Paul writes, “Now eagerly [zealously]
desire the higher gifts…” (1 Cor. 12:31)
Let’s Not Jump to Conclusions - A
hasty reading might suggest Paul was encouraging his readers to choose from the
list of spiritual gifts which he had just enumerated at 12:8-10 and 12:28-30. This
interpretation implies that Paul is urging the Corinthian believers to decide
what gifts (e.g., word of wisdom, word of knowledge, gift of faith, healing,
miracles, prophecy, spiritual discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues,
leadership, prophecy, teaching) are “the best” or “the highest” in their personal
judgment,hoping and praying to receive their top choices rather than other,
“lesser” or “lower” gifts.
We modern, western Christians are somewhat prone to jumping on this
bandwagon. That is because we live in a “me, myself and I” culture in which
many churches pander to our “personal” desires for self-importance and
autonomy. It is rather natural in the modern course of things for us to equate
self-importance with impressive manifestations of our “spiritual gifts.” We are
surrounded, after all, by the message:
“It’s YOUR life… YOU choose, YOU decide.”
This kind of a mindset and interpretation seem quite dubious. For one thing,
Paul made the point rather clearly (v.4, 7, 24, 28) that God distributes the gifts, not that we have any personal entitlement
or input in how they are distributed. Paul believes in and teaches God’s
sovereignty. If Paul is truly encouraging individual believers to “go for” the
gifts they think are “the best,” then where is the place for God’s sovereignty
in this? We would need to read our own individual and personal sovereignty and supremacy
into the text.
The only apparent advantage of this interpretation is that it requires no real
thinking and no real reflection beyond our personal desires for greatness.
Yes, we understand that in exercising spiritual gifts we are required to
take action in cooperation with the Spirit; but this is hardly a matter of
picking and choosing gifts by way of our own discretion, nor is it a matter of
our judging which of God’s spiritual gifts are “higher” or “lower.”
Furthermore, on what possible basis would we presume to know and discern
which gifts are “higher” and “lower?” Where is the Biblical teaching and
precedent for making such a determination, or even to establish that the gifts
of the Spirit (gifts of God) could ever lend themselves to quality evaluation
and sorting by me, or by you?
Another View - A more plausible
and compelling interpretation of 1st Cor. 12:31 follows from taking
a look at the structure of chapters 12 through 14. Verse 31 of chapter 12
starts a new thought, which continues at 14:1, with chapter 13 in between as
one of Paul’s inserted or parenthetical sections. More on this in a moment –
for now let’s start by focusing on 12:31.
The entire verse (12:31) reads:
“But earnestly
desire the higher gifts. And I will show
you a still more excellent way.”
Rather
than being a conclusion to the forgoing text, as would be the case if v.31
began with “Therefore, earnestly desire
the higher gifts…,” there is a sense here that Paul in now going to add
something new to the mix. Verse 31 looks forward into the text, not backwards.
Paul begins by using the word “But,”
and in so doing he puts a period on the forgoing text and begins something new
that will send his teaching in a somewhat different direction.
Try reading from 12:31 right into the beginning of chapter 14 (again, momentarily
skipping over chapter 13); we find that the thought flow moves logically and
smoothly. Paul’s statement at 14:12 then seems to interpret 12:31: “Since you [Corinthians with an “s”, who
together as a body are Paul’s intended readers] are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build
up the church.”
In other word, if we read 1st Cor. 12:31 followed immediately by
14:1-12, we find that 12:31 is explained quite clearly. It seems to define the
“higher gifts” in 12:31 as those that “build up the church.” This in turn
brings up the next question: Don’t ALL of
the gifts listed in chapter 12 “build up the church?” Since they certainly do,
Paul must be referring to them all. What
then is he driving at here?
I believe we can allow the biblical text to interpret itself. Rather than
Paul saying, “Hey, each of you
Corinthians should examine the menu of spiritual gifts and look for the ‘best’ and
‘highest’ ones to be given you,” it seems he is saying, “As you believers (plural) exercise the
gifts of the Spirit in the fellowship of faith, instead of being self-centered and
showcasing these gifts personally, try to embrace and exercise them in love, in
ways that build up the Church as the body of Christ, not in ways that merely
build up and display ‘me, myself and I’.”
Chapter 13 - What about the Love
Chapter, 1st Cor. 13? How can we simply “skip it?”
We certainly do not want to skip this beautiful section of Paul’s letter.
However, we want to understand it in its place as the writer (and the Spirit)
intended.
Paul uses parenthetical inserts in his writings. That means he occasionally
suspends the flow of his written thoughts for a time and writes a separate
“parenthetical” section of text, and then comes back to the original thought
flow again. A good example is in Romans, where Paul inserts chapters 9-11 as just
such a parenthetical section. If we read from the end of Romans chapter 8
directly into chapter 12, we find that it flows quite logically and smoothly,
while the intervening chapters 9-11 present Israelite history as a
parenthetical insert.
It seems that Paul has similarly inserted the wonderful “love section” that
we classify as 1st Corinthians chapter 13. In expounding upon “love,” Paul intensifies
and deepens his overriding theme of unity as “one body” in Christ; the unified
body of Christ is paramount and supreme over a kind of personalized,
individualized “me, myself and I” religion. In including the love chapter, Paul
strengthens and fortifies the larger theme of his letter, that in all things
believers must put off individualistic, divisive “me first,” so-called
Christianity, and instead put on solidarity, unity, and union with Christ as a
body or community of faith, which happens (secondarily) to be made up of its individual
parts, with Christ as the Head.
I believe we typically and characteristically personalize and individualize
the “love chapter” (13) and read it through a narcissistic filter, as though it
merely tells “me” how “I” am to love, individually in “my” private, personal,
family and church life. We also come quickly to the interpretation that this is
how God loves “me, myself and I” within the personal, individual relationship
He and I have together.
On closer inspection, chapter 13 appears to be more about subordinating our
personal, individual concerns and cares to the unity and solidarity of the body
of Christ. This unity of the body of Christ is a large part of our very union
with Christ Himself! This theme is also a continuation of that which Paul has
been writing about for several chapters running.
We may well tend to think of the Church as being comprised essentially of individuals
with personalized gifts who come together occasionally to “check in” or to
“refuel.” We may habitually think in terms of one person having superb “gifts”
and another having weaker gifts, as though each was on an individual quest or
race to obtain and display their level of spirituality. We can go further and
say that we tend to view our Christianity as essentially being an individual
race to the finish, in which each believer is in some sort of spiritual
competition with other believers for a prize that not all can win.
No Zero Sum Game - We modern,
western human beings have a horrible tendency to assume that in the case of any
good thing, there is only a fixed, finite amount of it to go around. If “they”
get more, then “I” get less. Take financial assets (money and valuables) for
example. Much argumentation, fear and anger springs from an underlying
assumption (presupposition) that there is a certain amount to go around, and no
more. We therefore tend to think that if “the other guy” gets more, I will
automatically “get less.” This is known as the “zero sum game” fallacy. Today in particular, it sparks enormous
debate and much needless political warfare.
The zero sum game fallacy is exactly that – a fallacy. It holds no water,
and water is an apt metaphor, because in reality the entire economic tide rises
and/or falls together! It is not a fixed quantity at all. In prosperous times,
growth occurs and the amount of wealth to go around can dramatically increase,
so that if “that guy” gets more, so can “this guy.” Over longer periods of
time, we can see the tide rising and falling (in our lifetime, mostly rising). Simply look at the level of
prosperity and the material lifestyle of Americans today vs. 200 years ago.
There is no comparison whatsoever. The material quality of a person’s life who
is considered “poor” by today’s western standards is vastly better than that of
a relatively well off person say, 150 years ago.
In a similar way, we are prone to presupposing that there is only a certain,
finite volume of spiritual gifts, or spiritual blessings, or rewards from God,
or of passes into God’s Kingdom. The implication of such presupposing is that
we are in some sort of competition for these. This is not necessarily something
we often think about, for if we did
we would probably discard such ideas as being ludicrous. However, the zero sum game fallacy lives stubbornly
in us, and we are off to the “me, myself and I” races! I have to be in the
center of the picture, because after all, I need to play the zero sum game and try for “my share” of
gifts, spirituality, recognition, position, etc., or else I might just decide
to quit entirely and say “what’s the
use?”
Paul refutes this way of thinking, eloquently and decisively. He teaches
that God’s gifts – including His gift of citizenship in God’s Kingdom, as well
as all the gifts of the Spirit – are not a zero sum game in which we must
compete with one another, looking out primarily for our own spiritual
wellbeing. On the contrary, as we look out for the wellbeing of the body of
Christ, together as one, our individual wellbeing will be taken care of. The
entire tide will rise, and we will rise with it.
Paul seems to teach that believers, having been chosen, elected, reborn and
adopted into the family of God, are first and foremost a single unified body in
Christ, comprised (secondarily) of individuals to whom God entrusts the
Church’s spiritual gifts and assignments for the common good and edification.
This is a rather difficult concept for us to follow in our present culture of
extreme individualism. We tend to turn this worldview around and place
ourselves individually in the center of the universe, and the Church.
Paradigm Shift - It appears that
Paul’s instruction are, in effect, for the Corinthians to move from a “me at the center” outlook, in which
more gifted and less gifted individuals come together to form a church, to more
of a “Christ in the center” view in which the unified body of Christ,
established by Him, has within itself individuals who are stewards of its gifts
for the common good.
In other words, the gifts belong to
the body of Christ, more than they belong to the individuals to whom they
happen to be entrusted. This is a paradigm shift that is sorely needed in
the Church today.
So in all of these things, the body of Christ – the Church – comes first,
with Christ, the Head, in the very center, while each individual part (each
believer) finds his or her true in the one body of Christ. Christ is not graced
by my presence; rather we as a body are graced by Christ’s presence and
preeminence; He alone is the Head of His body, which happens to be comprised of
individual, subordinate parts. Apart from the entire body and its Head, each part (you and me individually) is completely
useless and without definition.
The chapter 13 concept of love advanced by Paul is an awesome explanation of
the underlying principle by which this view of the Church and its parts can be understood
and lived out. I am not suggesting for one minute that the paradigm shift which
Paul urged for the Corinthians was an easy one, nor is it easy for us. It does
not take a genius to understand that the kind of love described in 1st
Corinthians 13 is a love which only God truly and faithfully personifies; yet,
it is just this love of God which frees and inspires us towards the kind of
sacrificial use of God’s gifts that Paul encourages.
So, What Are the “Higher Gifts”?
– I believe we can validly conclude that the “higher gifts” are any and all of those
gifts which are used and stewarded as they are intended – not for show, or to
make the Gospel something more than it already is, or to be competed for by
individual Christians, and certainly not to divide some Christians from others.
The “higher gifts” are those which Christian believers use to edify, equip,
unify and build the body of Christ, that is, the corporate body of Christ which is made up of subordinate parts under the one head who is Jesus Christ.
Challenge - Our western cultural worldview
is so deeply individualized, personalized and narcissistic, that it is very difficult
for many of us to let go of, even in the reading of Scripture. However, if we
can embrace a paradigm shift here and stop addictively reading ourselves - individually,
personally and competitively - into the biblical text, then there is hope that
the word of God will come alive in the full brightness of its divine truth.