Friday, June 19, 2009

1 Corinthians 12:21-31a

21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31But eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.



Dig Deeper
One of the most popular concepts in American society today is that of diversity. Diversity is preached everywhere from children’s cartoons to school classrooms. This version of diversity tells everyone to be who they “really” are and to do whatever feels good to them. Regardless of how bizarre of selfish the behavior of being “who you are” should be, we are told, not just tolerated but accepted and embraced. The problem is that this kind of diversity is truly empty because there is no unity to temper it. Paul deeply desires diversity in the Corinthian Christian community but only if they realize that diversity is only meaningful when unity prevails and ties it together.

Paul’s eagerness here is focused on helping every member of the body of Christ to realize that they are all important, vital, and necessary. There are no stars in the true body of Christ. Because of this, no part of the body can begin to see the other parts as dispensable or unimportant. When Romans used the image of the body to compare it to their social or political organizations, their point was that some jobs were jobs of status and were more important than the others. Some people were more honorable and more valuable to the common good than were others. Paul does something quite common for him, taking a popular idea in his society and turning it on its head. He makes the opposite point. Although there are differences in the body, that does not at all make one part more important than any other. Jesus constantly stressed that in the Kingdom of God, the first would be last and the last would be first. This is precisely Paul’s point. Thus, those that are less honorable in the eyes of the world are treated with honor in the community of Christ. The parts that are unpresentable are not parts we wish we did not possess. Rather there are things in the Christian community that are too important for just any passer-by to see, much like the Emperor was usually kept from normal public view.

It is not exactly clear what Paul has in mind with each specific example but his overall point is that every part of the body matters precisely because God has combined them just as he wanted them. God has masterfully crafted the body together so that it might run at a maximum level. The nonsense of weak and strong Christians, that he has addressed earlier, should not be used to create hierarchies of value within the Church. Everyone is not just connected together, but they are connected together in just the way God wanted it. If one part of the body suffers then the entire body suffers; if one part is honored or experiences pleasure then we all should. This applies not only to our local congregation but to the body of Christ throughout the world as well. This is a challenging concept that selfish Americans must return to again and again before we are really able to fully embrace it. We are to think and act like part of the body rather than an individual.

Beginning in verse 27, Paul will take this talk of the body of Christ out of the realm of theory and into the real world of application. As Paul begins to apply the concepts of unity and diversity we should note what he does as he mentions the various gifts and roles within the body of Christ. If we examine the passages in which he mentions these things (1 Corinthians 12:8-10; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11), we find that no list is ever the same. Paul is obviously using these lists in a representative rather than exhaustive way, but he is also showing the rich diversity of gifts and roles that God has given to the Church. Note also that there are no two places in the Bible where Paul discusses church offices or leadership that are the same. This should all remind us of the need for flexibility in the body of Christ. There is no one way to do it. In one society, a strict hierarchy might be helpful in the Church, while in India (where the caste system can be a big problem) it would be neither helpful nor desirable.

In listing the different roles and gifts in the Church, Paul puts the talk of the different parts of the body into the real language of the Church. These are the roles and gifts that many had been valuing or devaluing in comparison to one another. If the Corinthians had been struggling with valuing certain gifts and the ones who possessed those gifts, then it is worth noting that miracle workers, those with gifts of healing, and speaking in tongues are the only three items that are mentioned in all three of Paul’s lists in this chapter. Undoubtedly, this is due to the fact that these were the three flashiest and most desirable gifts in the minds of the Church in Corinth. Those who possessed these gifts would have been thought of as more important and more valuable than those who did not.

Paul asks, in verses 29-30, a series of rhetorical questions that, in the original language, all imply that the obvious answer is ‘no’. Some would claim, in our day, that some of these gifts must be possessed in order to demonstrate that someone is a Christian. Yet, this is in clear contrast to what Paul is saying. Because each person is equal in importance and each gift is equal in importance, and the fact that there is no gift that everyone possesses, it should be understood that God has ordered all of this exactly as He wanted and it is the responsibility of the Christian to see everyone as equally important. Gifts were given to build up the body not exalt individual parts of it. There are, as Paul makes clear, greater gifts, but they are not what the Corinthians would expect. This is what he will turn to next.


Devotional Thought
In our particular community we are not very tempted to exalt those that work miracles, heal, or speak in tongues, but what gifts are we tempted to value over others? Are there any people in the body of Christ that you treat differently based on the gifts they possess or lack? What would Paul’s answer be to your attitude in this area?

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