Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Corinthians 12-14.

In today’s passage Paul writes about the gifts of the Spirit.  Often times we split chapter thirteen out and look at what Paul says there about love independently of chapters twelve and fourteen.  I have known all of this for many years.  So imagine my surprise when I noticed that Paul talks about more than the gifts of the Spirit in this passage.  In chapter twelve, verses four, five, and six, Paul writes that there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and different kinds of working, but the Same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God behind them.  So, this whole passage is not just about the gifts of the Spirit, it is about the roles each of us play in the Body of Christ.  And the gifts of the Spirit which we have been given are not the whole of how we determine what role God intends us to play in His Body.  We tend to seek the flashy spiritual gifts, and the roles which stand out, but Paul tells us that, while those gifts and roles are necessary, there are more important roles for us to fill.  Paul writes that if one of us suffers, we all suffer, and if one of us is honored we all rejoice.  Then he tells us to seek the greater gifts and, in order to make his point clear, goes on to describe how God’s love, which is the greatest of the gifts which God offers us, will cause us to behave if we live in it.  So, if chapter thirteen tells us  to use God’s gifts, and to fill the role He has given us, in service to others out of the love God has given us, then chapter fourteen tells us that we should interact with others in an orderly manner so as to clearly communicate God’s message.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.