Apostle Paul moves to another subject the Corinthian congregation needed to know more about: spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit has been one of the underlying glues of the letter with statements like, “God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” (2:10-11). And “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (3:16). Also, there’s, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (6:1) The Corinthian congregation’s inproper view of the Spirit and spiritual gifts were surely on Paul’s mind when he wrote, “…and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.” (7:40)
Paul first makes it clear that ignorance is a large factor in misunderstanding spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit (1). Pride in spiritual gifts made them blind to their folly. Another source of misconception is forgetting our state before we received spiritual gifts (2). From birth, we were influenced and led to believe and accepted lies as truth. We worshiped something unworthy of worship. As pagans, we unwittingly lacked spiritual gifts. We are not born with spiritual gifts.
The Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts are granted by the grace of God when we come to believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. They are gifts, not natural powers that were always in us.
We speak by the Spirit of God who is living in us. We confess Jesus is Lord by the Spirit (3). We would never curse Jesus (3).
Pagans get themselves in an emotional frenzy until they lose control of their minds. They say all kinds of blasphemous and/or emotional rantings, sinful and selfish deceptions and lies. Witlessly, some allow demons to speak through them. Some curse the God who made them (3). Paul in verse 3 contrasts pagan religious ceremonies with worship services led by the Spirit, revealing to the Corinthian congregation that they were influenced and led by mute “prophets” in their mists.
From the introduction in verses 1-3, Paul will move into the main point he needed to make about the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.
