It’s a great honour for me to stand here before you all today and share with you a section of scripture that is very dear to me. And those that know me best will testify to the fact that I am genuinely passionate about the letter of 1 Corinthians and particularly chapters 12 through to 14.
What draws me to this section is that God has written an amazing message on unity, but it so often causes division.
That cannot be God’s plan for these verses.
We as the church should be encouraged and united by these verses, not discouraged or divided by them.
And over the past century there have been many doctrines and movements formed, at least in part based upon how they understand spiritual gifts in these passages and several others.
And to avoid conflict many believers and churches will choose to skip these amazing chapters to mitigate the risk division.
But we all know that God wrote this letter for our benefit. We all know that God is good (Nahum 1:7). His word is for our encouragement (Romans 15:4). So I’m truly excited to share this message and it’s my prayer today that we will walk away with greater sense of unity as a church, a closer bond to each other and the entire body of Christ being built up.
So, let’s get started shall we?
The Opening Bookend (Verse 1)
I want to draw your attention to the first verse for a few minutes and it reads:
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
Those that have studied 1 Corinthians in the past will undoubtedly be aware that Paul wrote to the church after hearing about divisions.
You don’t need to turn with me to to Chapter 1, but in verses 10 to 11 Paul writes:
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.
1 Corinthians 1:10-11
If you’re new to reading this letter then I would strongly encourage you to go back and read through chapters 1 to 6 afterwards and gain a fuller sense of how deep those divisions were.
But let’s be clear for now that the Corinthians were so divided, so arrogant, so unloving, and their errors were so huge; that the first six chapters read like an indictment against the state of their church.
When an apostle writes to you “Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” (1 Corinthians 4:21), that’s when you know you’re in trouble.
Nevertheless, we can see here in verse 1 that he refers to them as brothers. What he means by that is brothers in Christ. Again, you don’t need to turn with me to to Chapter 1, but in verses 2 to 3 he greets them as a church of believers:
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:2-3
So amidst their numerous divisions, their arrogance, and some truly awful errors in the first six chapters; Paul still recognizes them as a church and is seeking unity on their behalf.
Undoubtedly this letter was uncomfortable for them and we know that because in Paul’s second letter he writes:
And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
2 Corinthians 2:3-4
If you’re taking notes, that's the second letter of Corinthians chapter 2, verses 3 to 4.
But we can see from his letter that unity doesn’t always mean being comfortable. Paul felt anguish of heart and wrote his letter with tears. The Corinthians felt pained by his words (2 Corinthians 2:1-2). But Paul demonstrates unity because he sought for them to agree out of his abundant love for them. His rebuke was painful but it was made out of love.
A great proverb from God that captures just how a rebuke can be used to demonstrate love is in Proverbs chapter 3 verses 11 to 12:
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:11-12
Paul saw himself as the father of their church and says as much in chapter 4 verse 15. But as Paul concludes his discipline of their behaviours from chapter 1 through 6, he turns his address to matters which they wrote in chapter 7 onwards. We know that because in chapter 7 verse 1 he writes:
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote
From thereon Paul uses this phrase “Now concerning” to separate each issue that the Corinthians asked for guidance. So this section is something that they wrote to him about and that is sometimes annotated in your bibles.
But immediately after these two opening words there is a slight problem with our translations. If you were to judge these chapters by the first verse alone you might mistake chapters 12 to 14 as being primarily about spiritual gifts. However, that’s not what you’ll find if you read through the following chapters.
And bear with me as I try to demonstrate why it’s an issue with our translations:
The first verse ought to read “Now concerning the spiritual, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
I say it ought to be read that way because we’ve added the word “gifts” during translation; it’s not found in the Greek. We’ve also removed the article “the” that precedes the word “spiritual”. And depending on your version of the bible, you may see this annotated as spiritual persons instead of spiritual gifts. Indeed if you read through to chapter 14 verse 37 he uses this same word to refer to spiritual people.
I raise this to our attention because I believe it’s quite an important distinction for us to make today as it sets our frame of mind for what Paul is intending to communicate in all of these chapters.
If you follow me down to verse 4, Paul uses the Greek word “charisma” which means gifts. You can see that where he writes “there are varieties of gifts”. But in verse 1 Paul uses a different word “pneumatikos” which means spiritual. Furthermore, in none of Paul’s letters does he ever use the word “pneumatikos” alone to refer to spiritual gifts, it always refers to spiritual things, spiritual matters or spiritual people [1][2][3].
Some might argue that Romans chapter 1 verse 11 is an exception, but Paul writes “charisma su pneumatikos” which combines these two words and means “gifts of the spirit”. Likewise in Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:45 the word for “gifts” isn’t added, it is present in the original Greek. Therefore, we have several different examples of how Paul might have written this opening sentence had he intended spiritual gifts to be his primary focus.
Yet, perhaps the most obvious clue for us is in verse 31 when he writes:
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
1 Corinthians 12:31
If we were to continue reading onto chapter 13 he writes that these gifts are temporary and for them to abide in love, faith and hope. But you’ll see even out of these three he places love as the greatest. Now that’s not to say faith and hope or gifts are bad; or that they should be thrown away. Simply that love shines above them all. So love and building up the church are the two core themes of chapters 12 through to 14.
Now back to our first verse, there are three following sections that we’ll address and none of them have spiritual gifts as their primary concern:
In verses 2 and 3 he deals with the Corinthians as spiritual people in a spiritual world.
In verses 4 to 11 he draws attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in building up the church.
In verses 12 to 31 he deals with the Holy Spirit as being the spirit of unity in the church.
So let’s read through the passages with “love” and “building the church” as our focal point as Paul seeks to address a wider range of spiritual matters.
A Spiritual People (Verse 2 - 3)
In verses 2 and 3 Paul writes to the Corinthians as people that were once led:
“You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.”
1 Corinthians 12:2
There’s enormous insight here into the spiritual warfare of the world: when they were pagans, which means unbelievers that held other spiritual beliefs, they were led astray to mute idols.
What does Paul mean by mute idols?
These were their gods of the time. They were small objects or statues and often made from wood or metals. These idols couldn’t move or talk but notice that the pagans were being led to these mute idols? Paul emphasises they were being led.
He is referring to the spiritual forces that led the Corinthians and sets a context that they are spiritual people living inside a spiritual world. However they’re immature in their understanding and perception of it, so he is trying to inform them.
You don’t need to turn with me, but in chapter 3, verses 1 to 3 Paul writes this more clearly:
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
For those who paid acute attention, you may have picked up the phrase “spiritual people” which is the same word that we just discussed here in verse 1.
So what is Paul’s point?
The Corinthians were meant to be spiritual people. They were meant to have grown out of needing nursing like babies to solid food as adults. That is, they were still naive and immature in the matters of spirituality and their behaviour. The letter to the Corinthians is littered with references to their immaturity, including the next chapter.
It all boils down to the fact they had struggled with separating their old and new identities. In fact it was so bad they couldn’t even discern what was said in the Holy Spirit and what was not. In verse 3 that is demonstrated quite profoundly when Paul writes:
Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:3
Paul isn’t dealing with an issue that we see commonly in today’s church, by the grace of God, but some were saying that Jesus is accursed and they weren’t sure if that was the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s be clear today that saying Jesus is accursed is never done in the Holy Spirit and that is what Paul is saying. There is so much more that can be said, but the first point can be summarised as:
We are spiritual people living in a spiritual world. We discern the Holy Spirit in people by those that say “Jesus is Lord” from those that say “Jesus is accursed.”
A Spiritual Leader (Verse 2 - 3)
Now follow me down to verse 4 through 11 as we look at our second point:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Paul is quite clearly discussing spiritual gifts here, so surely that is his point?
Well I don’t believe so.
The Corinthians already knew about spiritual gifts because we learn in chapter 1 verses 4 through to 8 that they had been blessed with every gift:
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:4-8
God had blessed them in every way, in all manners of speech and knowledge. They lacked nothing to sustain them as a church. Not only had they already received the gifts, but if you follow me down to verse 28 you’ll see that this list isn’t exhaustive:
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
Paul adds two more gifts of helping and administration. Furthermore, you don’t need to follow me, but in his letter to the Romans chapter 12 verses 6 to 11 he adds serving, encouragement, generosity, leadership, and mercy to the list. Let me read that for you:
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:6-11
So verses 4 to 11 aren’t Paul’s treatise on spiritual gifts. He’s not adding to their church something that they didn’t already have in their possession. Instead, he focuses on the origin of all these gifts - the one and same Holy Spirit and mentions it a total of nine times. Identifying the Holy Spirit was his focus in verses 2 - 3 and that’s his focus here too.
Furthermore, if you follow me down to verse 7 Paul shows us the purpose that the Holy Spirit gifted them:
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:7
This sentence is short but it’s grammatically complex and depending on your translation it will read quite differently. I’ll read it again but with emphasis added by me:
To each [of us] is given [by God] the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good [of the church].
1 Corinthians 12:7
So what does that mean for us?
The common good sounds like a lofty ideal or an aimless goal, but in reality it’s an action that God brings about through us. In Greek it’s a verb, not a noun, and it means to bring profit. So God works through us to bring profit to the whole church.
The implication is that we don’t individually or collectively need to discern what the common good is for the church. It’s not a goal that we need to ascertain. We don’t need to debate what skills the church is lacking in order to fill them. Instead that responsibility is with God. He knows our needs as a church and he uses each of us to fill those needs.
But to be clear it doesn’t mean we will always have everything that we desire. At times we may want things that we don’t need and sometimes we might desire things that are actually harmful to us. This passage simply reminds us that God will meet our every need to build His church.
We can summarise the second point as we are spiritually gifted by the Holy Spirit for the sole purpose of building the church.
A Spirit of Unity (Verses 12 - 31)
The third and final section before we conclude are verses 12 through 31 where Paul uses a metaphor of the body to illustrate how a variety of gifts and services are beneficial to the church.
There are so many great and rich points that can be made about this section, but I want to draw our attention today to two in particular. The structure can be divided roughly into four sections, each making their own point:
Verses 12 and 13 quite plainly deal with the body as a whole unit, collectively baptised into a single body with a single Spirit.
Verses 14 to 20 deal with internal reflection of the body.
Verses 21 to 26 deal with external reflection of the body.
Verses 27 to 31 are how we apply the metaphor of the body to what we’ve just looked at in verses 4 to 11 and leading into the next chapter.
We’ve already covered the first point that it’s one Spirit. Also the fourth point that Paul leads us to prioritise love and build up the church in the thirteenth chapter.
That leaves us with the body metaphor in the middle which is broken into both an internal and external reflection.
Starting with verses 14 to 20 if we read through carefully, Paul focuses our reflection inwardly. I hope we can see that but let’s follow through it together with emphasis:
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
1 Corinthians 12:14-20
Notice here that each part of the body is reflecting inwardly upon its own place, not outwardly judging the others. Paul is likely referring to jealousy, but it could equally apply to self confidence. He is showing to us that just because we don’t feel valuable as a part of the body that doesn’t make it so.
How can we utilize this passage to give us confidence?
If you’re feeling as though you aren’t necessary, that you are dispensable, that the ministry you serve is inferior, that somebody else is more significant than you, that you wish you had other gifts or that you could serve in other ministries; we can see here that we have each been gifted by God to serve a necessary part in God’s plan for the church.
Are we all going to come from the same background? No. Are we all going to have the same ministry? No. Will we sometimes feel confused about how our service helps? Definitely. But the confidence that we have is in God bringing us all to this place.
Now moving to the second and perhaps more familiar part of the body metaphor is the external reflection:
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
1 Corinthians 12:21-26
Just as we might not be confident or happy with our own position in a church; we can also be aggravated by others and their part in the body. It may be the case that they seem dispensable, unrefined or bring us shame. Nevertheless, they’re a necessary part of the body and how we deal with each other really matters.
Hopefully by looking at how Paul deals with the church in Corinth as an example, we might see that some of our own issues pale by comparison:
In chapter 5 there is a man that is sleeping with his father’s wife and the Corinthians are arrogant about it (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Paul condemns the man as doing something that even pagans wouldn’t do. But what’s worse is that he uses the present tense. It doesn't appear to be a one-off drunken mistake with his mother or stepmother, which would be bad enough, but it’s still going on and they’re arrogant about it!
Then in chapter 6, rather than suffering a little at the hands of a brother, they take each other to court over trivial issues (1 Corinthians 6:1). Paul writes to them that they are already defeated because they are asking non-believers to be the judge over fellow believers (1 Corinthians 6:7). They couldn’t even judge for themselves to settle disputes and he writes that they were called to judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3). The point is that if they can’t settle a dispute in this life, then how will they ever be judges of spiritual matters in the next?
If we cast our minds back to the start of today’s message, Paul still called them brothers and a church of God. They were far from perfect, but they’re part of the same body.
Yet while our personal issues may pale in comparison, we can still fall foul on this essential point of unity today. We need to bear with one another, be gentle, hospitable, loving, gracious, merciful and forgiving of each other. I appreciate that it’s often easier said than done, but hopefully we can see that we have good reason to be confident that God brought all of us together.
So the third and final point can be summarised as we are all part of the same spiritual body, gifted differently but always seeking to maintain the spirit of unity.
Conclusion
So to summarise, we are dealing with a variety of spiritual matters and the primary focus of these chapters isn’t about spiritual gifts at all. I would encourage us all to continue reading through chapters 13 and 14 with this understanding that love and building the church are what matters most.
And if our time together today can go any way towards these chapters being used for unification, then that will have been a great blessing on the church.
Now bear with me one more minute as I draw this study to a close in prayer and then we can worship and go for fellowship.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this time together now and I pray that your word has encouraged each of us and touched our hearts. Lord may your glory be known by your works on the cross, and also the tremendous works of your Spirit in the church; that we may be fully aware of all spiritual matters.
Lord, we thank you that you gifted the apostle Paul to write down these words and deliver to us once and for all a message of unity in the church. We praise you for turning his heart from persecution of the church to building it up, also that you’ve done the same for us.
Lord, we thank you that we can see something of your love in these words, but we long also for the day when we are face-to-face with you so that your love for us is more fully known.
Lord, we pray that you meet our every need as a fellowship through the various gifts of encouragement, serving, helping, administration, teaching and our various ministries you give to us. May we each have confidence in ourselves and one another that you brought us here today and for us to be discerning of how we can serve the whole body.
Lord, we pray that you would use our church to bring a spirit of unity into the conflict around these verses. May we encourage others to seek that same unity and have that same confidence in your love for the church.
We pray all of this in Jesus name,
Amen.