Wednesday 29 March 2017

Psalm: Psalm 128

Background

Paul treads a fine line in helping the congregation in Corinthto grow in Christ. On the one hand, he rejoices that they have leftbehind paganism with all its empty attraction (verse 2). But on theother, he doesn't want them to become obsessed with classifying thegifts of the Spirit.

He begins his teaching about spiritual gifts by emphasising thatthey have a fundamental unity and a single source. All the gifts ofthe Spirit flow from the simple statement "Jesus is Lord" (v. 3).In Greek, it's just two words - 'Iesous kurios'- but they carrygreat weight as a marker of allegiance. Those living in the Romanempire declared their loyalty to Caesar by affirming 'Kaisarkurios'- 'Caesar is Lord'. It was a massive claim, and potentiallydangerous, to declare allegiance to an alternative Lord. Only theSpirit gives Christians the strength to proclaim their faith inthis way, and all the Spirit's gifts flow from this centralaffirmation.

So Christians who declare that Jesus is Lord receive the giftsof the Spirit, and are called to serve the one Lord. Paul expectsthat every Christian will receive a gift, not just an elite few.And all these gifts are necessary to the flourishing of the wholeChurch, the "common good" (v. 7), because each is a revelation ofthe Spirit. Archaeological excavations have revealed some stunningmosaics in Corinth, each cube of glowing stone vital to theoverall impact. Perhaps Paul's words about the Spirit evoked suchimages for his Corinthian readers, giving them a vibrant picture ofthe Church as a whole and of their essential place within it asbearers of one of the glowing gifts of the Spirit. In the previouschapter, Paul rebuked the congregation for its socially divisivemanner of celebrating the Lord's Supper, which privileged rich overpoor (1 Corinthians 11:22). Here, he reminds themthat all Christians are marked as special through the gifts of theSpirit.

Paul goes on to list a range of the Spirit's gifts, in noparticular order. All are valuable to the common life and missionof the Church, and all depend on the same Spirit for theireffectiveness. The ego of the individual is swallowed up in theidentity of the whole.

To Ponder

• What gifts of the Spirit do you recognise in yourself and inothers? What gifts do others recognise in you?

• What does it mean for the Church today to proclaim "Jesus isLord"? Is this still a challenge to existing power structures? Ifso, in what ways?