1 COR. 14:20-40: “God Is Not A
God Of Confusion But Of Peace”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked at how Paul wrote to the Corinthians that
they are to desire to have spiritual gifts in their lives and working in their
midst, but especially that they are to prophesy
1.1.1. We saw that the most
important aspect of the body of Christ meeting together is that we be built up
and established in our faith, or edified, and that when the body of Christ
meets together all expressions of spiritual gifts are to be used for the
edification of the body, as opposed to self-edification
1.1.2. We saw the edification of
the body of Christ occurs in the greatest possible way when the gift of
prophesy is exercised, for when a person prophesies he speaks to edification,
exhortation, or consolation
1.1.3. We saw that it is intended
by God that the gift of tongues bring the good result of self-edification,
however when the body of Christ comes together self-edification must be set
aside for the better result of edification of the body as a whole
1.1.3.1.Paul taught that the person
who speaks in a tongue is self-edified, therefore he concluded that the
expression of that gift during the general assembly of the church is in
appropriate
1.1.4. Paul himself asked the
Corinthians what good he might be able to do for them unless he came to them
and spoke to them by way of prophesy, teaching, exhortation, etc., that is,
something that was intelligible and which could thereby edify them.
1.1.4.1.We saw that unintelligible
things cannot edify the body of Christ, though in the case of tongues, they
might edify the individual
1.1.4.2.Paul then said that, as a
result of this, if a person in the general assembly spoke in a tongue he ought
to also interpret the tongue for everyone so that the church could be edified,
or otherwise he ought to just be quiet if he cannot interpret his tongue
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to finish up chapter 14 and Paul’s
exhortation to the church concerning how spiritual gifts are to be allowed and
supervised within the church meetings
1.2.1. Martyn Lloyd-Jones pastured
for over 40 years in England, and he spent his last 30 years pastoring at
1.2.1.1.Lloyd-Jones details also in
his book that in the book of Acts that there was a primacy of preaching the
Word of God to men in every chapter. He
then goes on and establishes that in every era of the church she has revived or
declined based upon the importance she placed upon preaching. Lloyd-Jones writes, “I have simply skimmed
the argument, the statement of it, in the New Testament. All this is fully confirmed in the Church
History. Is it not clear, as you take a
bird’s-eye view of Church history, that the decadent periods and eras in the
history of the Church have always been those periods when preaching has
declined? What is it that always heralds
the dawn of a Reformation or of a Revival?
It is renewed preaching. Not only
a new interest in preaching but a new kind of preaching. A revival of true preaching has always
heralded these great movements in the history of the Church. And, of course, when the Reformation and the
Revival come they have always led to great and notable periods of the greatest
preaching that the Church has ever known.
As that was true in the beginning as described in the book of Acts, it
was also after the Protestant Reformation.
Luther, Calvin, Knox, Latimer, Ridley –all these men were great
preachers. In the seventeenth century
you had exactly the same thing –the great Puritan preachers and others. And in the eighteenth century, Jonathan Edwards,
Whitefield, the Wesleys, Rowlands and Harris were all great preachers. It was an era of great preaching. Whenever you get Reformation and Revival this
is always and inevitably the result.”
1.2.2. As we have seen in this
chapter, there is an appropriate time and place for the expression of spiritual
gifts. In today’s study, we will see
that there is an opportunity for the expression of spiritual gifts by everyone
in the body of Christ, however these expressions must be orderly and their
timing appropriate. The general assembly
of the church in large groups does not lend itself for everyone to express
themselves because pandemonium would result and time not permit, plus as
Lloyd-Jones points out the church must keep preaching the Word of God as
central in importance. Therefore, the
expression of these gifts as described in this chapter must be relegated
primarily to smaller house fellowships as those which existed in the early
church, and in
1.2.3. We will see that Paul tells
us that God is not a God of confusion, but rather of peace, and that all things
in the church are to be done decently and in order
1.2.3.1.It is such a blessing to be
part of a fellowship which has a proper balance, as I believe that the Calvary
Chapels do, for though we believe that the spiritual gifts are for the church today,
we also believe that we must exercise them in accordance with what Paul exhorts
us to do in the New Testament. It is
rare to find a church that allows expressions of spiritual gifts, and yet who
is also not a place of mass confusion but rather is peaceful and has all things
done decently and in order. When a
church which has such balance is found, is it not a great blessing? Is it not a church where you would want to invite
friends and family, and one where you feel confident that God is going to do a
mighty work?
2.
VS 14:20 - “20 Brethren, do not be children in your
thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature.” - Paul
tells the Corinthians to be mature in their thinking
2.1.
In this verse, Paul instructs the Corinthians to serious and sober
thinking. Paul tells the Corinthians
that they need to have more of a mature outlook on issues within the
church.
2.2.
Paul also tells the Corinthians that in regard to properly evaluating
spiritual issues and concerns for the church that they are not to be children
with immature thinking.
2.3.
However, Paul tells the Corinthians that in regard to evil thinking and
things which are evil, that they are to be as innocent as children.
2.3.1. Dwelling too much on evil
living and lifestyles can be a cause for stumbling for a Christian, therefore
it is always best for a Christian to be a ‘babe’ in regard to evil. We shouldn’t waste our time thinking about
the bad stuff in other words, but rather our meditation should always be on
good and worthy objects.
2.3.1.1.In Phil. 4:8 the
apostle Paul talks about the kinds of things that we Christians ought to let
our minds dwell upon, “8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,
let your mind dwell on these things.”
2.4.
As we have seen the Corinthians were primarily carnally-minded and not
spirit-filled. John MacArthur
writes the following concerning where the Corinthians were at in their
spiritual maturity and understanding at this time of Paul’s writing, “They
could not be taught because they were not interested in learning. They were interested only in using spiritual
means and fellow believers in whatever ways would serve their own ends. They were not interested in truth but in
experience, not in right doctrine or right living but only in good
feelings. They were not interested in
pleasing the Lord or their fellow Christians but only themselves. Experience always won out over truth,
emotions always won out over reason, and self-will always won out over God’s
will. Unlike the Bereans (Acts 17:11),
the Corinthians did not bother to check what they heard against Scritpure. They did not bother to “test the spirits to
see whether they [were] from God” (1 John 4:1).
If something sounded good, they believed it; if it felt good, they did it. Like the Israelites in the time of the
judges, everyone “did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6; 21:25)”.
2.5.
We Christians today must be mature in our thinking and in our knowledge
of what the Lord wants from our lives and in our churches. However, regarding spiritual gifts, there are
many Christians within churches who frankly do not know what the Bible says
concerning the use and expression of spiritual gifts. Many who have been in churches many years
know what their church teaches, but they could not defend that position with
the Bible. These Christians are doing
just what Paul was instructing against, they are immature in their thinking.
2.5.1. We Christians must hold to
what God’s word teaches us regarding what we do in every area of our
lives. However, today in many churches,
what the Bible says regarding spiritual gifts, is considered to be irrelevant.
2.5.1.1.When you show many Christians
what the Bible says regarding spiritual gifts, they will tell you that they do
not believe what you’ve shown them that it clearly says or that that is not
what their church practices or believes.
But is this the kind of attitude we Christians should have?
2.5.1.1.1.When people hold to their
traditions over what God’s word plainly says, it must be very grievous to the
Lord.
2.5.1.2.Many in the churches today
frown upon those who evaluate everything by scripture, and some have even said
that those who do so are possessed by the Devil. Many claim that those who do not accept every
supposed move of the Spirit that comes along as being from God are ‘quenching
the Spirit’ or hindering God.
2.5.2. We Christians must never
judge what the Bible says based upon our own experiences, rather we must judge
our experiences based upon what God’s word says. However, today there is a major contingency
of churches that have been dubbed, “Experience-driven,” who think
otherwise. We in the Calvary Chapels had
a group split off from our affiliation of churches many years ago now, and they
went along this route. This group
contained a bunch of pastors and leaders who were on the leading-edge of the
contemporary worship music that was being written in the Calvary Chapels. This group decided that they would place
‘signs and wonders’ above the teaching of the word of God as their
emphasis. They had seen the Holy Spirit
work in such a powerful way in the early days of the Calvary Chapel movement,
and they wanted to just focus mainly on the Holy Spirit’s working, and do a
little teaching of the word of God here and there. However, before they left us pastor Chuck
Smith, the man who started the first Calvary Chapel, warned them that there was
a trap in going in the direction they were going for they would always have to
be finding a greater experience for their people, and that doing so there would
be no bounds as to how far they might go in this journey. Pastor Chuck proved to be prophetic because
since that time this particular group has led or followed every supposed wave
of the Spirit that has come around, and they have gone from one extreme to the
other. A few years ago ABC did a TV
Special to expose some of the off-center extremes that were occurring in churches
across the world, and they called it, “In The Name Of God.” One of the leaders from this movement that
split off from the Calvary Chapels was interviewed on this special, and he said
that his group didn’t verify their experiences by the Bible nor did they need
to do so because, “God is not limited to the Bible”.
2.5.2.1.Whenever a church becomes an
‘
2.5.2.2.If we in the church simply
follow Paul’s guidelines in chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians and make of prime importance
the edification of the saints through promoting the gift of prophesy (primarily
forth-telling the word of God not foretelling the future) the intelligible
expression of the spiritual gifts, then we will create an incredibly healthy
environment for believers to grow and mature in their faith.
2.5.3. Expressions of spiritual
gifts which are outside of the guidelines given by Paul open up the church to
demonic influence. In the Bible we see
many instances where men and women tried to reach God by means that He didn’t
ordain for them to reach Him by, all to no avail. The first example of God’s people offering
what the God’s word calls “a strange fire” (or sacrifice), that which the Lord
did not ordain, was Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, and we read about them
in Leviticus 10:1-11, “1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their
respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and
offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire
came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before
the LORD. 3 Then
Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who
come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be
honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. 4 Moses called also to Mishael and
Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel, and said to them, "Come
forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the
outside of the camp." 5 So they came forward and carried them still in
their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. 6 Then Moses
said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not uncover your
heads nor tear your clothes, so that you may not die, and that He may not
become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house
of
3.
VS 14:21-22 - “21 In the Law it is written, "By
men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this
people, and even so they will not listen to Me," says the Lord. 22 So then
tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers; but
prophecy is for a sign, not to
unbelievers, but to those who believe.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians that
tongues are a sign for unbelievers and prophesy is a sign for believers
3.1.
There are a few places in the Old Testament where a prophet prophesied
that the Lord would speak to
3.1.1. Deut. 2849-53: “49 "The
LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as
the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50 a nation of
fierce countenance who shall have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the
young. 51 "Moreover,
it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until
you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the
increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to
perish. 52 "And
it shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in
which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in
all your towns throughout your land which the LORD your God has given you. 53 "Then
you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of
your daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the
distress by which your enemy shall oppress you”.
3.1.2. The verse that Paul is
quoting in verse 21 is Is. 28:11-16:
“11 Indeed,
He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, 12 He who said
to them, "Here is rest, give rest to the weary," And, "Here is
repose," but they would not listen. 13 So the word of the LORD to them will
be, "Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little
here, a little there," That they may go and stumble backward, be broken,
snared, and taken captive. 14 Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O
scoffers, Who rule this people who are in
3.1.3. Jer. 5:15-19: “15 "Behold, I am bringing a
nation against you from afar, O house of
3.2.
Paul says in verse 21 that His people still would not listen to Him
even when He used foreign peoples to communicate with them.
3.3.
On the day of Pentecost, speaking in tongues by the church who
had been baptized in the Holy Spirit was to the Jews both a sign of blessing
and a sign of cursing, as each Jew heard them speaking in praise to God in
their own language:
3.3.1. A sign of blessing:
3.3.1.1.This is the case because it
was a sign that God was now working again among them, as His presence had for
many centuries been taken away from them.
It was a sign that God was doing a new and a marvelous thing in their
midst.
3.3.2. A sign of cursing:
3.3.2.1.This is the case because it was
a sign that the kingdom was being taken away from them and God was about to
judge their nation. In fact, God did
allow
3.4.
In verse 22, Paul says that tongues ‘are a sign to unbelievers’. In verse 23, Paul says that unbelievers who
came into the church service would think that all are mad if all are speaking
in tongues, and in verse 22 he says that tongues are ‘a sign for unbelievers’. Someone once said, “hopefully he is not
saying that tongues are a sign that we are all mad?!”
3.5.
In Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit fell on the church on the day of
Pentecost, the unbelievers heard the people praising God in their native
language, and thereby a few thousand were saved on that day. This is an instance where tongues were used
as a sign to unbelievers. The Jews from
all of the countries surrounding
3.5.1. The Jews will later be
restored to the Lord during the 7 Year Tribulation Period of the book of
Revelation when they turn to Christ for salvation (Rom. 11:26).
3.6.
Paul says that in the same way, ‘prophesy is a sign for
believers’. When someone prophesies,
then the body is edified, and in that sense it is a sign. The word of God when preached pierces our
hearts and pricks our consciences, and brings us to account before God. This is what Paul wrote about in Heb.
4:12, “12 For
the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and
piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
4.
VS 14:23-25 - “23 If therefore the whole church should
assemble together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers
enter, will they not say that you are mad? 24 But if all prophesy, and an
unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to
account by all; 25
the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face
and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.” - Paul tells
the Corinthians that if an unbeliever comes into the church and everyone is
speaking in tongues that they will think that you are all mad (crazy)
4.1.
Inline with what Paul had said earlier in this chapter, Paul says in
these verses that if unbelievers or those who are not experienced in spiritual
things would come to a meeting where every Christian was speaking in tongues,
then that person would think that everyone is crazy (mad).
4.1.1. By the way, I have seen this
happen in some Pentecostal churches when visitors come. Have you?
4.2.
However, Paul writes saying that if everyone in the church prophesies,
then believers as well as visiting unbelievers will be convicted in their
hearts by the preaching and opening up of the word of God.
4.3.
In verse 25, Paul reveals that the prophetic proclamation of God’s word
causes people to have their secrets of their hearts’ revealed, and as a result
they will fall down and worship God since He is found by them to be in their
midst.
4.4.
One of the reasons why preaching the word of God is so important in the
church is that people need to be brought into relationship with God, and the
Bible is clear that you cannot believe if someone is not sent and the gospel
preached from God’s word.
4.4.1. This is what Paul wrote
about in Rom. 10:14-15, “14 How then shall they call upon Him in
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?15 And how shall they
preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet
of those who bring glad tidings of good things!””
5.
VS 14:26 - “26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a
psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.
Let all things be done for edification.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians how the
church should function in the gifts when they gather
5.1.
Paul tries to bring his argument in favor of doing all things in the
church for edification to a climax. He
says in this verse that this is the outcome of his exhortation to them.
5.2.
The worship services of the church in Paul’s day were small home
fellowship gatherings where when the people got together, they each came
together for the purpose of exercising their gifts. They came prepared to minister in their gift
with a psalm to share, a teaching to pass on, a revelation from scripture that
God had given them, an unknown tongue to speak, or an interpretation of a
tongue should someone speak in a tongue.
5.2.1. As Paul had mentioned
earlier in the chapter, if a tongue cannot be interpreted for the church, then
the tongue speaker should keep quiet in the church since the church cannot be
edified unless an unknown tongue that is spoken is interpreted.
5.3.
The summation of Paul’s exhortation to the church in this chapter is to
do everything that they do for the purpose of edification.
5.3.1. We in the church today must
always be careful that everything that we do in the church is done for the
edification of the church.
5.4.
Paul gives instructions for the church meetings when they were small
home fellowship groups. He writes that
in these small groups, we Christians should seek to use our spiritual gifts for
edification, and use them also in an orderly manner.
5.5.
As churches get bigger, then shouldn’t it be obvious that there must be
more structure in the meetings than there was in the small groups which met in
Paul’s day. Not everyone can participate
in their gift in all of the services when a church grows beyond a small size,
and therefore to prevent pandemonium it should also be obvious that sharing of gifts
must be contained to a large degree to those entrusted with the responsibility
of teaching and leading in worship.
6.
VS 14:27-28 - “27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most
three, and each in turn, and let one
interpret; 28 but
if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him
speak to himself and to God.” - Paul gives the Corinthians some rules
regarding how the gift of tongues should be used in the gatherings of believers
6.1.
Paul gives an exhortation to order in the church within the small home
fellowship gatherings:
6.1.1. First, he tells them that
two or at the most three should be allowed to speak in a tongue in the church,
and each one who speaks would do so in turn.
6.1.2. In between each one who
speaks in a tongue there should be one who interprets the tongue just spoken,
so that the church might be edified by the tongue.
6.1.3. Paul tells them that if
there is no one to interpret the tongue, that the person who spoke in the
tongue should sit down and speak to himself and to God quietly.
7.
VS 14:29 - “29 And let two or three prophets speak,
and let the others pass judgment.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that when the
church meets that two or three prophets might speak and that when they are
speaking everyone else is to be evaluating whether or not this was in fact a
word from God that had been being shared
7.1.
In continuing his exhortation to unity in the church, Paul tells the
Corinthians that likewise those with the gift of prophesy should speak, two or three
at a time, and while they are speaking prophetically, the others in the church
are to ‘pass judgment’ whether or not these things are from the Lord or
not. Paul is asking them to do what the
apostle John exhorted us to do in 1 John 4:1, about testing the spirits whether
or not they are from God.
7.2.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 1 Thess. 5:109-20 about how
there is to be maintained in the church that very delicate combination of not
quenching the Spirit nor disallowing prophetic utterances, and at the same time
critically evaluating every supposed expression of a gift to see if it matches
the tests for whether or not it is a legitimate work of God, “19 Do not
quench the Spirit; 20 do not despise prophetic utterances. 21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is
good; 22 abstain
from every form of evil”.
7.2.1. We Christians are always to
judge anyone who speaks in the name of the Lord, and not just blindly accept
what they say.
7.2.2. As I mentioned previously,
evaluating whether or not some supposed work is truly from God is frowned upon
by many in the church, as they think that one who evaluates a supposed move of
God or work of the Spirit is actually quenching the Spirit.
8.
VS 14:30 - “30 But if a revelation is made to
another who is seated, let the first keep silent.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians that if
someone believes that he has received a revelation from the Lord during the
service at the point in time when someone else is speaking and sharing their
revelation or gift, then that person is to just keep silent until an
appropriate time presents itself for sharing his new word
8.1.
There must be order in the church, and thus Paul has written this
verse. In
8.2.
Paul tells the Corinthians that there must be order, and that if
someone receives a revelation while another is exercising their gift, he or she
who received the revelation should sit still and be quiet.
8.3.
My wife and I attended for awhile a house church that was more
Pentecostal in origin, and the man and his wife were both pastors. They were also both Italian and very
emotionally oriented. He would speak for
awhile, and then she would interrupt him, and then after she spoke for awhile
he would interrupt her, and this just went on and on all night. It was a bit like watching a tennis
match. Though we appreciated the man and
his wife, this church had an atmosphere of pandemonium and confusion, not of
peace and orderliness.
9.
VS 14:31 - “31 For you can all prophesy one by one,
so that all may learn and all may be exhorted;”
- Paul tells the Corinthians that they
can all prophesy one by one
9.1.
Paul tells the Corinthians that everyone can prophesy in their services,
however they must do so orderly, one at a time.
9.2.
By doing the things that Paul exhorts for us to do in this chapter we
will be keeping order in the church, and in doing so we can all use our
spiritual gifts, and by doing this all who come will learn and be exhorted.
9.3.
There must be practical considerations for applying this verse in every
church gathering. First of all, in each
and every church service, every single person cannot share his gift if the
church is of a very good size.
10.
VS 14:32 - “32 and the spirits of prophets are
subject to prophets;” - Paul tells the Corinthians that a prophet has
control of his own spirit
10.1. Paul tells the Corinthians
in this verse that they can never say that the Holy Spirit took them over and
they were as a result totally out of control over the things that they did when
the Holy Spirit took them over. Rather,
Paul says that the spirit of a prophet is subject to that prophet. He can control the use of his spiritual
gift. God has designed each of us in
this way.
10.2. Paul is clear in this verse
that we Christians can never say that the Lord took us over and as a result we
were out of control and could not limit or regulate the use of our gift. However, in these latest supposed waves of
the Holy Spirit that have been occurring around our country (and the rest of
the world), people have been testifying that contrary to the word of God that
they were for instance made to be drunk in the Spirit and unable to drive home,
or couldn’t quit laughing when the Holy Spirit took them over, or they were
slain in the Spirit and knocked completely unconscious, or that they began
making animal noises and couldn’t quit, etc.
10.2.1.As I mentioned at the
outset, we Christians are responsible to judge our experiences by the word of
God, not visa versa, for anyone can be easily be deceived by an unclean spirit
roaming around this world. If a person
is totally out of control, he may be experiencing the effects of a spirit, but
not that of the Holy Spirit, for God does not contradict His word.
11.
VS 14:33 - “33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the
saints.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that our God is
not a God of confusion but of peace
11.1. Paul tells the Corinthians
that God is not a God of confusion, but rather He brings peace when He is in
control.
11.2. God does not interrupt
Himself, and therefore when someone stands up and interrupts someone else who
is teaching or sharing his or her spiritual gift, it is not the Lord who is
doing the interrupting.
11.3. When a brother or a sister
exercises his gift in a way that causes confusion in the church, it is not God
that is leading him in the use of their gift, for God is not a God of
confusion.
11.4. If a person exercises his or
her gift in such a way as not producing an atmosphere of the peace of God, then
it is not God that is leading them in the use of their gift.
12.
VS 14:34-35 - “34 Let the women keep silent in the
churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves,
just as the Law also says. 35 And if they desire to learn anything, let them
ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in
church.” - Paul tells the women to keep silent in the
churches
12.1. Paul tells the Corinthians
that it is not proper and orderly for the women to be disruptive to the
services and talk during the service.
12.2. In the church in
12.3. Many churches have taught
that this verse is to be interpreted literally to mean that in every situation
in the public gathering of the church that women are not to say a word. However, this view cannot be reconciled by
the word of God. There were women
prophets in the early church, for instance, as Philip in the book of Acts who
had four daughters who were prophetesses.
Likewise, Paul had already mentioned in this book about women praying
and prophesying with their head covered.
Therefore, we must believe that Paul’s exhortation in this chapter is
not that women should not use their gifts in the church for edifying the body,
but rather that they must do what they do in an orderly manner, and not be
disruptive in the process.
12.4. You see, Christian women can
exercise their gifts in the church, however they too must do so in an orderly
manner, and headship in the church is a different issue, for we know that Paul
has already mentioned earlier in this book that a women is not to exercise
authority over a man.
13.
VS 14:36 - “36 Was it from you that the word of God
first went forth? Or has it come to
you only?” - Paul challenges the Corinthians as to whether
or not they are the authoritative source for the word of God
13.1. In this verse, Paul speaks
to the pride of the Corinthians by asking these two questions. The Corinthians acted as if they themselves
were the final authority on spiritual matters.
They also acted as if they were the only church that was in
existence. However, the Corinthians were
not as special as they thought, for Paul’s exhortations to the church were
exhortations which he gave to every church that he planted.
14.
VS 14:37-38 - “37 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or
spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the
Lord's commandment. 38 But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.”
- Being an apostle, Paul tells the
Corinthians that if a person is a leader or a prophet then he should recognize
that Paul’s teachings in this book are true and from the Lord
14.1. As Paul says in other
letters, if a person does not recognize the authority of the apostles and their
teaching, then they are not recognized as being spiritual in their walk with
Christ.
14.2. Paul says in effect that
Christian people must recognize that his teachings are actually the ‘Lord’s
commandment’. These verses show the way
in which the apostolic authority was to be regarded in the church. The word or teaching of an apostle was
considered to be on the level of scripture, for he had been called, trained,
and sent out by the authority of the Lord Himself.
14.3. We Christians must always
realize that our spirituality can be judged by whether or not we submit
ourselves to God’s revealed will from His word.
15.
VS 14:39-40 - “39 Therefore, my brethren, desire
earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 40 But let all
things be done properly and in an orderly manner.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians to desire
earnestly to prophesy, and also allow tongues, however in the church everything
should be done in a proper and orderly manner
15.1. Paul again repeats his
exhortation to the Corinthians that they ought to desire to have the Lord use
the gift of ‘prophesy’ through them.
Paul also exhorts the church though that they are not to overreact to
his exhortations in this book and totally forbid any speaking in tongues within
the church.
15.2. Foremost of all, Paul tells
the Corinthians that more they must do all things in the church ‘properly’ and
‘in an orderly manner’. He has already
defined for us in this chapter then what it means to do these things.