1 Corinthians 12:12-31

 

In our last lesson, Paul introduced the problem of spiritual gifts. The gifts Paul is describing, the gifts that were being manifested in the Corinthian church, were seemingly supernatural; they were gifts given to the church by the direct intervention of God. It seems that God does not give these same gifts to the church today, at least not as a general rule. But it is still true that any gifts we have do come from God, and what Paul has to say is still relevant to what we call natural gifts as well as to supernatural gifts.

But why specifically was Paul writing on this issue? We aren't given an explicit reason, but we can glean some ideas. Based on all we see in 1 Corinthians, some in the church were allowing their gifts to go to their head--they were in danger of thinking the gifts were given for their own personal glory rather than the good of the entire church. This, perhaps, was fueling the division within the church, which we have already run into a couple of times within our study.

In the first eleven verses, Paul established that these gifts came from God and that they were to be used for the good of the church. This section is an expansion on that idea.

The proposition of the passage is verse 12: “The body is one, and hath many members.” However, the point of this phrase can be lost on us. The word 'Member' in modern English simply means something that is part of a group. But the older English definition is an organ or part of the body. It comes from a Latin word meaning 'limb.' And this corresponds to the Greek word used here, which refers to a part of the body or limb.

The body is comprised of many organs, many parts. And each piece plays a part in the life of the body. Beacon Bible Commentary notes: “[T]he foot (15) is necessary to run races and carry burdens, even though it cannot perform the creative work of the hand. The ear (16) may not flash with fire like the eye, nor serve as a camera to record the panorama of life. But the ear is an amazingly efficient servant in recording sound, receiving messages, and listening to the words of man. However, even the ear cannot perform the function of smelling (17).”

But it isn't just that our life would be less enjoyable without all of our organs. We are so used to the reality of having a body that we can miss how strange and bizarre this. Suppose somebody is about to punch you in the ear, perhaps rupturing your eardrum. Your ear probably won't be able to detect that in time, and certainly can't do anything to stop it. But the eyes could detect it, and your legs could move you out of the way, or your arms could block or counterattack—in other words, your eyes, legs, and/or arms could act almost instantly to protect the ear. The nose can detect rotten food, which would harm the stomach long before it even gets to the mouth. If the eyes need glasses, the whole body can perform labor to earn money to buy glasses. There is a degree of cooperation between the parts of the body that is staggering. And that is because, as we said before, though there are many parts to the body, they all comprise one whole. We don't think of our organs as individual agents, but only as one whole. If one part of the body is hurt, the body is hurt—because it is a unit.

That is the key idea of this passage. The human body, as an organism, has many individual parts. Many of those parts are complex and are dissimilar to the rest of the body. And yet, altogether, they comprise a single unit. Many parts; one whole. The diversity and variety of the parts do not undermine the unity of the whole; the unity of the whole does not undermine the diversity and variety of the parts. And just as a body, so is the church—it is a body composed of many members but comprising a single organism. 

But how can such different things come together as one? How can there truly be this kind of unity out of diversity?

Well, how does that unity come about in the body? Look at verse 18: “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” The body functions the way it does because that's how God created it. The parts of a machine work together because that's how it's built. If you threw all the pieces of a complex machine into a pot and threw some welding glue on top, it probably wouldn't turn into a functioning machine. It works because it is designed to work.

And the church functions as a body because God created it. It is not an accident. Look at the beginning of verse 28: before going over the gifts, Paul comments: “And God hath set some in the church...” These gifts don't just happen to happen. God gives them. God created the church, like he created the physical body.

But there is another part to this unity. There is unity in the human body because it is all under the control of one singular will, one singular mind, we might say, one spirit. And that is what Paul says in verse 13: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

How can people from such vastly different ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds come together and become a single organism? Because they are baptized and have drunk of one common Spirit. Just as the human mind unites the parts of the body, so God's Holy Spirit fills the church and unites the individual pieces together. We are not just a body, but the body of Christ, for we are filled with His Spirit.

So we have this general picture. The church is an organism composed of individual parts. Each is important; each has a role. And what are those roles? Paul lists them in verse 28. First, we have apostles. They were the leaders of the church, the witnesses of Jesus. They had authority because they were the custodians of the gospel. We don't have apostles today. We might see a comparison in missionary and church planters, as those who carry the truth to new areas. This is certainly what Paul did. Next, we have prophets. Prophecy, in scripture, includes both predictive and prescriptive messages, and it's unclear which Paul means here. In general, we can see the prophets correspond to modern preachers. Alongside prophets, we have teachers, and there's not a clear distinction drawn between them.  One may have to do with instruction and the other exhortation--that is, telling people what they don't know vs. telling people to act on what they do know. These are followed by the gifts of miracles and healing, which are self-evident. There doesn't seem to be any modern correspondence for them. After that, we have the gift of helps; this is not defined or described. Perhaps this refers to the practical work of the church, to helping people in need. Then there is the gift of governments, which probably relates to church leadership of some kind. And finally, there is the gift of tongues, which we'll discuss in a future article.

Just as the body needs hands and feet and ears and eyes, so the church needs people with different skills and gifts and roles. No one can do everything. In verses 29-30, Paul asks over and over if everyone in the church has a specific role or gift; in Greek, these questions imply a negative answer. NET Bible: “Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they?"

So we have this picture of the church being like a body. We are the body of Christ, filled with His Spirit, and we all work together, using our individual gifts (natural or supernatural) to do the work of God. The church is a place of unity because each individual, distinct and unique in his or her own way, works together in a common Spirit and for a common goal.

As I said earlier, it appears that some in Corinth were becoming wrapped up in pride about their gifts, thinking that having specific gifts made them better than others. Paul makes it clear that all are important. And just because a particular gift (or a particular individual who has the gift) may seem weak doesn't mean they are worthless. This is verse 22 “Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.” Think of the eye. It is very fragile and delicate. The littlest thing can make it hurt. If you took the parts of the body out and put them in a death match, the eye wouldn't win. But it is still highly important. Never tell a blind man: well, at least you only lost your eyes, nothing important. The very structure of the face points to this—the eye is surrounded by bones to protect it.

Each member of the church matters; each has their part.

But having said all that, we have to ask this question: does this mean that each person in the church can do one thing and one thing only? Are we divinely pigeonholed?

To answer that, we have to talk about chess. Chess has many pieces. The pawn can generally only move one space forward. The bishop moves diagonally while the rook moves horizontally and diagonally. And so on. Each plays a part in the game. They even an official value, with a pawn being worth 1 and a queen being worth 9. But all are important and to someone really good with the game, each can be used, and perhaps used in an unexpected way. Pawns are mostly cannon fodder. You don't expect to win a game with a pawn. BUT you CAN win a game with a pawn.

In Judges 4, the prophetess Deborah commissioned Barak the son of Abinoam to defeat the tyrant Sisera. And this was Barek's response: “And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.” (Judges 4:8-9)

Deborah accompanied Barak and his army into this battle. (There's no indication that she actively fought in the battle, but she was there.) So we have this odd situation. Deborah was a prophetess. That was here gift, her role in God's work. Her gift was not as a strategist or medic. Nothing suggests that she had any gift or role that would give her a place on the battlefield. Moreover, the strong implication is that if it weren't for Barak's insistence, she wouldn't have been there at all. Most interpret it that it was a lack of faith on Barak's part that led to this. And yet she was there. And Barak's army did win a decisive victory.

She fulfilled a role that she was, seemingly, not gifted for. It was one which, if everyone else had done exactly what they should have, she wouldn't have been in. And yet she was there. And seemingly, God used her like a chess grandmaster using an unexpected piece to win a victory.

In the church today, God uses people. Sometimes they may not be obviously gifted to perform a given role. Perhaps, in some cases, people have to perform some role because someone else refuses to. But none of that changes the big picture. God uses each individual, and each has a place in the life of the church.

But all of that leads us to the very strange thing Paul says in verse 31: “But covet earnestly the best gifts.” If each person in the church has a God given gift, then why would Paul tell them to earnestly desire some other gift? And this gets even stranger if we look a few chapters forward to 1 Corinthians 14:5: “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.”

As I've said, we'll cover chapter 14 and the gift of tongues later. But the point I want to notice here is that Paul wished everyone in the church had this gift or, even better, that they all had the gift of prophecy. How do we make that correspond with his statement here that not everyone possesses these gifts?

And that brings us to a very interesting story from Acts. “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.” (Acts 6:1-2)

So, we have this situation. The church was involved in charity for people in need, especially widows, but things weren't really getting done. Somebody had to take charge and ensure everything worked well, but the apostles had their own job of leading the church and preaching the word. Remember, this is very, very early in the church's life. There certainly was no Bible yet, probably no Christian writing of any kind. The apostles were the only Bible they had. They were the only definitive source of God's word for the growing church. Obviously, that would be a full-time job.

And so, they created a committee of deacons to take charge of the work of charity. So, we have these men, chosen specifically to help give food to those in need and to free up the apostles to do the work of the preaching. Of these deacons, the most famous is Stephen. And this is what we read about him: “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.” (Acts 6:8-10)

Stephen was chosen specifically to do works of practical charity—probably answering to what Paul calls "helps" in our passage. And yet we also see him working miracles and entering into debates and speaking with wisdom. He goes on to preach a killer sermon in Acts 7.

Stephen could have had many roles in the church. But what the church needed then was a deacon, a practical man for a practical job, and he did that—seemingly as long as he lived, which wasn't long. But that didn't stop him from doing other things, too.

I say all of that to say this. It would be theoretically nice if every Christian had every gift, just as a chess player could win every game if every piece was a queen. Perhaps in a perfect world—perhaps if there had been no fall—everyone could do everything, and our uniqueness would be shown in some other way. But we don't live in a perfect world. Not everyone can do everything. Not everyone has every single spiritual gift. That is why we each have a part and each is important. But that doesn't mean that those roles are immutable. A pawn can become a queen. Skin can be grafted from one part of the body onto another. 

I work in a restaurant. In the restaurant, there are many different positions, all of which are necessary to make it work. You have cooks or you have no food. You have to have dishwashers, or you have no clean plates to put the food on. You have to have servers, or you can't get the food to the customers. You have to have bussers, or you have no clean tables for the customers to eat the food at. And you have to have cashiers, or you can't get money from the customers. Each of those roles is important and distinct. But doesn't mean there aren't people who do more than one. The more different roles an individual can fill if necessary, the better.

So, in the church, not everyone can preach a sermon on Sunday, if for no other reason, because there isn't enough time. But just because someone isn't a preacher, maybe it wouldn't hurt to know how to preach.

Covet earnestly the best gifts could mean 'pray that God will give you other gifts to use for the church if needed'. Or it could even mean doing some extra weekend studying to learn how to do something you don't know how to do now. Imagine that in chess, you could level up your rooks and teach them to move diagonally like a bishop.

But none of that changes the main point. The church has many roles that need to be fulfilled. Each one is important, and each person in the church who fulfills one of those roles is essential. And they are important, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the church.

That is why there is no place for competition or vainglory in the church, because they all exist to serve Christ. The theme of chapter 12 is unity, and herein lies that unity—it all lies in Christ and our relationship to him. In the end, we are his body, and everything we do should be for him, not for ourselves or our own glory. 

And yet... yet.. for all that, for all the good these gifts can do and how important they are to the life of the church, they are not the most important thing. It would be nice if everyone in the church had every gift, and yet that wouldn't be enough, anyway. There is something better. That is Paul's final statement. There is a more excellent way, there is “a way that is beyond comparison." (1 Corinthians 12:31b, NET Bible) There is more to human life than physical health. And there is more to the life of the church than spiritual gifts. That will be Paul's theme in the next chapter.