OVERVIEW:
The body of Christ (chapter 12); the priority of charity (chapter 13); the boundaries for spiritual gifts (chapter 14); the resurrection of the dead (chapter 15); structure for orderly giving (chapter 16).
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
As we move into chapter 12, Paul begins to address the ignorance of the Corinthians regarding spiritual gifts. (12:1) Remember the context, according to chapter 4 and verse 10, they think they’ve got it all together when it comes to this subject. They certainly didn’t think they were “ignorant” about spiritual gifts! After all, they were using their gifts; they were even having services where the “Spirit” was literally overwhelming people! (12:2–3) The only problem was, it wasn’t the Spirit of God that was overwhelming them! That’s what has prompted this entire discourse in chapters 12–14. It’s important to keep that in mind as we navigate through this section. This whole subject concerning gifts is actually Paul’s rebuke of how the Corinthians were abusing both the Spirit of God and His gifts!
God establishes three keys to spiritual gifts in verses 4–6:
- There are DIVERSITIES of gifts. (12:4)
God never intended for everybody in a church to have the same gift. For the church to function as ONE body, it necessitates DIVERSITY of gifts amongst the members!
- There are different ADMINISTRATIONS of the gifts. (12:5)
Even when God gives people the same gift, the way He dispenses (administrates) that gift to them is different.
- There are different OPERATIONS of the gifts. (12:6)
Even though people may have the same gift, the way the Spirit of God operates through that gift in various individuals is different.
Verse 7 lets us know, however, that there is one overarching principle guiding spiritual gifts. The Spirit always intends to use the individual spiritual gifts through individual believers to “profit withal” or, for the “common good”. In other words, the purpose of our spiritual gift is not our own personal edification or benefit; it is for the spiritual benefit of others in the body of Christ. Remembering this principle will be vital in understanding spiritual gifts in general, but even more specifically when we get to chapter 14 when Paul instructs us concerning how tongues were being abused in Corinth in the 1st century, and all over the world in the 21st century, by people thinking they could use that particular gift for their own edification in what is often called a “prayer language”.
God then illustrates the point of how our gifts are not for us but for others, by using the example of our human body. For example, the purpose of our hand is not the benefit of our hand; it is for the benefit of the rest of our body, as it works in conjunction with all of the other members of our body. Through this illustration, God is emphasizing the importance of the placement of every believer in a local church. Sometimes believers can mistakenly get the idea that they aren’t as important as other members of the body. Sometimes believers can mistakenly get the idea that other members of the body aren’t as important as them, or not as important as other members of the body. But the point of the passage is that every member of the spiritual body of Christ is just as vital to Him, as every member of our own physical body is to us! Because of that fact, Paul admonishes us to exercise equal care and concern for every member of Christ’s body. We’re to rejoice with those who rejoice, and we’re to weep with those who weep, regardless of their gifts, and regardless of their function in the body.
Pay close attention to the questions being asked in 12:28-31. The obvious answer to each of the questions in these verses is, “No!” No, we don’t all have the same gifts! In fact, for the body to function as a body, we CAN’T all carry out the same function by all of us exercising the SAME gift! That’s why God sovereignly gives each of us DIFFERENT gifts. Our UNITY in the body of Christ is not manifested by all of us fulfilling the same role; it is manifested in our DIVERSITY! It is manifested in each of us doing different things! In light of that, look back at what Paul said in 12:7-11. Did we get to choose the gift or gifts the Spirit of God imparted to us? Again, the answer is “No!” The Holy Spirit imparts our gifts to us as He sees fit so each of us may carry out our God-given role in the body of Christ.
Paul concludes chapter 12 in verse 31 with a sarcastic rebuke. Rather than humbly and joyfully exercising the gifts the Corinthians were graciously given by the Spirit’s sovereign distribution, they were coveting what they deemed the “best gifts”; what might could be called the “showy” or “up front” gifts. At the end of verse 31, God begins to introduce the fact that there is what He calls, “a more excellent way.” The question is, “a more excellent way” than what? Quite frankly, the answer to that is, a “more excellent way” than the one the Corinthians were following as they were pretentiously seeking to obtain gifts they felt would give them more prominence, preeminence, and recognition in the church! The “more excellent way” is what Paul discusses in the next chapter (chapter 13) because the “more excellent way” is actually the way of charity, or love! If we fail to make the connection that the “way of charity” in chapter 13 is actually the “more excellent way” that he’s referring to at the conclusion of chapter 12, it would appear that chapter 13 is an interruption to Paul’s train of thought regarding spiritual gifts. The placement of chapter 13 and the entrance of the subject of love into this discourse on the gifts, however, is actually critical to understanding and exercising spiritual gifts. (Note: this becomes a great reminder to us as we make our way through the Bible in our 365 Days of Pursuit, to always remember the importance of the principle of keeping verses, passages, and even chapters in the Bible in their context.) Because, while the Corinthians were being proud, self-absorbed, and only considering themselves when it came to their pursuit and use of spiritual gifts, Paul is letting them (and us!) know that the “excellent thing” God wants us to pursue is charity. One of the key inherent characteristics of charity is that its focus is always on the needs of others, not our own! The fact is, if we live our entire Christian life without ever really completely being able to identify our spiritual gifts, but we live a life of charity, God will be completely okay with that! Because, again, the “way of charity” is the “more excellent way”!
Then, in verses 4–7, God describes what biblical charity looks like in real life. We would do well to place our life next to his description of what charity “does” in these verses to see how we measure up. Paul’s point is, these are the ways true spirituality is measured, not by our flamboyant use (or misuse!) of spiritual gifts. God completes this chapter by reminding us that exercising charity is superior to the gifts themselves. In fact, He says there’s going to come a time when the “showy” gifts the Corinthians were so preoccupied with and zealous for (tongues, healing, miracles, etc.) would actually cease to have a function in the Church Age. Again, this is not the venue for presenting a doctrinal treatise of all the reasons the sign gifts have ceased, but in a nutshell, it goes like this:
At the time of transition when God was no longer functioning according to the Old Testament, but prior to the completion of the written record of the New Testament, God used miraculous gifts given as signs for the purpose of authenticating both the messenger and his message. (See Hebrews 2:3-4) After the New Testament had been completed, however, these “sign gifts” ceased to have a continuing role or a biblical purpose in the church. The record of history confirms that fact. Once the New Testament was complete, all that was necessary to determine whether the message the messenger was proclaiming was from God is, “Does it line up with the revealed word of God?”
As was previously mentioned, Chapter 14, as a whole, is often lifted out of its context (chapters 12-13) along with many individual verses in the chapter that are also lifted out of their context to form faulty doctrine. May I offer a few things to notice as we make our way through this chapter:
Notice in verse 1 how God separates the term “spiritual gifts” from “prophecy”. There is certainly a spiritual “gift of prophecy”, but it is not the specific “gift of prophecy” that he’s referring to in this chapter. Rather, Paul is talking here about the ability of every believer to prophesy (i.e. to proclaim the truth of God and His word). Remember Paul’s earlier question, “Does every believer have the gift of prophecy?” As we saw, the implied answer was “no,” but Paul wants to make certain we understand, however, that every believer CAN and SHOULD prophesy (proclaim the truth of God)! Perhaps it would help us to understand that point by applying it to a couple of other gifts. We understand that though there is a specific “gift of giving” and a specific “gift of faith”, every believer, regardless of their gift, is commanded to give, and every believer, regardless of their spiritual gift, is commanded to exercise faith! In that same way, all of us have been commanded to prophesy, whether we have the “gift of prophecy” or not.
It’s also important to recognize that contrary to popular opinion, Paul is not seeking in this chapter to elevate TONGUES, he’s actually seeking to elevate PROPHECY! In other words, he’s not championing the cause for all of us using our tongue to speak words about God that nobody understands to no profit, but rather, to use our tongue to speak words that people do understand so they can be edified!
Notice, also, that in the places in this chapter where it appears that Paul is promoting tongues, that it is simply the set-up to show the superiority of prophecy, which again, is simply proclaiming the truth of the word of God. Despite the fact that many verses in this chapter are used by charismatic pastors and teachers to validate the use of tongues, there is actually not a single verse in this entire chapter that is a positive reference to tongues! God spends the first half of chapter 14 showing the priority of speaking His truth in a manner that people can understand, rather than trying to show off some spectacular gift.
The second part of the chapter deals with the proper use of gifts within the body. The basic principle in verse 40 is that things are to be done “decently and in order”. In other words, a church service is to have a sense of freedom, but it is not intended to be a free-for-all! Any gathering of believers that is conducted in a manner that breeds chaos and/or confusion (which is often the case in some charismatic churches) is directly disobeying God’s word. Even at the time of the writing of 1st Corinthians when God was still using these sign gifts to authenticate the messenger and his message, there was a specific prescription they were to follow to maintain “decency” and “order”:
- In the gathering of the believers for corporate worship, only two, and at the most three, were permitted to speak in tongues in any one service. They were also to speak “by course”, or in other words, not more than one person speaking at any one time. (14:27)
- Someone was permitted to speak in tongues (languages) only if there was also someone present with the gift of interpretation of tongues. Without someone to interpret, tongues were forbidden. (14:27-28)
- Prophesying, likewise, was to be exercised one person at a time. There were no restrictions, however, on the amount of people who could prophesy (proclaim the truth) in any particular gathering of the church. (14:29-31)
- Women were not permitted to speak in tongues or prophesy in the service. (14:34-35)
Interestingly enough, much, if not most of the so-called “tongues speaking” that takes place in churches in the 21st century is done by women! As we’ve already discussed, the New Testament is now complete, so the sign gifts are no longer necessary. But even if they were operative today, I know of no churches that follow the clear instructions given for their use in this chapter. I would imagine that there are churches that do, I’m simply saying that I personally know of none. It’s one thing to believe all the gifts are still operating today, but it’s quite another not to follow God’s clear instructions for their use!
But not only were the Corinthians misguided and ill-informed on spiritual gifts, in chapter 15, Paul shows that they had also been misdirected concerning the biblical teaching of the resurrection. In this chapter, Paul clearly lays out the priority of Christ’s resurrection. He very passionately and eloquently presents the fact that everything our faith is built upon as believers in Jesus Christ is predicated on the reality of Christ physically rising from the dead. Paul is trying to get us to see that if Christ didn’t rise from the dead, certainly, none of us will rise from the dead, and we become the most deceived, disillusioned, pitiful, and miserable people on this planet! The fact is, however, Christ did rise from the dead! Just as in Adam, we were all born sinners; in Christ, we are all born righteous. As in Adam, all die; in Christ, we are all made alive. As in Adam, we were all born in his image; in Christ, we are all born in His image. As in Adam, we were all born with a body like his; in Christ, at the Rapture, we will all receive a glorified body like His.
Paul concludes the discussion of the resurrection of Christ and its subsequent benefits and promises by letting us know that the resurrection should be the motivation that keeps us continually abounding in the “work of the Lord”. (15:58) Are you “abounding” in the work of the Lord, or have you grown complacent and weary? If so, perhaps you have misplaced the importance and/or the implications of the resurrection.
In verses 1–4 of chapter 16, God instructs the Corinthians concerning the best way to receive the offerings they were collecting to relieve the saints in the church at Jerusalem. This instruction has become the prescription for how offerings have been received in local churches ever since. Verse 9 of chapter 16 reveals a fact of ministry we must never lose sight of: open doors and adversaries go hand-in-hand! Fulfilling our mission on this planet is not a walk in the park. It is a battle. Expect resistance. Expect trials. Expect difficulties. Expect adversaries, but, by all means, expect victory! By God’s grace, press on! Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!