and their relationship to Christian spirituality, this study is especially for them!

Kommentaar
It should be very clear by now in our study of 1 Corinthians. The New Testament church was not utopia!
Sometimes we imagine that it was. When we’re plagued by problems in our local congregations, or unhappy about our personal spiritual progress, we long for those early days. We feel that somehow the church has lost its power; we wonder how to recapture those supposed days of constant victory.
Well, the New Testament church was dynamic. The truth, the love, the transformation that marked the Christian fellowship was distinctive in a world that was void of each. But that same trio is meant to characterize the family of God in every age, and in each we must struggle to maintain their balance. The way to victory now as in New Testament times was marked by struggle, setbacks, slow growth, and time. Maturity then as now comes only gradually, and often seems choked out by problems.
Actually, we need not be discouraged if at times our churches are marred by differences, problems, and disputes. Let’s remember that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians when the church was young and vital and alive—and that even a vitally alive congregation will have problems. It is not the absence of problems, but how we deal with them, that determines our continued growth toward the full experience of blessing.
In Paul’s letter, he guides us as well as the Corinthians to this understanding. Paul wanted us to know how to deal with issues that are likely to trouble any local church—including problems that may arise from confusion over tongues.

Agtergrond
Once again, some insight into the first-century world is helpful as we approach what seems to be a very contemporary issue.
Tongues. In the New Testament we first meet tongues in Acts 2, when on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit welded the disciples into a new body, the church. Not only were there miraculous signs of fire and wind but, filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples began to “speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:4).
“How is it,” the observers asked in amazement, “that each of us hears them in his own native language?” (v. 8)
Later, when we meet tongues in Acts, they again seem to be foreign languages (see 10:44–46; 11:17).
Coming to 1 Corinthians, we learn that the tongues-speaker himself did not understand what he was saying unless a person with the gift of interpretation explained. Here interpretation of tongues is identified as a separate gift—a gift often possessed by a fellow believer in the congregation. Tongues, then, was not used evangelistically in the early church to reach outsiders, but was exercised within the family, and then only when an interpreter was present to make the message intelligible to others (1 Cor. 14:28).
Nothing in this passage ruled out tongues as a valid expression of the Holy Spirit’s ministry through one of God’s children. Instead, Paul was concerned in these chapters with putting this rather spectacular gift in perspective.
Cultural context. Perspective was especially important in a place like Corinth. It was universally accepted in the Hellenistic world that some were especially close to the gods. Usually this closeness was supposed to be manifested by trances, ecstatic speech, and other unusual or bizarre forms of behavior. All this was taken as evidence of special spiritual endowment. A person with epilepsy, for instance, was said to have the “divine disease.” The oracles at religious centers were often given drugs to provoke their utterances. The oracle at Delphi, so prominent in the early days of Greece, breathed volcanic fumes from a cleft in the rock of the temple floor, and her unconscious mutterings were then interpreted by the priests.
It is not surprising, given this cultural perspective, that the Christians in Corinth were attracted to the gift of tongues. Nor is it surprising that they thought of such people as especially spiritual.
But their assumptions led to real problems in the Corinthian church. And Paul launched these chapters by challenging the assumptions carried over from paganism. Paul’s very first words were: “Now about spiritual [gifts], brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant” (12:1).
The word “gifts” really should be placed, as I have, in brackets. It is not necessarily implied by the Greek word pneumatikon. As the alternate reading in the Revised Standard Version suggests, it might as well be rendered “spiritual persons.” This probably better reflects the issue that troubled the Corinthians. It was the issue of spirituality itself, and how spirituality is expressed in Christian experience.
We need to remember that the Corinthians were pagans just a short time ago, “somehow or other … influenced and led astray to dumb idols” (v. 2). It was dangerous for them to carry over into the Christian faith old notions about spirituality! But apparently they had been so influenced by the old assumptions that when someone in an ecstatic trance had pronounced an anathema (“be accursed”) against Jesus Himself, a few of the Corinthians had actually been swayed! They had taken the state of the person making the utterance as evidence of divine inspiration!
Paul said firmly that no one could say, “Jesus be cursed,” by the Spirit of God. Neither would anyone caught up in such an experience (as were the oracles of pagan faiths) ever announce, “Jesus is Lord,” unless indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The state of the speaker was not to be taken as evidence of inspiration or of spirituality!
Paul dealt with this issue because there was then, as now, a great danger that in their ignorance some Christians would be led away from true spirituality by an unwarranted emphasis on this more spectacular manifestation of the Spirit. In his argument Paul did not attack the gift of tongues, or reject it. Rather he gave a lengthy explanation of how the Spirit does work in our lives, and in our churches.

Die argument: 1 Kor 12–14
Our insight into backgrounds helps us entitle this important section of 1 Corinthians, and also helps us trace the apostle’s train of thought. A paraphrase condenses the argument, and makes it more clear.
True Spirituality
1 Corinthians 12–14
Brothers, don’t view spirituality from your old pagan perspective. God is at work in all of us, but the Spirit’s work is manifest in different ways. Yet, it is the Spirit who shows Himself behind each gift, and these expressions of His presence are dedicated to our common good. (Just how He works in each individual is His choice.)
Actually, we Christians are the body of Christ, many parts united in one. Like parts of the human body, we each have our own functions, as a “hand” or “foot” or “eye” or “ear.” And we’re each necessary; no one contribution should be singled out and exalted. So you’re each in the body, and this is what’s important. But if we were to rank gifts by their importance, tongues would hardly be at the top of the list.
Really, there’s a better way to measure true spirituality: love. No gift profits a person exercising it unless he loves. You want to measure spirituality? Then look to kindness, patience, and those other practical expressions of real love. For it is love that lifts us out of childhood; love is the mark of spiritual maturity.
Focus on love, and realize that the gifts used for communicating God’s Word should have priority when you meet. You see, intelligible speech builds up our brother, and it is such building-up gifts that we should value. So, in church don’t burst out in a tongue unless an interpretation can be given. And don’t misunderstand! I speak in tongues more than you all; I’m not rejecting this gift. But I’d rather speak 5 words that will help someone than 10,000 words in a tongue no one can understand.
So get over your childish preoccupation with tongues. Tongues are certainly not meant to be a sign of special spirituality within the body; as that kind of sign, their only appeal might be to pagans, as an indication of God’s presence.
In church meetings let each one participate—but no more disorderly clamor! Take turns. God’s work is marked by order, and you can control yourselves. As for the women who’ve been disrupting your meetings, they especially need to learn submissiveness. Tell them to be quiet in church and to discuss their questions with their husbands at home.
And if anyone there still wants to claim a “special spirituality,” let him recognize the fact that I speak with God’s own authority. So, brothers, don’t forbid tongues, but do concentrate on communicating God’s Word in your meetings.