Month: April 2025

1 Corinthians 14:1 – Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. ² For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. ³ But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. ⁴ A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.

⁵ I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.

⁶ Dear brothers and sisters, if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language, how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. ⁷ Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. ⁸ And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle?

⁹ It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space.   ¹⁰ There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. ¹¹ But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me. ¹² And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church. (NLT)

In this passage, Paul continues addressing a subject that began in chapter 12 – the subject of speaking in tongues.  Most of the Christians in Corinth had been members of various pagan religions before converting.  Pagan worship was characterized by words and sounds uttered without meaning.  The pagan worshippers would call this a state of ecstasy.  Many of these pagan converts were claiming that such a state of ecstasy was required for Christian worship.  Paul never claimed that speaking in tongues was not of the Holy Spirit (he even claimed to speak in tongues himself), but he did state that if one was gifted by the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues, then the gift would be used to build the church.  If there was no one to interpret, then speaking in tongues would be useless (verse 11).

It may be interesting to note that the word we translate as ‘tongues’ is the Greek word for language, or perhaps more specifically, dialect.  The KJV often adds the word ‘unknown’, but this was not in the Greek.  We should also note that the word we translate as ‘prophecy’ literally meant ‘to preach’.

For me, the most important part of this passage is found in verse twelve: “Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.”  With this verse in mind, let me share that my favorite Spiritual Gift is the gift of helping others.  Yes, it’s a Spiritual Gift! Paul mentions this one in 1 Corinthians 12:28.  Some of the most wonderful church people that I know are not necessarily those that we would call great leaders.  They are the ones who seem to always show up and pitch in with whatever needs to be done.

Whether we know it or not, we have all received a Spiritual Gift: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Corinthians 12:7).  If you do not know what your gift is, please spend time in prayer as you discern your gift.  Just as there are tools to help companies discern personality types, there are tools to help you discern your spiritual gifts.   

Today, let us discern and celebrate our Spiritual Gifts, remembering that all gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to strengthen the Church. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Corinthians 13:1 – If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. (NLT)

This chapter is probably the most familiar of all Pauline passages.  It is certainly the high point of Paul’s description of the Christian life.  There is a major difference between the King James Version and more modern translations.  The KJV uses the word charity, while other translations use the word love.  The word used in this passage is agape, and it was often used to mean unmerited love.  Most modern commentators call it unconditional love.  Perhaps, in 1611, when the KJV was written, the word charity carried more weight, but today we can best understand this passage when we use the word love.  

This unconditional love is certainly the type of love that God offers to us.  We do not earn God’s love, it is given freely and without conditions.  As Christians – imitators of Christ – we must seek to change our very nature so that we can extend this unconditional love to others.  This is possible through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  We are not to love others because they make us feel a certain way, we are to love without conditions.

Let me share something that I often share with my church.  To measure how we are doing in our Christian walk, replace the word love in verses four through seven with your name.  Read it aloud to yourself.  When we go through this little exercise, these verses become a bit more challenging, don’t they?  These verses certainly describe Christ, and as Christ followers we must change what we can about ourselves so that these verses begin to describe us.

Today, let us love others without any conditions.  Let us love like God loves us. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Corinthians 12:27 – All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. ²⁸ Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in unknown languages.

²⁹ Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? ³⁰ Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! ³¹ So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

Chapter 13:1 – If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. (NLT)

When we read the Bible, chapter divisions can get in the way of properly understanding a passage.  Today’s passage is an excellent example.  If we treat chapter 13 as separate material, we miss the fullness of chapter 13.

Remember, the problem in the church in Corinth was divisions.  One of the largest divisions was spiritual gifts.  Those who were speaking in tongues were claiming that those who did not were not as spiritual as they.  In the closing verses of chapter 12, Paul gives a list of spiritual gifts (please note that this is not an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts).  Paul repeats the question with each gift – do we all possess this gift?  This was a rhetorical question. The answer was supposed to be obvious.  We do not all possess the same gifts.  So, this in itself should have addressed the issue of whether or not speaking in tongues was a requirement for being a spiritual person.  Sadly, this issue remains two thousand years later!

We must keep in mind that chapter 13 – the celebrated ‘love chapter’ – is in direct

response to those who claimed that they were superior because they spoke in tongues.  Look at verse 1: “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” When Paul mentioned speaking the language of angels, he was referring to tongues.  If one could speak in tongues, but did not have love, they were just a clanging cymbal.  A clanging cymbal was what used to awaken the pagan gods as one entered into a pagan temple.  The Corinthians were well aware of this practice.  Paul is saying that that if they did not have love – and dividing themselves was not love – then they were as useless as a cymbal that was trying to awaken a non-existent god!  Powerful words!

Today, no matter what our gift, let us seek what is best of all – love.  In all our conversations, all our responses, all our thoughts, and all our actions, let us seek love. 

Posted by Ramón Torres

1 Corinthians 12:12 – The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. ¹³ Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

¹⁴ Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”

²² In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. ²³ And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, ²⁴ while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. ²⁵ This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. (NLT)

Today we have one of my favorite passages in the New Testament – the Body of Christ.  What a wonderful analogy for the Church.  Paul gives a list of body parts, telling the divided Corinthian church that just as they need every part of their bodies to be whole and complete, they need one another for the Church – the Body of Christ at work in the world – to be complete.  Just as we cannot divide our bodies and continue to function, the Church cannot be divided and function.

Think of your own church and all of its many functions: children’s ministries; youth ministries; teaching ministries; mission ministries; outreach ministries; and many more.  Just as one part of our body is really nothing in and of itself, the Church cannot function with just one ministry.

I use Church with a big ‘C’ because the Church – the Body of Christ – is really more than any one local church.  A local church may have great local missions, while another church has great foreign missions.  Another may have great youth ministry.  Paul was writing to one local church, but in reality all local churches are connected through the mystical union of the Holy Spirit.  Can one local church be all things to all people?  I am proud of the work that my own church takes part in, but there are people we cannot reach with what we do.  Another church across town may reach a demographic that my church could never reach.  These churches are all part of the Body.  The Body is not one ministry.  The Body is not one church.  To use a phrase in a different context, for Christ’s sake we must work together! 

For too long, Christians have divided themselves for a multitude of reasons.  Just as there are different gifts within a local church, there are different gifts in different churches.  

Today, thank God for your local church, but let us also thank God for the Church.   As you drive past various churches, offer a prayer for the work of that church.  Celebrate the people that are reached with the message of God’s grace in various churches.  We need one another.  Let us not be divided, but united through the Holy Spirit. 

Posted by Ramón Torres