if the dead know nothing?

Question

why then does it speak of discerning of spirit in Corinthians ?
this means that someone is given the gift of knowing spirit ... and knowing evil spirit for good spirit
who are these spirit if the dead are sleeping ?

i am not reading too much into it .. it seems a simple text .. i am looking for opinions and answers

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues

LOl JT you know me better than that i hope

Answer 1

are you reading to much into it? I think so.

Answer 2

Discerning of spirits is when you have the ability to know if something is of God or evil. Some people have it very strong to where as soon as they meet someone they can tell what type of spirit they have. It's talking about knowing the livings spirit too. The dead are dead. The bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Nobodys ghost is lingering w/ unfinished business. It would probably be an evil spirit. They can make it seem like someone you know but your loved ones aren't lingering here.

Answer 3

When a person gives their life to God, His Spirit indwells that person. As in Corinthians, some are given the Spirit of discernment and there are differing gifts. This has nothing to do with the dead.

Answer 4

Here is the quote form Ecclesiastes 9:5-7 (Amplified Bible)

5For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; and they have no more reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten.

6Their love and their hatred and their envy have already perished; neither have they any more a share in anything that is done under the sun.

The dead humans that you are in reference to and that Solomon is in reference to here do indeed know nothing. An Irish saying says that, "there is no memory in heaven." That is that once the human spirit passes from time into eternity, the trivialities of this life are left behind and those human spirits who have passed have no more motive for dealing with earthly things. Note that Solomon says in verse 6, "Their love and their hatred and their envy have already perished. . ." These encompass all the motivations that drive man to do anything. and therefore, "neither have they any more a share in anything that is done under the sun." The spirits of humans who have gone into eternity or died have nothing more to do with we who are left here, "under the sun".

OK, so what spirits are left for us to discern? Well, in the spiritual realm we have two opposing forces. God and his angels and the fallen angles, all of which are spirits. These are the spirits that we need to be picky about. God's spirits will not lie to us, but the opposition will and appear to out consciousness as all sorts of things, including the images of humans who may or may not have gone before. That's why we are not to trust the spirits, without testing them as described in 1 John 4:1
[ Test the Spirits ] "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Answer 5

Which verses are you refering to in Corinthian? I'd like to help you.

The verses you refer to are in 1 Cor 12: 4-11 and are discussing the provision God made for the early disciples -the gifts of God’s holy spirit, or active force. The miraculous healing and speaking in tongues etc proved that the Jews no longer had Gods favor but that his approval now rested on the Christian congregation, established by his Son, Jesus Christ. The mention of "spirit" in these verses then mean gifts from God, special ability, his active force, not the assistance of angelic persons.
Hope this helps you.

Answer 6

The spiritual gift of discernment of spirits doesn't have anything to do with seeing ghosts, etc. Remember, God has commanded us to have nothing whatsoever to do with divination, spirtualism, etc., since these things are from the devil.

Instead, this gift enables the hearer to discern whether the spirit prompting a person to speak a prophecy is from God. Notice this gift is listed immediately after the gift of prophecy at 1 Cor. 12:10. In other words, these are God's spiritual lie detectors.

I hope this helps. Peace.

Answer 7

The evil spirits are demons and the good spirit is the Holy Spirit.

Answer 8

When the word is speaking of Spirit here good and bad..... it is refering to the spirit of the Holy Spirit being good and evil being a spirit of bad.
When feel you are being lead to do something... you are able to discern whether this is something good or bad.
This is not speaking of dead people. But rather the guidance of the Holy Spirit .... or the temptations of evil. And that we can discern the difference.

Answer 9

The gift of discerning of spirits is to discern or know whether something is happening because the Holy Spirit is causing it to happen or because demon spirits are at work.

Answer 10

At death, the soul is separated from the body.

The soul returns to God for judgment.

Jesus himself assures us that God is the God of the living, and that the dead are not only able to witness events which God ordains, but take joy in them, as well.

The body, which is dead, and no longer of any use whatsoever, is buried, returns to the environment, and literally possesses no life, no knowledge, nothing at all.

A dead body certainly appears to sleep, until it eventully turns to dirt, and disappears completely.

Most people think that the resurrection will literally reanimate dead and totally corrupted bodies, from the exact same elements of which they were originally composed.

I tend to think that God will recreate our resurrection bodies out of much more glorious and lasting "stuff" known only to him.

Answer 11

Based on the scriptures you have given it is talking about spirit creatures (angels and demons) not dead people. Angels are a separate part of God's creation, not people who have died and been changed into heavenly creatures. Demons are angels who chose to follow Satan into disobedience instead of remaining faithful to God. They have been cast down to the earth and are confined here. The Bible says "Woe for the earth and for the sea because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time."