A Diversity of Gifts from One Spirit: A Meditation on 1st Corinthians 12, for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

A Diversity of Gifts from One Spirit: A Meditation on 1^st Corinthians 12, for the Second Sunday after Epiphany

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would

not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were

Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye

were led.  Wherefore I give you to understand, that

no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus

accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord,

but by the Holy Ghost.  Now there are diversities of

gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are differences

of administrations, but the same Lord.  And there are

diversities of operations, but it is the same God which

worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit

is given to every man to profit withal.

Among the many issues the church at Corinth struggled with, was discerning true disciples of Jesus from false ones.  As it is today, so it was then, that many false teachers, false prophets, and even false miracle workers infiltrated the church, leading many astray into various dangerous heresies.  How were the Christians at Corinth to determine which prophet was correct and which one was lying?  If conflict emerged between divergent teachers, how were the Christians at Corinth to settle the dispute?  Furthermore, how was the church at Corinth to distinguish between the necessary boundaries of fellowship in the church at large; i.e., who was inside and who was outside the true Church of Jesus Christ?

If these questions sound familiar, they should.  No period of time in the history of the Church has been without this conundrum, and at various times and places the Church has done a better or worse job of answering it.  In the Church today, we have teachers and preachers of every shade imaginable, filling book stores with their contradictory variations and speculations on what they understand the truth to be.  There are those who claim prophetic insight and visions of the future, and those who claim various miraculous powers.  Often local congregations are stuck right were St. Paul found the Corinthians, with factions starting over all the wrong things, while the necessary things were hidden or discarded.  The church today, in our time and place, can learn a great deal from how Paul guided the Christians at Corinth.

First, St. Paul addresses the church at Corinth in his Apostolic authority.  In the mix of all the craziness and confusion, the inspired voice of the Apostles (who themselves also reference the Prophets of the Old Testament) settled things down.  It was Jesus who told His Apostles that He and His Word were the measure of all things (the fullness of the Law and the salvation of His Gospel) and Jesus who sent His Apostles out in the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Him.  In all the confusion, all the contradictory voices, and all the miraculous occurrences, Jesus and His Word was to be the final arbiter… a Word set down by His Apostles and Prophets, canonized as Holy Scripture in the Church, and passed on to each successive generation down to our day.

Upon that Apostolic authority given by Jesus, Paul teaches the Corinthian Christians where the boundaries are.  No one curses Christ (rejects Him and His Word in unbelief) by the Holy Spirit, and no one declares Jesus as Lord (receiving Him and His Word by living faith) apart from the Holy Spirit.  Thus the boundaries of Christian fellowship (who’s inside the church, and who’s outside the church) are entirely established by Jesus and His Word; those who abide by His Word in living faith are inside the saving ark of the church, and those who reject His Word in unbelief are outside the church.

That simple distinction brings focus to all the cacophony of various teachers, prophets, visionaries, and miracle workers.  Those who abide by faith in the Word of Christ as testified by the Prophets and Apostles are of His church, and those who do not are not of His church.  Thus, when we encounter teachers, prophets, visionaries, and miracle workers who contradict the Word of Christ, we put them out of the fellowship (excommunication) until they repent and return to faith in Christ and His Word.  Conversely, when we encounter teachers, prophets, visionaries, and miracle workers who abide in the Word of Christ by faith, we know them to be of one body and fellowship with the whole household of faith, whose gifts are given for the benefit of all; i.e., since Jesus is undivided, so too is His Body the Church, united by His One Holy Spirit in His Holy Word, to the glory of His One Father.  The Father, the Son (who is the Word), and the Holy Spirit are One God, indivisible forever, and so too is the Church which is called into existence by Him, and sustained by eternally by His grace.

In this season of Epiphany, Christ’s teaching through St. Paul opens our eyes to who we really are, and who are our real brothers and sisters in the church.  The classifications people like to add which cause separation in the Body of Christ for matters unrelated to His Word are false and harmful to the unity which Jesus bestows upon His people by His Spirit, and have historically born the odious labels of “sectarian” or “schismatic.”  Likewise, the titles and denominational names broadly used are meaningless to those under them, if the Word of Christ is rejected in unbelief; i.e., presumptuous titles of “universal” or “catholic” or “ecumenical” or “protestant” benefits no one, if in reality the Word of Christ is rejected.

As individuals, in the light of Christ and His Word, we are called anew by His Holy Spirit to examine ourselves, returning to the fellowship of His One Holy Church through faith and repentance under His Law and Gospel.  And, as we live together in the true Christian fellowship created by the Holy Spirit in and through the Word of Christ, He calls us to recognize the real and enduring bonds which unite the whole church on earth and in heaven.  This call of Christ in and through His Word refuses to settle for sectarian divisions of His body, or false declarations of ecumenical unity apart from His Word.  But what the Lord speaks by His Word, He is faithful to create through His Word:  one fellowship, one body, one Church, united forever in the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation He won for us upon His Holy Cross.  Hear His Word calling you into His blessed and eternal communion—and see through Him and His Word the innumerable throng which is bound together to you by grace through faith in Christ alone.  Amen.