1 Corinthians 8-13: “Ye Are the Body of Christ” (August 28-September 3)

1 Corinthians 13:1-2, Original 1611 King James Bible, courtesy of Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania

The middle section of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians blends practical advice (some of it specific to their cultural norms) with eternal principles. Here are some principles applicable to us in the chapters we are studying this week:

• Chapter 8 – Don’t do things that weaken other people’s faith, even if those things aren’t inherently wrong. Think about the likely effects of your actions on the people around you.
• Chapter 9 – Feed the missionaries! They nourish you with spiritual food. You can afford to nourish them with physical food.
• Chapter 10 – God will help you overcome temptation. Trust Him to help you walk in holiness.
• Chapter 11 – (1) Women and men need each other and must treat one another with respect. (2) Do not partake of the sacrament unworthily.
• Chapter 12 – God gives us many gifts, and they’re all important. We must learn to appreciate one another’s unique gifts and work together as one body to accomplish His purposes.
• Chapter 13 – The greatest of God’s gifts is charity. No matter what other gifts you have been given, you need charity or you won’t be able to accomplish much.

Two topics this week with significant Book of Mormon connections are gifts of the Spirit and charity. Here are some insights on those topics with corresponding blog posts:

Gifts of the Spirit

Paul lists nine spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. He prefaces the list with the observation that there are “diversities of gifts,” “differences of administrations,” and “diversities of operations,” an apparent reference to the fact that different people will handle similar problems in different ways, based on their varied abilities and backgrounds.

In the last chapter of the Book of Mormon, Moroni provides essentially the same list of gifts, with slight changes in verbiage. (See Moroni 10:8-18.)

In 1831, Joseph Smith received a revelation in which the Lord provided a similar list of gifts with some additions. He added a knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and a belief on the words of others, and he also classified a knowledge of the “differences of administration” and the “diversities of operations” as gifts. (See Doctrine and Covenants 46:13-25.)

One characteristic of all of these lists is that some of the gifts appear in pairs: knowledge and belief, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, healing and being healed, speaking in tongues and interpreting. These pairings help to underscore a central message of these passages: that we ought to appreciate one another’s gifts because they are often complementary.

Here are several blog posts on this topic:

• Spiritual Gifts
• “Diversities of Operations”
• The Gift to Be Healed
• “All Kinds of Tongues” – Moroni 10:15

Charity

Both the apostle Paul and Mormon described charity as an essential quality of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Both of them testified, “Charity never faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:8, Moroni 7:46). And both listed a number of characteristics of charity, which can help us evaluate our progress in developing this Christlike attribute. They indicated that those with charity are kind, even when they are suffering, that they aren’t envious and focused on themselves, that they aren’t easily provoked, and that they look for the best in others, not the worst. They also indicated that people with charity are naturally believing and hopeful.

Here are some blog posts about these descriptions of charity:

• Charity Suffereth Long, and Is Kind – Moroni 7:45
• What Does It Mean to Be “Puffed Up?”
• What Does It Mean to Believe, Hope, and Endure All Things?
• “Charity Never Faileth” – Moroni 7:46

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