Jesus Our King | Gary Irby by The Hallows Church

The God Who Shows Up | Wes Walls by The Hallows Church

Revisiting the Gospel of John | Gary Irby by The Hallows Church

Having taken aim at several controversies in the Corinthians church, Paul now takes up the most concerning of them all, namely, some were denying the resurrection. Paul, with piercing logic, proves how the resurrection is not an optional extra but the heart of the gospel message, without which, the entire Christian faith falls apart like a wagon wheel with no lynch pin.

Paul concludes his section on Spiritual gifts in the church by emphasizing that the gifts of the Spirit should be used to build up the church in an orderly manner. He instructs the Corinthians to avoid chaos by ensuring that everyone speaks in turn and that their contributions are constructive. He reminds them that this orderly worship reflects God’s nature of peace and promotes unity within the church body.

Paul emphasizes the importance of prophecy as a spiritual gift that should be desired and valued. He explains to the Corinthians how prophecy has the power to build up the church body in more understandable ways than speaking in tongues. Unlike uninterpreted tongues, which benefit only the speaker, prophecy serves the entire community. He highlights that while prophecy is primarily a gift for believers, it can also bring non-believers toward salvation.

In possibly the most famous passage in the whole New Testament, Paul urges the Corinthians, who were using spiritual gifts selfishly and for their own benefit, to adopt a radically different approach. He wants them to use spiritual gifts to serve others and not for personal gain, to shift from selfishness to selflessness to mirror Christ's love. He also stresses that while spiritual gifts are temporary, love is eternal, and we see the priority of love, the pattern of love and the permanence of love.

Paul longs for the church to use the gifts of the Spirit, given graciously by God, for the unity and upbuilding of the church. He highlights God as a gracious gift giver and the Spirit as the one who exalts the name of Christ. Though there are many different kinds of gifts, they are from the same Spirit and are given for the common good of the body, which is the church.

As communion became a source of division and inequity at the Corinthian church, Paul reminds the believers of the meaning behind the meal, how Christ has given himself, and how we are to examine our sin as we come to the cross.

As we continue to dive into 1 Corinthians, we explore the challenging-to-interpret message in chapter 11 on the relationship between husbands and wives and see how the gospel turns the idea of headship upside down.