I find 1 Corinthians 14 to be difficult. In my travels through 1 Corinthians, I arrived here late last week, amid trying personal circumstances. The chapter just got the best of of me. So, really I've been avoiding it. However, that can't continue to go on; so, here we are.
Although born and raised in the Baptist church, I have had occasional forays into the more charismatic denominations. I've worshipped with believers who spoke in tongues, for example. I've worshipped in services where people were healed, where they danced, even where people became so ecstatic in the Spirit that they fainted. I don't mention any of these things to demean or condescend to any Christian denomination, based on these behaviors. In all those situations, the congregation behaved in a peaceful, orderly way (vs. 40).
It occurs to me that Christians congregate with each other according to their spiritual gifts. If a person has been given the gift of tongues, for example, he or she will probably worship in a congregation where that particular spiritual gift is more often exercised. I see nothing wrong with that. Otherwise, disorder could result.
In this chapter Paul is instructing the new church on how the spiritual gifts should be exercised so as to build up the local congregation of believers and also to be a witness to an unbelieving world. Apparently, the Corinthians needed this type of corrective guidance, because their worship services were characterized by disorder, as was their communal eating (1 Cor. 11). The points of disorder seemed to center around the exercise of the gifts of speaking in tongues, in interpreting of tongues and of prophecy. In their eagerness to "share", members were not waiting their turn, were behaving disrespectfully to each other and were generally causing havoc among the people.
Paul had these things to say about the exercise of the gifts of speaking in and interpreting tongues.
1. The primary purpose for speaking in tongues is for the believer to communicate with God, to draw closer to Him in prayer (vs. 2).
2. The one with the gift of speaking in tongues should not exercise his gift in public unless there is someone present who understands the foreign language he is speaking and who can interpret his utterances to the people present (vs. 5, 9-12, 27).
If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are probably many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning. 11 If then I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 It is the same with you.
3. The implication here is that the believer's utterance should be a recognized foreign language that another person present who speaks that language would be able to interpret.
The goal of public manifestations of the gift of tongues is to strengthen the church and to be a sign to unbelievers. (vs. 12, 22)
4. Public manifestations of speaking in tongues should occur one person at a time, with an interpretation following immediately thereafter (vs. 27-28).
Whereas the gift of tongues is to be primarily a private gift with carefully ordered public use, the gift of prophecy is a much more public gift (vs. 19, 39). The purpose of the gift of prophecy is to:
1. reveal hidden things from God to the people (29-31)
2. to strengthen, encourage and console the Church (vs. 3)
3. to bring unbelievers to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus (vs. 24, 25)
Even though the gift of prophecy is the more preferable gift for public use, Paul was clear that all spoken prophecies should be evaluated by the hearers, as to whether they are truly from God. In the days of the early Church, the people did not have written revelation other than the Old Testament and the newly circulating letters from the apostles. The spoken words of the apostles and missionaries (the apostles were the first missionaries) were also used as evaluation tools. Today, we have the entire written revelation of Jesus Christ to His Church, both Old and New Testaments. We must be careful to evaluate prophecy according to The Book.
Here's an example. Every day a new "religious" book comes out, seeking to interpret the Scriptures in light of current events. The most notable examples concern the nation of Israel and "end times" prophecies. Books come and books go. Some of their predictions (prophecies) are proven to be true. Others are not. What makes me think of these phenomena is a piece I read by Joel C. Rosenberg yesterday. He was commenting on both a huge natural gas reserve (16 trillion cubic feet) discovered in Israel (off the coast of Haifa in 2010) and also more recently, a huge oil reserve , in the Golan Heights. Joel had penned a non-fiction work, Epicenter, in 2006. In that book, he prophesied that a future newspaper headline would tell of both of these discoveries.
I would hope that you would do the same with this blog: evaluate its contents according to the Scriptures, rather than taking it at "face value". Look up the cited verses each day. Search the Word of God yourself.
The gift of prophecy, though, has a more personal application as well. Verse 25 says that this gift discloses secrets of people's hearts - - - not in a public, defaming way - - - but rather that the Holy Spirit uses preachers or teachers with this spiritual gift to produce conviction in the hearts of both believers and unbelievers.
Tomorrow we will conclude this chapter by examining verses 33-36.
Good morning, Lord. Thank you for giving us the Body of Christ all of the spiritual gifts, so that as Your Church we can more powerfully bring You glory, so that the lost may come to know You. May all things be done decently and in order. In Jesus' name, amen.
Sources:
https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/israel-makes-massive-discovery-of-oil-in-the-golan-heights-is-this-a-prelude-to-the-war-of-gog-magog-heres-the-answer-part-two/
https://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/bible-prophecy-update-israel-discovers-another-16-trillion-cubic-feet-of-natural-gas/
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/major-shale-find-could-guarantee-israels-oil-supply-for-years-cm528693
No comments:
Post a Comment