“Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy — Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth Demands That We Follow Paul — Part 3”

1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14 provide the teaching on the miraculous gifts of the spirit that were given to believers in the early Church which is His Body. Signs, wonders, and miracles were common during Christ’s earthly ministry and continued during the early Acts period after the death and resurrection of our Lord.  They provided authentication of the messenger and the message as the Kingdom Gospel was preached to the Jews (Mk. 16). But when Paul was raised up as apostle of the Gentiles, there was a continuation of signs and wonders and Paul himself exhibited them authenticating his apostleship.  But believers saved through Paul’s preaching were given special gifts as well and that is the focus in these three chapters.  Paul teaches there that those particular gifts were to be given and used only temporarily.  So they would be passing away and the implication is that that would be sooner rather than later. Otherwise the exhortation would be somewhat meaningless.  Next time we will get to the detailed teaching as to why these gifts would no longer be exercising the work of God.  But in summary, it was so God’s abundant grace might be fully displayed apart from the Kingdom Law and its preaching.  For no longer was the coming Earthy Kingdom with its earthly powers in view but rather a heavenly citizenship with a correspondingly great difference in how godly power would be manifested.  Now that power was to be exhibited through weakness as the apostle Paul so gloriously demonstrated in his life (2 Cor. 12).