On Spiritual People and Gifts--I Cor 12:1-11

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses."

Dividing and Divining the Spirit

This is the first of several weeks of Lectioanry readings where we will be considering the last part of I Cor. Thus, after this introduction, I will lay out an outline of I Cor. that makes its flow clear. The passage for today speaks about spiritual people (12:1-3; the word "spirituals" in 12:1 can mean spiritual people or spiritual gifts. I will read 12:1-3 as about the people) and spiritual gifts (12:4-11). The problem that Paul seeks to combat is that the very gifts of the Spirit (Gk. word charismata) are used to divide rather than unite the Body of Christ. We know this is true in our own age; we are divided not simply by liturgy or sacramental understanding or doctrine but, in fact, by understanding of the manifestations of the Spirit. My contention, however, is that Paul contributes to this division in this letter where he attempts to overcome the division. Read in this way, Paul is not only a brilliant theologian who gives us basic terminology of faith, but he consciously or unconsciously builds enough ambiguity into the terminology so that people of different temperaments can take the language in different directions. As such, Paul suffers the curse of the tremendously creative person--he can lay out the contours for the debate but then, when he most desires to control the debate, it is taken away from him by other speakers.

In I Cor. he attempts to get the discussion back under control. The passage for today is a significant one in which he tries to do so. Let's begin with an outline of I Cor, so you see how 12:1-11 functions, then move on to 12:1-3 and the advice concerning spiritual people before closing with Paul's words about the distribution of the charismata of the Spirit (12:4-11).

I. An Overview of I Corinthians

For our purposes we may divide the letter as follows: after an introductory greeting, Paul addresses the following topics (I am indebted to Richard Hays for this outline):

1. A Call for Unity (1:10-4:21) [which assumes division in the community]
2. A Call for Community Discipline (5:1-6:20)
3. Counsel regarding Contested Issues (7:1-15:58)

Among these contested issues are:

A. Sex and Marriage (7:1-40)
B. Offering and Eating Idol Meat (8:1-11:1)
C. Worship Issues (12:1-14:40)
D. The Resurrection of the Dead (15:1-58)

Thus, Paul's focus on spiritual people and gifts comes right in the midst of his counsel on how to handle problems in worship that have arisen for the Corinthians (other topics, for example, are who can teach? how do you celebrate the Lords' Supper? etc.) But these worship issues are just part of a laundry list of problems faced by the congregation. Paul's letter, originally a most personal appeal to one of the churches he helped found, is now a letter of universal appeal to all Christians. It is the Word of God by virtue of its being officially recognized as such by the Church more than 1650 years ago. It becomes the Word of God to us through our patient hearing of the words and attempt to understand the ways these issues rattled the calm or confused the mind of the Corinthians 2000 years ago. Let's move, then, to the issue of "spiritual things" or "spiritual people."

II. Spiritual People--12:1-3

Most scholars read 12:1 as follows: "Now concerning spiritual gifts..." Indeed, such a reading is possible. But the genitive plural of the word pneuma can either be a masculine or a neuter (the word is "pneumaton" in 12:1; thus it can be "spiritual people/men" or "spiritual gifts" [gift is neuter in Greek]). I think that the problem of spiritual people in general is on Paul's mind for three reasons. First, is the change of language between 12:1 and 12:4. First he deals with pneumatikon (spiritual...people or things) and then he deals with charismaton (obviously the gifts of the Spirit). He first wants to dispense with those claiming spiritual status before looking at the charismatic equipping of the saints. Second, Paul has himself created the "problem" of "spiritual people" earlier in the letter to the Corinthians. What I mean by this is Paul's almost exclusive emphasis on the Spirit when describing his so-called simple message of "Christ and him crucified" (2:2). There is the message to the simple, and then there is the message to the mature (2:6). To the mature Paul speaks a message of "God's wisdom, secret and hidden" (2:7). Well, who can discern this wisdom? Only one who is "spiritual."

"For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual" (I Cor. 2: 11-13).

That is, Paul has set the parameters of debate for mature Christians by strong emphasis on the Spirit. Those taught by the Spirit are the interpreters of spiritual things to other spiritual people. It is a community of the Spirit.

But, as the next essay expositing this passage shows, this "spirit" can get you into lots of trouble.

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