1 Corinthians

Order in the use of the gifts; for edification, exhortation and comfort.

Paul resumes his correction of the use of gifts.  His purpose was to restore unity and establish the proper use of the spiritual gifts.

1. Unity.  They were to come together, to serve each other and worship together.
2. Edify.  Exhort, teach, prophesy, testify, teach, learn, pray, share and more.
3. Order.  Their gatherings were to be in order to foster an atmosphere of ministry for all.

 

1 Corinthians 14:1-5

Paul could have easily skipped chapter thirteen.  It's easy to see that Chapter 12 connects to chapter 14.  Paul stepped away from the flow of his writing about gifts to explain the more excellent way.  To other churches, and in other circumstances, he didn't need to do this.  But the Corinthians needed to hear these things; we need to hear these things in our world that reflects similar values as Corinth.

Paul provides perspective and boundaries for the gifts, as some were out of balance and weighted incorrectly and used for the wrong purpose.  Paul wanted to show them, as well as the others, what it might look like when gifts are used in love and for the right purpose.  Paul commands them to "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy."

Pursuing love was first priority.  The word pursue is to chase after.  It's a picture of a being engaged and focused on capturing it (with the tenacity of an Elmer Fudd).  At times, we feel we may get close, but just when you think you have it, it turns and darts into some area you never imagined.  To pursue love is an elusive, life-long endeavor.  It is also important to make sure we pursue this love from the source.  The world offers many substitutes that seem appealing to the flesh.  Agape' love is not self-serving or self-absorbed in any way.  Agape' isn't concerned about your self-esteem.  Pursue agape.

With this pursuit of love first on the list of priorities Paul feels we can now look back to the gifts.  With the love in place, the gifts will look and operate differently because they'll be done for different reasons and motives.  The word we translated to desire actually means be zealous.  This forms the connection to chapter 12 where Paul said the same thing (v.31).  Sadly, our zeal is often best displayed when cheering for our favorite team, where our passions are displayed and expressed without concern of those around us.  Has anyone ever said that about our pursuit of gifts?

We should desire the spiritual gifts but most of all, we should pursue the gift of prophecy.   We should be like a zealous Elmer Fudd, lovingly in pursuit of prophecy.  This was probably in response to their obsession with tongues and the omission of prophecy.  Everyone was pursuing tongues because they had made a big deal of it.  No one was pursuing prophecy. 

Paul wished that they all spoke in tongues, but more importantly he wished they all had the gift of prophecy. 

Tongues

• Tongues are the object of endless debate. 
• Using a language in which men communicate with God (v.2). 
• It's a language given by the Holy Spirit to express what human words cannot utter, the mysteries of life (v.2) 
• Life's emotions, pain, grief, love, burdens and grit of life can be expressed to God. 
  • Yet, how could an interpreter express in words what you could not express to God in the same way? 

• The individual is edified, the church might be if there is an interpreter (v.4). 
• Paul wished all spoke tongues.

Paul is the only one that wrote about tongues as a spiritual gift.  The word translated to 'tongues' can mean the tongue in our mouth, the many tongues as in languages among the nations and the tongues as a spiritual gift.  Luke wrote of speaking in other tongues in Acts at the birth of the church.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. [The New King James Version (Ac 2:4). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

A few verses later, Luke writes of the response of the crowd:

And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. [The New King James Version (Ac 2:6). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

This seems to be the gift of interpretation.  They spoke some language – people of many tongues heard the words in their own language. 

I heard a testimony of a man who spoke in tongues in a small gathering of folks worshiping, praying and seeking the Lord together.  A Croatian woman approached him and mentioned what he said.  He obviously didn't know what she was talking about.  She was equally confused.  She understood his speaking in tongues as perfect Croatian, and not just language but also her dialect.  She was not aware he had spoken in tongues.  Either she supernaturally heard it in a language she knew or he supernaturally spoke Croatian.  Either way, the Holy Spirit was in it.  God was glorified, both were edified. 

 

Prophecy

• Prophecy is God's word speaking into our life and world.  It's speaking God's truth into life.
• Prophecy edifies, exhorts and comforts men.

• Paul wished all prophesied (v.5).
• He who prophecies is greater – because church is edified (v.5).

Jesus spoke of a prophecy of Isaiah in Mark.  Isaiah had written prophecy about the blindness of disobedience.  Jesus applied that prophecy to the Pharisees.  It was a prophetic truth of God's word aptly applied:

⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"

⁶ He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

'This people honors Me with their lips,

But their heart is far from Me.

And in vain they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

[The New King James Version (Mk 7:5–7). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

In another example of prophecy, we could look to Acts:

And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹ When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' "[The New King James Version (Ac 21:10–11). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

We really don't need to have an absolute knowledge and a full set of rules with an owner's manual on how this gift works.  Some people can't speak at all and I believe God still hears them just fine; like the man with a booming voice.  Some speak to God looking up; some looking down; some speak loud and some softly.  Some speak in tongues and some never will.  God sees what's in your heart.  We need to make sure we don't get hung up on this gift of tongues like the Corinthians did.  To get bogged down in the discussion of tongues and details is to entirely miss the point. 

 

1 Corinthians 14:6-12
Verse 6 starts our "But now."  This is like saying, "Now that everything is put in the proper perspective and order, we can move on."  Paul kept using phrases like this, "But then"…. "And now."  Paul is very systematically making these corrections.  Now that he explained to them the value of tongues and why they were to use it, he asked them the question, If I, Paul, come speaking with tongues, what profit is there?  There wouldn't be any, because it's essentially a foreign language.  It's a valid language but it is foreign to us so we can't be edified with it.  Love had been established as the better way of exercising spiritual gifts.  Agape' was outward, service to others.  This naturally pushed tongues to the bottom of the list because edifying others was very limited.  Yet prophecy was elevated due to the universal edification to the body of the church.

The benefit comes to the fellowship, by revelation, knowledge, prophesying or by teaching, not by tongues. 

• Revelation, just like the book by the same name.  It means revealing, unveiling, opening up the mystery.  This is the reference of bringing the gospel to light.
• Knowledge: this could be supernatural knowledge but it could also be the knowledge of an elder, a saint or, in this case, an apostle; someone with life experience and some spiritual gray hair.
• Prophesying: interpreting the divine will or purpose. 
• Teaching: The nuts and bolts of doctrine and theology.

These are the ways that God speaks to us.  And all these happen in the language of man so everyone hears, understands and is edified.

Paul used the example of musical instruments.  Anyone can make sound come out of a flute or harp but not everyone can communicate a song by playing specific notes in an order that's understood.  The shofar was used to make camp, break camp, go to war and send every man to his tent.  Meaning was assigned to the distinct sounds.  These sounds had to be repeated and done correctly to deliver the intended message.

Language is just putting meaning behind certain sounds.  They say there are 44 sounds in the English language.  We all grew up learning the meaning of the distinct sounds.  Think about the strange sounds we make and the meaning they carry.  We grunt or grumble at the right time and the message is delivered.  Language truly is an amazing thing.  We associate sounds with letters; we put letters in an order to spell a word and make the distinct sound that brings meaning to others.  We use these 44 sounds to convey feelings, emotions, passion, love, mystery, grace, anger, frustration and more.  We write songs and poems and novels to express ourself using our language.  All the different sounds and combinations of sounds have different meanings and we somehow have the ability to learn them all.  Then, when we learn and others understand our meaning because they also associate those sounds with the same meaning.  It can't be explained apart from God because it is so complicated.  It really is an amazing topic that will lead you to God and back to the tower of babel where the one language was confused by God.

The key to this passage is to show the limited value of tongues in the edification of the church.  If you're going to be zealous for the spiritual gifts, then use gifts which build up. 

 

1 Corinthians 14:13-17

This is Paul's answer to those that wanted to speak with tongues in the congregation.  The person speaking with tongues should pray that he may interpret.  Then he was to bring that interpretation to the church.  That way they could pray & sing in the spirit with tongues but bring the understanding before the body.  This took away the exhibition.  The tongues would be done in private.  Then, if they had a message to share, they could do so in a way everyone would understand.

In this the person who sits in the place of the uninformed can give thanks.  The 'place of the uninformed' may just be the average person listening or it could be the unbelievers.  When they understand and were encouraged or edified by a message, they would say amen.  This custom of saying 'Amen' came from the synagogue.  The teacher or leader offered up some discourse, prayer or reading of the word and the congregation would say amen.  It was their way of saying, "I make that prayer, or word my own." 

The word 'amen' has origins much further back.  Amen is believed to be one of the most universal words.  It's the same word in many languages. 

 

1 Corinthians 14:18-19

Paul spoke with tongues in his devotional time when he was speaking to God.  When it was time to speak to the people, it was time to speak so they clearly understood.  Five words with understanding were better than 10,000 words in tongue.  When it came to ministering to others, Paul would quickly trade tongues for something more meaningful and edifying.

   

1 Corinthians 14:20-21
Paul uses all these great analogies and word pictures all though his writings; then, sometimes, he just tells it like it is.  He in essence said, "Grow up!"  It's time to have a mature understanding.  It's time to quit running to the latest shiny distraction and do what is right.  It's okay to be a babe in malice.  You can have the innocence of a child when it comes to wickedness but with the rest of this, It's time to grow up and show some spiritual maturity.

Paul makes his point with a quote from Isaiah.  God's people no longer heard Him; He would use men of other tongues to communicate with them.  Even then, though, they wouldn't listen.

 

1 Corinthians 14:22-25
Tongues are a sign to unbelievers (22).  Then in verse 23 he says if the whole church comes together and speaks in tongues and an unbeliever heard it, they would think everyone was out of their mind.  This sounds contradictory.  Can both statements be right?

Paul said tongues is sign for unbeliever but if they see it, they'll think everyone was out of their mind.  Some scholars believe a scribe or copyists may have confused the two words in verse 22 saying tongues was a sign when he should have said prophecy was a sign to those who don't believe.  And in the second half of the verse, instead of prophecy not being for unbelievers it should have said tongues was not for unbelievers.  This seems to be a simple explanation for this and many times the simplest explanation may well be the correct one. 

As another thought, consider this.  Paul's message here when he quotes Isaiah is that in Isaiah's time the prophecies were ignored and God brought the Assyrians to the land in judgment.  They spoke another tongue.  That tongue was a judgment against them and yet the Jews didn't understand that.  They were childlike in their understanding and their malice was mature.  The prophecy was ignored and tongue was a judgment.  In an unbelieving world, that's all that is understood or might be expected.

I believe the difference between verses 22 and 23 is who was present at the prophecy and tongue.  In verse 22 it is in the context of the quote and it is out in the world in a place where the majority weren't trusting in God.  Isaiah gave a prophecy; the prophecy was given and it was ignored by those that didn't believe.  Then the foreign tongue was associated with judgment.  It became a sign of judgment as it was in Isaiah's time when the Assyrians came.

However, in verse 23, the church all comes together as the meeting of God's people.  We don't meet to impress or win over non-believers.  That's not why the church meets.  We meet to build up the church and glorify God.  If everyone were speaking tongues, the church isn't edified and the unbeliever thinks we're all nuts.  It would appear that everyone was drunk or out of their mind.  The tongue brings no message, no understanding, no spiritual change.

However, if everyone were giving prophecy in order and an unbeliever heard, he would be convinced and convicted.  The church is built up in the prophecy and the unbeliever that wanders in is convicted.  That conviction would reveal the secrets of his heart.  The shame and sin a person manages to hide would be bring them face down before God.  That's a good thing.

The scholars are all over the place on this entire section of scripture on spiritual gifts.  Our best bet is to stick to what scripture says.  What sounds like a contradiction at first may not really be one.  I think the gift used in the assembly of believers has one purpose, yet among unbelievers it will serve another.  Either way, I think Paul's point was the same.  There is a time and place for tongues and prophecy.  The men and woman of Corinth needed to be mature enough in their faith to distinguish those times and places.

 

1 Corinthians 14:26-31

In this section, Paul is giving the Corinthians some principles to work out in their congregation.  He's trying to show them if all things are working correctly then this is what things should look like.  Everything is to be done in order.  God doesn't author confusion.

These people met in small groups in people's homes.  In doing so, everyone had a song, a teaching, prophecy or a word of encouragement to share.  That was fine for their home gatherings but when the whole church came together everyone couldn't stand up front and do their thing.  Remember this church was full of factions and divisions and these house churches could have been the source of some cultural divides.  You can imagine a house church of the well-educated coming together with the uneducated.  Or the rich that gathered regular were coming together with the poor now also in this larger setting.  The cultural boundaries were pretty strong at that time.

The gathering of the whole church ended up looking like a competition.  Who was more spiritual?  Who was the most important?  Who had the favor of God?  When they came together this exercising of gifts was no different.  Everyone was speaking at once.  Some were prophesying, others speaking in tongues, all seeking an audience.  It sounded like such a circus environment you can almost envision a clown riding a unicycle and juggling riding right through the middle of it all.  No one was being edified or exhorted or comforted in this mess.

There was no love and meaningful ministering going on at their meetings.  Paul knew that needed to stop.  There needed to be love first and then there needed to be order and respect.  The Holy Spirit doesn't call on several to speak at the same time.  Or for someone to prophecy while another is teaching.  That would be confusing.  God doesn't author confusion. 

If someone steps up to prophecy, let them prophecy.  Paul said while the prophet speaks let the others judge. Don't just take what is said.  Judge it, measure it against scripture and the nature of God.  If it goes against either one it isn't a valid prophecy.

It's interesting that Paul doesn't prohibit the use of tongues in their gathering.  Yet, he says they shouldn't do much of it.  They needed to keep it to 2 or 3 and someone needed to interpret.  If there wasn't an interpretation, they needed to keep silent.  There was a time and place for tongues but there wasn't to be a focus on tongues.

 

1 Corinthians 14:32

Apparently, some of the men who prophesied were claiming they couldn't control themselves.  This was their excuse for their poor behavior.  Paul said the prophet is in control of what is said.  God doesn't take control over the thoughts and the mouth of a prophet.  The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets.  God isn't rude, they weren't to blame Him for their rude behavior and disorder.

God must have been grieved at what he saw happening in His name. And every day, He must be grieved by some of the goofy stuff that still goes on in our culture; people using His name for their own gain or popularity.  The nature of man hasn't changed since Corinth.

God is the author of peace not confusion.  It says 'in all the churches of the saints.'  This statement cut hard on Corinth.  They were a church of confusion.  Was Paul insinuating they weren't a church of saints?  He was surely saying they weren't acting like it.

When Paul makes a statement like this that ultimately becomes part of scripture then there is now a responsibility on our part to apply this.  If we ever find ourselves in a church setting that has no peace and it a confusing mess something's wrong!!  We need to recognize that.  We need to know that even if it is called church, confusion isn't from God. 

 

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

This is in the context of prophecy; it's clear when you read the last several verses all together.  Men were to judge the prophet.  The prophet was responsible for his conduct and speech.  There was to be no confusion.  And the women were not to openly judge prophecy.  If they wanted to question what was said and learn something, they had to ask their husband later at home.  The women and men didn't sit together at that time so they couldn't lean over and ask a question.

Paul already established in chapter 11 that women were given the right of prophecy and prayer in the church.  And we know Paul placed a lot of value and responsibility on the women in the church.  In verse 35 what Paul said was it was shameful for a woman to be disruptive; to voice her displeasure in church; to whisper so as to be heard.  The women in the Corinthian culture had been held back and disrespected.  Now, in their new found freedom in Christ some were over reacting and maybe getting a little too carried away.  They were voicing their opinion and causing disruption.  This was just adding to the circus.  Paul isn't trying to oppress women here; he's trying to re-establish order.

Verse 34 is another one of those verses that some men have taken and run amok with it – "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive."  Some churches or denominations hold fast to this verse as it stands alone.  They take this verse and rip it completely out of context and then exploit it for their own purpose.  They use this verse to form church rules and doctrines that were never meant to be.  Whether it's in a church or not to use this verse as a stand-alone rule is ridicules.  It shows an ignorance of scripture.

Paul obviously wasn't making doctrine about women not speaking in churches.  He had already said they could prophecy and pray in the church.  The women of the church at that time would be shocked to hear what some men have done with this verse.  And we could quickly name Lydia, Priscilla, Pheobe, Lois and Eunice and many more were very important and active in the church.

 

1 Corinthians 14:36-38

This little paragraph was written to those who might decide to argue with Paul over these things.  The word of God came to Corinth from Paul, not any of these other men.  Paul is saying if you think you're spiritual or a prophet, then you will agree with me.

You can imagine one of these power-hungry super spiritual elites that wanted everyone to follow him standing up and giving a prophecy saying that Paul was wrong about everything he wrote.  Paul was just trying to head that off.  They needed to acknowledge that what Paul wrote was from the Lord.  And if they chose to be ignorant, Paul said, let them be ignorant.

 

1 Corinthians 14:39

Paul sums up the jest of the entire chapter:

1.  Have a zealous desire to prophecy.
2. Don't disregard tongues, just keep in its place.
3. Let all things be done decently and in order.

All the gifts are to build up and strengthen the church; to motivate us and move us forward in our walk and relationship with Jesus Christ. 

 

©2006, 2010, 2016, 2022 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater