Biblogic Series: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Part 1

Futility of Spiritual Gifts Without Love

If I speak in the languages of men and of angels, 

but have not love, 

I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy 

and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,

and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, 

but have not love, 

I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor 

and exult in the surrender of my body, 

but have not love, 

I gain nothing.

(Berean Study Bible)

This passage introduces “the most excellent way” from which the Corinthians had deviated. While it seems self-explanatory, it has a surprising quantity of material to unpack. 

Chapter 12’s lists were just a warm-up for Paul’s poetry in chapter 13. Paul begins the chapter with three stanzas comprising a repeated thought in Hebrew poetic form. I strongly recommend reading the linked article about parallelism in Hebrew poetry and prose. Much meaning will pop out the next time you read the Old Testament.

Each stanza is an example of antithetical parallelism: The first line states a positive, whereas the second line counters with a negative. The repetition of the idea means Paul is emphatic about the message. He establishes that the lesson is an absolute truth. 

Paul states several things that, on their own, seem good. The opening stanza makes it clear that it is not a tangent; it directly addresses the Corinthian-Pentecostal error. As he often does, Paul states a principle before giving the reason. Since the phrases that follow give context to the opening statement, I’m going to save for last my notes on the opening statement.

Prophesying and discerning the depths of all mysteries and knowledge

This refers to exercising spiritual gifts of prophecy, knowledge, and wisdom. Since discerning all knowledge would make one omniscient, Only God is omniscient. The situation, then, is purely hypothetical. It’s presence in no way implies that “prophesying and discerning the depths of all mysteries and knowledge” is humanly possible.

Having absolute faith so as to move mountains

This refers to persistence in belief and trust, especially, in prayer. Again, having absolute, mountain-moving faith would be an attribute of God. The situation is hypothetical and not humanly possible.

Giving all possessions [to the poor]

This act would be possible. The verb literally means to feed morsels of food, or in modern English idiom, to spoon-feed, and by extension, to personally, carefully distribute. The word translated possessions means those things under one's ownership, so it might have a meaning even broader than physical possessions. The Greek text does not include the phrase “to the poor.” Personally, carefully giving away everything under one’s ownership would be no great work if the recipients had no need of it, so the phrase may reasonably be inferred. The 1769 edition of the KJV italicized it.

Surrendering my body that I may burn / that I may glory

Some Greek tests and English translations read I may burn while others read I may glory. The focus is on bodily self-sacrifice. There is one letter difference between the Greek words meaning I may burn (kauthesomai) and I may boast (kauxesomai). (“Th” is the single Greek letter theta.)

According to the commentaries, Rome did not begin burning Christians for at least another decade after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. However, many commentary writers point out that Paul could have had in mind the three young men thrown into the furnace in Daniel or the tortures described in some apocryphal books. Another possibility could have been a current-events reference described in Vincent’s Word Studies (see previous link). About that time, a man from India had burned himself to death in Athens to achieve immortality through the merit of self-sacrifice. However, since he performed the deed on himself, it doesn’t quite fit with “giving himself over.”

The contrast between the motive for giving oneself over and the motive of love for others, stated at the end of the sentence, weighs in favor of “that I may boast” 

Fanatical people have long sought death in order to redeem themselves, and the ego can drive a man to stubbornly accept a death sentence rather than recant and admit to having been wrong. I may boast seems to have the better evidence in ancient manuscripts. It says more about human nature, and specifying what would happen to one’s body (burning) adds little besides drama to the sentence. Either way, the sense of the conditional clause is, “If I give myself over in self-sacrifice for personal benefit....”

Speaking in the languages of men and of angels

The issue of speaking in the languages of men and of angels faces two issues in this passage:

• Are the Corinthians practicing the gift correctly? (Part 1)
• Since Pentecostals make the claim, do languages of angels exist? (Part 2)

Chapters 12-14, as a whole -- as do both epistles to the Corinthians -- corrects. That a correction is made implies that an error needs correction. Chapter 12 corrects unawareness of God’s sovereignty in consignment of roles and spiritual gifts in the church. Chapter 12 also corrects disunity caused by unlovingly elevating or denigrating different gifts. Chapter 14 corrects disorder and abuse of gifts caused by using gifts in an unloving manner. When Paul inserts an entire chapter about motive in the middle of a discussion, we can have confidence that the Corinthians had the wrong motives. 

In four situations mentioned immediately after verse 1 -- two abilities and two actions -- Paul says the lack of a loving motive renders the ability or action worthless. The results, “I am nothing” or “I am a nobody” and “I am profited nothing,” mean that the gifts have neither elevated the possessor nor benefited the actor.

Mere possession of the ultimate insight and faith serves no purpose if not lovingly used for the benefit of others. As 4:7 says, What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? The whole of chapter 12 teaches that God gives gifts for the church, not for our own sake. Mere possession does not mean you’re big stuff, it means you’re still nothing, a nobody, until you use the gift properly and with the right motives.

Similarly, mere action to sacrifice one’s possessions or to sacrifice your body brings no reward if not lovingly done for the benefit of others. Self-sacrifice for the sake of self-sacrifice or to acquire boasting rights is a meaningless loss. It is a futile discarding of a member of the body of Christ with accompanying opportunity cost. 

Now bring this awareness to verse 1. “If I speak in the languages of men and of angels, but have not love (agape), I am only a ringing gong (literally, more like a clanging brass pot) or a clanging cymbal.” Verses 4-7 define this love as outward facing, concerned with the benefit of others. A loving speaker always addresses his audience. He adjusts his vocabulary, grammar, cultural references, and message to the needs and culture of his audience. More importantly, he designs his message for their benefit. Without this loving, audience-sensitive composition and delivery of a message, the speaker makes meaningless noise. 

The clanging of brass or cymbals may excite the senses, but they convey no useful information; they do nothing beneficial for the hearers. Such is the effect of tongues practiced without love. They may produce excitement, but they give no actual benefit to the hearers because the speaker produces noise without consideration for the audience. 

Chapter 13 has begun with three implied questions.

Verse 1: If the speaker does not consider the audience and strive for their benefit, then whose benefit is he or she seeking at their expense? 

Verse 2: If the tongues-speaker is not motivated by love, then has the gift actually elevated him or her... or does the speaker remain a nobody?

Verse 3: If tongues do not serve the purpose of outward-directed, beneficial love, is the benefit loving, or is it selfish? And if the benefit is selfish, is it its own reward that excludes a heavenly reward?   

Copyright 2021 Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated us.

Biblogic Series: 1 Corinthians 12:27-31

Stop Desiring an Inferior Spiritual Gift

Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. (Berean Study Bible)

Context: 1 Corinthians 12

Paul begins this section by reminding us that all Christians are, collectively, the unified body of Christ, and individually, specialized members of it. 

In verse 28, “God has appointed” reminds us of the Father’s authority as architect, the Son’s authority as agent, and the Holy Spirit’s authority empowering the members with spiritual gifts. 

Here, Paul lists some offices or functions among the called-out (ekklesia, translated “church”). I’ve distributed the verb to make the structure more clear:

In the church, God indeed

1. First has appointed apostles
2. Second has appointed prophets
3. Third has appointed teachers
4. Then has appointed miracles
5. Then has appointed gifts of healing
6. Has appointed helping
7. Has appointed administrating
8. Has appointed various languages

Comparing this list with other lists in Romans and Ephesians, we know that it is a sample list. For example, it omits the role of martyr that required a spiritual gift of faith, the role of patron that required a gift of giving, and the role of guardian of doctrine and practice that required a gift of discerning of spirits.

The verb is the same verb used in verse 18. It is also used in Acts 12:4, where Herod sovereignly “placed” Peter in prison. Whatever your role, the Father designed it into the church; the Father appointed you to or placed you in that role; and the Holy Spirit determined and gave you the spiritual gifts that empower you in that role. 

The adverbs first, second, third, and then could mean either sequence or rank. We can rule out chronological sequence because in Acts, we read of the spiritual gift of languages before we read of miracles, healing, helping, or administrating. So the structure of the sentence places languages at the bottom of the hierarchy.

Note the irony that Pentecostals place “tongues” at the top of both sequence in a Christian’s life and at the top of the hierarchy as an indicator of salvation, whereas scripture places it last in importance and assigns it to only select members of the body.

Paul poses a series of rhetorical questions. That is, the pattern establishes that the answer to each is “no.” 

• Are all apostles? No.
• Are all prophets? No.
• Are all teachers? No.
• Do all work miracles? No.
• Do all have gifts of healing? No.
• Do all speak in tongues? No.
• Do all interpret? No.

In fact, the wording in the Greek is even less rhetorical. It reads literally, Not all apostles? Not all prophets? Not all teachers? Not all miracles? Not all have gifts of healing? Not all in tongues speak? Not all interpret?

The questions plainly establish for the nth time in this chapter that God does not assign any role, nor does the Holy Spirit consign any gift, to all members of the body. It is simply not God's plan to do so. The distribution of roles and gifts is not a matter of piety, pleading, or sacraments, but of God’s sovereign plan for the body of Christ. Any church or doctrine that imposes on all Christians a need for a particular gift such as “tongues” or even evangelism reflects either a disregard for scripture or an untrained method of interpretation that produces corrupt doctrines.

Paul told the Corinthians to eagerly desire the greater gifts. Individually and as a body, they had desired the least of gifts, "tongues" (or an imitation thereof), and had to be reminded to desire that the greater gifts be exercised in the body. 

Paul explains more about why tongues is a lesser gift and why the greater gifts should be exercised in the following chapters. Don’t skip over chapter 13. It bears directly on this issue. It reveals “the most excellent way” that the Corinthians had failed to follow in all their toleration of sin, personality cults, inequity, and misdirected “ministry.”

Copyright 2021, Richard Wheeler. Please give credit where credit is due. Permission granted for non-remunerated use.

Biblogic Series: 1 Corinthians 12:14-18

Diversity By Sovereign Design

For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design. (Berean Study Bible)

Context: 1 Corinthians 12

The collective body of all believers, while a unitary whole, has diverse members.

Differing parts depicts differing roles and, by extension, differing spiritual gifts to empower fulfillment of those roles. No part does all functions, and no ability is assigned to every part.

Lacking a certain spiritual gift does not make you any less a part of the body. The Pentecostal teaching that you must speak in tongues to be a full member of Christ’s body creates a schism between babblers and non-babblers.

When every member has the same role and accompanying gift, other roles go unfulfilled. If other roles go unfulfilled, then needs within the body go unmet. 

Obsessive interest in a single gift constitutes a failure to love the body.

Paul comes close to mocking the Corinthians. Imagine a going to someone’s door, and when it opens, you find yourself facing a 200-pound, 5’8” eyeball or ear. You would say, that poor person! He’s deformed! He’s a monster. Think of all the things he cannot do for himself.” 

Now imagine an eyeball marrying an ear; but after the honeymoon, the eyeball decides, “You are not an eyeball. Why did I marry you? I have no need of you.” (A lot of husbands and wives think that way.) The one who is not an eye can hear, but the eye denigrates the ear because it cannot see. Imagine how this hurts the ear. It pleads and begs God to make it an eyeball, but because God does not obey the requests, it gives up and leaves. So the body has lost its ability to hear, and the ear has lost having a body. That is how God sees the church that requires a single gift of all its members, whether that gift is evangelism, or giving, or tongues, or any other ability. 

God designs the body with differing functions performed by different members of the body. 

God designed the body.

God arranges every believer within the body -- according to His design. 

Pentecostalism, or any teaching that encourages every believer to seek a single gift, unintentionally denigrates God’s design, God’s assignment of the members. 

When we all travail in prayer to obtain a particular gift, we imply dissatisfaction with the roles that God has specially selected us to play and denigrate the gifts He has given us so that we could fulfill that role.

When we focus on a spiritual gift contrary to God’s design for us and the Spirit’s gifting to us, we become distracted from other matters such as learning, sanctification, and development of the gifts already given to us by the Holy Spirit. Even if the gift is a good thing, we miss ignore the best things that God has designed for us. 

Obsessive interest in a single spiritual gift constitutes a failure to love God’s plan, to love Christ’s church, to love ourselves. 

Travailing in prayer to acquire a role or spiritual gift not consigned to us constitutes correcting God's plan for us and His church, as well as correcting the Holy Spirit. This unintentionally insults God and elevates our desires above His ability and authority.  

Obsessive desire for any church role or spiritual gift unintentionally insults the Architect of the body. It becomes idolatry.

Copyright 2021 Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use. If used beyond Fair Use, please give credit where credit is due using appropriate bibliographic format.

Why Christians Don't Use "Jehovah" As Often

Answering a question on Quora:

Why do you rarely hear Christians who are non-Jehovah's Witnesses, referring to God as Jehovah God (or rarely even Just Jehovah) like the Jehovah's Witnesses do?

The Watchtower (the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ organization) teaches that God has a personal name, and it is Jehovah. It teaches that knowing and using God’s name is critical to being able to worship Him.

Many Christians (non-Jehovah’s Witnesses) do use the name Jehovah, but much less for several reasons. If you want a short answer, skip to the end; but if you want to learn the reasons behind the answer, keep reading.

A more complex doctrine of God requires more terms.

The Bible gives evidence that Persons called the Father, the Son (Jesus, Christ, Messiah, the Lord, the Son of Man), and the Holy Spirit are God — and yet, there is but one God. Modalists such as Oneness Pentecostals try to solve this apparent paradox by saying that God switches between personas. However, this creates problems such as when the Son and the Father speak to each other and when scriptures say the Father subjects all things to the Son except Himself. Latter Day Saints (“Mormons”) say Jesus was, like all angels, demons, and humans, a spirit-child of God the Father who will become a god of his own world on Judgment Day. This, like the Modalist god, violates the scriptures’ teaching that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. The Jewish faith denies the evidence that Jesus was divine, and many deny that He even existed. The Watchtower accepts that Jesus existed, but teaches that He was an angel, a small-g god who became Jesus of Nazareth and then became an exalted angel (again, see Hebrews 13:8).

Christians resolve the paradox by supposing that the Creator of the universe – meaning that God created not only matter and energy, but also space-time – can do anything He wishes, so long as it is good and not a logical impossibility. From the scriptures’ claims, they conclude that God used creative power to function in and experience space-time as three Persons. This Tri-unity (one God as three Persons) is a solution, not a problem. It bypasses many problems that Bible-recognizing religions face when they reject the Trinity.

As a result, to Christians, God has a more complex identity. They can speak of God in general as God, the Almighty, the Creator, etc.; or they might speak of a specific person, namely, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. (Note that God is “Lord,” regardless of which Person you speak of; but for the sake of communication, the scriptures often distinguish the Father from the Son by calling the Father, God, and calling Christ, Lord.)

Jehovah is not God's name.

Another reason Christians do not use the term Jehovah very often is that it is not actually God’s name! God does not need a name. There are no other real gods from whom to distinguish Him. Also, no god preceded and created Him, so nobody had the authority to name Him. On the other hand, God does take many descriptive titles and names, not for His own sake, but for ours.

The name "Jehovah" started when the Israelites were enslaved in a land with many so-called gods. (You will see, a few paragraphs later, why I put "Jehovah" in scare quotes.) When God was commissioning Moses to lead the Israelites, Moses asked whom he should say was sending him. God responded, “say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" This was a functional name chosen by God, not for His own sake, but for Israel’s. He is the I AM, as contrasted with all the other gods, who ARE NOT.

Jehovah is an incorrect pronunciation

The Hebrew word translated I AM is YHWH. Note that ancient Hebrew writing had no vowels. It had only consonants.

During the 400 years before Christ, the Jews had a revival of respect for God. They became so obsessed with rules that they would not dare to pronounce YHWH. Instead, when speaking, such as when reading scriptures aloud, they substituted the name Adonai, which means Lord. Consequently, they forgot how YHWH was pronounced! By the time of Christ, it had become common practice to combine the vowels from Adonai with the consonants YHWH, which produced Yahowah or Yahweh.

Now, transliterate Yahowah to Greek, transliterate that to Latin, and transliterate that to English, and you get Jehovah. So Jehovah is, at best, a twisted pronunciation of a word whose pronunciation was lost over 2,000 years ago.

Jehovah is an obsolete transliteration

In 1611, the Authorized Version (King James Version or KJV) used the word Jehovah in some places (and LORD, in all caps, in most places) to translate YHWH. Many readers of the KJV use the word Jehovah as a name for God. But many others simply use God or Lord, and the spread of modern Bible translations that do not use the word Jehovah reinforces that trend.

Within and outside Christianity there are movements such as Hebrew Roots that make a big deal about pronouncing YHWH and Jesus with original Hebrew pronunciations. This sounds cool and may make a person feel that he has special knowledge or special reverence for God, but biblical Christians do not think there is magical power in words and pronunciations. The power is in the meaning they convey, and God is omni-lingual.

Jehovah is Jesus

There’s yet another reason Christians use the word Jehovah less often. John chapter 1 teaches that Jesus is the Word, meaning that He is the expressive member of the Tri-unity. Jesus Himself said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” In other words, it was God the Son, before he took on the bodily form we call Jesus, who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush. So, in a monumental irony, the term that the Watchtower uses to label God actually refers to the Person whose deity they deny!

Summary

Christians use the word Jehovah less than Jehovah’s Witnesses do because the Jehovah's Witnesses inflate its usage and misuse it. Christians use it even less than they used to because laymen (as contrasted with clergy) are growing in awareness that it is a descriptive label rather than a personal name, it is a bad transliteration of a word whose pronunciation has been forgotten, it is not a general label for God, it is an incorrect label for God the Father, and Christians reject the idea that words and pronunciations have intrinsic power. God is just as good a "name" for the Creator as any other.

Copyright 2021, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for non-remunerated use (meaning, you don't make money by plagiarizing it). But please give credit where credit is due.

Unrealistic Expectations and Hypocrites in the Church

Excuses

An atheist protests, most so-called Christians don’t believe the Bible, don’t follow it, don’t believe what Christ said and live lives directly contrary to it. Real Christians agree!

The gospel according to a counterfeit Christian can be damning. The way they discredit the truth in the minds of unbelievers is an obstacle to conversion, and the way they distort the gospel leaves converts no closer to God than they were as Atheists. Plus, the way counterfeits discredit the gospel places a burden to those who do believe and live out the scriptures.

However, the Atheist's argument is not logical. The proliferation of counterfeits does not disprove that the real thing exists. To the contrary, it can indicate that something of real value exists and is worth counterfeiting.

Unrealistic Expectations

I need to say something about unrealistic expectations. Entering the biblical Christian faith requires understanding that you’re not good. Gaining understanding of the faith and its requirements takes time. Living the faith requires growth. One does not simply transform from decades-old habits and personality patterns overnight. Regardless of your chronological age, believers start out as spiritual babies when converted. They don’t start out worthy of being canonized as saints. 

So when a person criticizes a Christian for not being perfect, it’s like criticizing a student at some random point in his education for not having all the scholarship of a researcher who earned his PhD decades ago. There’s a point where criticizing the “hypocrites in the church” becomes an absurd excuse for not seriously considering the faith itself.

Copyright 2020, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for personal or non-profit use, but please give credit where credit is due.