As we come to present ourselves before our Heavenly Father at the beginning of another week, to receive guidance and advice, yes, even admonition and warning that He has in all wisdom provided in His written Word, we are blessed in accordance with the readiness with which we receive into our hearts and minds the fulness of the spirit of His teaching, This principle applies in all forms of study, If in the first place we have no heart for the course of study, no real confidence in our teacher, and above all, no faith in the ultimate success of such an adventure, then we will be a dismal failure.
But if, on the other hand, we have prepared our hearts to seek the Lord, have full confidence in His teaching, and faith and hope in the ultimate success to which it leads—then we can hope to make progress and find help in time of need. Whether we benefit or not depends on the attitude with which we approach the spiritual presence of our Father as revealed in His Word, The thirsty soul longs for the living waters, How much do we thirst? How much do we hunger? How much do we really long for and pant after the water brooks? Surely it is only in accordance with our awareness of our needs that such a longing develops.
Our readings to which we wish to give some thought are found in 1st Corinthians, chapters 12 and 13, The subject which forms the basis of Paul’s argument is somewhat remote from our times, there being no gifts of the spirit especially bestowed upon us today, However, there is a great deal to learn by a spiritual approach to this subject so that the believer may receive and use some of the gifts divinely administered.
Paul’s warning in 1st Corinthians 4:6,7 deals with this point, ” , . . That no one of you be puffed up, for one against another, For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”
Now we have two things to consider here. First of all God is the potter and we are the clay, He alone gives to His children as He sees fit so to do, Secondly, of our own selves there is nothing we possess which we have not received, This was particularly so in relation to the gifts of the Spirit. However, this does not lessen the force of the exhortation in relation to ourselves, who are so far removed from the peculiar gifts of the spirit given so many centuries ago, As a matter of fact, the quotation just cited from 1st Corinthians 4:6,7 was not uttered in relation to the bestowal of spirit gifts, but was a reprimand to those who for various reasons were exalting themselves and despising others, Paul remarks in 1st Corinthians 4:4,5: “For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God,”
Now let us take the second and third verses of chapter 12: “Ye know (that you are quite aware) that ye were Gen tiles, carried away unto these dumb idols even as ye were led” (that is they were completely deluded and utterly ignorant of the spirit of God in Christ). “Where fore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.”
Now the force of the argument is this that it was by the power of the Spirit that they were begotten as members into the body of Christ; it was the power of God’ spirit working in them to will and to do of his good pleasure, In verses 4-6 Paul says: “Now there are diversities of gift but the same Spirit, And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord, And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worth all in all.”
Verse 13: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (the one fountain of life).
And so throughout the chapter the predominating thought is that God has called us; that God has begotten us; that God has blessed us; that God is developing and perfecting us by the power of His spirit, We are not our own, we are bought with a price, and must glorify God in our body and our spirit which are His.
Then Paul takes up the rather beautiful parallelism of the natural body and its associated members with which our own familiarity makes us so well acquainted to bring home in a touching manner the delicacy of our relationship as members of the one spirit body in Christ. This touch of authority is again seen in verse 18: “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” What a sobering thought this should be to us all, If we then are one of the stronger members or apparently more honorable, wherein shall we glory, or feel exalted? If we are one of the feeble, wherein shall we complain? Whether it be wisdom, knowledge or faith, or any other gift that it is our lot to possess, God is the Giver, we are the recipients of His mercy.
However, as we consider verses 23-25 we are moved to look more searchingly into the wisdom of God. There is a caution in verse 23 that should temper and modify any hasty, and possibly carnal judgment in despising the feebler members of the body, “And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given ore abundant honor to that part which hacked: That there should be no schism the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.”
Now we have it! God has so tempered e whole body that there be no schism, but that each member should have the same care one for another, As he remarks in verses 26 and 27: “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it . , . Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”
So then, my brothers and sisters, there is to be a sympathetic loving relationship between each member of the one body, on a parallel with our own particular members of our natural body. A moment’s reflection upon the care we give to a wounded member—that crushed toe or diseased finger, or infected eye will bring home to us a forceful exhortation to the degree of loving care and thought and constant attention such a wounded member demands of us. It would not be lightly dismissed as of little account, for it is a member, it is part of the body, and the whole body is in distress and pain until it is restored to health.
Now these thoughts which Paul has introduced constitute a marked contrast to that self centered envying spirit that so marked the flesh and predominated in the Corinthian body. Each member had his rightful place in the body, and the particular gift or office he occupied was for the good of the whole community, “that being compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16), There is nothing so common to the flesh as pride and envy, and nothing so damaging to the work of the Spirit, It is when petty self enters too prominently into the picture that these vices take first place, and until it is purged out, the work of our Master is at a standstill. Of what avail were the gifts of the Spirit to the Corinthians, while they coveted them for their own glory and personal pride and gratification? God had given them to profit all. “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” (1st Corinthians 12:31).
Imagine having the gifts of prophecy, the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, of healing the sick and raising the dead ! Surely that would be something to earnestly desire, and of priceless value. But, says Paul, “I show you a more excellent way.” And so Paul proceeds to show to them that more excellent way—the virtue of love.
Now the first three verses of chapter 13 are occupied in declaring the unprofitableness of any work regardless of its sacrifice or greatness where the virtue of love is absent. This is a terrific warning to us, and a searching of our motives, From verses 4 to 7 Paul describes what love is. And we see from these verses that it is comprised of virtues which, when taken collectively, constitute love, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind.” Note Paul’s words to the Colossians in Colossians 3:12-14: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness”.
Now pursuing the thought in 1st Corinthians, verses 4 to 6, Paul clarifies what charity is by describing what it is not, “Charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth,”
Another version puts it in these words, commencing at verse 4: “This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience, it looks for a way of being constructive, It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance, Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage, It is not touchy, It does not compile statistics of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people, On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when Truth prevails,”
Now let us consider verse 7 very carefully, (Love) “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,” Here then lies the secret to true love, faith in the eternal blessings of God, How otherwise could love bear all things, and how could it endure all things apart from a wholehearted belief and hope in the resurrection unto eternal life? Love as here described by Paul is an outward expression of that faith that removes mountains; working by love and rising above petty little self, to see the eternal reward of the righteous which God has promised to those who love Him. Now this virtue “Love” (as Paul describes it) is the bond of perfectness, it is that virtue that endures throughout eternity when all else fails.
Verses 8-10: “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” Here Paul sees beyond the present as a means in itself, and views all the gifts and helps of government as a means to an end, that end being the triumph of love above everything else; the Bond of Perfection as expressed in the fulness of the love of the Father in complete manifestation in the gift of His beloved Son for the redemption of us all. This self-sacrificing spirit that seeks only the good of others, to the glory of God, in the furtherance of the Gospel at the expense of one’s own self-seeking spirit of glory and ambition marks the whole of Paul’, teaching, and may be discerned in the following verses:
” . . . Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth, And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him’ (1st Corinthians 8:1-3),
“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all-things to all men, that I might by a means save some, And this I do for gospel sake, that I might be partake thereof with you” (1st Corinthians 9: 22-23).
“All things are lawful for me, but a things are not expedient: all things a lawful for me but all things edify no Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (1st Corinthians 10: 23,24).
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profits of many, that they may be saved” (1st Corinthians 10: 31-33).
Let us conclude then by trying to capture this all embracing spirit of love that pervades all of Paul’s labors; let us try to see and attain to its fulness and richness so minutely described in the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians, But let the depth of this truth be acknowledged: that love as described here in all its elements is the full expression of that faith that finds its roots and expression in the lifted up, crucified Son of God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One