Bible Speaks by Rev. L. Althouse 

 

May 10, 2015

Background Scripture: I Corin-thians 12:1-11

Devotional Reading: Romans 12:1-8

The Corinth of first and second century Greece was possibly, at the same time, both the most and the least likely place to plant a Christian community.

As capital of Achaia, Corinth was a narrow gateway at the eastern end of the Peloponnesus peninsula that linked Europe and Asia. It was known far and wide for both its wealth and corruption (1 Cor. 5). Dwight Stevenson says it “was regarded as the most licentious city of the Roman Empire. To plant and nurture a Christian church in such as sinkhole was to generate a moral collision.”

It is that “collision” which lies as the background and purpose of Paul’s letters to the Christian community there. Its population was a hodgepodge of wealth and poverty, religion and philosophy, faith and unbridled immorality. Paul wrote at least three letters to the church at Corinth, and possibly a fourth. The actual first letter may be embedded in 1 Corinthians.

Paul probably arrived there around 50 or 51 A.D. It was famous both for its textile industry (Acts 18:3) and its night clubs in the shadow of the great Agora, where its citizens assembled to conduct civic business and hear debates. Socrates had conducted some of his dialogues among the colonnades in the Stoa of Attalos.

I have visited Corinth several times and marveled at the healing sanctuary of the Greek god, Asklepios. Followers of Asklepios mixed medical healing with psychological and spiritual healing. As Christianity spread throughout the area, some Asklepion shrines became Christian healing shrines or churches.

Christians with baggage

Some of Paul’s finest and most pertinent writings are to be found in his two letters to the Church at Corinth. But the Church at Corinth also gave Paul some of his greatest oppositions and concerns.

Not only was Corinth the crossroads of various and vigorous religions, but new converts to Christianity frequently brought with them remnants of their former religions – especially the religions of ecstatic experiences, including glossolalia, known also as “speaking in tongues.”

Paul was faced with the task of Christianizing some of these elements and holding in a kind of unity these diverse people and their equally diverse beliefs and practices.

At first glance, 1 Cor. 12:2,3 seems a strange passage: “You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

Some of the Corinthians obviously believed the Christian faith was but an extension of the religion they had known as pagans. As pagans they likely had experienced and sought ecstatic states in which they were seemingly taken over by “spirits.”

Paul is clearly emphasizing that faith in Christ is not simply another kind of pagan religion. Some of these pagans-turned-Christian initiates either experienced themselves or witnessed others who, in their ecstatic condition, bellowed “Jesus be cursed!”

Some had probably deduced the spirit producing the ecstatic state was a spirit of the Christian God. The Holy Spirit is not just a “spirit” but the “Spirit of God.” And, when someone was led to confess, “Jesus is Lord,” that inspiration was provided solely by the Holy Spirit.

So, the problem was not the ecstatic states and experiences themselves, but the failure to realize that all ecstasy, all paranormal experience is not from the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

There is a Greek word we translate in English as “charisma,” “charm” and “charity.” It is a charming gift we receive from a higher source, and it is intended to be shared and employed beyond ourselves.

Each of us receives charisma of some kind from our God.  But this gift is recognized as charm only when we freely share it for the common good.

One purpose

Paul then moves on to the purpose of spiritual gifts: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one” (12:5-7). Paul is careful to show just what kind of “gift” the Christian receives.

Last week I had my 85th birthday and my wife invited some of our friends to dinner to celebrate it in our home. The party was a personal gift to me. Yes, I shared that enjoyment, but the gift was my personal possession.

Paul makes it clear the spiritual gifts given to Christians are for a higher purpose: “varieties of gifts … varieties of service … varieties of working.” In other words, the gifts we receive from God are intended for us to share.

So, why does God give each of us these gifts? Paul’s treatment of “spiritual gifts” is as applicable today as it was when he wrote the Corinthians: “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord … To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (12:7).

Gifts of the Spirit that are not shared for the “common good” are not the gifts of God’s indivisible Spirit.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.