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The Church at Corinth was founded by the Apostle Paul, while on his 2nd missionary journey, around AD 50. The Holy Spirit caused swift Church growth and many of His manifestations were present among the believers. However, the Corinthian Church was very much caught up in party strife and divisions and majoring on pursuits of worldly wisdom and knowledge. The believers were condoning sexual immorality, giving overemphasis to the manifestation of “tongue speaking” among believers and had doubts of bodily resurrection of the believers. Paul wrote to them about his concerns and gave the needed corrections to be implemented for the believers to grow and mature in their new life in Jesus Christ. The passages in 1 Cor. 12-14 must be read with the concerns that Paul had and his clear directions for urgent corrections in the matters of “tongue speaking” and Church service behaviour for believers.

Paul taught the believers in the Church at Corinth that in the Body of Christ (Church) there is diversity of God’s gifts in unity. The theological context of this is in the character of the Holy Trinity. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men” (1 Cor. 12:4-6). Diversity in unity has its roots in the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit gives diverse manifestations (gifts) to different believers in the Church for the common good of the Church.

To drive home his corrective teaching, Paul used the common analogy of the human body. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts” (1 Cor. 12:12). He emphasised that “the body is not made up of one part but of many” (1 Cor. 12:14). There is diversity in unity. The believers are one body because they “were all baptised by one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13), the same Spirit responsible for and manifested in the diversity of gifts from God that was present in their midst. The reception of the Holy Spirit in their lives distinguishes the believers from the non-believers for it is He who makes believers to form the body of Christ – His Church.

Paul encouraged the Corinthian believers that “there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other” (1 Cor. 12:25). Let us similarly in Bethesda (Katong) Church be encouraged today that we are all vital body parts and that there is the diversity of God’s gifts in unity. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). Let us mature and work together knowing that we are all vital body parts in BKC.