Everybody matters, but not everybody believes it. Perhaps you have known someone who suffered from the depressing thought that their life was unimportant, that no one would care if they lived or died. It might have been you.

 

The Apostle Paul understood that followers of Christ, like other people, have a deep desire to matter. We want our lives to make a difference. We want to be missed when we’re gone. When all is said and done, we want our lives to have counted for something.

 

The desire to be known is one of life’s basic needs, but it can become overblown and turn into an egocentric desire to be noticed or honored by others. Constant cries for attention or primacy can lead to strife in the best of circumstances. In a church body, they can be devastating.

 

For this reason, Paul worked diligently to promote unity in the believing community, while also acknowledging the spiritual gifts of individual members. He wanted all believers to know that they mattered, and that their gifts were important to the life and health of the church. At the same time, he wanted them to understand that the sharing of gifts was for the good of the body, not for individual glory.

 

This was a serious issue in the church at Corinth, where status-seeking and unchecked egos had contributed to ongoing strife. So, Paul urged believers there to think of themselves as contributing members of a single body in which every member matters.

 

 

 

Paul clarified his intent with the familiar and memorable illustration of a body with different parts that must work together if the body is function properly (vv. 12-27). The metaphor is obvious, but Paul elaborates on it for some time.

 

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ,” he said (v. 12). By “so it is with Christ,” his reference went beyond the local church to all believers as members of the body of Christ.

 

Paul wanted no misunderstanding. Feet should not feel left out because they are not hands, he said, and ears are not less needful than eyes (vv. 15-17). [DD] [DD] Some parts may seem more honorable, but God designed the human body, Paul said, according to God’s own plan (v. 18).

 

“If all were a single member,” he asked, “where would the body be?” (v. 19).

 

We have many members, but one body (v. 20). Eyes need hands to act on what they see, and heads need feet to take them where they want to go (v. 21).

 

Humans tacitly acknowledge this, Paul said, since we are most likely to “clothe with honor” those embarrassing parts we’d rather not be on public display. [DD]

 

If one member suffers, the whole body suffers, Paul said: if one member does well, the whole body benefits (v. 26). Have you ever experienced an upset stomach, or had a painful arthritic joint, or a blinding headache?

 

Any one part of the body can demand all our attention, but when that one part is healthy, the whole body can get back to work.

 

Paul had introduced his body talk with a reminder that we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body. Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, and all are sustained by the same Spirit (v. 13).

 

The Spirit is both the source of gifts and the force that unifies members in their service to Christ. Paul, no doubt, was broken-hearted to see such prideful divisions in Corinth that he had to remind them that they were born of the same Spirit, precious to God and needed by each other.

 

 

 

Paul concludes his body metaphor with a summary statement that looks back to the beginning of the chapter. “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (v. 27).

 

Having emphasized community interdependence, Paul moved on to speak of individual gifts. Paul’s listing of gifts suggests that he considers the first gifts to be more important than the last: as in his previous list (12:8-10, speaking in tongues comes at the end.

 

This appears to reflect an ongoing issue in Corinth, where tongues-speaking had become divisive. Perhaps some members emphasized the beauty or volume of their ecstatic utterances while minimizing gifts such as intelligible words of prophecy or teaching.

 

The most important thing to understand about spiritual gifts is that they come from God. They are gifts of the Spirit, not something earned or developed by human effort—or striven for as a source of pride.

 

Paul first speaks of apostles, prophets, and teachers that “God has appointed.” Paul’s emphasis is not on their priority, but their service in what God’s Spirit has appointed and empowered them to do.

 

The Greek word apostolos is derived from a verb that means “to send.” Thus, an apostle is one who has been called and sent out for a purpose, empowered to lead in God’s behalf. Some readers regard only the twelve disciples and Paul as “apostles,” but Paul’s use of the term was broader (1 Cor. 15:5, 7). [DD]

 

Second, Paul mentions prophets. As in the Old Testament, prophets were not so much foretellers as forth-tellers. They not only understood the world around them, but also spent time in communion with God. The Hebrew Bible depicted prophets as being admitted to God’s heavenly “inner council.” The New Testament portrays them as being inspired by the indwelling Spirit of God to bring together God’s teaching, society’s needs, and world events in ways that would speak God’s word to others. [DD]

 

Teachers appear third on the list, but that should not be taken as an indication of inferiority: the disciples and other followers commonly referred to Jesus as “teacher.” Within the church, teachers are those who instruct new believers and promote growth in discipleship.

 

We should pause again to remember that, while we commonly think of apostles, prophets, and teachers as persons who hold a certain office or have special training, Paul speaks of them as having spiritual gifts. It is by the Spirit of God that we are called and empowered for leadership positions within the church. [DD]

 

The word “then” suggests a transition from apostles, prophets, and teachers to those whose gifts are expressed in other ways. The working of miracles is conveyed by the word dunameis, the root of our word “dynamite.” It literally means “power,” but can be translated as “deeds of power” or “mighty works.” In this context the syntax is stretched a bit to indicate one who is gifted to work such deeds. “Healing” is augmented by the word charismata, so it is “gifts of healing.” [DD]

 

Those who despair of being gifted to work miracles may find comfort in knowing that Paul also names the gift of “helping,” though the present verse is the only time it is mentioned in the New Testament. In the Septuagint (an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament), the word is used specifically for those who help the needy. In Rom. 12:7, Paul described a gift of “service” based on the word diakonos, which was used for early deacons who cared for the poor. Thus, Paul speaks of social ministry as a spiritual gift.

 

The word translated “forms of leadership” also appears only in this verse. Sometimes translated as “administrators,” it is drawn from a technical term describing the work of a helmsman who guides a ship on its course. The term is not tied to a specific office such as pastor or deacon, but could also be used of steady members who help keep the church on course through the turbulent waters of changing times.

 

The last gift Paul mentions is “various kinds of tongues.” Paul may have in mind both the ability to speak actual languages not previously known to the speaker (as in Acts 2:6ff), and the kind of ecstatic utterances that cannot be understood apart from the presence of one with the gift for “the interpretation of tongues.” Since tongues and their interpretation can so easily be feigned, Paul seems concerned that they not be given undue emphasis. He neither criticizes the act of speaking in tongues nor suggests that everyone must do it, but simply speaks of it as a gift of the Spirit. [DD]

 

 

 

No matter what the outer manifestation, Paul concludes, there is one Spirit at work to energize all believers with the presence and the power of God’s grace gifts. One does not expect everyone to serve as an apostle, prophet, or teacher (v. 29). No one imagines that every member of the body has the gift of miracles or healing, helping or leading, speaking in terms or interpreting the words of others (v. 30). The purpose of all spiritual gifts is to build up the church in unity and love as a body with different parts that must work together.

 

Perhaps this is why Paul encouraged readers to “strive for the greater gifts,” or “be eager for the greater gifts” (NET). The gifts Paul had listed first were those most concerned with service to others rather than bringing attention or glory to oneself.

 

The importance of unselfish giving becomes even more evident as Paul transitions to a new appeal. He urges readers to consider a different and better approach to life: the way of love.