Bachelor Of Sacred Theology

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Browsing Bachelor Of Sacred Theology by Author "Pethias Kafula"

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    St. Paul’s Concept of One Body in Christ (1 Cor 12: 4–13): A Way of Enhancing Unity among the Christians in Zambia
    (2022) Pethias Kafula
    From time immemorial, the Church has suffered from both internal and external upheavals. From the internal, the members within the Church fight and compete with each other for various things. In the quest to be noticed and seem relevant to others, believers have entered a situation where one’s level of spiritual life is measured by his/her giftedness. From the external perspective, there is an element of Christians criticizing and condemning those who do not belong to their denomination. This behaviour is coupled up with words like; in that Church, there is no Holy Spirit. Thus, causing members to shift from one denomination to another. However, the pericope 1 Cor 12: 4–13 is going to address and offer a solution to this defect. The first letter to the Corinthian is an address to the Church in Corinth. The bone of contention in the letter is all about the issues sent to him by various individuals. Among these people are the Chloe’s people who arrived bringing news to Paul about factions and divisions 1 Cor 1: 11. The other information came from the community intending to seek clarity on several issues that the believers were confronted with 1 Cor 7: 1. Nevertheless, aside from the lost letter to the Corinthians, Paul decided to write the second letter which is now considered as the canonical first Corinthians. The behaviour that dominated the city of Corinth and thereby influenced the believers negatively is that of feeling “self–sufficient,” “self–congratulatory,” and “success in competition.” The first letter to the Corinthians is among the undisputed letters of St. Paul, and the main bone of contention was to address the following issues. In chs. 1–4, he addressed the issue of division (factions) and rivalry that existed among the believers in the community. Chs. 5–6: 20, was dedicated to dealing with the issue of immorality and lawsuits. In chs. 7: 1–40, the issue was all about marriage and celibacy. In chs. 8–11: 1, the controversy about food offered to idols and the issue of idolatry was addressed. The matters of worship and the Eucharist were addressed in ch. 11: 2–34. Furthermore, one of the biggest problems regarding the spiritual gifts was addressed in chs. 12: 1–14: 40. Finally, about the issue of the resurrection, St. Paul took time to talk about it in ch. 15. Zambia has a large population of citizens as Christians, and this makes it have a similar experience as that of the Corinthian Church. The area in which there is the biggest problem among Christians in Zambia, is on the issue of spiritual gifts. Christians have classified gifts in such a way that those who are not gifted in a particular area feel inferior. And instead of concentrating and focusing our attention on the giver of gifts, God himself, the believers in Zambia are concerned more about the gifts.