“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.”
Ignorant to what purpose those gifts are given you. Now he entereth into the third part of this treatise, touching the right use of spiritual gifts, wherein he giveth the Corinthians plainly to understand that they abused them: for they that excelled, bragged ambitiously of them, and so robbed God of the praise of his gifts: and having no consideration of their brethren abused to a vain ostentation, and so robbed the Church of the use of those gifts. On the other side, the inferior sort envied the better, and went about to make a departure, so that all that body was as it were scattered and rent in pieces. So then he going about to remedy these abuses, willeth them first to consider diligently, that they have not these gifts of themselves, but from the free grace and liberality of God, to whose glory they ought to bestow them all.