Reference

1 Corinthians 12:4-31a

Too often we read this part of Paul's letter out of our own context before understanding in the context of the church in Corinth. Paul's primary contention is that diversity is of utmost importance within the church for the good of each person. Though the church should be unified, it should not be uniform. The Spirit manifests himself in diverse ways in each person for the sake of the whole. This reality challenges both the monstrous idea that we should all be exactly alike as believers and the monstrous tendency in our culture to focus on our life in Christ in an individualistic manner.