In keeping with Part 8 where I was writing about all the members in the church service involved in edifying the whole body, Alan Knox at The Assembling of the Church posts about spiritual gifts in the assembled church. To quote:
Scripture only gives two requirements for someone to exercise their gift when the church is assembled: whatever they do must be motivated by love (1 Cor. 13) and must edify the church (1 Cor. 14:26). No gifts should be refused, and no gifts should be elevated above the others - as long as the gifts are used to edify other people. Similarly, the people should be given the opportunity to use their gifts when the church is assembled, and they should be reminded that God holds them responsible for this. In other words, if someone is in charge of the meeting time, that person should make sure that others are given opportunity to edify the church. And, the people gathered should be reminded that God wants them to participate and expects them to participate in building up the body.
Giving all the people an opportunity to edify others, in the context of the church meeting, when the entire church is together, is a good example of "power to the people." Leave it to God to design such a thing. Those who are "nobodies" in the eyes of the world can have great power in Christ's church. No wonder so many poor people throughout history have become Christians.
Part 8 . . . . . . . . Part 10
Corinth was huge... but it's also interesting to note that Gaius was host to the whole church in Corinth. (Romans 16:23) more than likely in his home... so perhaps there were several small church gatherings in various homes (?).
ReplyDeleteThe context would seem to indicate that church assemblies were not so big... 20? 30? in which case you can see this kind of edification of the saints happening in that small context.
Interestingly, I think Paul addresses the question of when you should "see this kind of edification of the saints happening". He says, "Whenever you come together... do everything for edification". For Paul, the number or place doesn't seem to be an issue. The "why" seems to be a big issue.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link back to my blog!
-Alan