First Corinthians 12:1 says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” Paul was very wise, and he was a great teacher in a particular and profound way. When he touched the matter of spiritual gifts, he began in this way. In our version the word gifts is in italics. This indicates that this word is not in the Greek text. Paul only used the adjective form of pneuma, spiritual. This expression has bothered all the translators, but nearly all agree to fill in this word gifts.
Verse 2 continues, “You know that when you were of the nations,” the Gentiles, “you were led away to dumb idols, however you were led.” Paul was saying, “When you were Gentiles you had a kind of service. You had a kind of worship, and that was to idols. All the idols are dumb. This means that you Gentile people did not worship a speaking God. You worshipped idols who do not speak, dumb idols. Therefore you also became dumb. But when you worship the living God who is speaking, by this worship you will be made to speak.” And this speaking is what Paul referred to by the word spiritual in verse 1. Although it is not wrong to insert the word gifts in verse 1, we have to study why Paul only wrote “spiritual.” He was not only talking about spiritual gifts. When we touch or when we exercise the spiritual gifts, we touch a spiritual realm, we touch spiritual things, not only the gifts. We touch an entire situation which is pneumatic, an entire situation which is spiritual. Not only the gifts but also the situation, the environment, the atmosphere, the sphere, the realm, the items, and the contents are spiritual. I believe Paul used the word spiritual to indicate all these things. Whenever we touch or exercise spiritual gifts, a kind of environment, situation, or atmosphere is involved. The environment, the situation, the atmosphere, and even the persons should all be spiritual. We must be spiritual persons to exercise spiritual gifts. The environment should be spiritual, the atmosphere should be spiritual, the situation should be spiritual, what we speak should be spiritual, the speaker should be spiritual, and even our wording, utterances, and expressions all should be spiritual. Verses 2 and 3 show why this is so. When we were Gentiles, we worshipped the dumb idols. Nothing there was involved in the spiritual realm. There was no need of any spiritual environment, spiritual situation, spiritual atmosphere, spiritual person, spiritual words, spiritual elements, or spiritual items. We did not need anything spiritual because there was no speaking.
Because I was born into a Christian home, I do not believe that I had ever gone to an idol temple more than ten times. However, in 1935 a number of co-workers stayed on a scenic lake for two weeks, resting and studying the Word. While we were there, I visited the temples of the idols. At that time I saw that the worship of the idols was entirely dumb. From that day I understood Paul’s word. In that kind of dumb worship there was no need of anything spiritual. But today we, the Christians, worship a living God who is speaking all the time. Our worship to Him surely makes us speakers. Those dumb worshippers do not have a Bible because their god is not the speaking God. But we have a thick volume of sixty-six books. There are so many pages because our God is the speaking God. Hebrews 1:1-3 says that our God speaks. He has spoken in the Old Testament and now He is speaking in the New Testament. He is the speaking God, so we Christians have to speak. If you are just a dumb worshipper, you do not look like a Christian. You do not practice as a Christian; you practice as a dumb worshipper, worshipping the dumb idols.
First Corinthians 12:2 and 3 say, “You know that when you were of the nations, you were led away to dumb idols, however you were led. Wherefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit.” Apparently the composition of these two verses is not logical, but if you get into the spiritual fact, Paul is more than logical. In verse 2 he says that to worship the idols makes you dumb. But when you come to God, God makes you speak. Then you speak, and the principle is that whenever you speak “Lord Jesus,” you are in the Spirit. Time after time I saw some seeking Christians crying to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I love You, Lord, but I feel empty. I have to be filled with Your Spirit.” Right after such a one prayed some would come asking, “Have you received the Spirit?” Most of the ones asked answered, “No, I don’t feel so.” What would you say? The reason you would say no is because you do not feel that you have received the Spirit. But after reading verse 3 what would you say? You have cried, “Lord Jesus, I love You!” Have you received the Spirit? Yes! How do you know? “For the Bible tells me so.” Do not say, “Because I feel so.” I tell you, feeling is just like the weather. It comes, it goes, it fluctuates. It is like the air, the clouds, and the fog. It comes and it goes. Do not trust in your feeling. You must trust in the Word. “No one can say, Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit.” Can you say “Lord Jesus”? Try to say it from the depths of your being. “Lord Jesus!” Have you received the Spirit? “Yes, I have.” How do you know? “The Bible tells me so.” Where does it tell you? First Corinthians 12:3.
For the practice of the home meetings, we must learn to say, “Lord Jesus.” Some brothers have advised me, “The strangers, the new ones are not used to our way. When they come in and hear someone say, ‘Lord Jesus,’ this will scare them away.” If we all would say, “Lord Jesus,” from our spirit, the strangers may not agree with what we say, yet after hearing it, something will be impressed into them. They may go away, but they will go away with a certain impression. If you do not say, “Lord Jesus,” but instead you are so polite, so cultured, and so nice, the strangers would not be scared away. They would stay, yet they stay with an impression that is altogether meaningless. What they would say is, “Well, the meeting in that home is very polite, very nice, and all those people are so cultured.” It would be better to have a meeting shouting, “O Lord Jesus,” and scare people away with an impression of something. They would say, “I don’t understand what that was, yet they had something there. Their speaking did something to me.”