This essay, “Spiritual Gifts: Unity, Edification, and Order,” appeared in CGG Weekly on July 29, 2022.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.”
—I Corinthians 12:1
The members of the early Corinthian church held a keen interest in spiritual gifts. The congregation’s founder, the apostle Paul, notes early in his first epistle to those in Corinth that God had “enriched [them] in everything,” concluding, “so that you come short in no gift” (I Corinthians 1:5, 7). However, their possession of such gifts posed a dangerous problem to the congregation because they lacked the spiritual maturity to use them in ways that would produce the best results. The apostle puts it this way in I Corinthians 3:3: “. . . for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” Their misuse of God’s gifts played a part in their internal conflict and disunity.
As he wades into the subject of spiritual gifts in I Corinthians 12-14, Paul desires to convey to the Corinthians three primary principles to help them use and manage the gifts God had graciously and abundantly bestowed on them. These principles would help them evaluate whether their use of their gifts pleased God and served the church’s work and the brethren. If not, the members were likely employing them in a self-serving, arrogant way that would play out in division, destruction, and chaos.
The first principle, emphasized in I Corinthians 12, emphasizes church unity—the oneness of the Body of Christ—despite its many members and differing gifts. Jesus Christ, as the Head of the Body, has given each member of the church a particular gift or perhaps multiple gifts (see I Corinthians 7:7; Matthew 25:14-15) by “one and the same Spirit [that] works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (I Corinthians 12:11).
Paul also speaks of the church’s intrinsic unity and God’s distribution of gifts in Ephesians 4:4-7:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all . . .. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
God designed His church to be a unit that can carry out different functions toward achieving the same goal. The church may be a diverse group with many distinct gifts, but God intends it to interact and function as a unified spiritual organism. Paul urges the Corinthians to make this spiritual unity their aim:
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (I Corinthians 1:10)
Today, members of God’s church, growing up and living in a democratic, individualistic Western culture, have a problem in this regard. The culture Christ desires in His church runs counter to society’s nearly unrestrained autonomy, making it difficult for God’s people to change their perspectives to consider themselves Christ’s subjects—even His bondservants! (Romans 6:22; I Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:6)—and part of a whole rather than independent, discrete entities. Our upbringing in this society has accustomed us to do “what is right in [our] own eyes” (see Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) rather than what the King of Israel, the Head of the church, has commanded us to do.
In addition, human nature needs to do little to persuade us to satisfy and exalt ourselves first rather than work for the Body’s good. Instead, Paul writes, “the members should have the same care for one another” (I Corinthians 12:25). If each church member used his gifts for the benefit of all, good and pleasant unity among the brethren would descend from God (see Psalm 133).
If each church member used his gifts for the benefit of all, good and pleasant unity among the brethren would descend from God. Share on XThe second principle deals with edification or “building up” Christ’s Body. In I Corinthians 14, Paul compares the spiritual gifts of prophesying (“forth-telling,” preaching God’s Word) and speaking in tongues (speaking in other languages and dialects). He judges that prophesying is superior to speaking in a tongue: “for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets” (I Corinthians 14:5). Why? He has already answered in verses 3-4: “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.”
The apostle compares these gifts in terms of their profitability to the church. It seems that some in the congregation desired spiritual gifts that would make them seem unique, intelligent, or talented rather than because they could help their brethren progress along the path to God’s Kingdom. Speaking in tongues appears to have been one of these coveted gifts that the Corinthians thought would impress others. So, Paul tells them that they needed to adjust their motives for receiving and using God’s gifts: “Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel” (I Corinthians 14:12).
He explains, “[Y]et in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (I Corinthians 14:19). While God’s gifts may include a facet that we can use in our personal pursuits (for instance, one gifted with foreign-language skills may find employment as an interpreter), God bestowed them for far more important reasons: to help His people grow spiritually. So, Paul writes, “Let all things be done for edification” (I Corinthians 14:26).
The third principle covers order within the church, especially during church services, where many of God’s gifts are exercised. The apostle stresses to the Corinthians the need for calm and order to present a proper impression of God and His representatives. He asks, “[If] the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (I Corinthians 14:23). Such a chaotic situation would not be edifying in the least, nor would it reflect well on God and the church.
So, he instructs, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40). “God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (verse 33). Disorder and pandemonium within the church and its meetings are surely expressions of the Adversary’s mind, who delights in taking advantage of turmoil and each person doing his own thing.
God’s gifts, then, have their time and place. Many can be practiced quietly and unobtrusively. Our church services adhere to a traditional, formal template to minimize confusion and maximize preaching God’s Word while giving honor and worship to God. The apostle James provides wisdom on this point: “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18). Extending this tenet to the use of spiritual gifts, God and the church receive the most value from them when members utilize them in an orderly, organized manner.
Over all these principles, of course, stands the overriding principle of godly love, which Paul addresses in I Corinthians 13. It is “a more excellent way,” more to be desired than even the best gifts (I Corinthians 12:31). Whatever gift(s) we may have, if we conduct ourselves in love before the church and the world, we will ultimately make the best use of them for the honor and glory of God.
