"We must return to the purity of the New Testament church."

When you hear a person make this statement you can be sure that he or she has not read the New Testament very well. From its inception the early church was plagued with problems. Beginning with the Hellenistic widows' complaints that the native Hebrew widows were receiving preferential treatment during church suppers in Acts 6 to the false teachers leading God's people astray in Revelation 2 and 3, the church never experienced a purely peaceful and carefree existence. In-between, every single epistle is written in order to address problems that had arisen in different church communities.

One of the churches most notorious for its problems was the church in Corinth. The Apostle Paul founded this church during his second great missionary journey and spent at least eighteen months there (Acts 18:11). In spite of Paul's fatherly care for this church, it was plagued with difficulties due to sin, pride, and ignorance. Favoritism, incest, lawsuits, sexual immorality with temple prostitutes, neglect of Christians of low social status, and denial of the resurrection were just a few of the problems generating division within the church. Because of this, significant leaders in Corinth wrote Paul in order to obtain his wise, apostolic insight concerning these problems. Here, in addressing the Corinthian abuse of spiritual gifts, we find Paul's most elaborate and extensive treatment of the church as the body of Christ.

Corinthian Conformity

Everyone in the Corinthian community seems to have been infatuated with a desire to possess the flashiest spiritual gift, that is, the gift of tongues. In almost every other issue the Corinthian church was terribly divided, except one - they all were united in their pursuit to outdo one another with their spirituality. Up to this point in Paul's letter, almost every problem he addressed was related to a divisiveness that arose from their diversity. Now their pursuit of uniformity - not unity - was leading to greater divisiveness.

Paul addresses their problem in three ways. First, he exposes their distorted perspective of unity. Unity is not uniformity, but unity in diversity. Second, Paul demonstrates that the best gifts edify the entire community and not simply the individual. Tongues are limited to individual edification (unless they are interpreted), and thus, for Paul, they rank lowest on the scale of spiritual gifts. Finally, Paul reveals that all the gifts serve love. The greatest gifts without love are worthless because the purpose of spiritual gifts is to express love - to build up the community rather than divide and destroy it.

In the process of correcting the Corinthian believers, Paul provides a beautiful picture of spiritual community - the body of Christ. The church is the continued incarnation of Christ in the world. Jesus takes on hands and feet through the church's faithful stewardship of the Spirit's charisms ("grace-gifts"). The Spirit has been poured out upon the church, creating and empowering the church to partner in God's mission of loving a lost world to life. Through service to one another by the Spirit's gifts, God becomes visible - incarnate, enfleshed, and embodied. Believers in the church "manifest" God's love to one another and to the world through their humble, loving, and faithful stewardship of the Spirit's gifts. This is true "spirituality" - a spirituality that is corporate, communal, and radically diverse. Through each member's faithful stewardship of his or her unique spiritual gift, the entire body is built up in love into the image of Christ.

Like one body composed of many different parts, the one church composed of many different members manifests God to one another and to the world. If we are to experience true spiritual unity - not uniformity, but unity in diversity - and know true spiritual harmony - not monotony, but the rich sounds of an orchestra - then we must learn to live together with all our differences as the one body of Christ.

This is not an easy thing to accomplish. It is much easier to demand the monotonous uniformity of conformity. Though conformity has the appearance of unity, it is a sham substitute for the real thing. Conformity obliterates individuality, destroys freedom, and stifles real spiritual growth. Real love of real people with real differences is not necessary when everyone is identical. Who has to work hard at loving those like themselves? For Paul, the greatest sign of the Spirit's presence is love for others different from one's self.

Contrary to what most people think of religion - and how many churches actually practice their religion - true religion brings great liberty to its practitioners: "It is for freedom that Christ set you free" (Galatians 5:2); "the truth shall make you free" (John 8:23); "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

One Spirit, Many Gifts

Paul begins by demonstrating how the one Spirit of God unifies the diverse members of the church by imparting many diverse gifts among its members. Notice the threefold contrast of "varieties" and "same":

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)

There is only one Spirit, but there are many gifts. This is the "same" Spirit through and in whom "we were all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

The church's unity in diversity is a reflection of the life of the Triune God. Did you notice the triune shape of Paul's argument? The varieties of gifts are from the "same Spirit... the same Lord [Jesus Christ]... and the same God." God is both one and many. God is one - Father, Son, and Spirit. More technically, "God is one divine being eternally existing as three distinct persons" (Roger Olson). The church participates in the life of the Triune God through the Spirit, and thus reflects God through its unity in diversity of spiritual gifts - one church composed of many members.

There is only one God, but there are many gifts. Each member of the church has at least one gift. Each individual gift has been divinely and uniquely given for a very specific purpose - a purpose that is true for all the gifts in all their diversity, that is, for "the common good": "to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7). More specifically, the "common good" is "that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another" (1 Corinthians 12:25). Or, as Paul puts it elsewhere, "the building up of the body in love" (Ephesians 4:16; cf. 1 Corinthians 13).

Paul presents an ad hoc list of spiritual gifts in no particular order with one exception: he is careful to put tongues on the bottom of the list. Throughout this section, Paul continually emphasizes that the great diversity in the body is a product of the one Spirit of God: "same Spirit" (12:8); "same Spirit... by the one Spirit" (12:9); "one and the same Spirit works all these things" (12:11). The diversity of the body is the Spirit's creation!

Paul also emphasizes God's sovereign direction over the outpouring of the Spirit's gifts: "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills" (12:11); "God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired" (12:18); "God has composed the body" (12:24). God's sovereign oversight of the Spirit's gifts is central to a right attitude toward our own and others' gifts. Furthermore, God's sovereign endowment of spiritual gifts underscores the importance of faithfully stewarding them.

One Body, Many Members

Now that Paul has established that one Spirit is manifested in a diversity of gifts, Paul introduces the metaphor of the body as a guiding picture of spiritual community.

"For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, through they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

Through union with Christ in the Spirit a great diversity of individuals from all walks of life are made one. Our foundational identity is no longer derived from our nationality, sexuality, status, or any other of a variety of categories. Our foundational identity is this: we are united to Christ through participation in the Spirit. This - and only this - is what unites us together as brothers and sisters. Therefore, our unity does not revolve around ethnic background, sex, social status, political affiliation, patriotism or lack thereof, denominational affiliation, or any of thousands of other labels we commonly use to create unity, or more correctly, uniformity! Indeed, when one considers the great amount of issues and items other than Christ that Christians unite around, one begins to realize the mass disintegration the body of Christ has experienced both locally and throughout the world. God must be grieved over how much we have decimated his body through comfortable comformity! Though we are many, though we are different, we are one in the Spirit, and our greatest good is found in seeking the common good of God's people.

As stated above, real unity is not easy to create or sustain. Paul is well aware of this. The rest of the chapter is devoted to describing the two great dangers of diversity - jealousy and pride. It is here that Paul's picture is put to the best use. He pictures a body at war with itself in order to demonstrate the insanity of uniformity and individualism. The picture would be humorous if it were not so tragically descriptive of how things often are.

Danger of Diversity: Jealousy

Those with gifts that are less prominent may feel overwhelmed by those with more showy gifts. The foot may be depressed at its inability to exercise the complicated functions of the hand. The ear may feel ugly in contrast to the beauty of the eye. Eugene Peterson's Message translation conveys this beautifully:

If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body?

Why should the foot or ear stick around when they are obviously not needed? The reason is simple: The eye cannot hear and the hand cannot walk! As beautiful as the eye is, it cannot take the place of the ear. As complex and intricate as the hand is, it was not made to get the body across long distances. The body needs all its parts to function properly. Though some members may seem privileged or more prominent, they are limited in what they can do. No one member is the entire body. Thus, all are needed, all are important; all are precious, beautiful, unique, and irreplaceable. Why? Because of our differences.

Even more importantly, God has placed each member in the body just as he has desired. God has good reasons for the way the Spirit's gifts are dispensed in the church. God does not work randomly or haphazardly. The body is his design. The same wise God who designed the human body has also designed Christ's body. Though we may not always understand the reasons for God's gracious gift-giving, God has his reasons.

Because the gifts are sovereignly given we should be grateful rather than jealous of others' gifts. They do not possess them because they are any better - the gifts are a result of God's gracious activity, not of personal achievement or status. Each person's gifts are given for the "common good" - in other words, for our good - and not for selfish gain. Therefore, we should rejoice over each gift and pray that God would enable each person to use his or her gifts fully, lovingly, and selflessly. We are the benefactors when all people in the body - even those with the most prominent and flashy gifts - are faithfully using their gifts for the good of all.

At one time or another, every person feels "out of place" in relationship to the spiritual community. We have all experienced this: "I don't fit in. I'm different. I can't be like everybody else. This community must not be for me." Rather than viewing our individual differences as the basis for personal frustration and alienation, we should view them as good, Spirit-given, and necessary for the functioning of the body. It is good that we are all different. If we were all the same, we would not be a body, but a single member! Our differences enhance, rather than detract, from our unity. God never intended us to be the same.

Danger of Diversity: Pride

Pride is another problem of diversity. People with more showy gifts may feel more honored than others. Feelings of superiority may cause them to think less of others in the body. They may feel that their gift is so special that they don't need the body. At worse, these feelings may lead to a desire to separate from the body.

Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"?

Paul addresses this danger by demonstrating that the more showy gifts, like the more showy parts of the body, are not nearly as necessary as other, less noticeable parts. A person can live without an eye, ear, or a hand. A person cannot live without a stomach, liver, or heart. Sure we are not attracted to Miss America's intestines, but without them, there would be no Miss America to be attracted to. Every sensible person is more concerned with his or her heart rather than with his or her hair. "If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?" (The Message). If you were in desperate need of heart surgery and you chose to spend your savings on cosmetic surgery instead, you would be deemed a fool.

God's ultimate goal in creating one body of diverse individuals with differing gifts is simple: "God has so composed the body... that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). God creates diversity in the body for a reason. Diversity certainly makes jealousy, covetousness, envy, and pride possible. But diversity also makes it possible for true love to be shown to all - love not for clones, but love for significant others who are significantly different. God creates diversity in order that there would be no division in the body, that each person would show the same love and care for one another - no matter how different. Each unique person is important and irreplaceable. Like the Three Musketeers, our motto must be: "all for one and one for all."

This care is given very practical dimensions. If one suffers, all suffer. Just as one pebble in a shoe, one stubbed toe, or one paper cut causes pain to the entire body, so one member's pain is shared by all. If one is honored, all are honored. This is perhaps even more difficult than sharing others' pain. In order to rejoice with members who are honored we must kill our selfish pride and personal desires for recognition. There is to be no rivalry and no competition in the body.

Though we are different, we are intimately united through the bond of the Spirit. Whether we realize it or not, our every individual action impacts the entire body. Through our union with one another we actively participate in the deeds of one another:

We have one another in common. Rather than each of us playing a single role with our individual functions, in koinonia we participate in the ministries of one another. You are present in what I do, and I in what you do. I am part of your ministry, and you are part of mine, because we are both part of Christ. I am accountable for your well-being, as you are for mine. In mutuality, we share one another's burdens, delight in one another's successes, and offer ourselves fully in service to one another. We call one another to greater fullness. It is not you against me, instead of me, under me, or over me. It is you in service to me, and I to you, both of us thereby expressing our service to Christ. (Robert Schnase, Ambition in Ministry: Our Spiritual Struggle with Success, Achievement & Competition, 101)

This attaches great significance to every action, whether great or small. Indeed, there is no small or insignificant act in the body. "[E]very service or activity, however insignificant, is a grace, and it is the same Spirit which produces them all for the use and profit of mankind... There is no task so small, so insignificant or menial, that it is not a proof of God's special grace." (Johannes Tauler, Sermons, 154). God's gifts are great no matter their size when they serve the cause of love.

Every gift is at the service of love. The gifts exist to manifest the love of God in tangible, specific, and concrete ways. The greatest spiritual gifts without love are worthless. For the goal of every gift is the demonstration of God's love. For this reason, 1 Corinthians 13 - the famous love chapter - is found at the heart of Paul's teaching on the proper use of spiritual gifts within the church. 1 Corinthians 13 is not found in the context of marriage or romance but in the context of the body life of God's people. It is this kind of love that is at the heart of a godly use of God's gifts. Divine love is the patient, selfless, enduring love of others. Only through divine love can true unity - unity in diversity - exist for divine love assaults the dangers of diversity: jealousy and pride. "Love is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant" (1 Corinthians 13:4).

Conclusion

Unity in diversity is harder to sustain than uniformity, yet its fruit is much greater. The diversity of the body leads to a demonstration of true love for others, not simply love for people who are an extension of our ego. The danger will always be to create clones in spiritual community, thinking that all people must be identical, sharing the same interests, desires, hobbies, habits, styles, and tastes. Communities that seek such "cookie-cutter" Christians limit individual freedom to the point of killing true spiritual community. In doing so, they grieve the Spirit, who has given the gifts in the first place. Put simply: comfortable cookie-cutter clone-making conformity kills community. This pseudo-community is not a product of Christianity but of demonic evil. Only evil desires to see its own reflection in everyone and everything it encounters. Only evil is so self-absorbed that all people and things became an extension of one's ego, rather than significant others who deserve love and respect. In the Matrix: Revolutions, Agent Smith, the antichrist figure, completely takes over the Matrix, transforming every entity within it into his likeness. Being evil, Smith only desires to see himself in everything.

Paul has his own monsters. For Paul, conformity leads to loveless monsters - a bodiless eye or floating hand! The "Jesus and me" spirituality of contemporary evangelicalism is as gruesome and horrific as gouged-out giant eyeballs and dismembered crawling hands.

We have the opportunity to create the kind of spiritual community that values unity in diversity -a colorful community of radically diverse individuals committed to the common good of the whole. The challenge is to faithfully steward the gifts that God has given us. Since all believers possess at least one spiritual gift, all believers - not merely leaders - are called to steward this grace for the good of others (cf. 1 Peter 4:10-11). Though we often view stewardship in individualistic terms, the stewardship of the Spirit's gifts is a corporate endeavor. Indeed, stewardship of the Spirit's gifts is a community project. Only when we understand our personal well-being in terms of the well-being of the whole church will we commit to such service as if our life depended on it.

© Richard J. Vincent, 2004