1 Corinthians 12 Discussion

If you’ve ever looked around church and thought, “I’m not like these people, so I must not belong,” 1 Corinthians 12 has a better word for you. We’re Pastor Plek and Pastor Holland, and we unpack Paul’s most practical picture of the Christian life: one body, many members, all arranged by God on purpose. The goal isn’t to chase the flashiest spiritual gifts. The goal is a church where every person is valued, needed, and equipped by the Holy Spirit.

We trace how the Corinthians were tempted to build a spiritual hierarchy, especially around tongues, and why Paul dismantles that mindset. We talk through the “Jesus Is Lord” confession, what it means for genuine faith, and how to think clearly about speaking in tongues without turning it into a salvation test. Not everyone has the same gifts, and that’s the point. Unity in diversity is not a slogan. It’s God’s design for the body of Christ.

Then we get painfully practical about church membership, serving, and why weakness isn’t something to hide. Sometimes the “weaker” or less visible members are the exact ones the church must honor more, not less. Spiritual gifts are given for the common good, which means you’re not meant to live the Christian life in isolation, and your presence, your help, and even your needs can strengthen a healthy local church.

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Transcript

Welcome And Chapter Overview

Pastor Plek 0:10

And welcome back to a chapter today.

Pastor Holland 0:13

Keeps the devil away.

One Body With Many Members

Pastor Plek 0:14

I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. We're talking 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We're going to outline it. We're going to observe it, interpret it, and then apply it so that you can be fully fulfilled with the Holy Spirit today on your way wherever you may find yourself today. All right. So verses one through three, we have an induct introduction to spiritual gifts and the test of true spirituality. Verses 4 through 11, you have unity and the diversity of gifts from the triune God. And then in verses 12 through 26, we have the body analogy. There's unity in diversity. Then verses 27 through 31, you've got God's appointment of roles in the church. And then uh verse 30, the second half of 31, transition to the way of love. All right, now let's get into some observations that you found here.

Pastor Holland 1:04

Okay. Uh the body illustration here is awesome. You know, he he he talks about verse 18. God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. And when you think about that in the context of a local church, it's like God arranged for you to be here and you have a specific role in this church. Um, I love that idea. What do you think he means by unpresentable members? Uh, you know, the stuff that you cover up even when you're at the pool or the beach. Okay, but well, he's talking about people. Uh-huh.

Pastor Plek 1:40

So who are those people?

Pastor Holland 1:42

Oh, like I thought you meant like on the body. I was like, what do you want me to say?

Pastor Plek 1:47

No, no, no. No, I mean like, is that like, you know, there's always that guy that's just a little off. Do you put him off in the corner and like you don't you cover him up and you're like, hey, don't look at I mean, what does that mean?

Pastor Holland 1:59

No, he look what he I mean, here's what he says on those parts of the body we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. Um, so I think the idea is saying, hey, like the the weaker, he says the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. Right. So it's like it's going against the idea that someone who seems to be weak, you should count them out and say, get out of the body. Instead of saying you should give greater honor and care to them. Make sure you cover them up.

Pastor Plek 2:28

I've just I just can't get that out of my head. It's like, oh, you are to be not seen, but valued.

Pastor Holland 2:35

Yeah, I don't know. That's hilarious. That's what I just thought of. I know it's probably not seen. He says bestow a greater honor, um, treating with greater modesty.

Pastor Plek 2:48

Greater modesty, which means more covering, right? I bet just say, okay, sorry. All right, I'll get off that. So uh uh, all right. So what is all right, so then also then what about um uh just the pride versus self-sufficiency? I think there is this view that the Corinthians had that tongues was like the most superior, and then they're like they had the I don't need you attitude. So the mouth, you know, tongues can't say to another body part, I don't need you. Yeah, right.

Pastor Holland 3:21

And um I I love too when he's like uh if the ear should say, because I'm not a I, I don't belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. Right. Just because you think you don't belong does not mean that you don't belong. Right. Like I I feel like that happens so much in church is someone saying, I just don't fit in here. Yeah.

Pastor Plek 3:43

And then isolate. Yeah. And then they don't realize they're robbing the body of what it really needs.

Pastor Holland 3:49

Yeah, and going, just because you feel that way doesn't mean it's true. Um, and you know, if you if you're like, I okay, I'm an eye and I look at this church and everyone here is a hand and a mouth, you could think I don't fit in. When in reality, you are needed. Right. That you they don't need another um, you know, what they already have a whole lot of.

Pastor Plek 4:08

They need what they're lacking, which is and I think that's what's hard because a person that usually has a different gift set isn't usually going to fit in because they're usually kind of less understood. And so um, yeah, I I think that's where the the challenge is, and so you know, birds of a feather flock together, and so you usually have a hyper spiritual church that is all about more like uh maybe speaking in tongues and that kind of thing. And then you have a really good administrative like strategic church, and those two usually don't mix together, but that you need to have the the different gifts are going to bless each other, but it's also gonna cause a little bit of conflict. Yeah.

Pastor Holland 4:46

Yeah. And uh, but yeah, the point is clear, verse 19 if all were a single member, where would the body be? Right. You need all the members of the body.

Pastor Plek 4:54

That's good. All right. What about um just the I like the mutual care and honor aspect? Healthy members suffer with the suffering and rejoice with the rejoicing, valuing the weaker parts. I I thought I thought that was really kind of neat. Like, um, like if someone's hurting, that might make them weaker, but that we don't just go like, oh, it sucks to be you. You're like, you get into the to the pit with them.

Pastor Holland 5:17

Yeah. I also think uh, you know, at the end here, he asks all these questions are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles? And they these are rhetorical questions where the obvious answer is no. Right. Um, that just that would defeat the whole concept of a body with a bunch of different parts and gifts. The point is that not everyone has the same gifts. But that, like, you know, when he says, do all speak with tongues, there's some denominations that say you have to speak in tongues or you're not saved. Right. And his the clear point that he's saying here is not everybody's gonna speak in tongues. That's right.

True Spirituality And Tongues

Pastor Plek 5:51

And I think that's actually very harmful and might I say heretical. Yeah. To declare that to be saved, you have to have the evidence of that would be speaking in tongues. Yeah. All right. What about um just uh look, I like it, verse three. Uh, just this the sense of dependence upon the Holy Spirit. I want you to understand, no one speaking the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is a curse, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Like, I really feel like that one's been a challenging one for me of like, because I've heard people say Jesus is Lord, but they're not saved anymore. You know, I'm like, they they're a person who professed faith, maybe spoke it with their mouth, but never believed it in their heart. Um, and uh clearly you can't say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. So I I think I need a little help with that one on um uh what they mean here. And maybe they're talking about just an inspired utterance, like meaning like uh they're connecting to some I don't know, spiritual prophetic thing, and and it would have to say Jesus is Lord.

Pastor Holland 7:04

Yeah, because you're saying you could get your non-believer friend up here right now, yeah, and be like, hey, see say Jesus is Lord, and he could say it. Right. And it's like, so what does Paul actually mean by this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um Study Bible says uh uh all who genuinely profess faith in Christ have the Holy Spirit within them, and none should be excluded, um, for they all have valuable gifts for the benefit of the church. I so I think the at first I'm like, how is that really that helpful or clarifying? But I I think it's saying the point is that everyone in the church that is making the confession of faith in Jesus, they have the Holy Spirit. They're they're not less of a Christian than the ones who have the gifts you think are special.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Yeah.

Pastor Holland 7:50

So like his his point is not like what can a believer or what can a non-believer literally say. It's more of saying that like um uh everyone in your church has different gifts, and you're kind of making a hierarchy of those gifts, of like these ones are the important ones. But everyone who's saying Jesus is Lord has the same spirit, right? And therefore, that hierarchy is artificial, right?

Pastor Plek 8:14

Um it's a it's the same spirit in part in the gift. So therefore, yeah, yeah.

Pastor Holland 8:20

He's talking about those who make a genuine confession, they have the same Holy Spirit, even if they're the weaker members, even if they don't have the more spectacular gifts, they have the same um spirit, and they're all, you know, when he says, um, no one speaking in the spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed. You all worship the same Lord Jesus, you all have the same Holy Spirit, therefore, stop making these artificial hierarchies. Um, humble yourselves and recognize the value of every member of the body of Christ. I think is what he's saying there.

Pastor Plek 8:53

Okay, so look at this also. Um, I don't want you to be uninformed. You know that you were that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however, you were led. And my notes from my professor from Dallas Seminary, he goes, uh Many of the Corinthian believers were pagans, various influences had led them away from worship of the true God. Corinth was the experience-oriented and self-oriented. Mystery religions and other pagan cults were in great abundance, from which cults, many of the members of the Corinthian church received their initial religious instruction. After being converted, they had failed to free themselves from pagan attitudes, and they confused the true work of the Spirit of God with the former pneumatic and ecstatic spirit experiences of the pagan religions, especially the Dionysian mystery or the religion of Apollo. Dumb idols are idols that do not speak in contrast with living God, who does speak. Paul previously said that demons are behind the worship of idols. He did not say that the prophecy or speaking in tongues being spoken in the Corinthian church proceeded from demonic sources. He only reminded these readers that there are inspired utterances that come from sources other than the Holy Spirit. Probably some of them had spoken in tongues when they were pagans, which I thought was wild. And so in classical Greek literature, Apollo is particularly renowned as a source of ecstatic utterances as the lips of Cassandra of Troy, the priestess of Delphi, or the Sybil of Kume, whose frenzy as she prophesied under God's control is vividly described by Virgil. At a humber level, uh, the fortune-telling slave girl was dominated by the same type of pathonic spirit, which I thought was wild.

Pastor Holland 10:25

Yeah. And so, you know, part of this is probably when he says, No one speaking in the spirit of God ever says Jesus is a curse, probably thinking about people speaking in tongues and you don't know what they're saying. And he's saying, if this is truly of the spirit of God, they're not going to be, you don't have to worry that they're like saying something blasphemous.

Pastor Plek 10:42

Right. Um Right. That that's good. So I I think that's because no and and kind of that no, there won't be anything contradictory from someone speaking in tongues to the word of God. Yeah.

Pastor Holland 10:52

If it's yeah, and if it is truly, yeah, and if it is, then yeah, that's uh that's not the Holy Spirit that's um bringing about the ecstatic utterance. Right. Yeah.

Pastor Plek 11:01

All right.

Pastor Holland 11:01

Just want to make sure that we sometimes that can get kind of odd. Um yeah. So speaking speaking in tongues, I mean, obviously there's a lot of stuff in this chapter, but that's uh that's one that people have a lot of questions about. Yeah, yeah. Um we went through the book of Acts already. My interpretation of speaking in when he talks about tongues here is like what you see in Acts chapter two at Pentecost when they are proclaiming the word of God in known languages. Sure. Um, but they they're known languages meaning somebody knows them, but the people proclaiming it didn't know them. Right. It was a spiritually um uh given ability to speak in previously unknown to them languages, um, but known to other people, so that they heard the word of God in their own language.

Pastor Plek 11:49

Yeah.

Pastor Holland 11:50

That's yeah.

Pastor Plek 11:51

So the ecstatic speech, you would kind of be like thumbs down on that's that's not it. When you s what do you mean accept ecstatic speech is just like shit about a hunter, shit about hunna.

Pastor Holland 12:00

Um meaning it's not a real language. Yeah. I I don't think that that's what he's talking about.

Pastor Plek 12:07

I said I I give it's a possible. I'm gonna give it a possible. Uh but you have to have an interpretation. If there is no interpretation, and then that word has to be evaluated by elders, uh, as we're gonna see in the chapters coming up.

Pastor Holland 12:20

How do you interpret something that's not a real language?

Pastor Plek 12:23

Spirit of God, apparently. Okay, you have superpowers to do it. Hey, I'm just saying it's you know, there's enough, I know enough Christians that I trust that have it or that have have experienced this. I personally haven't. I've never actually seen it done well. I I have seen it where someone has ecstatic speech and someone interprets it. Um but that's been rare. And um, yeah.

Pastor Holland 12:46

My my only uh I had a a friend who was on a mission trip to Mexico. Um, this is a long time ago, like when I first became a Christian, and he felt led to go pray for somebody. Um, and he just went over to pray for them. And then, you know, someone else on the trip, like one of the interpreters, was like, Well, I didn't know you knew Spanish. Right. And he was like, I don't know Spanish. He said, Well, you just shared the gospel and prayed for that guy in Spanish. And so he was like, Was that speaking in tongues? And like to me, that's a more that's more closely aligned to what you see in Acts. It makes sense to me. He was actually speaking the word of God in a language that he didn't know supernaturally.

Why Church Membership Is Biblical

Pastor Plek 13:24

Or here's me being the all-inclusive one, yeah. Just so just loving and bring them all in the tent. Uh, so there's some different interpretations, I guess. There is, there is. Okay. So uh, all right. Uh what else do you see in this? Um I okay, so this also this is my this is my favorite verse. Okay, now my favorite verse for church membership, like and why we call it membership is verse 27. Yeah. Now you, and that should be y'all. Y'all are the body of Christ and individually members of it. So to be a member of a church is a thing. So, like, I don't believe in membership. Well, clearly, here it is right here. They were members of the church. That's where we get the term membership from. And he's not just speaking of the universal church, this specific body, this specific church, y'all.

Pride Division And Undervaluing Weakness

Pastor Holland 14:16

Because he's talking about when you gather together for a corporate worship service, and each of you are using the different gifts God has given you um in a you know, physical location, physical space. So he's he's talking about a particular congregation um being members of the body of Christ locally. It's good.

Pastor Plek 14:36

All right, let's get into some uh truths about about the nature of man.

Pastor Holland 14:43

Uh, we need other people. Yes, in in our in the Christian life.

Pastor Plek 14:48

Even if they're different than us and we feel like they should be covered up.

Pastor Holland 14:52

Yeah. All right. I mean, it seems like, especially if they're different from us, yeah, we need what they have that we don't have.

Pastor Plek 14:58

Yeah, and pull them, take them out of the closet and have them utilize as opposed to put more clothes on them. All right. Uh, how about man is prone to division and pride when left to the flesh? Even gifted believers can elevate self over the corporate body, refusing to honor others or admit that they have a need. That was long. Say that, unpack that for me. All right, so how about this? We like to stick with our own stuff. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I I am an administrative person. We're gonna be very strategic and we are gonna do everything with intentionality. You spiritual people who just like listen to the Lord, beat it because you're unpredictable and your life's a mess. Yeah.

Pastor Holland 15:45

Yeah. I also think, you know, just the fact that he he brings up this example where of people saying, I'm not this, therefore I don't belong. And we we have a tendency to count ourselves out. Oh, nice. To just be like, I don't fit in there. Uh those two. And that's that's a common Christian experience. And Paul addresses it here and he says, Yes, you do, even if you feel like you don't.

Pastor Plek 16:05

If you've ever felt like you didn't fit, that's actually probably the place where you should be, so that the church can be accessible to people like you. I think we've we've said this before. Like, uh, if your church is kind of has a bunch of older people and you're younger and you're connected, don't leave to go find the young church. Stay there so that when other young people come, they'll be there. Or if you're the old person at the young church, don't be like, ah, I don't nobody really gets me. I don't really fit in here. No, they need you. Yeah, you're the only person that has a whit of experience in life. Stay around, and when the other old person shows up, then you can go like, oh wow, there's somebody like me, and they have a place to connect. Right. Um, what about we naturally undervalue weakness and don't see like, oh, we need to have weakness here.

Pastor Holland 16:57

Yeah. What giving it what's like an example of that undervaluing weakness?

Pastor Plek 17:02

Um, when disabled people show up, they're like, I don't really have a thing for you. Um, and so then we don't go, you could either A, we don't have a thing for you, or B, how could I minister to you right where you're at? And and like love people right where they're at and serve the ones you have as opposed to the serve the ones you wish you had. Yeah. Um how about some character of God here?

Pastor Holland 17:30

Yeah. Uh God arranged the members in the body.

Pastor Plek 17:34

Yeah.

Pastor Holland 17:35

You have God sovereignly um arranging local churches to have everything that they need. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

Pastor Plek 17:45

Um I do love how the Father, uh the Spirit, and Jesus are all mentioned here. Look at verses um same verses four, same varieties of gifts with the same spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. There are varieties of service by the same Lord. I'm assuming that's Jesus, but it's the same God who empowers them all, all in everyone. I would assume that's God the Father.

Pastor Holland 18:14

Yeah, there you go. Trinitarian section of the letter right there. Oh yeah. Um and God uh God gives gifts and arranges the body and um uh appoints, verse 28, appoints um leadership positions for the common good, it says. Um verse 7 to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. In other words, God gives you gifts not for you, but for others. Yeah, you are given a gift to steward for the good of someone else. So God literally like the idea of you having a spiritual gift requires you to belong to a local church. Like, that's why God gives you a gift, is so that it might be used in a local church to build other people up. You can't do the Christian life in isolation.

Practical Steps To Use Your Gifts

Pastor Plek 19:04

Man, it's good. Okay, let's get into some application, shall we? Yeah. All right, so application is uh sin to avoid, using spec, sin to avoid or confess, uh, promise to claim, an example to follow, command to obey, or knowledge to believe. How about sin to confess is any pride in my own giftedness uh or disdain, like I don't think your gift means anything for others' role in the church. Yeah. And don't count yourself out. Yeah, don't, yeah. The sin of counting yourself out. Like you are needed even if you feel like you don't fit in. Especially if you feel like you don't fit in.

Pastor Holland 19:41

I mean, he says the the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. So, like if you're just like, uh, what do I have to offer? I'm just, you know, a pinky toe. Um Paul's saying actually, you are indispensable. God doesn't mess up, He doesn't waste body parts. You know what I mean? Like you have an indispensable role, and you need to plug in and pray and ask your leadership how, you know, how you might help build up the body there.

Pastor Plek 20:13

Right. And it might be that your way of helping build up the body is being a person of need whom the body serves. I know that that seems like a wild thought. Like, I'm actually you kind of I'm an albatross that just is hung around the neck of the church. No, no, you are a person that the church has been uh gifted to serve, and people that have gifts need to utilize them, and especially, especially within the body of Christ. Uh, I think if there's people who have the gift of giving, but the gift of giving has no excellence or honor unless there's someone who has also the gift of receiving, uh, right? Like if if nobody had any needs, there'd be no giftedness that was needed for anything. But since we are living in this broken world, and since there are people who have some strength, your weakness is an advantage.

Pastor Holland 20:58

Yeah, and also, I mean, if you look at some of the gifts, like in verse 28, helping is one of them. Nice. Like, you everything that happens in a church needs help. Like, yeah, you're and you may your gift may be help being helpful. Right. You can help with something. You may not be the leader of that thing, but leaders need help. Um, administration um is here, uh, where is it? Administrating or governing. I think older translations uh go with governing or ruling. Um, you know, and so whether whether that's um, you know, on the planning side or the governing leadership side, yeah. Um uh there's just like I don't know, there's a role for every single person in the church. And so application, get involved. Use use your gifts and use you know what God has blessed you with to bless others.

Pastor Plek 21:54

Yeah, I love I'm going to look at the KJV. Uh first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly, teachers. After that, miracles, then gifts of healing, then helps. Helps. Governments, diversity of tongues.

Pastor Holland 22:06

There you go.

Higher Gifts And Foundational Roles

Pastor Plek 22:07

Which I thought that was kind of wild. All right. Um, okay, what else? Um command obey. Earnestly desire the higher gifts. So are the higher gifts in from that order? Does that make sense? Like what what are the higher gifts? Is it from that list, and the higher gifts are the ones at the beginning of that list? So, first, apostles, you want that that's in a gift, or is that an office? That's where it's challenging for me because it seems like that's a gift here.

Pastor Holland 22:37

Yeah, I I so the gift is the person serving in that. So that's my interpretation is the apostles were it's not a gift of apostleship, but rather God gave apostles as gifts to the church. Apostles were those who went and planted the churches and preached the gospel.

Pastor Plek 22:54

Because an apostle could could be a capital A apostle or a lowercase apostle that's a sent one.

Pastor Holland 22:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he's talking about here, when he says apostles and prophets, similar to like Ephesians, it says that the apostles and prophets were the foundation of the church. The church is built upon them. It was those who really helped spread and teach the word. And then the next one, teachers, um, I I think is the elder, pastor, overseer, is that role of the common minister of the church? Um, and so apostles and prophets have already laid the foundation. On top of that foundation, you have the pastors and teachers who preach the word week in and week out as the elders of a local church. Um, and those are gifts uh to the church as well.

Pastor Plek 23:38

Is it a possible interpretation to kind of take that as first apostles or missionaries, second one prophets or preachers, third one teachers? Is that is that too too big of a stretch?

Pastor Holland 23:49

Um I I don't think it's I don't think it's too I wouldn't personally say it's um that's not my interpretation, but I mean I can see where you're coming from.

Pastor Plek 23:59

Yeah. Uh I'm looking up my yeah, so God called the gifted and give of the apostles to plant and establish the church in the places the gospel had not yet gone. Apostle means sent out. So it is proper to think of apostles as missionaries. Prophets were the channels through whom God sent his revelation to his people. Some of them also wrote the books of the New Testament. Teachers gave believers instruction in the scriptures. Teachers were more important in the church than the prophets, who simply gave words of edification, exhortation, and consolation, but they were less important than the prophets who gave new authoritative revelation. Does that make sense? So they're they're calling here, I guess, apostles, like you said, could be missionaries or the apostles, could be both people. Prophets could be those who actually wrote the revelation of God, like New Testament prophets. Yeah.

Pastor Holland 24:43

Uh like uh James. And that's what I'm saying is those are done now. Right. The apostles and prophets, that's that's where I would say that's over. They're done. We had the 12 apostles, you had Paul, you had the prophets, the author, like James and Jude, and Paul and Peter and Matthew, who wrote the scriptures. Those are those were gifts to the church that established the foundation of the early churches planted and the scriptures written. And then on top of that, you have teachers, elders, pastors.

Final Charge To Join And Serve

Pastor Plek 25:12

So Ephesians 2.20 says, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Exactly. You don't lay a foundation again and again every year. Right, with Christ Jesus himself as a cornerstone. So in this case, I guess it could be missionaries and non-authoritative prophets, if you will, like uh like Agabus, or is Agabus and his daughters who are the prophets? Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. Um at the end of Acts. Yeah, all right. Um where else are we? Where are we at here? I think we're we're wrapping up. Yeah, we're wrapping this up. Okay. Applications. How about knowledge about God? God's the wise designer who forms his body with many parts, ensuring unity through diversity. How about this?

Pastor Holland 25:53

Be a part of a church. Yeah, I think that's that's the my heart with this passage is join a church and don't just um attend, but serve and build it up. Be a helper. Yeah. There you go.

Pastor Plek 26:05

Hey, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time on a chapter a day.