Christian Living

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CONSTRUCTIVE DIVERSITY


The following is a brief excerpt from Speed Bumps in Pursuit of Christian Unity, recently posted at Purity Publications (Christianity Oasis). It is the latest of eight entries listed under the category of Spiritual Books, # 5137. These may be read without cost.
We initially entertain the appeal to constructive diversity. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts,” Paul observes (1 Cor. 12:12). Consequently, the foot can’t say to the hand, “I have no need for you.” Each serves a select purpose, as was God’s purpose.
Two unacceptable alternatives are thus revealed. First, conformity does not qualify as unity. Since it suppresses legitimate diversity. Whether with good intent or not.
Second, divisiveness obviously does not allow for unity. Although some would give this impression by agitating for a cause without regard for its negative effect on the Christian community. For instance, the apostle enjoins his readers: “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Cor. 8:9).
The weak are those troubled by some practice, while the strong think it permissible. In this instance, it pertains to meat offered to idols. It goes without saying that idolatry per se was prohibited. Moreover, persons were not to give the impression that they worshiped idols. So in Jewish tradition, if someone were to inadvertently drop currency in front of an idol, he was to turn away before bending over to recover it.
In greater detail, there was the fellowship of believers. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). Everyone was filled with awe, and many miraculous signs were attributed especially to the apostles. “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”
As a result, they enjoyed “the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” “Luke presents in this paragraph an ideal picture of the new community, rejoicing in the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit. The community, the apostolic fellowship, was constituted on the basis of apostolic teaching” (F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 73).
We are thus introduced to the critical role of the apostles. The term derives from the notion of being sent. As such, Jesus commissioned them to cultivate a fledgling community, and engage in heralding the good news. Their teaching was considered authoritative. Christian unity was rooted in its apostolic character. The New Testament was thought to embody the apostles’ teaching, its entries having been written by them or those closely associated, and therefore normative in matters of faith and practice.
In particular, there was the apostle Paul. “For I am the least of the apostles, and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,” he allows. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:9-10).
Then there was Corinth. As a Greek city-state, it flourished before being destroyed by Rome in 140 B.C. The city laid dormant for about a century, before being resettled as a Roman colony. “Since Corinth lacked a landed aristocracy, an aristocracy of money soon developed, along with a fiercely independent spirit. But not all would strike it rich, hence thousands of artisans and slaves made up the bulk of the population” (Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 2). These benefitted to greater or lesser degree from the accumulated wealth of the city.
The church appears to be largely a cross-section of the culture. In this regard, the apostle observes: “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor. 12:13). From many, they were one.
Finally, there was the correspondence. “Paul had spent an extensive period in the commercial center of Corinth. He now received a letter requiring a response. However, of seeming greater concern for him was the troubling news from independent sources. Such as indicated that there was division and contention with the community” (Morris Inch, In Christ & On Track, p. 4).
The salutation of the first of his two letters is informative. “Paul called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and our brother Sosthenes,” he allows: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, togther with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:1-3). For reasons best known to him, from among the many that might have been chosen.
To those who are similarly called to be holy. Having responded to God’s gracious invitation, now set aside for his purposes. In concert with others who call on the name of the Lord. Although separated by distance, they were bonded in spirit.
With such in mind, we pick up Paul’s train of thought with chapter 12 of his initial letter to the Corinthians. “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant,” the apostle allows (v. 1). He has, beginning with chapter 8, been focusing on Christian worship. So that the current shift in thinking seems by way of extension.
“It was universally accepted that some people, who were in specially close touch with the divine, had special endowments. At times they behaved in unpredictable ways, threw themselves about, spoke in a frenzied manner, and on. By comparison the practice of Christian virtue seemed staid and colorless” (Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians, p. 162).
“There are different kings of gifts, but the one Spirit,” the apostle continues. “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works in all of them in all men.” In this and other ways, the apostle explores the topic of constructive diversity, as an evidence of Christian unity.

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