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Daily Devotions

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 
Day 
Day 194

"If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual..."

Text: 1 Corinthians 14:37

THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM

The heart of the problem in the Corinthian Church was the way some people saw themselves. They thought that they were “spiritual” and thus they promoted their ideas and practices!

“If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you
are the commandments of the Lord.
But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.”
1 Corinthians 14:37-38

1. “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual”

a) “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet”
i) This was not a hypothetical statement.
ii) There were people who thought very highly of themselves as people specially gifted.
b) “A prophet”
i) Some may have felt that they were given the gift of prophecy.
ii) Thus, they enjoyed the status of a “prophet”.
iii) They may have compared themselves to the prophets of old.
iv) The NT Prophets actually had a much more diminished role.
v) The focus in the NT era was the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.
c) “Or spiritual”
i) They certainly did not think that they were carnal.
ii) Or that they discerned things only at the level of the “natural” mindset.
iii) They thought of themselves as being “spiritual”.
iv) Thus, they were as discerning and perceptive as the Apostle Paul.

2. “Let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord”

a) The prophet and the spiritual men ought to be especially discerning and perceptive.
b) If they were truly prophets and spiritual people they would acknowledge Paul’s writing.
i) That what he had written was inspired.
ii) That what he had written was indeed the commandments of the Lord and authoritative.

3. “But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant”

a) Paul knew only too well the heart and the attitude of the ignorant.
b) They will reject what Paul had written.
c) Paul’s word was to let them be! They will not be receptive to the commandments of the Lord!