1 Corinthians 12:27-28a ~ 20141005 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
10/05 1 Corinthians 12:27-28a 1. Apostles 2. Prophets 3. Teachers; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20141005_1cor12_27-28a.mp3
27 Ὑμεῖς δέ ἐστε σῶμα Χριστοῦ καὶ μέλη ἐκ μέρους. 28 καὶ οὓς μὲν ἔθετο ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ πρῶτον ἀποστόλους, δεύτερον προφήτας, τρίτον διδασκάλους, ἔπειτα δυνάμεις, ἔπειτα χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων, ἀντιλήμψεις, κυβερνήσεις, γένη γλωσσῶν. 29 μὴ πάντες ἀπόστολοι; μὴ πάντες προφῆται; μὴ πάντες διδάσκαλοι; μὴ πάντες δυνάμεις; 30 μὴ πάντες χαρίσματα ἔχουσιν ἰαμάτων; μὴ πάντες γλώσσαις λαλοῦσιν; μὴ πάντες διερμηνεύουσιν; 31 ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ μείζονα. καὶ ἔτι καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῖν δείκνυμι.
1 Corinthians 12 [ESV2011]
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 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. 16 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. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
So far Paul has said concerning spirituality that every follower of Jesus is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and is therefore spiritual. Grace-gifts, services, activities or workings all come from the same triune God, are distributed distinctly and freely as God himself purposes, and are given to each one of us for the common good.
He uses the metaphor of the body to make the points that every believer is a necessary part, that no believer is independent of other parts, and that extra respect should be shown to the less presentable parts. All are an interconnected, interrelated, interdependent parts of the whole.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
You (plural), you all are the body of Christ. You all, believers, followers of Jesus, together are the body of Christ. Each individual allotment is a body part. Many body parts, organs and limbs, but one body. You are the body of Christ!
The Corinthians it seems were eager to make one gift, especially the more sensational gifts the measure of true spirituality. They were impressed with outward appearances, and status and privilege were of utmost importance. Paul re-orients their thinking and turns their social jockeying on its head.
28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
Once again, Paul points to the sovereign hand of God in appointing and apportioning his grace-gifts in the body exactly as he so wisely intended. All the gifts come from God, and all the gifts are distributed intentionally by God just as he purposed. God established, God set, God place, God appointed the gifts in the church exactly as he intended. And there is a God-established order to the gifts. This list has a definite sequence. First, second, third, then, then... In this list, tongues comes last. In the list in verses 29-30, tongues and interpretation come last. In the list in verses 7-11 various tongues and interpretation of tongues come last. In chapter 14, he will make the point that prophesy is more beneficial to the church than tongues. God takes the status seeking sensationalism of the Corinthians and turns it upside down.
First Apostles
God has appointed in the church first apostles. We might think apostle sounds impressive and important, but remember what Paul said about apostles back in chapter 4:
1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
The apostles were not some high-class elite. They were put on parade like a band of death-row criminals. They had become a spectacle. They were fools, weak, held in disrepute, hungry, thirsty, poorly clothed, beat up and homeless, reviled, persecuted, slandered. They didn't pull a six figure income; they worked with their own hands. They were the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. In society's eyes, they were lower than the lowest. The word 'apostle' is no grand title. It simply means someone sent out, a servant sent on a mission, an errand boy. The 12 were chosen by Jesus, as Mark's gospel tells us:
Mark 3:14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: ...
They were to be with Jesus. They spent time with him, listening to him, learning from him during his earthly ministry. When the 11 decided to choose a replacement for Judas, the requirement was
Acts 1:21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
The requirement was having been an eye-witness of Jesus starting with his baptism by John through his ministry, death, burial, resurrection and ascension. The primary role was to be a witness, to testify to the truth of historical events. Jesus named the 12 'apostles' because he sent them out to preach, to herald, to announce the news that the Messiah, the King had come.
As the other apostles died, there is no record of them appointing successors. Theirs was an historically unrepeatable role as eye-witnesses of the ministry, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the ministry of apostles was foundational to the church.
Ephesians 2:19 ...you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
There is only one cornerstone, and his name is Jesus. There is only one foundation that was laid, that is the proclamation of the good news about Jesus by his eye-witnesses. The household of God is built on this once-for-all foundation.
The Corinthians had a celebrity mentality, choosing their favorite hero. Paul diffuses this in chapter 3, telling them how they should think about their apostle.
1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Paul, by the grace of God, served as a wise master builder. He laid the one apostolic foundation, and that foundation is our Lord Jesus Christ. No other foundation can be laid. The Apostles proclaimed the gospel of Jesus.
Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus the apostle.
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
Jesus is the original apostle, sent out by the Father to be the Savior of the world (1Jn.4:14). He did not come to seek status and be honored, but rather left the place of highest honor to become a servant, to be mistreated, to suffer, and ultimately to die for others.
Jesus said 'I will build my church' (Mt.16:18). He said he would build his church on the rock of the divinely revealed apostolic confession that Jesus is Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God.
The apostles he appointed would follow the example of their Master. They too would be despised and rejected and suffer for the eternal good of others.
We too are apostles, not in the foundational sense of the eye-witnesses, but in the broadest sense of the term, as those who have been sent out by the Master to announce the good news, sent out to serve others, sent out to sacrifice and suffer for the good of others. Every believer has been sent as an ambassador of our Lord Jesus Christ, to proclaim the good news about him.
Second Prophets
28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets,
What is a prophet? This is a more difficult question. To answer this, we need to look at what a prophet was in the Old Testament, what if anything changes with Jesus in the New Testament, and how the ministry of a prophet is described in the context of the church.
If we look back to Exodus, we get a helpful description of the primary role of a prophet.
Exodus 6:29 the LORD said to Moses, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” 30 But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”
Exodus 7:1 And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.
Aaron is called Moses' prophet because he spoke on behalf of Moses to the Pharaoh. The most basic definition of a prophet is someone who speaks for another.
If we study the prophets of the Old Testament, we see that the vast majority of their ministry was speaking to the people, calling them to repentance, calling them to return to their covenant commitment with God. A very small percentage of the prophet's ministry was predictive of future events. And much of the predictive part of the prophets is the promise of judgment for continued disobedience, and the promise of restoration and forgiveness for those who turn back to God.
Zechariah prophesied over his son John:
Luke 1:76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
John's role was to prepare the way for Jesus. John called people to repentance and to faith in Jesus. Jesus called John a prophet, and more than a prophet. He said:
Matthew 11:11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus said that John was the greatest among those born of women. But Jesus looked forward to something greater. The least in the kingdom would be greater than the greatest of the prophets. Jesus said
Matthew 11:13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,
Jesus indicates that the ministry of the Old Testament prophet had come to an end with John. Something greater was here. When God spoke in thunder and lightning and smoke to the people from Mount Sinai, the people trembled...
Exodus 20:19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
They wanted Moses to go between God and them, to speak God's words to them. In Deuteronomy 18, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. (Acts 3:22-24; 7:37; cf. John 1:25)
That greater prophet is Jesus. Jesus is the one who goes between God and the people. Jesus is the one mediator between God and man (1Tim.2:5). Jesus speaks to us everything that the Father puts in his mouth (Jn.8:26, 28, 38, 40).
Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...
Jesus is the fulfillment of all the prophets. God has spoken. Finally. Decisively. He has spoken to us in Jesus.
When Moses was feeling the weight of caring for all the people of Israel, God told Moses to select 70 of the elders to assist him in bearing the burden. God poured out his Spirit on those 70, and they prophesied. When two of them were prophesying in the camp,
Numbers 11:28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
This is what the prophet Joel predicted.
Acts 2:16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (Joel 2:28-29)
What was it that fulfilled the prophecy of Joel?
Acts 2:11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
God's Holy Spirit had been poured out. The apostles were declaring the mighty works of God. God had put his Holy Spirit on all of his people, and all of his people, young and old, male and female, rich and slave, were prophesying. They were speaking on behalf of God to people.
So in the most broad sense, whenever we speak to people on behalf of God, whenever we call people to repentance and faith in Jesus, whenever we bring light to those in darkness, whenever we declare forgiveness of sins through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are prophesying.
The best way to understand what Paul means by prophesying in this verse is to look in the immediate context. What does he say about prophecy in this chapter and in chapter 14 that helps us understand what he is talking about?
14:3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
We can learn from this that prophesy is a speaking ministry. A prophet speaks to people. The goal of the prophet's speaking is upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation. We can learn from 14:24-25 that if everyone prophesied in church, an unbeliever would be convicted, called to account, his heart would be laid bare, and he would worship God, recognizing that God is among us. So one effect of prophetic speech is conviction of sin and belief in God. From 14:29 we see that the speech of prophets bring about learning and encouragement to everyone. In 14:1 and 39 we see Paul encouraging all the believers in the church to desire to prophesy. In 14:29, the content of what is prophesied must be tested and weighed by the other believers (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21), and in 14:37 the one who claims to be a prophet must acknowledge the superiority of apostolic teaching over his prophecy.
So prophecy is inferior to apostolic teaching and must be evaluated, it is speech that brings about conviction of sin and faith in God, upbuilding, learning, encouragement, and consolation.
Third Teachers
28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers,
Jesus was often addressed with the title 'teacher'.
Matthew 7:28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Jesus said:
Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
A teacher makes disciples, followers or learners, who can then in turn teach others. Paul exhorted Timothy to
2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
In Ephesians 4, Paul lists the gifts Christ gives to his church.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
In Ephesians 4, Paul adds evangelists to the list, and couples teachers with pastors or shepherds. All these gifts are given for equipping, for building, for unity, for maturity, for protection against false teaching.
While every part is essential to the healthy functioning of the body, and while no part is sufficient on its own, Paul gives priority to the gifts that build up the body through the ministry of the word. Where the Corinthians were fixated on the more sensational spectacular gifts, Paul highlights the despised and rejected, the seemingly foolish and ordinary things like preaching and teaching, things that point away from themselves to Jesus, and gives them special honor.
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org