eManna

eManna

The Word of God Delivered Daily via Email

Calendar

August 30, 2022

Our Initial Gifts Need to Grow (2)

1Cor 1:4 I thank my God always concerning you based upon the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 That in everything you were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 So that you do not lack in any gift… 3:1 And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.

[Part 2 of 2] As we have pointed out, the gift in verse 7 refers to the initial gifts issuing from grace, namely eternal life and the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the time of our regeneration, we received eternal life as the gift of God. According to Acts 2:38, the Holy Spirit also is a gift. To speak of these gifts as initial gifts indicates that these gifts have not yet developed; they have not yet grown to maturity. An infant has life and also the functions of life, but no growth or development of life. This makes it impossible for him to do anything. The more a child grows, the more he is able to do. For example, my eleven-year-old grandson can do many things which his younger brother, aged seven, is not able to do. This does not mean that the younger boy does not have life. He has life, but does not have the same amount of the development of this life. Likewise, even though the Corinthians had received the initial gifts and had been enriched in Christ in all expression and in all knowledge, they were still infants. The initial gifts had not been developed. Due to their education, many saints [believers] are able to understand the expressions used to convey spiritual things. They may grasp the thought without possessing the reality. They may understand the thought conveyed in words, but they may lack the reality to which the thought points. This reality is Christ Himself. Like the Corinthian believers, they are rich in expression and in knowledge, in their understanding of spiritual things, but they may not have much reality of these things. (c) Living Stream Ministry.

Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 18-19. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].

To unsubscribe from the mailing list, either: Send an email to: [email protected] (No subject or message needed; a blank email will work) or visit www.emanna.com and fill out the unsubscribe form there.

Life-study of 1 Corinthians