Episode 206 "Unity, not uniformity within the church" - 1 Corinthians 12:27-31

1Cor. 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

This section summarizes what Paul has been trying to emphasize throughout this letter and most recently concerning spiritual gifts among believers within the church. Essentially, Paul wants them to prioritize unity among believers even though there is not uniformity in roles. In verse 27 the second-person pronoun “you” is plural, meaning “all of you (collectively) are the (singular) body of Christ, and each one of you is a member of that body.

Notice that in verse 28, Paul says that God appointed roles in the church. This reemphasizes that God is not letting the church define itself. He has planned and is orchestrating how it should work. When Paul writes, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then . . .,” I don’t think he’s saying that apostles are God’s greatest gifts to the church. That would seem to be in contradiction to what he had been saying that one member cannot say of themselves that they aren’t a part of the body, and another member can’t say they have no need of some other part within the body. I think Paul’s enumeration is rather how he sees God initiating and developing the church. The apostles were the foundational members of God’s church. They were the founding members, as it were. They played an instrumental role.

After he lists specific roles that God appointed within the church and includes them as gifts (See Ephesians 4:1-16), he mentions spiritual gifts of miracles, healing, helping, and others.

In verses 29-30, he asks seven questions, and each question is expressed in the Greek language to expect the answer to be “No.” “Are all apostles?” No! Does everyone have the gift of tongues? No! God has a different purpose for each believer within the church. The Christian faith has no room for comparison, pride, and elitism. Period.

So what does Paul mean in verse 31 when he writes, “But earnestly desire the higher gifts?” (ESV) A more literal rendering may be “Be zealous of the higher/greater gifts.” It’s difficult to say exactly what he means by this. Perhaps he is simply condescending to their perceptions and attitudes. He wants every Christian to value the gifts given from above. It seems unlikely that he is suggesting that one gift is superior to another because that would lead to elitist attitudes. But as he follows that up with “And I will show you a still more excellent way,” he is telling them if anyone thinks they have a greater gift, there is something that surpasses that and, as we’ll see, can be manifested by any and every believer. What is it? We’ll find out next week. Stay tuned.

Episode 205 - The head cannot say to the feet, "I have no need of you." - 1 Corinthians 12:21-26

1Cor. 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

I remember a science teacher in grade school who taught certain parts of the human body were evolutionary leftovers, that they were unnecessary for the functions of the human body. The tonsils and the appendix were such parts. However, as I grew older, I had physicians who explained the value of each of these seemingly insignificant parts of the body. Apparently, the only thing that “evolved” during that time was the knowledge of people in the scientific world.

This section we’re looking at today picks up from where we left off last week and continues Paul’s likening believers in the church to parts of the body. Paul stated in verses 15-16 that one part of the body of Christ cannot argue that they don’t belong to the body of Christ because that person is a “foot” or an “ear,” and they think of themselves as less important.

In verses 21-26, Paul looks at the argument from another perspective. One cannot think of themselves as essential and treat other believers as though they are not. Look at it this way. There are parts of the human body that are more prominent. The head, torso, arms, and legs are large and visible, but not so much the tonsils or the appendix. Paul states in verse 21, “The head cannot say to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” The illustration makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? We laugh about how ridiculous it would be for the head to think the feet have no value to the head or body.

Paul’s point is that it’s no less ridiculous for someone in the church to treat another believer as though they have no value to themselves or the body of Christ as a whole. Every part is valuable. Paul drives home the point beginning in verse 22 when he says, “The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” We are to honor every member of the body as equally important within our community of faith. Paul supports this assertion in verse 24, “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” (vv. 24b-25) Paul is saying, this isn’t my idea. This was God’s design of his church. It is highly valuable to God for there to not be division within the church. So, God has no less important members within the church. The little old lady who sits in the back of the church is no less valuable to the church or God than the minister whose face is seen by thousands of people live and on television or streaming online.

In light of this truth, notice what Paul writes in verse 26. “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” What this means is that we not only recognize the mutual value of each person in the body of Christ, we are to act in accordance with that understanding. We need to be concerned about the well-being of each person and have compassion for those who are suffering. Similarly, we must not be envious of the honor another member may receive. We can celebrate that with them.

In light of this text, I think it would be an appropriate challenge to us this week to encourage a brother or sister in Christ to remind them they are valuable in the body of Christ.

Episode 204 - "Many members, one body" - 1 Corinthians 12:12-20

1Cor. 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

1Cor. 12:14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

Are you starting to pick up on a continuous theme throughout this letter? Paul began it by admonishing those who thought of themselves more highly because of their claimed association with Paul, Apollos, or someone else. Later, in chapters five and six, Paul writes that the time when these Christians should separate one member from themselves is when that professing believer is willfully being sexually immoral and refuses to turn away from that. From the beginning, Paul has emphasized the need for humility and unity among believers.

At various times, Paul has used the imagery of the body and its members to speak of the church. Once again, Paul returns to this imagery. Why? In the verses preceding this section, he wrote about gifts given by the Holy Spirit and how God, through the Spirit, gifts believers with a variety of gifts and dispenses them at his will and not the will of the believer. Is Paul changing the subject? I don’t think so.

Paul is moving from the various gifts distributed by the same Holy Spirit to various members belonging to the same body. There is a correlation between the variety of spiritual gifts and the variety of saints within the church. They have differences, but they are to work in harmony. If I’m not mistaken, Paul wants the believers at Corinth to understand that just as each spiritual gift has a purpose to serve the church and God’s mission in it, the members of the church are to each serve the church in a way that unique but mutually edifying to other members.

Paul’s statement that “we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” probably was a shocking statement to some. (v. 13) Perhaps there were Jews who thought themselves as a higher class Christian by virtue of their heritage or some free people, following the culture, looked down upon those who were slaves. Paul argues that we are all one in Christ, and there is no difference. Paul develops this thought a little more in Ephesians 2.

Verses 14-17 make it clear that no one member can assert that they are separate from the body because of who they are or of what gift they may have been given. There are no excuses for not contributing to the body of Christ because God has baptized us all into the same body and, despite our differences, has gifted us differently for the mutual benefit within the body. If everyone were given the same gift or God made us all the same, we wouldn’t be much of a body. That body would be very limited.

Verse 18 reminds us that it is God who has made these choices. He has designed us, led us through various experiences in life, and gifted us in ways different from our brothers and sisters; not a single one of us is more or less important than the next person. There is no room for pride or self-isolation within the body of Christ. What is called for is humility before God and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Secondly, we must seek to find out how we can minister according to how God has gifted us for the edification and encouragement of fellow believers and to serve God’s mission to the world.