The Strength of the Wolf (1 Cor. 12)

My favorite animal is the wolf. I am fascinated by them. There is something majestic and powerful about these animals that silently lope through the forest, or are outlined as a shadow on the snow. There is a raw power in their eerie cry that shatters the stillness of a winter night, a hauntingly melodious note in their territorial howl. And yet a lone wolf, by itself, is no terrible force. It is not quite fast enough to reliably run down all prey it would try to catch, nor independently strong enough to bring large animals into the submission of its will. The true beauty of wolves lies in the awesome strength of the pack. The pack that encircle the prey that would try to outrun it, and the pack whose collective strength can dominate the strongest of animals. Indeed, as Rudyard Kipling once said: "The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."

The power of the wolf lies in the diversity of the wolves that comprise the unity of the pack.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is trying to draw a similar connection regarding the use of spiritual gifts in the church. However, instead of a pack, the illustration Paul uses is that of a human body. A body that needs each of its members in order to function to its potential--necessary unity and diversity. Here are a couple of things to takeaway:

1. The Holy Spirit has given each believer a spiritual gift, and these gifts differ. Every true believer has received a gift from the Holy Spirit, but the gifts will differ, believer to believer. There are a glorious diversity of gifts, ministries, and activities, but they come from the same Spirit.(1 Cor. 12:4-6) Unfortunately, this seems to have caused some division in the church at Corinth, with believers desiring only what they perceived as the best gifts, such as the sign gifts. Paul needed to remind these believers that the gifts are numerous and distributed individually according to the purpose of God! "But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." (12:11) Who will argue with the will of God in these matters?

2. These gifts are given to be used for the encouragement and edification of the body of Christ. Lest the Corinthian believers, endowed with what they perceived as the inferior gifts, were tempted to refuse to use their gifts-- to "pick up their toys and go home" as it were-- Paul uses an apt analogy to reveal the necessity of these gifts. "And if the ear should say 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were hearing, where would be the smelling?" (12:16-17) The point of the analogy is simple and obvious. Just like the human body needs all of its members in order to function properly, so the church, the body of Christ, needs the diversity of its members to function together for the unity of the whole. The gifts may be different, but their use is essential. The strength of unity and diversity in the body of Christ.

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Application: If the Holy Spirit has given every believer a spiritual gift, do you know what yours is? Are you using it for the edification of the body and the work of the ministry? "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased." (1 Cor. 12:18) You have been given specific gifts according to God's design--how are you stewarding them?

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Read: 1 Corinthians 12