Wen-Pin Leow
In 2018, I had the honour of editing a book entitled Call Me By Name, which featured the stories of Christians with disabilities1 and their communities. When the book was just about to be published, Pastor David (as he is affectionately known by his mentees) took precious time out of his busy schedule to read it and write a thoughtful endorsement for the book.
He wrote, “For seven years, my wife and I lived in the parsonage of a church next to a home for the intellectually disabled. . . . As we met with the residents, we saw the beauty of God’s image in each of them. . . . The stories are movingly told, and we are left with the realisation that all of us have one form of disability or another, some more obvious than others.”2
In his remarks, Pastor David helps us to realise how people with disabilities can aid the church in understanding both God and ourselves more clearly. Such double knowledge is at the heart of Christian spiritual growth, as Calvin reminds us in the Institutes: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”3
Inspired by Pastor David’s remarks, in this essay, I would like to reflect on how Christian spiritual growth is intertwined with people with disabilities, doing so in conversation with the text of 1 Corinthians 12, a key passage for understanding Christian spirituality.
The Context of 1 Corinthians 12
Before we study the passage in more detail, let me begin by setting out the context of 1 Corinthians 12 and then arguing for why the text is applicable to our discussion concerning spiritual growth and people with disabilities. This step is necessary since 1 Corinthians 12 does not, prima facie, appear to discuss people with disabilities nor spiritual growth specifically. However, Anthony Thiselton reminds us that 1 Corinthians 12 is not “simply an ad hoc response to questions about spiritual gifts” but is rather “an address to this topic [of spiritual gifts] within the broader theological framework of 11:2–14:40 in deliberate continuity with 8:1–11:1, and indeed ultimately with 1:1–4:21.”4 In these co-texts cited, the core theme is the church’s God-given unity, which must be actively fostered in love, even as individual Christians seek to exercise their freedoms, rights, and gifts.5
This core theme of church unity is integral to Christian spiritual formation since church unity is one of the major goals of spiritual growth. Christians must not mistakenly think that our salvation is an end unto itself; rather, salvation is the means to the greater goal of being built up in unity together as a “spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5). Salvation is for the sake of being a united church that witnesses God to a watching world. When Christians uphold that unity by loving one another, they truly image God (cf. John 13:35; 1 John 4:7, 12). Indeed, it is when we love others who are “unlovable” in the church, with patient forgiveness and long-suffering affection, that we truly grow spiritually, imaging the very character of our God (cf. Luke 6:35).
Thus, the theme of church unity that pervades 1 Corinthians is absolutely essential to spiritual growth. Yet, how about the specific issue of 1 Corinthians 12 itself? As Thiselton describes, the subject of 1 Corinthians 12 is spiritual gifts.6 Having said that, as many commentators have observed, the Corinthians’ emphasis on spiritual gifts (especially glossolalia, i.e., speaking in tongues) is simply a surface phenomenon hiding a deeper social issue.
Dale Martin highlights that glossolalia, given its association with angelic language and other esoteric knowledge, functioned as a high-status indicator.7 It was likely, therefore, that some Corinthians were using glossolalia to proclaim their elevated status. Thus, in order to foster church unity, in 1 Corinthians 12, “Paul takes the side of lower class members and urges the higher status members to alter their behaviour and views for the sake of those of lower status.”8 In other words, the passage is Paul’s meditation on how church unity is worked out in the context of a church dealing with social stratification and tension, where selected spiritual gifts have been wrongly used to assert one’s higher status and to relegate others to a lower status.
This social challenge parallels the challenge that Christians with disabilities face as they seek to be included in churches today. Like the Corinthian church’s lower-class members, Christians with disabilities are often treated as “sickened class citizens”9 in churches. As Nancy Eiesland observes wryly, “For many disabled people the church has been a ‘city on a hill’—physically inaccessible and socially inhospitable. . . . Little effort has been made to promote the full participation of people with disabilities in the life of the church.”10 Their experiences are corroborated by studies done by disability scholars which highlight that people with disabilities face obstacles, not just because of the inherent physiology of their disability, but also because their communities knowingly or unknowingly construct social barriers for them, thus disabling them.11
As the above discussion shows, both the core theme of church unity and the specific issue of social segregation that permeate 1 Corinthians 12 resonate well with the proposed discussion of spiritual growth vis-à-vis people with disabilities. Paul’s exhortations in 1 Corinthians 12 can thus function as a way for contemporary churches to reflect about how to foster the spiritual growth of its members through the pursuit of church unity by combating the social segregation of its members with disabilities. Such reflection is what the following brief study of 1 Corinthians will undertake, focusing first on how including people with disabilities can foster the spiritual growth of the whole church, followed second by discussing how people with disabilities can grow spiritually as they seek to be included in the church.
Spiritual Growth and Inclusion
As mentioned, some members of the Corinthian church had been asserting that their gift—glossolalia—was especially spiritual, assigning themselves a higher status. In order to dispute this mindset, Paul begins his argument in 1 Corinthians 12 by asserting the common “spiritual-ness” of all believers. He avers that “no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (v. 3).
By saying this, Paul is not making a literal statement concerning whether one can or cannot articulate these phrases. Rather, since the statement “Jesus is Lord” is a confessional statement (cf. Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 8:5–6; Phil 2:11; Eph 4:5) that encapsulates the gospel faith, Paul uses it metonymically to refer to all who believe. Thus, Paul is asserting that all Christians (i.e., all who confess Jesus as Lord) have the Spirit and are equally spiritual.12 The spirituality of a Christian is not dependent on one’s gifts but rather on the Spirit who indwells us. Augustine summarises this well: “For not everyone has all of them [gifts], but some have these and others those, although each has the Gift himself by whom the things proper to each one are divided, namely, the Holy Spirit.”13 Thus, all who have the Spirit are spiritual; spirituality is egalitarian.
In contrast, we live in a world that considers such a view of gifting as anathema, often preferring to assign value to people according to their abilities. It may not call gifted people more “spiritual,” but it certainly calls them more valuable. As such, segregational fault lines arise between the gifted (the so-called “elite”) and those who are not, just like within the Corinthian church.
Sadly, some Christians buy into this worldview and either grow in hubris (if they perceive themselves as gifted) or in despair (if not). Against this worldview, Paul declares that the diversity of gifts in people is not a reflection of differing degrees of spirituality but rather of the mysterious sovereignty of the “one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (v. 11). As Chrysostom reminds us, “Paul calls the gifts spiritual because they are the work of the Spirit alone, owing nothing to human initiative.”14
People with disabilities force the church to ask itself whether it has bought into the world’s view. Their very presence forces us to ask, What exactly makes a person spiritual, or even a Christian? Is it a person’s ability to read the Bible? Then, how about people who cannot read? Is it a person’s ability to sing in worship of God? Then, how about people who cannot speak? Is it a person’s ability to serve actively in the local church? Then, how about people who have severe disabilities such that they cannot leave the house or even sit up? People with disabilities force the church to realise that Christian spirituality is not found in being gifted, or even in any of our abilities or disabilities, but rather in being a community under Jesus’ lordship and empowered by the one indwelling Spirit. When the church realises this, it will then grow in spiritual maturity.
However, Paul would not be satisfied with the church merely passively affirming its egalitarian nature. In vv. 21–26, he teaches us how we should live together with those whom society might consider less valuable. For those who are perceived as “weaker,” we are to recognise that they are “indispensable” (v. 22); for those who are perceived as “less presentable,” we are to show them greater honour (v. 23).15 Indeed, all members are to actively pursue unity, ensuring that there “be no division in the body,” and showing “the same care for one another” (v. 25), suffering and rejoicing together (v. 26). Calvin comments of this passage that “nothing . . . is better fitted to promote harmony than this community of interest, when every one feels that, by the prosperity of others, he is proportionally enriched, and, by their penury [i.e., poverty], impoverished.”16
As such, people with disabilities provide the church a valuable opportunity to put this ethos into practice since they are those whom society perceives as weaker and less presentable. However, since they are in truth “indispensable,” the church grows in maturity as it patiently walks alongside them, seeking to discover what particular gifts God has given them to build up the church rather than just paternalistically seeking to minister to them.17 Since they are to be shown “greater honour,” the church grows in humility as it reformats its liturgical practices and its daily practices of living to demonstrate respect for them.18 Since all members of the Church (including people with disabilities) are to show “care for one another,” the church grows in love as it allows people with disabilities to love them and to be loved.19 When all this happens, spiritual growth naturally takes place in the Church.
Spiritual Growth and Self-Exclusion
Let us now turn our attention to the spiritual formation of people with disabilities. I have had the honour of worshipping alongside many Christians with disabilities, and I am very moved when I see them passionately serving the Lord alongside their other brothers and sisters in Christ. However, it is also not uncommon to see some who exclude themselves from their local church communities. For some of them, they perceive that they are unwanted or under-appreciated in their local churches, and so they respond by walking away. This is surely something with which all of us can empathise, even if we do not think it is the wisest response.
However, there is another more worrying group who self-exclude even when their local church communities actively seek to embrace them. This tends to arise because of two reasons. First, they perceive themselves as being inadequate, and they are envious of others in the community without disabilities. Second, because of their disability, they feel that they have nothing to give to the community and that they cannot participate in a reciprocal relationship with fellow Christians where they can both give and take. Thus, church life for them feels like the exploitation of others’ pity and compassion, and so they shun Christian community.
1 Corinthians 12 calls such Christians to spiritual growth by contesting both these reasons. First, against their personal sense of inadequacy and envy, vv. 14–20 proclaim clearly that their disability is part of the diversity that God has instituted in the church. In particular, Paul declares in vv. 18–19, “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?” That is, the very nature of the human body is predicated on diversity—a diversity that is sovereignly ordained by God. It is the very presence of these diverse differences, characterising the various members of the body of Christ, that allows the body to be a body.
In contrast, “If the whole body were an eye,” Paul asks, “where would be the sense of hearing?” (v. 17). Indeed, such a body “would have no sense of smell, no faculty of hearing, no way to perambulate except to roll around, no way to feed itself or digest. A well-functioning body requires a multiplicity of members with a multiplicity of functions.”20 Therefore, the self-pitying envy of others should have no place in the hearts of Christians with disabilities because such envy implicitly works against the diversity that God has ordained in his church.
Second, against the wrong view that they have nothing to give, this God-ordained diversity of gifts suggests that Christians with disabilities should strive (with the help of other members of the church) to identify their particular spiritual gifts for serving the church. Such talents are present despite their disability or, more often than not, because of their disability.
Moltmann, for example, avers that people with disabilities are a gift to the church precisely because of their weakness.21 The presence of these “weaker” members provides the church an opportunity to understand and live out its calling as a counter-cultural people called to Christlike generosity and love, and in so doing, to experience the full length and breadth of the love of God. As one pastor laments, “Many religious organizations have yet to learn . . . that the extra work it takes to accommodate those with obvious disabilities is the price of experiencing the kind of deep love and fulfilment that only comes with self-sacrifice.”22
However, neither should we be tempted to view disability as simply weakness. We are not dichotomies: just abled or disabled, just strong or weak. As one early Latin commentator on Paul reminds us, “There are things which a humbler person can do which an exalted one cannot, just as iron can do things which gold cannot.”23 It is often the case that when we have less of one thing, this lack frequently enables us to have more of something else. So, while the eye cannot hear, this allows it to be a specialised and highly effective sight organ.
This point was strongly brought home to me through the life of Isabelle Lim, one of our interviewees for Call Me By Name. Born deaf and unable to speak, Isabelle is a professional photographer, often using her talents to serve her local church. She comments, “Photography makes full use of my gifts. . . . I turn my deafness to my advantage, as I can focus on capturing whatever is in front of me without environmental distractions.”24 Thus, she attributes her sharp photography skills to her deafness, further commenting that “I have been blessed with the gift of seeing, and because of that, I can witness [God’s] works, and also see how much He loves me.”25 Truly, Isabelle’s talents and her personal example stand as a powerful witness to our Almighty Creator God.
Conclusion
This brief chapter has reminded us that, for the church, “the inviting and bringing-in of people with disabilities means more than simply making it possible for them to be present.”26 Instead, people with disabilities are necessary and essential members of the body of Christ. The church is, ironically, disabled without them. They are gifted and able to love others in their own manner, and they should also be ready to be loved by others. Inclusion is a two-way street: the church should include people with disabilities, and they in turn should also be “include-able.”
This inclusion is predicated on the one Spirit who indwells all Christians, and who draws us together as one body. To this body, the Spirit generously gives spiritual gifts so that the whole body, “when each part is working properly, makes the body grow that it builds itself up in love” (Eph 4:16). Thus, “one who possesses any of these gifts does not possess for his own sake but rather for the sake of others.”27
As Paul will go on to say in the next chapter of 1 Corinthians, the most excellent way of Christian spirituality is not merely the possession of spiritual gifts but the exercise of those gifts in love (1 Cor 13:13).28 As the church uses its Spirit-endowed gifts to lovingly include people with disabilities, and when people with disabilities respond likewise in love, it is then that all of us will grow spiritually in our “faith in the Lord Jesus and [our] love for all the saints” (Eph 1:15, italics mine).
This article is adapted from a chapter written for a festschrift29 to honour The Reverend Dr. David W. F. Wong, the General Secretary of The Bible-Presbyterian Church in Singapore
Wen-Pin Leow is the Director of the Centre for Disability Ministry in Asia (CDMA), and Lecturer in Biblical and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Biblical Graduate School of Theology (BGST), Singapore. He also leads the Koinonia Inclusion Network, a parachurch organisation that helps churches include and disciple people with disabilities. He is the author of three books on disability inclusion, including Enabling Hearts: A Primer for Disability-Inclusive Churches. His personal website is https://leowwenpin.com/.
Image: Bernhard Rode, Christ Healing the Paralytic at Capernaum
- I use the standard nomenclature in disability studies, namely, “people with disabilities.”[↩]
- Wen-Pin Leow and Anne Wong-Png, eds., Call Me By Name: Stories of Faith, Identity, and Special Needs (Singapore: Graceworks, 2018), i.[↩]
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, LCC 20 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 35.[↩]
- Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 900.[↩]
- Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 799.[↩]
- Paul begins 1 Cor 12:1 with the phrase, περὶ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν. The περὶ δέ construction signals that a new topic of conversation is being introduced; cf. Margaret M. Mitchell, “Concerning ΠEPI ΔE in 1 Corinthians,” NovT 31.3 (1989): 256. Πνευματικῶν, despite its ambiguous gender, is best translated as “spiritual gifts”, in light of the unambiguous parallel with 1 Cor 14:1.[↩]
- Dale B. Martin, “Tongues of Angels and Other Status Indicators,” JAAR 59.3 (1991): 558–63.[↩]
- Martin, “Tongues of Angels,” 579.[↩]
- Harold Wilke, Creating the Caring Congregation (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1980), 30.[↩]
- Nancy L. Eiesland, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1994), 20.[↩]
- Tom Shakespeare, “The Social Model of Disability,” in The Disability Studies Reader, ed. Lennard J. Davis, 5th ed. (New York: Routledge, 2017), 195–203.[↩]
- Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians, IBC (Louisville, KY: John Knox, 1997), 208.[↩]
- Augustine, On the Trinity 15, in 1–2 Corinthians, ed. Gerald Bray, ACCS NT 7 (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 123.[↩]
- John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 29.2, in Bray, 1–2 Corinthians, 117.[↩]
- Note here that I am drawing a distinction between what society perceives (which is not true) and what the church should perceive.[↩]
- John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, trans. John Pringle (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2009), 412.[↩]
- Anna Katherine Shurley, Pastoral Care and Intellectual Disability: A Person-Centered Approach (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2017), 56 reminds us, “The Spirit enables humans to recognize one another, regardless of the physical limitations of their senses, and facilitates communication, regardless of difficulties in speech and hearing.”[↩]
- For example, one church I know makes it a yearly practice to honour people with disabilities in an inclusive service, with people with disabilities assisting in leading worship.[↩]
- Shurley, Pastoral Care and Intellectual Disability, 1 puts this well in the opening statement of her book: “God wants all of God’s children to take good care of each other. God’s desire is not simply a gentle invitation: it is a directive, a summons, a call. No one is exempt from God’s call—even God’s people with intellectual disabilities are called to be caregivers.”[↩]
- David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, BECNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 595.[↩]
- Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, trans. Margaret Kohl (London: SCM Press, 1992), 192–93.[↩]
- Mark I. Pinksy, “The How-To’s of Accessibility,” Harvard Divinity Bulletin 39.3–4 (2011), https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/the-how-tos-of-accessibility/.[↩]
- Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Paul’s Epistles, in Bray, 1–2 Corinthians, 126.[↩]
- Leow and Wong-Png, Call Me By Name, 16.[↩]
- From a video showcasing Call Me By Name featuring Isabelle, https://www.facebook.com/coossg /videos/2063029827281899/.[↩]
- Thomas E. Reynolds, “Invoking Deep Access: Disability beyond Inclusion in the Church,” Dialog 51.3 (2012): 213.[↩]
- Basil of Caesarea, The Long Rules 7, in Bray, 1–2 Corinthians, 121.[↩]
- F. F. Bruce, I & II Corinthians, NCB (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1971), 177: “The primary token of the indwelling Spirit, the indispensable evidence that one is truly ‘spiritual,’ is not glossolalia, but love.”[↩]
- Dev Menon and Tze-Ming Quek, eds. An Owl’s Journey: Essays to Commemorate the 70th Birthday of David W. F. Wong, (Singapore: Graceworks, 2019).[↩]