“How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
I Corinthians 14:26-33 NKJV
This will be the last installment on Paul’s treatment of tongues within the Corinthian Church.
“How is it then, brethren?”
Paul literally begins to answer the practical question as to how tongues is to be handled and constructs a worship service template.
“Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”
Please note, Paul tells them when they gather to sing (worship), have some preaching/teaching, give space for tongues, and it’s accompanying interpretation, as well as possible sharing of personal insight (revelation). The key in his instruction is that all these things are building up and encouraging the church. What is remarkable to me, especially in an era where we design our services with little to no Holy Spirit (sign gift) manifestation is that Paul actually instructs that the Corinthians carve out space for it. He doesn’t put tongues in the back room or for small groups. He gives it a slot in the main gathering. For me, it seems clear that the Sunday gathering is not designed for the seeking visitors, but rather the edification of the established saints. I think this passage may answer many of our ecclesiology tensions in our 21st century.
“If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.”
A couple of fascination points are made:
- A public tongue is controllable. Paul has previously stated it is an act of the will. Therefore, it is not so spontaneous as to interrupt the design of the gathering. In fact, Paul restricts the public tongue to a maximum of three and to present it in turn with interpretation.
- If there is no interpretation of the tongue, Paul restricts the declaration to the congregation, but not the prayer language. In fact, this may be the best indicator that a public tongue and individual prayer language can appear remarkably similar. His correction to a non-interpreted tongue is NOT a rebuke or an admonishment, but rather a recognition that the person is speaking TO God and not FROM God.
“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.”
Paul pivots to now putting some boundaries around the prophetic utterances as well. In like fashion as with the unknown tongues, he restricts prophecy to 2 or 3 with other prophets acting as endorsers. He also mentions that prophecy can happen though anyone and everyone in the congregation as long as it is done in order. This will be an important point later in the chapter as Paul will address the concept of women being “silent” in the service. I am not opening up that can as these posts are directed to primarily the manifestation of tongues, however, the honest interpreter will have to address the issue of Paul’s statement here of unrestricted use by either gender contrasted with his apparent gender restriction which occurs later in the chapter. There is probably more happening at Corinth than simply a debate of Complimentarianism v. Egalitarianism. As far as the prophetic utterances are concerned, one more time he reminds them everyone needs encouragement.
“And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
This verse has fascinated me as it has caused me to wonder how prophecy was to be judged in totality. Again, Paul appears to say that not only the words which are spoken are needing to be judged, but the tone or the “spirit” (lower case ’s’) plays a role in its discernment. Paul leaves this tone judgment to those prophets who may be better equipped to actually judge such things. The bottom line is, there is a divine decorum which should prevail in the life of the public gathering. The activity of the Holy Spirit can be stretching for an individual at times. There will always be a tension between appropriate supernatural manifestation and carnal weirdness. The Lord authors one, but not the other.
I also think by way of conclusion that it might be helpful to mention that each local church will have its own unique culture. Some church cultures will feel far more restrictive than other according to its history and leadership influence. Some of this is to be expected, in much the same way no two (2) Christian families’ home culture is exactly the same yet both honor the Lord. Some households are very formal and rigid about how the house is kept, while others are far more relaxed. One should try to respect each household’s culture, as well as a church culture, all the while respecting the Holy Spirit’s leadership in directing the gathering most of all.
Hopefully, these short exegetical commentaries have been thought provoking.
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