Order in the Body

Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. And God has placed these in the church:

First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, managing, various kinds of languages.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other languages? Do all interpret?

But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way. 1 Cor 12:27-31

Isn't it interesting that apostles come before workers of miracles, yet we log for these. However, without the apostles, prophets and teachers there would be no body of people to carry the miraculous.

An apostle goes before and breaks up the ground, establishes something new. They are pioneers, entrepreneurs. They begin things. Next the prophets give vision and direction and encouragement. Thirdly the teacher, stable in all his ways, builds the people, strengths them, consilidates them. Now the miraculous will function well. Awesome! Then comes healing. Wow! Not first? Amazing! But last is speaking in different kinds of tongues and the interpretation of same. The Corinthians seemed to be caught in the importance of this group. Yet without he predecessors ability to speak in tongues and interpret them was vain,

This group of people were vainly self- righteous and arrogant and boastful and total missing the mark in how to function as a body.

Paul is about to pen the most powerful chapter of this epistle to the Corinthians. The Corinthians are to learn that their focus has been wrong and that there is a better way.