Spiritual Gifts & I Corinthains 12: Study notes on my morning's reading

Here are the notes I made on observations from my morning reading of I Corinthians 12 (click for text). I hope to develop some of these ideas into a paper for .pdf upload. Anyone interested?

vs. 1-3. The Corinthians were divided in spirit and disorganized in their worship, as the introduction shows and Ch. 14, among others, confirms. Paul is informing them of the Spirit’s true work to bring them into proper unity for the common good. They have, in fact, shown themselves to be “uninformed” regarding the Spirit’s gifting work. From the beginning Paul has wanted their faith to stand in the power of God, not of men. 2.1-5. He wants them to know what it means to be Spirit-led.

Note he is addressing the church at large. James.D.G.Dunn points out in comments ch. 14 that there it is implied there is no dominant leader in terms of the spiritual gifts. All are on an equal footing. Paul addresses the “brothers”, the group, not an individual as he does with Timothy or Titus. The ecclesiology of Timothy and Titus should not override what is here for establishing a paradigm of church order or hierarchy. The community of faith is a a body of many members with equal status. Leadership is service > Mark 10:42-45 “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

“Led astray” is in contrast to speaking in the Spirit, that is, being led by the Spirit. Paul is giving identity to who is considered a Christian…those who speak by the Spirit, saying “Jesus is Lord”. Dunn repeatedly emphasises this as the NT mark of who was a Christian. Spirit-filled and morally obedient was the mark, not doctrinal ascent as such.

Contrast between mute idols and speaking by the Spirit. Jesus “is Lord” is not spoken of here as a casual comment but as a declaration of faith. Lordship of Christ is the ground of the church’s servant hood by spiritual gifts, which Paul will inform the Corinthians about.

vs. 4-7 Note the Trinitarian formulation. Varieties of gifts-same Spirit / Varieties of service-same Lord / Varieties of activities-sam God.

Tentative Summation: The variety of gifts are to be used in active service for God for the common good of all. The gifts given by the Spirit are for the service of the Son (Lord: service is to a lord) and the activity is empowered by “God”, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The who, what, when, where, why, and how of service are given, defined, and directed by God. Mutual service for the common good and glory of God are the theme. Unity in diversity. Authority is God’s: it is not centred in man.

vs.16 If one part of the body is missing, inactive, diseased, or dysfunctional, the whole body suffers loss.

vs. 17-19 If one gift dominates the others, the body suffers loss. What are the implications for the dominance of priests and pastors in the various communions? Is there strong Biblical justification for allowing the teaching or administrative gifts to have so much authority?

vs. 18 God has arranged the gifts in the body. This is not man’s work. We are to know the gifts and their arrangement in the body and follow God’s leading for his body, the church.

vs. 21-25 Mutual dependence of the relative parts of the body. Each has need of the other. The temptation is to see the “weaker” parts as less useful, less meaningful, yet God has given them the greater honour!.

vs. 26 In the Spirit, through his gifts, we are to share a common experience. The emphasis is on corporate experience of the Spirit, not an individual work.

vs. 29 The obvious answer to Paul’s rhetorical question is NO. All are bound together but all do not have the same gifts. Nor does one member have all the gifts of the others so that he is more important than others. (Must reconcile this with the parable of the talents…one 5…others less. Q: Are talents in the parable equal to spiritual gifts.

Added Note: J.D.G. Dunn has argued there is no Biblical justification, according to a theology of the gifts, especially prophecy, for restricting the offering of the Lord’s Supper to “ordained ministers” or “priest”. He rejects the argument that “good order” would be disturbed otherwise. I am leaning this way, from the Biblical evidence. Would this also apply to the administration of Baptism?

He has says the Biblical evidence, outside of the pastoral letters, strongly supports the idea that ordination was temporary and carried local authority, apart from the apostolic office. That the idea of a life-long ordination is not clear in Scripture. Still thinking this through. Timothy and Titus might suggest otherwise, though the tradiion that grew from them into the offices of Bishop makes me wonder. It was very quickly abused and remains so down the millinia to our day.