Iv. Worship And The Trinity
III. THE ROLE OF THE SPIRIT
What is most notable in all the available evidence for worship in the Pauline churches is the common denominator of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This, of course, is abundantly clear in the long discussion in 1 Corinthians 12-14, where Paul variously refers to any and all of the various activities mentioned as “given by the Holy Spirit.” The one and the same Spirit, Paul says, disperses all of these as he wills (12:11); the person speaking in tongues utters mysteries by the Spirit, he adds (14:2); I will pray and sing with my S/ spirit, he goes on (14:14-16), meaning that the Holy Spirit by means of tongues speaks praise and thanksgiving to God through Paul’s own spirit.
This latter passage probably offers us the clue to the unusual expressions in 1 Corinthians 5:3-5. Despite most English translations to the contrary, Paul does not say, “as though I were present,” meaning because I am not there in body I am not really present. Rather he says clearly that he is in fact present when they gather. His way of expressing this is “my Spirit is present.” Since in 14:37 he makes it clear that he understands what he writes to them in this letter to function as a Spirit-inspired prophetic word, most likely he envisions himself as present by the Holy Spirit when his letter is being read in their midst.
It seems certain, therefore, that the various spontaneous activities mentioned in 14:26, “where each one of you has something to contribute for the edification of the body,” are clearly to be understood as inspired by the Spirit. The whole of this argument means that the “teaching” envisioned in 14:6 and 14:26 is not a sermon or lesson prepared beforehand, but is given spontaneously by inspiration of the Spirit. Although one cannot be certain, it is possible that Paul thus understood prophecy as being a revelation of some kind, very likely of the kind mentioned in Galatians 2:2 which prompted Paul to go up to Jerusalem and consult with the leaders there. Teaching, on the other hand, according to Colossians 3:16 has the “message about Christ” as its primary content, implying that the teaching that comes by way of letter, song, or inspired utterance focuses on the gospel — and its ramifications (after all, they both teach and admonish one another).
More difficult to assess is the role of the Spirit at the Lord’s Table. We need to begin by noting that the word “Spiritual” in Pauline usage refers not to something “mystical” or “religious” or “internal,” with reference to the human spirit, but rather refers primarily (if not altogether) to the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we must surely understand Israel’s analogy to our Lord’s Supper, with its “Spiritual food and Spiritual drink” to be an allusion to Paul’s understanding of the Spirit as present when believers eat the bread and drink the wine of their Supper.
How the Spirit was present is more difficult to assess. It is altogether unlikely that Paul understood him somehow to invade the bread and wine itself. More likely he understands the Spirit’s role to be present to create and empower the two-way koinonia (participation /fellowship) between believers and their Lord and with one another as they eat the bread and drink the wine. After all, in Paul’s view the Spirit is responsible for the creation of the church as Christ’s body, represented in our “Spiritual food,” and is the agent of the New Covenant represented in our “Spiritual drink.”
The key to all of this, of course, is Paul’s larger understanding of the Spirit as the renewal of God’s Presence both within and among his people. For Paul the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Spirit meant that the final, messianic age had already dawned. The Spirit for him was both the evidence of the presence of the future and the guarantee of its final consummation. The coming of the Spirit meant that the New Covenant promises of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, where God would put his Spirit within his people’s hearts and they would both live and obey him, had been fulfilled. Likewise, the coming of the Spirit meant that Joel’s prophecy had been fulfilled, so that all of God’s people — old and young, men and women, slave and free — would function as prophets.
The key to their worship is thus to be found in passages like 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, where Paul urges that they recognize what it is they are destroying with their merely human wisdom and division, namely, God’s temple in Corinth — the church itself. Do you not know who you are, he asks? You are God’s temple in Corinth, the place where the eternal and living God has chosen to dwell in your city. And you are that precisely because the Spirit of God dwells in and among you. Thus, when the church assembles, Paul argues later, Paul himself is also present by the Spirit as is the power of the Lord Jesus, also by the Spirit.
It is no wonder, therefore, that Paul sees all that takes place in such a gathering to be the working of the Holy Spirit.