When we move beyond the eleventh chapter, we encounter further evidence that Paul’s “careful regard for the body” (11:29) when participating in the Lord’s Supper, has little to nothing to do with that which occupies the thoughts of the participants as they consume the bread and the wine. Rather, even greater weight is lent to the idea that Paul has in mind the environment and setting that has been created by the group that is attempting to celebrate that which they are calling the Lord’s Supper, and that he is calling attention to the social constructs that were so important in delineating those that cast their allegiance with King Jesus. We see this drawn out quite explicitly in chapter twelve of the letter, as Paul delves into the area of “spiritual gifts.” Now, just because a new chapter has begun, that does not mean that Paul is beginning a new sequence of thoughts. This is a single letter, and it has a unifying structure. This issue of the activities of “the body” seems to be a substantial component of that unifying structure, but this cannot be understood apart from conceptions concerning what is meant by the coming of the kingdom of heaven, ancient meal practice, the messianic banquet, the Lord’s Supper, Jesus’ meal activities and teachings, contemporary social forces, and the uniqueness of what could be observed by bodies of Christians that were modeling out the appropriate, revolutionary, and rather subversive ethics that were serving to turn the world upside down in so many ways.
In the fourth verse, we read “Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone” (12:4-6). Where it appears that this church wants to point out individual spiritual achievements and capabilities, Paul repeatedly drags them back to “sameness.” Where spiritual gifts were being used as a force to drag people apart, to separate, to divide, to create factions, and to stratify the church much like would be found within the culture at large, Paul stress “sameness” so as to urge unity and equality amongst believers.
Can it be the case that not only had the standard social divides crept back into this church and been put on display at their meals, but had a substratum of divides developed that was serving to provide further classifications, perhaps among those that occupied the lower end of the all-important honor and shame scale? It would not be wise to be dogmatic when considering an answer to such a question, but certainly the question is one that might legitimately color our thoughts. Because it seems rather obvious that this church was employing standard social structuring at its Lord’s Supper meal that was designed to be reflective of the messianic banquet, with conceptions of honor and shame visible and at work, it would not be difficult to imagine that those on the lower end of the honor and shame spectrum---perhaps those excluded from meals or the symposium, or those that were allowed to participate but not allowed to recline at the table---had taken it upon themselves to employ their own stratifying system, in which further delineations were made among the “shameful” group, based upon perceptions of spiritual gifting, thus creating their own honor and shame hierarchy. If this was taking place among those of lower socio-economic status, we can also imagine such constructs being adopted by those of higher socio-economic status, and therefore becoming rather pervasive.
Picking up at the seventh verse we find “To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all” (12:7). We note the “all.” “For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of the knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit” (12:8-9). Noting the “all” of the seventh verse, we again have our attention called to the use of “same” and “one” on offer to this factionalized and segregated church. Continuing, Paul writes “to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues” (12:10).
This short soliloquy is capped with “It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things” (12:11). Lest we be confused, the stress of the final statement, based on the movement of the entire letter, does not fall upon the “each person,” but rather, upon the “one” and “same.” With that in mind, we continue in our quest towards concreteness and illumination, having so much of our socially-identifying-meal-practice-shaped analysis reinforced as we hear “For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body---though many---are one body, so too is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. If the foot says, ‘Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,’ it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. And if the ear says, ‘Since I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it does not lose its membership in the body because of that” (12:12-16). By noting the use of “whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free,” can we not hear the stinging criticism being leveled through these words?
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