“...the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:18)
“The Natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned…But we have the mind of Christ.” (2:14,16b)
“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?” (3:1-3)
“...neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (3:7)
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (3:16)
“...you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (6:11b)
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” (6:15a)
“...he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” (6:17)
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” (6:19)
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (10:31)
“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.” (12:4-11)
“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.” (12:24b-26)
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing…” (13:1-2)
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” (13:4-6)
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away…For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (13:8-10,12)
“...the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation…” (14:3)
“So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.” (14:12)
“When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (14:26b)
Here I’ve come, with not just a little apprehension, into the land of 1 Corinthians. Although I’ve read the book several times, I have never sat down to digest it. This is probably because many passages are distasteful to me as a woman; a woman who engages with life, knowledge, and relationships verbally, and one who doesn’t like to be put into small boxes in order to make someone else feel safe and important. Paul, did you seriously propagate a Christ-first, male-second, woman-silent theology?! We all know that the first people to share the reality of Christ’s resurrection and Gospel were women, women commanded to do so by God! All that to say, I approached 1 Corinthians with deep feelings of fear. Fear that the Bible would be inconsistent. Fear that Paul’s writings would contradict the words and Spirit of Christ as expressed in the Old and New Testaments. Fear that Paul’s God wouldn’t be the God that I am coming to know; the God of Debrah, who led (Judges 4-5); the God of Mary, who learned (Luke 10), and who anointed (John 12); the God of Martha, who asked (Luke 10); the God of the Samaritan Woman, who challenged (John 4); the God of the Bleeding Woman, who touched (Mark 5); the Jesus who never once reprimanded a woman for being a woman seeking and worshiping Him with her person and gifts, who never made knowing Him for women about being appropriately subservient around men (though his disciples did upon occasion, see John 4:27 for an example). He was a radical. His love burst social and religious boundaries. Would Paul’s opinions in 1 Corinthians contradict Jesus?
OK, well, Jesus met me. I expected to have a run-in with Paul, but (before I got to that passage, haha!), the Spirit of life and love stopped me in my tracks. He showed me who He was in a new kind of way; a new glimpse into the mind and heart of the living Jesus.
Do you believe in an alive Holy Spirit? I think here lately that I am remembering Him again, after many, many years of personal spiritual suppression.
1 Corinthians is to a bunch of sinful, weak people who claim to believe in Jesus. The Corinthians were people who were actively sinning against one-another in word and deed, and who were justifying their own sinful attitudes by pointing out the weaknesses or follies of the others, whom they disdained. They were people who were quarreling and undermining each-other during worship. They were flaunting their sexuality in front of the congregation, boasting to each other about sexually perverse relationships going on within their own families, getting drunk on the Lord’s supper, and using their social powers to steal poorer congregants' portions of the Lord’s supper. Sounds awful, but not too far from some of the attitudes that can be found in the church today; attitudes that flaunt power dynamics, that withhold the Lord’s supper unnecessarily, that hush the gifts of certain groups of Christians because those voices challenge their values. The list certainly could go on.
What does God give us in 1 Corinthians in the face of all this hypocrisy and dissension? Where does Paul start? He reminds us who we are, and who God is (1:2-9). He reminds us that the Holy Spirit is alive, and that it is only through this Spirit that we can access the power of Christ (1:18-2:16, 3:7). He reminds us that each member of Christ’s body is necessary and equal in value, and that all people in Christ should seek to know Jesus more, and to "earnestly desire the higher gifts" of preaching, teaching, healing, miracle working, etc…(12:1-31). He reminds us throughout the entire book that the ability to discern right or wrong in any given situation comes from the Spirit of God as He leads us closer to the person of Christ, rather than from our own flesh or the opinions of others. Spiritual autonomy? I don’t think so. Our personal justification is found in the reality of the person and work of Jesus. The framework from which we approach personal moral decisions should be a framework built of Christ’s heart. Using the weaknesses and sins of other people, or groups of people, to excuse or validate our immorality is never godly. Suppressing the spiritual giftings of other Christians, or neglecting to follow the Spirit’s movement in ourselves, is not godly. We are free to pursue Jesus, because He has given us His Spirit. We are free to disagree on many things in life, and to live in many different ways. But though this is where we start, it is not the whole picture. This freedom to live and love Christ within the boundaries of our own consciences and His word, to be indwelt by His Spirit, is a reality that grows to fullness and blossoms as we love, and are loved by, His people. Why? Because He loves His people. The Spirit of God is the fullness of love. Without love, our knowledge, our judgements, our gifts, our spirits, and our worship shrink and shrivel rather than growing and thriving (13). As we learn the love within the mind and heart of Christ through His word and the working of the Holy Spirit, we grow in spiritual vitality. As we utilize our giftings to build up and encourage in truth and love, we embrace Christ.
Spirit, unravel the dark places in us! We need You to reach into all those tightly-closed places in our hearts and minds, to let your light in so that we can live, loving you and others freely. Break us out of our injured, bitter, jealous, and angry traps!
All the fears I brought with me to this book seem small now. I’m not going to lie, there are still passages that are confusing to me; there is still so much I don’t understand about the context and people of this messy church in Corinth, and a lot I can’t know about Paul’s relationships with each one of them. But the Holy Spirit is alive, and He will bring me closer to the heart and mind of Jesus. You and I have nothing to fear, and nothing to lose, because God loves us and Jesus will not turn us away.
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