1 Corinthians 14:15-17 - So what shall I do?

14:15

”So what shall I do?”. It is not a matter of tongues or not tongues. We will pray in tongues, sing in tongues, pray with our minds, and sing with understanding. We recognise what the gift of tongues is, and use it in the right place and in the right way. 

14:16,17

When in a gathering, if all we do is pray in tongues we benefit no one else. No one else in the gathering knows what we are saying (and neither do we for that matter!), so they are in no position to agree (say ‘Amen’) with what we are saying. So note the importance of the mind here. We communicate with each other intelligibly. The person praying in tongues may be “giving thanks well enough”, but no one else benefits. Note also the implication that one of things we are doing when praying in tongues is giving thanks to God.

1 Samuel 27:1-4 - I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul

27:1

So far David has come across as a righteous man who trusts God. In this chapter we get a rather different picture. And looking at David’s life as a whole we get the full picture of David, including his sinfulness. David, like all men, sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Yet he did achieve a lot of good for the nation, and did many good things. We see in the West that the nations of the west were blessed in many ways, and were based on roughly Christian principles. They too had many failings, sometimes absolutely terrible ones. Now they are abandoning their Christian heritage, and are reaping the consequences. 

This first verse show that here David living out of fear. Interestingly, God does not get a mention in this chapter! David thinks he will be “destroyed by Saul”, and decides that as soon as he can he will “escape to the land of the Philistines”. The rest of the chapter will show what a disastrous decision this was. Decisions based on fear are almost always bad decisions.

27:2-4

David and his six hundred men went over to Gath. Now remember that Gath was where Goliath had come from. The men and their families, and David and his two wives, settled in Gath with Achish son of Maok, king of Gath. Saul learnt where David was and gave up searching for him.

1 Corinthians 14:10-14 - Try to excel in those that build up the church

14:10-12

There are many languages, but they all have meaning. We speak with meaning, and to convey meaning. So if someone speaks in a language and I do not understand the language, then the speaker and I are foreigners to each other. So the members of the Corinthian church should be keen to build each other up, not to demonstrate how “gifted” they are. So they should eagerly seek the gifts that build up the church.

14:13,14

“For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say”. This is in reference to speaking on tongues in church, or some other public setting. My praying in tongues, without interpretation, may benefit me, but does not benefit anyone else. Today the gift of interpretation seems to be sadly lacking. Praying in tongues edifies the spirit of the one praying on tongues, but without interpretation benefits no one else. The mind is unfruitful. One thing I have noticed is that to pray in tongues I have to use my tongue, I can do it quietly, but not silently. Conversely, I can pray, think, or speak in English silently, without actually saying anything, for I am using my mind. The “mind is unfruitful” aspect of tongues is important. Our minds are good and useful, but we must not idolise the mind. There are times when our minds are no use, when we don’t know what to think or pray. In those times we can pray in tongues, we can pray with our spirit.

1 Samuel 26:21-25 - I have sinned

26:21

Saul reacts in his usual pathetic manner. He says he has sinned, but there is no repentance, no putting his trust in the Lord. That is what was needed in order to bring stability to his life. He urges David to come back, saying he would not harm David, and that he, Saul, had acted like a fool. This latter part was undoubtedly true.

26:22-25

David does not acquiesce to Saul’s request. In fact he gives sound advice to Saul, “the Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness”. Saul had manifestly failed in both these aspects. David also tells Saul to send one of his men to retrieve the spear. Saul blesses David, but they then both go their separate ways.

1 Corinthians 14:7-9 - Unless you speak intelligible words

14:7,8

Paul then asks them to think about “lifeless” things that make a sound. There needs to be a proper order and distinction to the notes, otherwise there is no tune, and no one listening would have a clue what the tune being played was. In the teaching of the Bible there is a proper approach to rational thinking. Rational thinking is good, it is a God-given attribute, but it must not be idolised nor must it be disparaged. A trumpet sound is used to call people to battle, or to warn them of danger. The call needs to be clear.

14:9

“So it is with you”. Church is not a game, but a deadly serious matter. It affects our own lives, it affects the lives of others. So speaking needs to be intelligible. The tongue is indeed very important, but when speaking in public our words need to be intelligible, otherwise we are “speaking into the air”, we are wasting our and everyone else’s time.

1 Samuel 26:12-20 - Aren't you going to answer me?

26:12-14

David took the spear and water jug in order to impress a point on Saul, to make him realise how vulnerable he actually was. We are told in 26:12 that “the Lord has put them into a deep sleep”. This is tacit approval of David’s actions. David then crossed over to the other side and stood on top of a hill, he then taunted Saul’s army, Abner in particular. Abner’s job had been to protect Saul and David’s actions proved that he had failed in that task.

26:15-20

David pointed out to Abner that his king could so easily have been killed, if David had wanted to do that, David points to the spear and water jug as proof that he could have killed Saul if had wanted to. While David is saying all this, Saul hears and recognises David’s voice, and then speaks to David. David then asks Saul why he is continuing to pursue him. The size of Saul’s forces were out of all proportion for hunting one man.

1 Corinthians 14:5,6 - I would like everyone to speak in tongues

14:5

None of this is to denigrate tongues, and Paul is making sure that this point is not misunderstood. He would like everyone to speak in tongues, but in terms of building up the church as a whole, prophecy is far more relevant. The one exception to this is if someone can interpret the tongue, so then everyone would understand what was being said.

14:6

Paul now points out what is blatantly obvious. The Corinthians seemed to have been captivated by the gift of tongues. That can still happen today, some people get over excited by the gift, or get worried if they don’t speak in tongues. Later on Paul will talk about what the gift of tongues is, but here his purpose is to drum some sense into them. They were keen for Paul to visit them, but if he came and did nothing but speak in tongues it would be of no benefit to them whatsoever. Paul’s visit would only be of use if he brought some “revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction”. Schreiner sees “revelation” and “prophecy” as being equivalent, and “knowledge” and “word of instruction” as being equivalent. Most charismatics see “knowledge” as being a “word of knowledge”, i.e. some God-given insight.

1 Samuel 26:5-11 - Don't destroy him

26:5-7

The spies find the camp and see that all of Saul’s men are “lain down”, presumably sleeping. David goes with Abishai and Ahimelek to Saul's camp. They reach Saul. Now Saul was surrounded by his men, so they must have crept in very carefully; we also learn in 26:12 that the Lord had intervened to put the men into a deep sleep.

26:8-11

Abishai sees this as a God-given opportunity to kill Saul and have done with him. In the previous incident David’s men were keen for David to kill Saul. Once again David refuses. Some people are guided by events, others, like David, are guided by principle. Faith in God and obedience to the Lord are the key principles we should be guided by. Later on, David would be guided by circumstances and his own lust, and caused great trouble, and got into great trouble because of it. David was not going to kill “the Lord’s anointed”. Instead he took Saul’s spear and water jug. 

1 Corinthians 14:3,4 - The one who prophesies edifies the church

14:3

Unlike with tongues, when one prophecies, he or she is speaking in the normal language, so everyone can understand what is being said. And this is for the “strengthening, encouragement and comfort” of the people. This is where the love comes in.

14:4

For when one speaks in a tongue one is edifying oneself. When someone prophecies it is the whole church that is edified. Both are inspired by the Holy Spirit, one to edify the individual, the other to edify the church. So tongues are primarily a personal gift for use on one's “quiet times” with the Lord. 

1 Samuel 26:1-4 - Is not David hiding on the hill

26:1

We have another incident where David spares Saul’s life. Because we have an earlier account (1 Samuel 24) of David sparing Saul’s life, there are some who  try to argue that this is a retelling of the same incident. You always get this, e.g. with the feeding of the 5000 and 4000, the two times when Jesus cleared the temple. These ideas are ludicrous, ignoring the clear differences in the two occasions. The Ziphites have informed Saul of David’s whereabouts. What we have in the incident is a contrast between David the man of faith, and Saul the ship tossed about by the waves, having no anchor in life.

26:2-4

Saul has quickly forgotten the things he said to David at the end of 1 Samuel 24, as he gathers his troops to go in pursuit of David. So Saul arrives at the place that David is at, and David learns of Saul’s presence. David sends out scouts or spies to see what Saul is up to.

1 Corinthians 14:1,2 - Eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit

14:1

Having emphasised the governing principle, namely love, Paul now moves on to details of proper worship at Corinth. Love and the gifts are not antithetical to each other, rather love is to guide and direct the use of the gifts. Indeed, they are to eagerly desire the gifts, especially prophecy.

14:2

Paul now goes into some detail about why prophecy is to be particularly sought after. The fundamental reason is love, i.e. seeking to help others. So any wrong emphasis on tongues is not walking in the way of love. For when someone speaks in a tongue, a gift which seems to have held a particular fascination for the Corinthians, one is speaking to God. No one else has a clue what the person is saying. The outbreak at Pentecost seems to be rather unique, in that the disciples were speaking in tongues that they did not know, but there were people at the gathering who did know the language. That can still happen on occasion, but is not the norm.

1 Samuel 25:39-44 - Who kept his servant from doing wrong

25:39

David heard the news and recognised that the Lord had “upheld his cause”. The Lord had acted against Nabal for treating David with contempt, and had kept David from doing wrong. When we are wronged or are in other serious situations, our thoughts and emotions can become very unreliable. 

25:40-44

David then asked Abigail to become his wife. Abigail was pleased with the outcome. It seems that David had lost Michal, or rather Saul had taken her from David. David had also married “Ahinoam of Jezreel”. David had a weakness for women, and later this would prove to be a serious failing.

1 Corinthians 13:12,13 - The greatest of these is love

13:12

We need to have an eternal perspective. What we have now is good, but it is nothing compared to what we will have in the future. Currently we see a “reflection” (NIV), or “in a mirror dimly” (ESV), but a time is coming when we will see Christ face to face, that is what we should be getting really excited about! Then we will know fully. God already knows us fully, but then we will know Him fully.

13:13

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. It might be argued that faith and hope will not be needed once Christ returns and we see face to face, but I am not so sure. I don’t think we fully realise what faith and hope are.

1 Samuel 25:32-38 - Praise be to the Lord

25:32-34

David is glad to accept Abigail’s offerings, seeing her as being sent by the Lord. We don’t always need a vision, a prophetic word or an angelic visitation in order to be “sent by the Lord”. Abigail acted out of common sense and a sense of justice. If we act out of what we know of the Lord and His desires, then we will be “sent by the Lord”. David recognised that he would have been responsible for much death if Abigail had not acted in the way that she did.

25:35-38

David sent Abigail away in peace, having granted her request. When she got home she found Nabal acting true to his character. He was drunk and in high spirits. Abigail waited until morning to tell him what she had done. Being the fool that he was, Nabal was in shock and suffered what was possibly a stroke. Ten days later he died. The Lord can be relied upon to take action when needed.

1 Corinthians 13:10,11 - When completeness comes

13:10

“But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” (NIV), some other versions have when the “perfect” comes. Some cessationists say the “perfect” refers to the completeness of the New Testament canon, and that when that happened the gifts would cease. Quite frankly this is a nonsensical argument, and is a case of eisegesis. Schreiner argues that the “perfect” refers to the return of Christ, the resurrection etc. His arguments can be found in his commentary, but the key one is that Paul is clearly talking about the return of Christ, and 13:12 confirms this.

13:11

There are two ways in which this verse can be taken. One is that Paul is trying to get them to realise that we are heading for something far greater, we will become perfectly Christlike. Tongues etc are useful now, but will eventually be superfluous. A second way is that Paul is trying to get them to grow up. The former seems the more likely in the context of this chapter, but the second is what he has been trying to do throughout the letter.

1 Samuel 25:23-31 - Please pay no attention

25:23-27

On seeing David, Abigail got off her donkey and bowed down before David, this was a mark of respect for David. She then spoke to David. She did not beat about the bush about her husband. She referred to him as a complete fool, and a man full of folly. As an aside, this has implications for the notion that a husband or wife should stand by their spouse in all circumstances. Abigail did not stand by her man! So under what circumstances should one partner stand by the other when they are acting foolishly or doing wrong? I would say that it depends on whether the recalcitrant partner is willing to listen and learn. Abigail sees the Lord’s hand in restraining David from bloodshed. 

25:28-31

Abigail knew who David was, which makes Nabal’s attitude all the more reprehensible. “No wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live”. As 2 Samuel will make clear, this did not turn out to be true! She also declares various blessings and success for David from the Lord. Most importantly, David would not have “needless bloodshed” on his conscience. Our conscience is very important, and acting rashly or hastily can lead to us going against our conscience, and causing unnecessary harm for others.

1 Corinthians 13:8,9 - Love never fails

13:8

Paul now puts the gifts in their proper context. The Corinthians had attached a wrong sort of significance to them, considering them to be the pinnacle of God’s grace towards us. The early charismatic movement maybe did the same thing (and possibly some still do), this was understandable in a way as most of the church had almost completely neglected spiritual gifts. However, Paul puts gifts in their proper place. They are tools (good gifts from God) to be used in the context of love, and they are temporal. Prophecy, tongues and knowledge will pass away. In all this Paul is looking forward to the completion of God’s work, to the return of Christ and the resurrection. This is particularly important when we come to 13:10.

13:9

Paul now notes the present limitations of prophecy and knowledge. Prophecy does not tell us everything, and we do not know everything. None of this verse, nor this passage, is to say that prophecy, tongues etc are not useful. They are useful, they are good gifts from God. Rather it is a matter of having the right perspective.

1 Samuel 25:15-22 - Yet these men were very good to us

25:15-17

One of the servants tells Abigail what had happened. He also tells her how David and his men had treated them well, and protected the sheep. The messenger also urges Abigail to do something to divert the disaster that is about to come upon them. He views Nabal as an utterly wicked man who is unwilling to listen to anyone.

25:18-22

Abigail took swift action. She got some supplies together, bread, wine, grain and sheep etc, and loaded them on to donkeys. She sent her servants on ahead with the supplies. She also did not tell her husband. She went out to David. David was still infuriated, full of righteous indignation, and full of anger. He was ready to kill Nabal and all his servants. David was right to be offended, justified in his complaints, but the action he was about to take was wrong. We need to beware of acting out of offence or a sense of injustice. At the same time we should seek to bring justice to others, as some of the Psalms indicate that David did.

 

1 Corinthians 13:6,7 - It always protects

13:6

NIV has “Love does not delight in evil”, ESV has “it does not rejoice at wrongdoing”. Sin can have a superficial attractiveness, offering some instant reward (which will soon turn to poison). Love certainly does not delight in evil. However, going back to unregenerate human nature and the desire to prove oneself better than others, this can lead to delighting when others do wrong or fall, for it proves we are better than them (or so we think). Love does not do this. Instead love delights in the truth. The truth is that we are all sinners, and all who believe are freely forgiven by God. So instead of looking down on others, seeing all their faults, we delight in the truth of the gospel, in seeing people receive forgiveness, and their growing in Christ.

13:7

We now get positive attributes of love, all prefaced with “always”. Love protects. Instead of fault finding and criticising, it guards people as they grow and overcome. Love sees hope for people, trusting in the working of God’s grace in their lives. This is not a “love is blind” or naive approach. Love is utterly realistic, but love perseveres because of our hope in Christ.

1 Samuel 25:12-14 - David's men turned round

25:12,13

David’s men went and reported the response from Nabal. David was infuriated. So David gathered his men, they were armed and ready to attack Nabal. He had four hundred men ready to fight, and two hundred stayed to guard the supplies. So even in his anger he was thinking carefully.

25:14

However, God was intervening, and He did so through a woman. God Ps 56:13 says that God prevents our feet from stumbling. We have an example of that here, and I guess that all of us can think of times in our lives when God stops us from making stupid decisions. When I know that I am under stress one of my prayers is “God, protect me from my own stupidity”. God intervened here through a woman. The Bible is often accused of being misogynistic. This is a groundless charge. On a general level the Bible offers more protection and value for women than the pagan world ever did or does. More specifically there are many examples of women being portrayed  as better than men, as we have here. In the book of Judges we saw that the women were better than men.

1 Corinthians 13:5 - It is not self-seeking

13:5

NIV and ESV translate this verse differently, NIV has “It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs”. ESV has “or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”. The sinful nature seeks to do others down, even delights in doing so. Love does not do this. Human nature seeks its own interests above all others, love does not do this. Because we can not always get our own way, human nature is easily angered. Human nature does keep a record of wrongs, so that these can be used as ammunition at a later date. Love does not do this. If we are honest, we will find some of these negatives surfacing in our own lives from time to time (or perhaps even more frequently!). When we do detect them we should snuff them out with all haste.

1 Samuel 25:4-11 - David was in the wilderness

25:4-8

David and his men were in the wilderness and he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep, so he sent ten of his men to greet Nabal and to bless him. Apparently earlier David and his men had encountered Nabal’s shepherds. They had not mistreated them, indeed they had protected the sheep, so none were missing. The shepherds could confirm the veracity of David’s words. In light of this David asked Nabal to give some provisions to his men.

25:9-11

David’s men gave Nabal the message and waited for the reply. Nabal was very dismissive, asking “who is David?”. David and his exploits were well known throughout Israel. Nabal even said David might be a runaway slave. Nabal simply refused to give anything to David or his men. Some rich men can be very proud and arrogant.

1 Corinthians 13:4 - Love is patient

13:4

We now get a list of things that love is not.  This will be followed by a list of the positive attributes of love. “Love” was the necessary antidote to the many problems the Corinthians were encountering. It is the change of heart that we all need. And “love” as used in the Bible, and especially here, is not sentimental mush. First, love is patient and kind. In Col 3:13 Paul urges them to bear with one another. We are to give one another time to grow, rather than being impatient with each other. We are also to be kind. Love does not envy. When someone else has something good, be it possessions or characteristics, or whatever, we rejoice in their blessing, rather than wishing we had it instead of them. “It does not boast”. It is not proud (NIV) or arrogant (ESV). There is little practical difference. Love is not all about exalting oneself, but is actually more concerned with exalting the other person.

1 Samuel 25:1-3 - Now Samuel died

25:1

Samuel the prophet died, and so, with the exception of Saul’s dream, he is out of the picture. All Israel mourned for him. They recognised how significant he had been, yet we should also note that Israel was not very good at following his words. Most importantly they had insisted on having a king. David moved to the Desert of Paran. He had met with Samuel (1 Sam 19:18), now that Samuel had died David perhaps considered himself to be even more at risk. Remember that Samuel had anointed David as king.

25:2,3

We are now introduced to Nabal and Abigail. Nabal actually means “fool”. Presumably this was a nickname given to him, rather than the name his parents gave him! He was also very wealthy. Even today there are a number of fools who are rich. Nabal here is called “surly and mean”. His wife, on the other hand, is described as “intelligent and beautiful”.  Nabal was a descendant of Caleb. Sadly he had not inherited Caleb’s character.

1 Corinthians 13:2,3 - If I have the gift of prophecy

13:2

Next Paul names prophecy. Paul clearly is using hyperbole, for later he will say that we prophesy in part and know in part. But even if we could “fathom all mysteries” and had “all knowledge”, without love this is all nothing. Paul will expand on how prophecy should be used in the next chapter.  Then he talks about faith that moves mountains. Elsewhere Jesus spoke about faith moving mountains (Matt 17:20), but there Jesus’ purpose was to emphasise that even a little faith can be very effective. Here Paul is saying that even if you have faith that achieves amazing results, without love it is actually nothing at all.

13:3

Just in case anyone thinks that Paul is somehow denigrating spiritual gifts, he now gives examples that can be understood as more “normal”. Someone can give all his possessions to the poor, or suffer greatly, without love that person gains nothing. 13:3 can be translated as “give over my body to hardship that I may boast” (NIV and others) or “if I deliver up my body to be burned” (ESV and others). Again, within the context of Paul’s argument it matters little. People can do all sorts of things that look really good, but if the underlying motive is not love, then the actions do not benefit the person at all.

1 Samuel 24:14-22 - I know that you will be king

24:14,15

David continued speaking, asking against whom had Saul come out? “A dead dog? A flea?” In saying this, David is mocking Saul, saying his pursuit is foolish and futile. David puts that matter in God’s hands. David knows that he is innocent in this matter.

24:16-22

Saul is a deeply conflicted and pitiful man. He refers to David as “David my son” and weeps. He is driven by demons and by his own sin. His mind is not sound. Saul is an example of Rom 1:21.  He admits that David has acted honourably, while he has treated David badly. He then asks that the Lord will reward David, and declares that David will one day be king. Saul knew the truth, yet continued to pursue his futile and evil road. Men sometimes say that if only God had made things clearer they would have believed. This is not true. Saul finishes by asking David to swear not to wipe out his family name nor his descendants. David agreed to this, and we will later see that David did honour this promise.

1 Corinthians 13:1 - If I speak in tongues

13:1

This is perhaps the best known chapter in 1 Corinthians (and arguably one about which a whole load of sentimental rubbish is spoken!?). Some see it as not really fitting in with the context of chapters 12 and 14, but this shows a lack of appreciation. Throughout the letter Paul has been both dealing with details of various issues, but also concerned with the heart of the matter. John tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and Paul is really doing the same thing. We are called to be holy as God is holy (Lev 11:45, 1 Pet 1:16), and the fundamental principle of our lives is to be love, love for God and love for each other. The Corinthians were too prone to be motivated by self interest, or self-advancement. The gifts are important and useful, part of the equipment that God provides us with, but they must be used in love.

So Paul starts by naming some of the gifts and declaring that without love they are useless, or worse than useless. First he mentions tongues. There is argument over whether his reference to “tongues of angels” is just an example of hyperbole, or whether some tongues actually are the tongues of angels. It really does not matter much. The point is that if you use tongues as a sign of your giftedness then you are going down the wrong track altogether. Without love tongues are just a “clanging cymbal”. 

1 Samuel 24:10-13 - From evildoers come evil deeds

24:10-12

David stresses how the Lord had given Saul into David’s hands, yet David had not killed him. This was despite some of his men urging him to do so.  David then produces the piece of Saul’s robe to demonstrate how close David had been to Saul. So there was ample proof that in no way was David guilty of “wrongdoing or rebellion”. David knew that the Lord would avenge him, but David would leave the avenging to the Lord to do, he would have no part in it (Rom 12:19). 

24:13

“From evildoers come evil deeds”. David would have no part in evil. Of course, later on he did have a part in evil, but for now he is innocent. There are two key lessons from all this. The Lord will exact judgement in His timing, sometimes this will be soon, sometimes not. But we are not to take vengeance into our own hands, this is God’s responsibility.

1 Corinthians 12:29-31 - The most excellent way

12:29,30

Having listed various gifts and ministries (and the list should not be considered as exclusive) Paul raises the rhetorical question, are all ...? Clearly expecting the answer no. All these things matter and help contribute to a healthy church, but Paul is just making what should be evidently true, that all are different, and that is the way it is meant to be.

12:31

“Eagerly desire the greater gifts”. It will be chapter 14 before Paul tells what he means by “the greater gifts”, and this will be prophecy. However, before that there will be chapter 13, the great chapter on love. Some consider this next chapter to not really fitting, but in reality it fits perfectly with what Paul is teaching. The Corinthians had a fundamental attitude problem, their thinking was often very worldly. They were comparing themselves, and comparing others, wanting to know “who is the greatest”. This was not a problem unique to the Corinthians (Matt 18:1). The chapter on love shows us how we should be thinking, he will show us “the most excellent way”. It is with the right attitude or mindset that we should use the gifts, and function as a church.

1 Samuel 24:5-9 - David was conscience stricken

24:5-7

After doing this David was conscience stricken. He considered cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe as an offence against “the Lord’s anointed”. Note that David views Saul not purely in terms of who Saul was, but who he was in God’s sight. God had anointed Saul as king, and even though He had revoked this, David still had respect for Saul as King. David then rebukes his own men, and orders them not to attack Saul. Saul, totally unaware of what had happened, left the cave. Indeed, Saul seemed to have been unaware of many things throughout his life.

24:8,9

David, however, went out of the cave and called after Saul. He addresses him as “My lord the king” and bows down to him, demonstrating that David respects the king. Why did David do this? Is he hoping for some sort of reconciliation with Saul, or is it just to show that David is actually no enemy of Saul at all? David does not say it is Saul who is deluded, but that he is listening to wrong voices in believing that David is his enemy. He is making it easier for Saul to repent.

1 Corinthians 12:27,28 - You are the body of Christ

12:27

Verse 27 sums up the situation, all of them were the body of Christ, and they were all part of it. None of them needed to feel inferior, or less a part of the body of Christ. Likewise, none of them should feel superior to others, and somehow being set apart from the others.

12:28

The chapter finishes with a list of various roles within the church, within the body. First he lists apostles, prophets and teachers. These three all feature in the “fivefold ministry” given in Ephesians. Apostles is probably not restricted to the original twelve (or eleven plus Paul), but used more generally. The three ministries are followed by giftings, rather than ministries, naming miracles, healings, helping, guidance and tongues. 

1 Samuel 24:1-4 - David is in the desert of En Gedi

24:1,2

We don’t know how long it took for Saul to deal with the Philistines. However, some time after this he resumed his obsession with trying to kill David, and learnt that David was in the Desert of En Gedi. He knew the exact location (the Crags of the Wild Goats) and set out with three thousand “able young men”. This was about five times the number that David had.

24:3,4

Saul reached the area where David was, and by chance (or God’s providence if you prefer!) went into the cave that David was hiding in in order to relieve himself. David’s men thought that this was David’s chance. They didn’t actually urge David to kill Saul, but would almost certainly have considered that to be a good outcome. In John 2:24 we read that Jesus would not entrust Himself to people, and David adopts a similar approach. David crept up to Saul and cut off a corner of his robe.

1 Corinthians 12:23-26 - If one suffers all suffer

12:23,24

Paul then points out that the parts of the body that seem to be “less honourable” are clothed with greater honour, while the parts that are more presentable receive no clothing. Paul is probably thinking of the genitals when he talks about the “less honourable” parts, but let's put it another way. People are praised for their good looks, their athletic prowess, their intellectual or artistic abilities etc. Yet no one ever refers to someone as having a great pair of kidneys! However, if your kidneys stop working properly then you are in real trouble.

12:25,26

It is God who has put the body together, for He is the one who distributed the gifts. And He has done this so that there is unity in the body. Again we have the fact that to truly understand things we need to be God focused. So if one suffers all suffer, if one is honoured all are honoured.

1 Samuel 23:19-29 - Saul broke off his pursuit

23:19,20

The Ziphites (Ziph was the region that David was hiding in) went and told Saul that David was hiding among them. They invited Saul to come and get David, and they would assist him in doing this. Why did they do this? Perhaps because they saw David as a threat, or rather Israel led by David as a real threat, especially compared to Israel led by Saul.

23:21-23

Saul pretends that he sees this as an act of kindness on the part of the Ziphites, and blesses them in the name of the Lord. He asks them to gather more information on David’s movements. Once he had this information he would go and track David down.

23:24-29

David heard that Saul was searching for him, and something of a game of cat and mouse ensued. Saul’s forces were closing in on David. However, a message then reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding the land, so Saul broke off the hunt to go and deal with the Philistines, and David “went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi”. So once again God had intervened to keep David safe. It is perhaps worth noting that if Saul had not been such a fool and had had David as his army commander, then the Philistines by now may well have been subdued, or even completely defeated. When godless men rule additional enemies arise and are a problem to the godless rulers.

1 Corinthians 12:18-22 - Just as He wanted them to be

12:18-20

“God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted”. This looks back to the gifts coming from God. We do not have a gift because we created it, we have it because God gave it to us. And God gave it to us as He wanted, in order that the body of Christ can function all the better. It would be ridiculous for a body to be made up only of feet, or eyes. So it would be ridiculous for a church to have only preachers, or worship leaders. The church has many parts, but is one body. It is perhaps useful to note that Paul here is talking in terms of gifts and roles. He is not talking about different denominations or groupings.

12:21,22

Paul continues with this theme, but now moving on to the fact that some parts seem to be better than others. First of all he points out that the different parts of the body need each other, then saying that even the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. 

1 Samuel 23:14-18 - God did not give David up

23:14

The “strongholds” that David stayed in would not be fortified towns, but natural strongholds, i.e. areas that were hidden and could be defended. Saul searched for David day after day, but without success because “God did not give David into his hands”. The message of the Bible is that God is in control of everything. This is why it sometimes speaks of God sending an evil spirit, as it did with Saul. Likewise, in John’s gospel the religious leaders were not able to get Jesus until “the hour had come”.

23:15-18

David learnt that Saul was searching for him, wanting to take his life. The fact that Saul was after David’s life was not new. However, Jonathan came out to find David. Jonathan encouraged David and “helped him to find strength in God”. That is a key element in how we should help one another. Doing so will involve practical help, but also helping each other “find strength in God”. Jonathan declares that his father will not succeed, and that David would one day be king. He also sees himself as second to David. This latter aspect would not be fulfilled. The two of them made a covenant and then Jonathan returned home. This would be the last time that Jonathan would see David.

1 Corinthians 12:14-17 - The body is made up of many parts

12:14

“So the body is not one part but many.” We look at each other and see that we do different things, we have different roles and gifts. We might then think that we are in competition with each other, or even opposed to each other, or going along different tracks. All these thoughts are wrong.. We are all part of the same body, and the body has many parts.

12:15-17

Paul now expands on this point. The foot and the hand are different, but it would be ridiculous for the foot or the hand to claim they were not part of the same body. Likewise, the eye and the ear perform different functions, but are part of the same body. Indeed, a foot, or an eye on its own has no value whatsoever. They are only valuable because they are part of the body.