I was never a big fan of Paul.
I found him cranky and his opining on some topics, like marriage for example, always made me cringe. But I think I'm coming around. I've really enjoyed his first letter to the church at Corinth. The passages from Ch 12-15 are especially rich and I want to reflect on some the highlights.
Love > Gifts
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| The gentleman on the right, my father-in-law, Bill Leen was 1 Corinthians 13 personified. He was a quiet man, one who may not have ever done a miracle or preached a sermon but who had what mattered most: Love |
1 Corinthians 12 and 14 provide crucial context for the famous "love" chapter 13. In chapter 12, Paul discusses the value of the different spiritual gifts--prophecy, teaching, healing and miracles, speaking and interpreting in unknown languages and so on. He notes that not everyone has the same gifts and each should be valued as an important contribution to the life of the community of faith. But Paul concludes that there's something even more important than all the religious talents. This sets up Chapter 13. Love is not a spiritual prize that some lucky Christians are endowed with. Love is the highest goal that every believer should strive for, and it is one of the few aspects of mortal life that will carry on through eternity. Furthermore a lack of love invalidates all other spiritual gifts--something we Christians seem prone to forget. Prophecy, faith, miracles, tongues--all of it is of no value if we are not patient, kind, humble, polite, easy-going, hopeful, lovers of truth and justice. Paul clarifies what Jesus meant when he said many will come to him at the last day, crying "Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these great things in your name" and the response will be a shocking "And you are?" Christian activity is good so far it goes--but it is no substitute for love.
Tongue Tied
Once Paul has established love as foundational to Christian faith, he returns to the topic of spiritual gifts within the church. Chapter 14 focuses primarily on weighing the gifts of tongues vs prophecy. It's a fascinating chapter, particularly for one coming from a faith tradition that doesn't give much consideration to the gift of tongues and views the Spirit of Prophecy as shorthand for one specific White lady. I was always taught the tongues referred to in the New Testament simply meant the early believers were able to speak in foreign languages without having to learn them. Its not uncommon for Adventist missionaries to ask for prayer that they might be given the "gift of tongues" so that they can quickly learn the language of their target people group.
But there's very little in the New Testament seems to support the Adventist interpretation of tongues. The closest we get is the statement in the second chapter of Acts that everyone in the diverse crowd heard the disciples speaking in their own language. But the way Paul describes the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 14, it doesn't sound like he's referring to being blessed with multilingual talent. On the other hand, I don't get the feeling that the practice of speaking in tongues in charismatic faith traditions really follows Paul's guidance either. I can't speak with authority here since I'm only somewhat familiar with charismatic Christianity. But if speaking in tongues becomes a test of whether one has "received the Holy Spirit" or not, if it becomes primarily an emotional expression of ecstatic spirituality with little concern given to making sure that the expression is not disruptive and can be translated, than our Pentecostal siblings are no closer to what Paul is calling for than the emotion-averse Adventists are.
Paul is seeking order, not chaos. Even the seemingly patriarchal instruction that "women should not speak" in church is very clearly in reference to a specific time, place, and culture not a timeless principle. Paul sums it up in vs. 40 : "So my dear brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy and don't forbid speaking in tongues." I've never been to a congregation like that, but at least vs. 40 is easy enough: "But be sure that everything is done properly and in order."
The Last Enemy
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| It's funny that when you Google this quote, it is often attributed to J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels, because it is featured in the final book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But Rowling lifted that powerful promise from a much older Book! |
Paul's strong defense of the resurrection is so beautiful to me and fills me with so much hope. The resurrection is the foundation of our faith. Without it, Paul points out, our faith is essentially useless. "If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to pitied than anyone in the world." Like many, if not most religions, Christianity is primarily concerned with cheating death--or more definitively, defeating death. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death," he says in vs. 26. Paul presents Christian belief as rooted in the resurrection. Not in "hell avoidance", not in "here's a motivation to be a good person"--those themes don't appear in Paul's reflection on the hope of eternal life. Instead, Paul declares that just as one man, Adam, ushered in death for all of humanity, one Man, Jesus, has made resurrection available to all.
The verses that really struck me in a way I'd never noticed before are found in 1 Corinthians 15:42-43. These verses speak hope for the little sister who only had two brief weeks of life on this earth, hope for the husband who was brought down by cancer in the prime of his life leaving behind a grieving wife and two young sons, hope for the son killed in a tragic car accident, hope for the father and grandfather who at 91 had not lived long enough for the loved ones he left behind 8 years ago today, hope for the best friend, who died without warning, to keep her promise to be "friends forever".
"It's the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength."
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