As we look at chapters 12 through 14, if we approach them with the idea that what Paul is dealing with here is chiefly, or perhaps exclusively, the matter of speaking in tongues, what we are going to do is miss something which really should apply to every one of us. It may be that someone here or there is given this gift of tongues; but that is a minority, I would think, by the very fact of the multiplicity of the gifts. What we fail to see is that Paul is actually dealing with gifts, not just the gift of tongues.
As we look at chapters 12 through 14, if we approach them with the idea that what Paul is dealing with here is chiefly, or perhaps exclusively, the matter of speaking in tongues, what we are going to do is miss something which really should apply to every one of us. It may be that someone here or there is given this gift of tongues; but that is a minority, I would think, by the very fact of the multiplicity of the gifts. What we fail to see is that Paul is actually dealing with gifts, not just the gift of tongues.
He lists the gifts at the very end of this twelfth chapter, and every time he does that, whether here or elsewhere where he mentions tongues, he always puts tongues at the end of the list. That is a subtle way of communicating what he goes on to say as he gets to the very end of the chapter about desiring the better gifts. Paul is saying that if God gives you tongues, that is fine. It is a gift and should be used. But if you are concerned for anything, let your concern be for love, which is what he is going to talk about in chapter 13.
There is the future element because we do not just look to the past, to a Christ who died on the cross for our sin and rose again. Rather, that same Jesus who died and rose again ascended to heaven, and He is coming again. He said to His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3). The same Jesus whom we look to in the past is the Jesus we look to in the future.
The fourth view is that of John Calvin, who took something of a middle position between that of Luther and Zwingli. Calvin argued that Christ is present in the communion service, but not physically. In that respect, Calvin thought Zwingli was right. The body of Jesus is in heaven, where He has ascended and has given gifts to men. But that is not the only way Christ could be present. Calvin maintained that Christ is present spiritually, which he believed was far more important than a material presence. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is with us in a spiritual way by the Holy Spirit, He can say in Matthew 28 that He is with us even to the very end of the age (v. 20).
It is a great shame that the Lord’s Supper and our interpretation of it have become such a cause of division within the Christian Church. The chief cause of trouble here is the Lord’s statement that the bread is His body. There are four major ways in which this has been interpreted.
Another problem, which is closely wrapped up with the first and seems to be Paul’s major concern, is that by conducting themselves in that manner they were actually producing divisions among themselves in the very midst of the observance that was supposed to indicate that the church, in all of its diverse parts, was actually one.
One of the wonderful things about the sacraments and ceremonies of the Christian Church is that when they are practiced properly, they recognize the equality of all men and women before God. None of us comes with any special privilege, but rather we all come as sinners in need of the grace of God, and that we must come equally and be received equally on the basis of what Christ has done.
Canadian Committee of The Bible Study Hour
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