What extraordinarily rich truth we are seeing in this letter to the Corinthians! On the one hand, that is not a surprise, as this is the eternal Word of God. On the other hand, most of Paul’s message is corrective and, well, many (most?) corrections we are given in life are not filled with rich grace and truth.

Paul bases his corrections in the Gospel, verse seven of chapter four; everything that we have that is of eternal value has been given to us by God – salvation, right standing before God, being made part of His eternal family, the teachers that passed the truth along to us, the ability to even understand such truth, and everything else that is of significance – all are gifts from God. We have no room to boast in achievement, and, having been freed from sinful tyranny to self, we are free to follow the model of Christ Jesus and love and serve others.

Now we are in chapter twelve, and among the many rich nuggets is this: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (Vs. 7) Not only are we greatly privileged to be part of the universal body of Christ, the Spirit has also given each one of us yet another gift(s) – a gift we did not have before – beyond the natural abilities the Father weaved into us before we were born physically. He has given to each of us at least one spiritual gift, through which we have the great privilege of building up the church family.