1 CORINTHIANS 12
Imagine a football team that fielded eleven goalkeepers; or an army where everyone drove tanks; or a building firm that employed only electricians; or a cricket team full of fast-bowlers; or a hospital of nothing but brain surgeons! They’d all fail or lose or go bust or even die! The composition of a team matters as much as the numbers of people in it. The most effective teams, when well led, consist of specialists in different areas who are truly united and who work together for the common good. Groups of mediocre all-rounders rarely set the world alight or accomplish much!
This principle is the main theme of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, actually. There are sections that deal with unity, sections on diversity, and sections on team motivation, with practical advice on how to put it all together. Typically, Paul mixes these all together and the blend is even better than the individual parts.
The Corinthian believers had started their pagan lives by following individualised religions, following disparate idols, and had become used to dealing with false ego-centric prophets, conflicting doctrines, and dubious lifestyle advice. As believers in Christ they needed to understand that there was one God who is entirely consistent, made up of three divine persons in perfect unity and speaking a coherent gospel message to the world. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are never in disagreement, never contradict and always work together for good. Even in the incredible diversity of Christ’s church is seen a singularity of purpose, plan, and priority. (See 1 Cor 12:3-7.)
Paul’s first point – after emphasising the unity of God – is that all God’s people are unique, different from one another, potential specialists at what they do, channels of the miraculous and full of God’s wisdom. Our roles are literally God-given and mapped out by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Spiritual ‘specialists’ are capable of amazing work for the Kingdom of God and can accomplish huge tasks when filled with the Spirit’s power. And because of these specialisms, everyone relies upon everyone else to get the whole job done; no-one is able to do every task and every individual is essential to the success of everyone else. So the very fact of their diversity is the ‘glue’ that bonds the body together in unity! That ‘glue’ is a need, a dependence and reliance upon one another.
Paul illustrates this principle not with sports teams or hospital personnel or army roles, but by using the human body itself with its limbs and organs. We are members of the one body that is called Christ; and he is specifically our head! The term ‘Membership’ – which we use in so many contexts in today’s world – is derived entirely from the Christian doctrine of being part of the Body of Christ.
In verses 7-11, the Apostle lists some (only some!) of the more miraculous spiritual gifts that contribute towards the uniqueness of every believer in Christ. Nine are selected, which might have some numeric significance (3 x 3). Included are three ‘knowing’ gifts: Wisdom (of the unique kind that Solomon demonstrated), Knowledge (of a fact or event that only God could have revealed to you), and Distinguishing Between Spirits (discerning the origin of a thought or action: from heaven, from hell, or from a person’s natural mind). Then there are three ‘power’ gifts: Healings, Miracles, and Faith (of an unusually powerful degree, for a specific task). Finally, there are three ‘speaking’ gifts: Prophecy (declarations from God to mankind), Tongues (declarations from mankind to God, in the form of praise or prayer, but in a human or angelic language that the speaker does not themselves understand), and Interpretation of Tongues (speaking that previous declaration in the hearer’s vernacular language). Romans 12:3-8 has a further list of eight gifts – with prophecy being in common with the 1 Corinthians list – which does come across as slightly less ‘supernatural’.
We each receive a one or more of these spiritual gifts on the basis of two criteria: 1) Being ‘in Christ’: v13: “For we were all baptized in one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink”; 2) The Sovereignty of the Holy Spirit: v11 “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines”.
Paul then shows us that, logically, not only is our diversity God’s power for unity in Christ’s Body, but it also means that each one of us is indispensable. No-one is more important or less important than anyone else. If any individual, through selfishness or through poor self-esteem, denies the rest of the membership the benefit of his/her presence and gifting, then the entire Body is that much poorer. So, let us resolve not to harm the Body of Christ by denying our brothers and sisters the love, the service, and the gifting that God has placed within our hearts.
The chapter continues in verses 27-30 with a list of types of Christian believer who serve the Body of Christ, the Church. Examples are Apostles, Prophets, Teachers etc. We would call these ‘ministries’, and the believer fulfilling each ministry might have a ‘toolbox’ of spiritual gifts to help him/her fulfil that ministry effectively. For example, a Prophet might have gifts of prophecy, word of knowledge, and distinguishing between spirits in the ‘toolbox’. Someone with the public speaking ministry in Tongues will have a range of different tongue languages for different occasions – unlike a single tongue language that most of us have to pray privately. Overall, then, the gifts are given to those with ministries, and the people with ministries are themselves gifts to the Body of Christ!
The chapter ends with an strong encouragement to every believer to desire and chase after the greater gifts – rather than just waiting passively for God to dish them out!
The Big Picture 