Paul urges the Corinthians to exercise their spiritual gifts for the sake of the church, as they wait eagerly for Christ’s return.
START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
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OBSERVE:
Paul is writing to a church he knows very well — their virtues, and their warts. He had planted the church in Corinth, and had spent at least a year and a half among them.
His greeting is fairly conventional for Paul’s epistles, but he quickly transitions into a personal salutation, giving thanks to God for the grace they had received.
Then he deftly mentions pertinent issues in his greeting that will be featured significantly in both 1 & 2 Corinthians — their “enrichment,” “speech” and “knowledge.”
Some of the controversies that Paul will deal with in this letter relate to a sense of superiority that some of the Corinthian Christians had assumed because of their particular gifts — especially in knowledge. And his reference to “speech” suggests his awareness that some of them are questioning his authority because he seemed to them to lack the eloquence of preachers like Apollos.
He compliments them:
in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that you come behind in no gift.
Notice that even when he is preparing the way for correction, or even a little scolding that will come later in the letter, he is trying to find some things that he can praise.
But he is also reminding them that these spiritual gifts are all in some sense transitional. He will make this especially clear in chapter 13 when he praises love as the ultimate spiritual gift, and the one of three that will endure (those three being faith, hope, and love).
And he points out that whatever gifts they may enjoy, the greatest gift ultimately is Christ. They are not to be satisfied with the spiritual gifts that they receive, because they are looking forward to the time when Christ will be revealed. It’s not the gifts that matter, it is the Giver of the gifts!
So, there is embedded in this short passage a little hint of Paul’s eschatology (his view of last things). The Corinthians are to exercise their spiritual gifts for the sake of the church as they wait eagerly for Christ’s return. And he promises that the same one who saved them and who gave them gifts is the same one who can keep them blameless from sin when the day of judgment arrives:
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
His last word, at least in this little excerpt, is a reminder that the one who called them is also faithful to keep them in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
APPLY:
There seems to be a lot packed into this brief little introduction by Paul. What can we take away from it?
First, we are reminded that God is the giver of all good gifts. Paul will explore the spiritual gifts at some length in 1 Corinthians 12 – 14, so suffice it to say here that we need to claim the gifts that God has given us, and give all the glory to God!
More to the point, given the time of year, we realize that this is an Advent reading. That means it is intended to help prepare us for the coming of Christ. We are to wait eagerly, even as we exercise our spiritual gifts for the good of others around us.
Even more, we notice the emphasis on God’s power to purify us for that day. Paul says that God:
will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This makes me think of John Wesley’s understanding of salvation — it is both pardon and power. We are pardoned from sin, but we are also liberated from sin’s power to control us. To paraphrase Wesley, ‘What God has done for us he also does in us.’
Let’s hope that we don’t simply see salvation as “fire insurance,” but that when Christ appears at last he intends for us to be holy as he is holy.
RESPOND:
I tend to become easily distracted by the spiritual gifts, especially the flashy ones, and lose sight of the Giver. As I look forward to the coming of Christ in history, I am praying that I will use whatever meager gifts I have to the fullest extent possible on behalf of the kingdom of God; that I may remain firm to the end; and that I may be purified by God’s grace so that I may stand blameless before the throne of grace.
Lord, as you bestow your gifts for ministry and service on your people, remind us that they are only a means to an end. The end is ultimately fellowship with you. To that end, keep us firm and faithful and make us blameless by your matchless grace. Amen.
PHOTOS:
“Paul’s first letter to the Church at Corinth” uses this photo:
“Seal” by KayVee.INC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
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