1 Corinthians 12
-Paul opens up a new section now concerning questions and
instructions on spiritual gifts. Keep in mind that he is still making the case
for unity in the body, which he makes extremely explicit here in this passage,
versus the divisions and factions that are currently plaguing the Corinthian
church. He wants them to understand that they are all in this Kingdom thing
together and that a culture of honor is paramount for their witness and effectiveness
in Christ.
-Paul, speaking through the Holy Spirit, delineates the
different spiritual giftings that God has so composed and ordained for His
church (1 Corinthians 12:6, 18) for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). He
lists wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, faith, healing, the working of
miracles, prophecy (proclamation of the truth of God, forth telling and fore
telling), discerning of spirits, various kinds of tongues (could be linguistic
skills or supernatural abilities), and the interpretation of tongues (1
Corinthians 12:8-10). He also lists apostleship, teaching, helping, and administrating
in addition (1 Corinthians 12:28). This is not an exhaustive list in my
opinion. There are other potential places in Scripture we can look to in order
to find even more gifts of the Spirit of God (Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:8-12,
1 Peter 4:10-11). The important thing to remember here is that the same Lord is
unifying all these many parts into a homologous whole with no division by His
Spirit working within us (1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11-13, 25-27).
-Paul uses the one body with many parts approach to help
everyone understand the unity with diversity concept. This illustration was
known to many he was writing to in the Greek world because of the works of
Plato, who also used this analogy [Rosamond Kent Sprague, "Parmenides,
Plato, and 1 Corinthians 12," Journal
of Biblical Literature 86, no. 2 (June 1967): 213]. He strategically uses
parts less presentable (feet and ears) in comparison to the more presentable
parts (hands and eyes) to demonstrate the necessity for each part of the body
in making it complete in its functionality. He also makes valid points for the
unpresentable parts (for instance our heart and brain, sexual organs, etc.)
being absolutely indispensable for the proper functioning of the body. The
point should be clear enough; every person is vital to the common good of
Christ’s body, the church, and there should be no divisions. “If one member
suffers, all suffer; if one member is honored, all rejoice together (1
Corinthians 12:26).” Suffering together produces the important Christian trait
of compassion and rejoicing together as a body eliminates jealousy and envy.
*Application* Paul is teaching us the importance of valuing one another in the
body of Christ at every level, which fulfills the law of Christ (Romans 12:10, Ephesians
5:21, Philippians 2:1-8). He will go on to teach the more excellent way of love
in the next chapter, which is the quintessential virtue of the Christian. Therefore,
from the least of these to the most prominent positions in the body of Christ, we
should realize the extreme importance of each individual, designed by God for a
specific task or tasks. Honor and totally respect everyone!
Verse to Memorize- 1
Corinthians 12:12-13, 18
No comments:
Post a Comment