Le Bien Commun

février 12th, 2026

1 Corinthians 12:1-11.

Division causes people to take sides, dig in their heels, and even start lobbing insults at others. Despite the number of Christians who get caught up in divisive actions, followers of Christ are called to love their neighbors and live in unity through the Spirit.

The church in Corinth was struggling with a variety of issues, one of which was a division amongst themselves. The Spirit gives Christ-followers gifts that are used to love God and love others. Unfortunately, we humans tend to focus on differences and even compare others to ourselves. This is not a great recipe for love and unity.

As Paul pointed the Corinthians to the same source of different gifts (the Spirit), he noted that « to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good » (v. 7). If we focus only on the difference of our Spirit-given gifts, we fail to live up to the potential those gifts provide us: the common good.

We don’t have these gifts so that we can develop a hierarchy of Christian (all are equal, some are more equal than others). We have these gifts in order to love God and love others. It’s not about us.

Author: Stefanie Hendrickson