Devotions

Now You Are the Body of Christ

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This letter has brought correction and dealt with the influence of their local culture on the people in the Church. Now Paul establishes a vision for them of who they are in Christ. They are His body in the earth. And just as our body has many different parts, so also in the Church there are people with many different gifts. We often confuse unity and uniformity, I think because we easily identify with people that are like us. But God didn’t make everything uniform, did he? Just as we appreciate the beauty and variety in nature, we also should appreciate the different people and gifts in the Church, the body of Christ. Our victory is not in making everyone be like we are, it is in creating space so that every joint, every person can supply. 

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:1–11
The Corinthians knew about idolatry and the influence of spirits, often for evil on the lives of people. Paul here though explains the Holy Spirit, the one that seals us as believers in Christ. It is this same Holy Spirit that is our teacher and guide. And, it is this Holy Spirit that manifests differently in us as we are endowed with these gifts of the Spirit that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.

  • word of wisdom
  • word of knowledge
  • faith
  • gifts of healing
  • miraculous powers (working of miracles)
  • prophecy
  • distinguishing of spirits
  • tongues (diversities of tongues)
  • interpretation of tongues

This gift of faith is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:2 where Paul talks about “all faith” and this “Mountain-moving faith was “a proverbial expression for accomplishing something impossible in a miraculous way (see Matt. 17:19–20; 21:21; Mark 11:22–24; Luke 17:6”.1 

By One Spirit We Were All Baptized

1 Corinthians 12:12–20
Paul uses our body as an example of the diversity in the body of Christ. And it is a good example because we have many different parts that each have their own function, yet they all work together.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (LEB) For just as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, although they are many, are one body, thus also Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free persons, and all were made to drink one Spirit.

The context is spiritual gifts but Paul’s use of “whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free” is not to limit his comments, but to extend them to includes every nationality, every language, every culture, every level of social standing. And he does not intend that these all bring their characteristics into the body of Christ to make it an amalgamation of every kind. Instead, he says, “all were made to drink one spirit” and by this, there is a transforming effect. Now, every person can become what God made them be, no longer conformed to what the world said they were. 

Now You Are the Body of Christ

1 Corinthians 12:21–31
Paul goes on to describe the importance of each body part, that everyone has a valuable contribution to the whole. It would be absurd for us to think of an eye-rolling around on its own, and just as absurd for a prophet to be wandering around on his own. What Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:24-25 is that “God composed the body … that there not be a division in the body, but the members would have the same concern for one another”. The message is that we should value every member for who and what God made them to be and not, as the world does, seek to be the head. Paul does go on to describe the way God intended leadership in the Church and I think something about their value and distribution.

1 Corinthians 12:27–28 (LEB) Now you are the body of Christ, and members of it individually, 28 and whom God has appointed in the church: first, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, kinds of tongues.

Paul does not mention evangelists and pastors here where he is talking about the whole body of Christ unified by the Holy Spirit. He does include evangelists and pastors where the subject is more doctrinal building up and strengthening the body of Christ in

Ephesians 4:11–12 (LEB) And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers 12 for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Even here though Paul closes with a comment about the whole body together in

Ephesians 4:16 (LEB) from whom the whole body, joined together and held together by every supporting ligament, according to the working by measure of each single part, the growth of the body makes for the building up of itself in love.

These Three Remain: Faith, Hope, and Love

1 Corinthians 13:1–13
Paul is correcting the Corinthian Church and explaining the use of the gifts of the Spirit. These gifts are important, but there is something more important than these gifts. Our focus, our intention should first be on the giver of the gifts. We will come to a clear and perfect relationship, as he says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 “then face to face”. These are the most important for us in

1 Corinthians 13:13 (LEB) And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Seek for the Edification of the Church

1 Corinthians 14:1–12
However we view these gifts, whatever gifts we have or not, whatever we do should be for this purpose, in 1 Corinthians 14:5 “that the church may receive edification”. And for the end goal in 1 Corinthians 14:12 “in order that you may abound”. Paul also explains a key difference between prophecy and tongues, in

1 Corinthians 14:3–4 (LEB) But the one who prophesies speaks to people edification and encouragement and consolation. 4 The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

Prophecy is for “edification, encouragement and consolation” or in the King James, “edification, exhortation, and comfort”.

Speaking in tongues is to edify yourself. And I believe that we speak out wisdom from God for ourselves in a language we don’t understand because our mind has not yet comprehended what God is intending for us. The important point here though is that there is a personal edification that comes from speaking in tongues. There is also a spiritual gift of speaking in tongues with interpretation. This gift may be used in public without confusion.

Tongues Are for a Sign

1 Corinthians 14:13–25
Because God spoke to the children of Israel through the prophets in their own language and they refused and rebelled against them, God pronounced this as a sign. Yes, when people hear it, they are confused “Here the quotation is from Is 28:11, 12, where God virtually says of Israel, This people hear Me not, though I speak to. them in the language with which they are familiar; I will therefore speak to them in other tongues, namely, those of the foes whom I will send against them; but even then they will not hearken to Me; which Paul thus applies, Ye see that it is a penalty to be associated with men of a strange tongue, yet ye impose this on the Church [GROTIUS];”.2

Let All Things be Done Decently

1 Co 14:26–40

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • 1 Corinthians 12:1-31
  • 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
  • 1 Corinthians 14:1-40

References

  • 1. Ciampa, R. E., & Rosner, B. S. (2010). The First Letter to the Corinthians (p. 632). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  • 2. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 290). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.