Paul is continuing with the theme of spiritual gifts and proper use of them. Still his tone is mostly corrective in nature as he is dealing with problems that exist in the church.
He begins by describing that prophecy is better in the church than speaking in tongues unless there is interpretation or translation of the tongues. This is because it edifies the whole church and not just the speaker.
Previously Paul painted a picture of what was happening in the celebration of the Lord's Supper where some are getting drunk and gorging themselves and others get none. Here we can picture a scene where there are many people speaking in tongues and all at the same time. No one would be able to understand what is going on. Furthermore, it was the practice at that time to have the women sit on one side of the meeting and the men sit on the other. Thus when wives would be asking their husbands a question, whether about the service or something at home (what are we going to have for dinner, who should we invite over), there is a shouting across the congregation. You add these together and you get quite a chaotic scene.
That is why Paul then lays down some practical rules about peace and order in worship: 1) one person speaking at a time 2) no publically spoken tongues unless there is interpretation 3) at most three prophecies spoken, one at a time 4) women should wait untill after gathering to ask questions of husband.
Again it seems that at that church people were just wanting to jump up to speak, either in a tongue or prophecy, not for the edification of others, but perhaps more to let people know that God is speaking to them (more of a competition with others) or perhaps just being so caught up in things that they are ignoring what is going on around them (spirits of prophets are subject to the control of the prophet - v32) .
I think that it is helpful to clarify also what the rules are not saying. Rule 1 is not saying that the whole congregation cannot sing or pray together at the same time. The main context of the first rule is for an instructional word and the inability for others to know what is being said. When singing together, all know the song, or most are singing the same so that people can both hear and understand and join in.
Rule 2 is not saying that there isn't a place for speaking in tongues in the congregation without interpretation, it just should not be done as a message for the church, but between God and the individual (v28; and do not forbid speaking in tongues v 39). There can also be a time of worship when all are speaking in tongues to God (v 15) when orderly directed by leaders, but better yet a time of prophecy (v 24-25). Rule 3 isn't limiting all situations to only 3 prophecies, but rather to those prophecies coming from "everyone" (v26) in the congregation that would otherwise be interrupting and preventing the leaders from directing the service. It may be that the leadership is wanting to present or discuss a number of propecies as part of the service and these are not an interruption, but rather the direction that God is leading. Again the correction is to avoid disorder. Rule 3 is not saying that there isn't a place for women to speak at all in the church. First of all, a woman may prophecy. Also, if there is a time when questions are being taken from the leadership as part of the service, then women are free to participate in that as well. What is being avoided are the discussions that interrupt the service and create disorder so that the church cannot be edified.
Amid the corrections, Paul gives instructions to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy (v 1). The interesting point is that we can desire, and thus ask for, specific spiritual gifts. The proper motivation though is for the edification of the church and not for personal exaltation or comparisons to others.
May we all be filled with the Spirit and mutually edify one another and advance the kingdom of God.
I found verse 2 to be interesting, that "one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit." As opposed to prophecy, where the Holy Spirit gives the speaker something specific to say. Tongues is commonly a form of prayer and praise for God, and prophecy is a word from God for people to hear and believe. Would God bring prophecy to the church in the form of an unknown tongue, and then have someone speak the interpretation?
ReplyDeleteI also like verse 33, that "God is not a God of confusion but of peace." It's more important that the church be devoted to God and live holy lifestyles than to have spiritual gifts. The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are exciting and encouraging, but false gifts are deceiving. The spiritual gifts are good to have because they validate the gospel of Jesus Christ, and demonstrate the power of God in our lives. But we cannot love the gifts more than we love God. We cannot assume that supernatural happenings are always from God. Therefore, one of the spiritual gifts is the "ability to distinguish between spirits" (1 Cor. 12:10).
On the tongues comment, while some types of speaking in tongues are more of a prayer language between man and God, these are still expressed by the Spirit in ways that our words cannot express (Rom 8:26). Additionally in Acts 2, the tongues spoken were languages that people understood, just not the speaker, and they were "declaring the wonders of God" (Acts 2:11). Sometimes these tongues are languages of men and sometimes they are the language of angels (1 Cor 13.1).
ReplyDeleteSo while the tongues are coming from our mouths, their origin is still the Spirit of God and just like prophecy, are the words of God. The only difference is that if you don't understand the specific language, then it needs to be translated for you to understand.
As a side note, Debbie has commented that she often understands Pastor Gordon's prayer as he prays in tongues.