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The Bible Study – Our reading for Tuesday, August 20 is 1st Corinthians 12:1-13. Christians are part of the body of Christ in His true Church. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Cor 12:12-13) The Apostle advises that no one who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit can speak a curse against Christ. (v.3) In verses 4-6, we see Paul refer to the Holy Trinity when he writes, “same Spirit . . . . same Lord . . . . same God. . . .” Our Triune God: Father, Son & Holy Spirit, is not divided. Christians should not be divided by the different spiritual gifts given them to serve the Church, and one another. Through men of God, called to preach and teach His Law & Gospel found in the Bible, the prophetic Word instructs and works faith in Christ within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. The “tongues” referred to in verse 10 of today’s text are the various human languages used to convey God’s Word. The Holy Spirit is also poured out on us in the Sacrament of Baptism, a means of God’s grace, and God’s work, not our own. The Apostle Paul wrote in Titus 3:4-7: “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” We’re saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto http://christlutherantoronto.org/beliefs