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● 1Cor 12:8 . . For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit
The koiné Greek word for "wisdom" is sophia (sof-ee'-ah); an ambiguous
word that can indicate worldly smarts and/or heavenly smarts.
Worldly smarts would include fields such as tax consultants, financial
advisors, fashion and style gurus, fitness coaches, lawyers, auto mechanics,
physical therapists, golf pros, health specialists, viz: someone who, because
of their expertise and/or education in a given field, qualifies them to render
expert and/or professional counseling regarding a particular matter.
I really don't think 1Cor 12:8 is talking about professionals, rather, just
ordinary people in church with a head on their shoulders, i.e. sensible,
unusually canny people that others can look to for advice about a variety of
life's thorny problems when they're stumped and don't know what they
should do.
Just because someone has been around the block a time or two, and/or
graduated from the school of hard knocks, doesn't make them "gifted" with
the word of wisdom. No, the person we're talking about here gets their word
of wisdom through the Spirit.
I often hear about a category of wisdom called common sense; which
everybody is supposed to have but of which many seem deprived. It's a
humanistic wisdom produced by the intellect of a three-pound lump of flabby
organic tissue housed within humanity's bony little skulls. Well; the kind of
sense we're talking about here isn't that, no, we're talking about the Spirit's
sense. When someone in a church is endowed with that, they are a seriously
valuable asset.
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● 1Cor 12:8 . . For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit
The koiné Greek word for "wisdom" is sophia (sof-ee'-ah); an ambiguous
word that can indicate worldly smarts and/or heavenly smarts.
Worldly smarts would include fields such as tax consultants, financial
advisors, fashion and style gurus, fitness coaches, lawyers, auto mechanics,
physical therapists, golf pros, health specialists, viz: someone who, because
of their expertise and/or education in a given field, qualifies them to render
expert and/or professional counseling regarding a particular matter.
I really don't think 1Cor 12:8 is talking about professionals, rather, just
ordinary people in church with a head on their shoulders, i.e. sensible,
unusually canny people that others can look to for advice about a variety of
life's thorny problems when they're stumped and don't know what they
should do.
Just because someone has been around the block a time or two, and/or
graduated from the school of hard knocks, doesn't make them "gifted" with
the word of wisdom. No, the person we're talking about here gets their word
of wisdom through the Spirit.
I often hear about a category of wisdom called common sense; which
everybody is supposed to have but of which many seem deprived. It's a
humanistic wisdom produced by the intellect of a three-pound lump of flabby
organic tissue housed within humanity's bony little skulls. Well; the kind of
sense we're talking about here isn't that, no, we're talking about the Spirit's
sense. When someone in a church is endowed with that, they are a seriously
valuable asset.
/