On Obedience

The Second Sunday after Christmas

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 Having identified a number of charisms, which is to say gifts, given by the Holy Spirit, the question then becomes one of why they are given, who receives them and what they are to be used for.

Last week’s discussion focused on the charisms or gifts of the Holy Spirit and ended with some consideration on the topic of how gifts are to be used, in reference to St Paul’s instructions in I Corinthians 14 that the gift of tongues ought to be accompanied by interpretation. Those were not the only instructions provided by St Paul, and the other Biblical writers, on how and why charisms, that is to say gifts of the Spirit, are to be used.

The first clue indeed comes from earlier in St Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians where he says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the Common Good… All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills,” (I Cor 12. 7, 11). From this first point, St Paul begins to hint at a complete answer to some of these questions, though primarily addressing the question of why. In this, he suggests it is God’s will that determines what gifts we might receive. It is always important to bear this fact in mind, as it reminds us that these gifts are not available for our own use as we want, but are free gifts given to us by the Spirit. This nature, that it is given by God’s will and not our own, also hints towards how we are to use them.

As to who receives gifts of the Spirit, St Paul also comments in chapter twelve that while one is given the figt of wisdom, the other knowledge, another faith. In making this statement he notes quite clearly that not every Christian receives each gift. This aligns with his previous comments that gifts are given based on the will of God. But it also makes clear that any Christian may receive. To some who are unfamiliar with gifts of the Spirit, they may think that only some Christians receive gifts of the Spirit. That you must, perhaps, be particularly pious, or devote yourself to prayer. Yet St Paul’s words in Holy Scripture make it quite clear that it is not the case and that any Christian may exercise gifts of the Spirit. Indeed St Peter makes it more explicit when he says that every Christian receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit (I St Pt 4. 10).

St Paul expounds on the why of this in his epistle to the Romans when he says, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,” (Rm 12. 4-6). Here he makes clear that each is given the gifts, in accordance with God’s will, that would be useful for them to serve out their callings. Being members of the Body of Christ, each member receives what is needed, such that the whole body is well-equipped.

Therefore in these collective statements, St Paul and St Peter have largely addressed the question of who receives charisms and a bit on why they are given, leaving the larger question of how they are to be used.

Ultimately that question is to a degree answered in the same way. St Peter specifically calls on Christians to use their gifts, “to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,” (I St Pt 4. 10, 11). St Paul similarly writes, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” (Eph 4. 11, 12). Here he is again speaking of equipping, but elaborates on the goal of such equipping, that those individual members use their gifts to build up the body of Christ. It should be noted, that there is a dual meaning to building the body of Christ. This can be viewed both as encouraging and building up the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and also bringing new people to faith in Christ.  Another way of looking at this is to suggest the dual purpose involves building up the faith of others and being a witness to non-Christians.

This raises the final, and perhaps most important question. Once you understand what spiritual gifts are, to whom they are given, why they are given and for what purpose they are given, the question is how to respond. The answer is simple enough: loving obedience.

Faith in Christ calls us to act out our faith as we are told in Scripture, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” (Jas 2. 15-17). It is the Holy Spirit that equips us to, figuratively, clothe and feed the poor in Spirit.

When St Paul exhorts young Timothy saying, “Do not neglect the gift you have,” (I St Tim 4. 14a) he is speaking of a Spiritual gift. So just as faith calls us to act in love, gifts of the Spirit call us to repond by using them for the purposes they have been given. We are to respond in obedience.

Immediately after identifying gifts of the Spirit in that well-known passage from I Corinthians 12, St Paul immediately ties the use of gifts of the Spirit to love. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing,” (I Cor 13. 1, 2).

It is the combination of these two passages that gives us the clearest and simplest response to gifts loving obedience to God, manifested through loving service and witness to others.