Re: Are todays disciples of the Lord Jesus inferior?

Hi Ed,

Great post. I agree with it all except this part that I question:


You said: "and if you chose to truly die to flesh and live by the Spirit which is also an important part of this, taking every thought, attitude and action captive and bringing them into obedience to Christ, willingly crucifying all that which is not of Him, you would almost certainly be used of the Lord to do the same, just as was true of the committed fervent disciples of the Lord Jesus roughly 2000 years ago!"


Of course, what you said is important. We do need to die to the flesh and live by the Spirit, but I question that has anything to do with being able to operate in the gifts of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 3 when Paul was speaking to the church of Corinth, he said they were carnal. He said they were babes in Christ. He fed them with the milk of the word, not with the meat or the solid food of the word, because they were not able to receive it. Yet we know by reading the whole book of 1 Corinthians, that they did operate in all the gifts of the Spirit. God gives the gifts as He wills. Now He may choose to give those gifts because we have chosen obedience, or we choose to seek those gifts or some other reason that involves our choice, but I think this scripture is clear that even babes in Christ (immature Christians) can operate in the gifts of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3
New King James Version (NKJV)
Sectarianism Is Carnal
3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
Watering, Working, Warning
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will dec1are it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Avoid Worldly Wisdom
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; [a] 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”[b] 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.