Year Two, October 12

For in One Spirit We Were All Baptized Into One Body1

1 Corinthians 12

1Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2you know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

“‘What think you of Christ?’ is the test

To try both your state and your scheme;

You cannot be right in the rest

Unless you think rightly of him.”2

4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (We are neither born nor born again to live for ourselves. Like bees, we must all bring honey to the common hive.)

8For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to 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. 11All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (Paul is speaking here of the church, the body of Christ.) 13For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. (Therefore none of us may despise someone else because they do not happen to have the gifts we do. Variety is necessary for the body to be complete.) 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require.

We take great care to cover those parts of the body that are either tender or unsightly. In the same way, we should give more kind care to those Christians who are weak in the faith and have their faults. Otherwise the whole body of Christ might be hurt because of them.

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

What was it that was better than the higher gifts? It was, and still is, love for God and others. Love is a grace from God. It is better than any of the gifts the apostle mentions. A heart full of holy love is a far better quality than a head full of the clearest knowledge or a tongue overflowing with words. Whatever way we cannot run in, let us make sure we are walking in the “more excellent way” of love.3

  

^{_______________}

¹ 1 Corinthians 12:13

² From What Think Ye of Christ, Is the Test, by John Newton (1725-1807)

³ See Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible Year One, June 27 for Spurgeon’s comments on 1 Corinthians 13