1st Corinthians Series

November 13, 2021

Paul spent about 1 ½ years in Corinth establishing the church there. After he left, problems began to arise. The main source of the problems appears to be multiple interpretations of what it meant to live as a “dead to sin and resurrected into a new life with Jesus” Christian.

In about 55 AD, while he was in Ephesus, Paul wrote a letter to address the serious issues that had arisen as a result of these interpretations:

• Divisions within the church (1:10-4:21)

• Incest (5:1)

• Law suits between members (6:1-8)

• Sexual immorality (6:9-20)

• Marriage and divorce (7)

• Idolatry (8-10)

• Spiritual gifts (12-14)

• Resurrection had already occurred (15)

Which brings us to My Favorite Thing About 1st CORINTHIANS – Spiritual Gifts

#17 of the SDA Fundamental Beliefs states: God bestows upon all members of His church in every age spiritual gifts which each member is to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and of humanity. Given by the agency of the Holy Spirit, who apportions to each member as He wills, the gifts provide all abilities and ministries needed by the church to fulfill its divinely ordained functions…..

In the 1st century it was generally accepted that bizarre behavior and ecstatic speech indicated a special closeness to the gods. The newly baptized Gentile Christians brought this pagan belief with them and it led to problems within the church. Those who spoke in tongues were seen as superior to those who did not. Paul addressed this issue by insisting that every believer, whatever their areas of giftedness, was equally important to the function of the body:

• 1 Corinthians 12:4-18 - Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom… and to another the word of knowledge…9 to another faith… to another healing… 10 and to another the effecting of miracles… to another prophecy… to another the discernment… to another various kinds of tongues… to another interpretation. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ…. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,"… 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," … 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. {see also Ephesians 4:1-16}

Not only does Jesus, as the HEAD, give life to the body, but the word picture helps us to understand how the rest fits together. There are many parts – but only ONE body. In this body there is strength and weakness. Where I am weak you are strong and where you are weak, I am strong. We are better together than we are on our own.

ALL spiritual gifts are indispensable to the success and growth – the building up – of a healthy church.

Each member has been given at least one spiritual gift.

These gifts are tools that help in the spreading of the Gospel and are not intended for our personal gain or glory.

• 1 Peter 4:10 - Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Within the context of Spiritual Gifts, Paul turned to a more pressing matter – a lack of love:

• 1 Corinthians 13 - If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

1st Corinthians 13 may be the best known and read chapter in Scripture. It is quoted regularly at weddings and as a romantic promise between husbands and wives. But remember the context. The church was divided over insignificant differences. They sued each other on a regular basis. They were proud of not dealing with sin in the church. They valued people who claimed the gift of tongues more highly – creating, in effect, a caste system within the church.