cheenc03a.pdf

SPIRITUAL GIFTS
and, in accordance with this, in ail probability 121
alro).
(6) From this we can see, at the same time, what
it war that properly speaking war regarded as the
valuable element in the charisms. It was the extraordinary,
the wonderful or miracnlous, that quality in
them which conferred a special importance on those who
possessed them. Fondamentally the view taken doer
not differ from that of the Greek religion. Man desires
to enjoy the posserrion or the godhead, bestowing itself
on him individuully. The same view dominates in the
OT ; and in Gentile-Christian circler also the OT conceptions
of the operations of the Spirit of God wln have
been familiar and influential. This conception has a
marked leaning towaids the quaintly, or eve", one might
sav. ~rorerauelv ., miraculour. Thus it is the Soirit that
enable3 Samson to rend n lion or burst his own fetters,
that is able to convey Elijah from place to place at
pleasure (Jodg. 146 15x4 1 K. 18x2 2 K. 216 ; cp in NT
Acts a39). Whether the thing done has a religious
purpose comes hut little into the question.
This wav of lookine at the charisms is oreciselv that
which mak& it porrih; to attribute the same workiigs to
Di stern ing :,her spirits than the Holy Spirit. (a)
The belief in the existence of such spirits
Of
was at that time exceedingly prevaient.
Broadly speaking, they do not fall simply under the two
categories of good and evil, hut many of then, are rc
carded simply as of a subordinate character and ar
restricted in their insight. Whether they were called
demons in accordance with pagan idear, or angels in
accordance with those of the OT, was indifferent : in
either case they were thought of as quite persona1 and
as very active. Of such a spirit it is. for example, presupposed
in 2 Thess. 22 that it can produce the erroneous
belief that the day of the 1,ord is immediately at
hand.
(6) That there conceptions are present in I Cor.14
also is shown by the plural, %spirits'(r~niiraio)
which.
fop linguistic reasons, cannot be talien to mean 'operations
of the spirit'-a meaning, moreover, which in
v. 32 is excluded by the connection in which the word
occurs (.the rpiritrof the prophet. are subject to the
oc~~hets'i. .. , 'Thus to each oioohet . . ir assiened " a orooer . .
spirit, conceived of personally, by which he is inspired
(cp Rev. 226 : 'the God of the spirits of the prophets').
Quite similarly I Cor. 14 rr also : ,if I pray in a tongue,
my rpirit prayeth.' Here it is not the proper rpirit, so
foray, with which aman is horn, that isintended: for this
the apostle derignvtez rather by the word 'understanding'
("oar), and dirtinguisher in thir very verse from
'my spirit.' From this it followr that 7,. rz also is to he
understood quite literally: 'ye we zealous uf spirits,'
that is to say, one of you reekr to obtain an inspiration
from one r$rit, anofhfr from another.
(6) If thiswere not the meaning, no ~ ll~h thing as the
'discerning of spirits' would be possible. By the
'apiritr' here interpreters indeed have proposed to
understand dirtrihutions of the one Holy Spirit such as
in point of fact were actually believed in (Xu. llzi Rev.
14 31 41 56. Hermas. Sirn.ir.132 151-6 aud often).
Only, in thir care also, any 'discerning' would be
meaningless. For, beyond question, any act of 'discerning'
would consist in judging as to whether an
utterance founded upon spiritual suggestion war true or
false. one to be followed or rejected. I Cor. i ~ shows a
. . , -
re-marriage of widows with the words : ' I think that I
also have the Spirit of God.' we must conclude that in
Corinth other persons on the ground of suggestion by
the Spirit had decided in the opposite sense. Cp
14;lf: where the best reading (Ly~otira~) is to be pronounced
as an imperative (&yvarirr): if any man is
ignorant, ignore ye him.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
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