Unity and Divercity

Unity: The Gift of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:1–13)

Since there was division in the Corinthian church, Paul began with an emphasis on the oneness of the church.

He pointed out four wonderful bonds of spiritual unity.

We confess the same Lord (vv. 1–3).

Paul contrasted their experience as unconverted idolaters with their present experience as Christians.

They had worshiped dead idols, but now they belonged to the living God.

Their idols never spoke to them, but God spoke to them by His Spirit, and He even spoke throughthem in the gift of prophecy.

When they were lost, they were under the control of the demons (1 Cor. 10:20) and were led astray (“carried away,” 1 Cor. 12:2).

But now the Spirit of God lived in them and directed them.

It is only through the Spirit that a person can honestly say, “Jesus is Lord.” A sneering sinner may mouth the words, but he is not giving a true confession. (Perhaps Paul was referring to things they had said when influenced by the demons prior to conversion.)

It is important to note that the believer is always in control of himself when the Holy Spirit is at work (1 Cor. 14:32) because Jesus Christ the Lord is in charge.

Any so-called “Spirit manifestation” that robs a person of self-control is not of God; for “the fruit of the Spirit is … self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23, nasb).

If Jesus Christ truly is Lord in our lives, then there should be unity in the church.

Division and dissension among God’s people only weakens their united testimony to a lost world (John 17:20–21).

We depend on the same God (vv. 4–6).

There is a trinitarian emphasis here: “the same Spirit … the same Lord … the same God.”

We individually may have different gifts, ministries, and ways of working, but “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

The source of the gift is God; the sphere for administering the gift is from God; and the energy to use the gift is from God. Why, then, glorify men? Why compete with one another?

Diversity: The Gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:14–31)

Unity without diversity would produce uniformity, and uniformity tends to produce death.

Life is a balance between unity and diversity.

As a human body weakens, its “systems” slow down and everything tends to become uniform.

The ultimate, of course, is that the body itself turns to dust.

This helps to explain why some churches (and other Christian ministries) have weakened and died: there was not sufficient diversity to keep unity from becoming uniformity.

Dr. Vance Havner has expressed it, “First there is a man, then a movement, then a machine, and then a monument.”

Many ministries that began as a protest against “dead orthodoxy” became dead themselves; because in their desire to remain pure and doctrinally sound, they stifled creativity and new ideas.

However, if diversity is not kept under control, it could destroy unity; and then you have anarchy.

We shall discover in 1 Corinthians 13 that it is maturity that balances unity and diversity.

The tension in the body between individual members and the total organism can only be solved by maturity.

Using the human body as his illustration, Paul explained three important facts about diversity in the body of Christ.

Why are there different members?

The body needs different functions if it is to live, grow, and serve (vv. 14–20).

No member should compare or contrast itself with any other member, because each one is different and each one is important.

I suppose I could learn to walk on my hands, but I prefer to use my feet, even though I have not yet learned to type or to eat with my feet.

The ear cannot see and the eye cannot hear, yet each organ has an important ministry.

And have you ever tried to smell through your ears?

There is a tendency today for some people to magnify the “sensational” gifts.

Some believers feel very guilty because they possess gifts that do not put them into the limelight.

It is this attitude that Paul opposed and refuted in this paragraph.

Diversity does not suggest inferiority.

Are we to believe that the sovereign Lord made a mistake when He bestowed the gifts?

The members promote unity as they discover their dependence on one another (vv. 21–26).

Diversity in the body is an evidence of the wisdom of God.

Each member needs the other members, and no member can afford to become independent.

When a part of the human body becomes independent, you have a serious problem that could lead to sickness and even death.

In a healthy human body, the various members cooperate with each other and even compensate for each other when a crisis occurs.

The instant any part of the body says to any other part, “I don’t need you!” it begins to weaken and die and create problems for the whole body.

No Christian servant can say to any other servant, “My ministry can get along without you!”

Paul may be referring to the private parts of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:23–24.

If so, then to “bestow honor” on them refers to the use of attractive clothing. The more beautiful parts of the body need no special help.

God’s desire is that there be no division (“schism”) in the church. Diversity leads to disunity when the members compete with one another; but diversity leads to unity when the members care for one another. How do the members care for each other? By each one functioning according to God’s will and helping the other members to function. If one member suffers, it affects every member. If one member is healthy, it helps the others to be strong.

Diversity of members fulfills the will of God in the body (vv. 27–31).

It is God who bestows the gifts and assigns the offices. He has a perfect plan, not only for the church as a whole, but also for each local congregation. We have no reason to believe that each congregation in the New Testament possessed all of the gifts. The church at Corinth was an especially gifted assembly (1 Cor. 1:4–7; 2 Cor. 8:7). However, God gives to each congregation just the gifts it needs when they are needed.

In this paragraph, Paul pointed out that there is a “priority list” for the gifts, that some have more significance than others. But this fact does not contradict the lesson already shared—that each gift is important and each individual believer is important. Even in the human body, there are some parts that we can do without, even though their absence might handicap us a bit.

The Apostles and prophets, of course, appeared first on the scene because they had a foundational ministry (Eph. 2:20). Teachers were needed to help establish believers in the faith. The other gifts were needed from time to time to help individual believers and to build the church.

The construction of the Greek in 1 Corinthians 12:29–30 demands no as the answer to each of these questions. No individual believer possesses all the spiritual gifts. Each believer has the gift (or gifts) assigned to him by the Lord and needed at that time.

The word translated best in 1 Corinthians 12:31 simply means “greater.” Some spiritual gifts are greater in significance than others, and it is proper for the believer to desire these gifts (1 Cor. 14:1). Paul put a high value on prophecy, but the Corinthians valued the gift of tongues. Paul put tongues at the end of the list.

Unity and diversity must be balanced by maturity, and that maturity comes with love. It is not enough to have the gift of the Spirit and gifts from the Spirit. We must also have the graces of the Spirit as we use our gifts to serve one another.