Questions on Christianity

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul compares the Christian church to the human body which is one body but has many different parts each of which has different functions (1 Corinthians 12).  In order for the body to function properly, all these different functions are necessary.  Earlier in the chapter Paul lists the functions or gifts within the Christian body or community:

1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Teachers
4. Workers of miracles
5. Healing
6. Helping
7. Administrating
8. Speaking in tongues
9. Interpretation of tongues

Paul instructs us to “earnestly desire” these gifts.  However, in the last sentence in chapter 12 Paul tells us he knows “a still more excellent way.”

In chapter 13, Paul describes the more excellent way as love.  He defines love as an action, not as an emotion.  It is how we treat one another.  And Paul places so high a priority on love that he states we ought to desire it more than being an apostle or having the ability to heal others or any of the other gifts he mentions in chapter 12.

As Christians, do we place a higher priority on developing and utilizing our “gifts” than on how we treat others?  Is holding a position of influence in a Christian organization more important than being “patient and kind” with those with whom we work?  Developing and using our gifts and talents is important (Matthew 25:14-30) but not at the expense of how we treat others.

A college president recently stated that “knowing is higher than doing” because we need to know how we are to act before we can act. [1]  I understand his point.

However, understanding how we are to act and then not acting is, in terms of results, the same as not knowing.  And we all know we do not always live up to our ideals.  “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15 ESV)

It seems to me we must have both knowing and doing.  What is the purpose of knowing, of learning?  Is it not to change our doing, to change how we live our lives?

That is why the definition of the Greek word for belief includes more than just knowledge but also includes faithfulness, obedience, and a personal relationship. [2]

By their fruits we will know them (Matthew 7:16).  It is not just by someone’s knowledge that we know them.

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[1]  Larry P. Arnn.  “Hillsdale’s Mission and the Politics of Freedom”.  Imprimis, November 2023, p. 2.

[2[   Gerhard Kittle and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 6, pp. 175ff.

Because I attended Moody Bible Institute, I was very interested when a few years ago a biography of D. L. Moody, the founder of MBI, was published.  Particularly I was interested in what Moody said about the topics we discuss in this blog—is salvation is just a matter of belief or is it the renovation of our entire soul.

Moody did acknowledge that a creed (a belief system) has its place but he also believed belief was, by itself, insufficient.  What God asks us to believe in is a person who is Jesus Christ. [1]  However, for Moody, belief in Jesus  is more than an acknowledgment that Jesus existed.  Moody stated: “I would not give much for all that can be done by sermons, if we do not preach Christ by our lives” [2]  Even the New York Times acknowledged this when in reporting on Moody’s New York city meetings stated that changed lives would be the legacy of Moody and his meetings. [3]

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  (1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV).

Moody noted that in heaven, “Faith and hope will be past,” we will have no need of them because our faith and hope will become reality.  “But love will still reign” [4] because love is an action word, it is not just a belief.

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[1]   A Life D. L. Moody.  Kevin Belmonte.  Chicago:  Moody Publishers.  2014, p. 214.

[2]   Ibid., p. 216.

[3]   Ibid., p. 137.

[4]   Ibid., p. 217.

In his first chapter, Fénelon (whom we have discussed in previous blogs) talks about the importance of humility in the Christian life. [1]  As Jesus said:

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 18:2-4 ESV)

Why is humility so important that we will not enter haven without it?  It is because we are finite.  In this scientific and technological age, we think highly of ourselves and our accomplishments.  However, any observant person should recognize how much we do not know.  A nobleman in the court of the Anglo-Saxon king Edwin compared the human condition to the flight of a sparrow through the king’s hall in winter—from darkness to darkness. [2]  Unless we recognize that fact and develop a learning spirit, we will make bad decisions here on earth and will not do what it takes to gain heaven.

Even people before Jesus’ time knew this.  When the Oracle of Delphi stated Socrates was the wisest man alive, Socrates spent his time quizzing the wise men of Athens to determine if this was true.  His conclusion was the the only reason it was true was because Socrates knew how ignorant he was while the other wise men of Athens did not. [3] 

Many Christians seem to be like most of the wise men of Athens in their inability to recognize the implications of the fact that we are finite.  Otherwise, they would address how that impacts Christianity and I see very few that do.  In my book, The Renovation of Our Soul, and in this blog we attempt to start such a discussion.

“. . .what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  (Micah 6:8 ESV)

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[1]   Fénelon.  Let Go.  New Kensington, PA:  Whitaker House, 1973, p. 11.

[2]   Richard Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997, p. 5.

[3]   Edith Hamilton  and Huntington Cairns.  Collected Dialogues of Plato. Princeton,  New Jersey:  Princeton University Press, 1961, pp. 7-9.