unity

The spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12

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The lectionary New Testament readings for the Pentecost, this coming Sunday, are 1 Corinthians 12.3b-13, Acts 2.1-21, and John 20.19-23—but the first or second reading must be from Acts. So I suspect most churches will read Acts and 1 Corinthians 12. Written commentary on Acts 2 can be found here, and video discussion here.

Here I offer commentary on 1 Corinthians 12, with the link to the video discussion at the end.

What we call Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is clearly part of an exchange with the faith community there, since Paul makes reference to the previous correspondence back and forth; we actually have Paul’s second and fourth letters (depending on how you reconstruct the exchange). This because significant at key points in this letter, as Paul makes it clear that he is responding to questions asked or issues raised by the Corinthians themselves—but of course we don’t know what they have said, and can only speculate. It is an important window into Paul’s exercise of authority; I wonder if today, in a Church of England church, we could imagine the congregation challenging and questioning their bishop in an exchange of correspondence!

What does Jesus have against us?

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Each year, during November, the Morning Prayer weekday lectionary takes us through the first few chapters of the Book of Revelation. In chapters 2 and 3, we have messages to the ekklesiae in seven cities of Roman Asia, the west end of what we now know as Turkey—and I happen to be sitting in one of those cities as I write, having just led a study tour around the seven. There are some important and challenging things to note about these messages.

First, these are not ‘letters’ as they are commonly called, since they do not have the features of first-century letter-writing. In fact, the whole of Revelation is a letter, with part of the introduction looking very similar to Pauline letters elsewhere in the NT. There is some debate in scholarship about how best to characterise this section, but the most persuasive suggestion is that these are royal proclamations from the risen Jesus who, having been raised, ascended and vindicated, exercises royal power from the throne he shares with the One seated there. And they are not written to ‘churches’ in the way we often think—institutions with buildings and leadership structures. They are addressed to the collective (and occasionally gathered) new Israel of God in Jesus.

Secondly, as is easy to see, the seven messages are striking in their consistent structure of seven main elements, including opening and closing phrases which are repeated word for word:

Can the PLF process be rescued?

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Andrew Goddard writes: The recent announcement from the House of Bishops (discussed here by me and here by Ian Paul) is raising the question as to how it relates to the last Synod motion on PLF passed back in July 2024. At least one Diocesan Synod is being asked to call on the bishops to … Continue Reading