Fifty Two Weeks / 1 Corinthians 12

Fundamental Church Stuff

As a pastor I find the books of 1 & 2 Corinthians to be essential in understanding the workings of the local church. The chapter before us is one of the most fundamental of these essential chapters.

Part One

The first half of this chapters deals with the gifts and activity of the Spirit in a body of believers. I know that there are theories that try to explain away the miraculous activity of the Holy Spirit in our day but frankly these notions are both ridiculous and dangerous. They are ridiculous because they are based ion some of the most tortured interpretations of scripture imaginable. They are dangerous because they assume that we no longer need the activity of the Holy Spirit in the church. In fact, without the activity of the Holy Spirit there is no church regardless of what you call your organization.

Here are a few observations regarding these spiritual gifts.

• They do not belong to the believer. They belong to the Holy Spirit and He distributes them as He sees fit.

• They are for the common good. This presupposes a community rather than an individual activity. The only exception to this would be to consider cases where the individual being strengthened leads to more effective service to others.

• The difference between “wisdom” and “knowledge” is easily explained.

• Knowledge is knowing a fact you did not know before.

• Wisdom is knowing what to do or how to correctly interpret information.

• All of these gifts are supernatural. Therefore, the gift of “tongues” isn’t the same as “Fun With Spanish” or buying a copy of Rosetta Stone.

Part Two

The second half of the chapter is about the body of Christ which is a term used to describe the Church; both the Church Catholic and the local assembly of believers.

Here are some observations about the body of Christ.

• We are baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. This is not to dismiss the importance of water baptism (which many believe is the point at which baptism into the Boys takes place) but we must be mindful that while man can perform outward rituals only the Holy Spirt can truly place us in Christ.

• No one person, or particular group, has it all. Without the beautiful fruit of humility in our lives we are all subject to the outlandish deception that we always know what is best and our way is the best way. Even a cursory reading of this chapter blows that notion to smithereens. 

• Regardless of what part of the body you may be you are still a part of the body. You belong and are needed.

• No part of the body can say to another, “I don’t need you.” We are often tempted to think that the body would be better off without certain members or groups but such thinking is wrong.

• Those parts that seem weaker or less important are actually of vital importance. What are these parts? Children? A church doesn’t last long without them. Women? There are many who would consign women to a second class status in the church but I promise that a church could exist longer without men than without women. The poor? Without them a church would quickly degenerate into an elitist social institution. Unfortunately, there are many examples of this.

• We are all connected. I may not agree with the theological nuances and methods of a certain group of believers but if they fall and hurt I fall and hurt whether I know it or not. If they succeed then I succeed whether I know it or not. I understand that there is certainly a line that once passed over denotes such apostasy as to no longer be considered a part of the body, but that line is not nearly so easily reached as we often assume.

This is fundamental stuff for life in the body of Christ. It is essential information for pastors but valuable meditation for all believers.