1 Corinthians 14
Prophesy serves those present who would benefit from hearing the word. Paul seems to emphasize this above all other gifts of the spirit because it is beneficial to the listeners. This is Paul's whole purpose in writing these letters. To bring about a godly order in their meetings so that believers are edified, taught the word, biblical unity and to be able to minister in the spirit when God uses them to prophesy. He is exhorting them to tarry one for another, show respect and not be pushy, rude and have unruly chaos which will not edify anyone else. Paul wants to see all used of God, but in a way that is fruitful and not confusing. Worship and praise is great but the word needs to be brought forth as well. There always should be a priority given to the word. There is no substitute for the giving forth of the word. There should be a time for both. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Without faith we can’t possibly please God so we must have the word first to build up our faith. The faith in turn reaches the heart of God. Someone though has to be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to make them a vessel ready to share the word to those around us. Singing is great, praying both with tongues and in our own language is marvelous; testifying can be tremendous, but hearing either prophesy, teaching or preaching by those anointed to preach the word should never be neglected.
One of the mysteries of speaking in tongues is that we can pray in the spirit. Sometimes we just don't know what to pray for but the spirit of God knows. Speaking in tongues is a way to pray to God. It edifies the one doing the praying. It does very little for the person who may be listening and is not praying themselves. However, sometimes when we hear someone praying in tongues it gives us the boldness we need to pray likewise and it reminds us that we are not alone. So praying in tongues is between a person and God. It is wonderful, And I definitely will never apologize for tongues; but in public when it’s time for the word to be brought forth, the one speaking in tongues must pray quietly or wait until the preaching is done and it is time to pray. It is not wrong to pray in tongues if everyone is praying together and it is time to pray. Just because you hear someone speaking in tongues out loud does not mean they are in the wrong. The only time when they have to remain quiet is when it is time for the word to be preached or taught and then we must all stop our singing, worship, praise etc. so that the word can be heard by those that need it. We must not ever go the opposite extreme and shy away from praying on tongues or other languages that God has given to us supernaturally. Supernatural praying in tongues is not a language we have studied or learned but it is supernatural utterance spoken through us by the Holy Spirit. I get the picture here of people excited of the newly outpouring of the Holy Spirit and want to pray any time they desire without allowing for enough order so that all present can receive further teaching and understanding of the word of God. They were worshiping well but not doing so in a manner that all could benefit and learn. We must not write them off as "not of God" but realize they are just excited about their new faith. We need this but we need the word also. Prophesy and interpretation, preaching and teaching is also needed.
I don't believe that Paul means that one person is greater than the other because that would contradict other scriptures. I believe he meant that in public assemblies where the word needs to be given to all present, it is better to prophesy than to speak with tongues out loud. The greater need is to prophesy. He is not downplaying speaking in tongues. How can one downplay any gift of God? He is just instructing us to keep silent when the word is brought forth so that those that need the word can be edified.
Speaking in tongues is for our own edification and is between us and God unless there is one who will interpret what we are speaking. If we are not giving a message for all to hear to be interpreted, then we must lower our voice and speak only to God when in a public assembly and the word is being preached. We should never interrupt someone preaching the word to pray out loud in tongues or in our own language. The same would be true if we interrupted the preaching or prophesying with singing, clapping, or any form of worship. Apparently the Corinthians may have thought since they could speak with tongues they could do it all the time in public, hindering the preaching of the word. If Paul had not have spoken about these things, we would see more interruptions than we do now. Unfortunately some have taken Paul’s writing to extremes and have excluded tongues and explained them away.
If one got up and spoke in Latin, Spanish or by praying in the spirit when it was time for the word to be preached, it would not do the hearers any good. We have to speak in the language the hearers speak and understood in order to edify them.
When we remember the 13th chapter of Corinthians on love, we can see why it was so important to include it in the book of Corinthians. If we are made perfect in love, our desire would not just be our own edification but we would desire for unbelievers to receive the word and also for those that need comfort, exhortation and help to receive edification. We never should use the gifts of the spirit to puff ourselves up and bring attention or ourselves in any way. The glory belongs to God and the gifts are given to share the gospel with others and edify others. Never are they given to glorify a certain person or exalt one above another. If I lay hands on a sick person and they are healed, that doesn't make me any more holy than someone who does not. We have nothing that wasn't given from God and that isn't available to all who seek Him.
If we do give a public utterance in tongues, we should pray that we interpret it so that the hearers can be edified. This clarifies a little confusion. If it was wrong to pray in tongues in public then Paul wouldn't have said this. I've heard people say that it is wrong to ever speak in tongues in church and even discredited the person to did the speaking. Paul was not saying that. If one gives forth an utterance in tongues and no one interprets it, then we must keep silent and just speak quietly to God. There is no way we can know ahead of time that there is no interpreter. So if one just speaks and there is no one to interpret, that doesn't mean he is out of God's will or out of order. If he continues to speak in tongues when it is clear that there is no interpreter, then we can say he or she may be out of order but not if just one utterance is given. However, let us remember the 13th chapter and walk in love not accusation. Give allowances for mistakes especially for those who have not yet understood the correct order that Paul is bringing forth to us. It doesn't mean a person is, "of the devil," if they make a mistake in this area. Walk in love.
Remember the word, "For thou verily givest thanks well." Tongues are not wrong and not a lesser gift. Some avoid it all together because they misunderstand Paul's message. He never says, not to speak with tongues. He only says that in public assemblies, we must be aware of others present and seek that they may be edified.
If we walked in love these things would have a way of working out. Paul was usually the one that did the public speaking and if he would have gotten up to speak and just start praying in tongues, no one would have been edified. After the preaching of the word there are many churches that have a time when all gather at the front to pray. At that time it would be okay for all to speak with tongues in worship as long as the word was not being preached. I've heard preachers who would get excited when they preach and speak forth a short burst in tongues but immediately returned to their message. There is nothing wrong with that type of utterance and it doesn't necessarily need to be interpreted. That was a burst of praise. If he continued a long time speaking in tongues then we might say, it was time to stop so the church could be edified. Legalism rears its ugly head many times and has done so for many centuries. Remember that the legalists tried to find fault with Jesus many times. We do make the mistake of taking Paul’s writings to extremes and making a legal law out of Paul’s advice on how to conduct a meeting that will benefit all present. He is not making commandments on whether or not one is saved or lost. He is trying to bring order to those who were in disorder so that the whole church could be edified and not just the speakers. Legalism uses a law as a club and usually lacks love and mercy. Does that mean that we have no laws and forsake sound doctrine? Absolutely not; we should endeavor to seek the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law. What is Paul really trying to tell us? Not to speak in tongues in public? No or no one could ever be publically baptized in the Holy Spirit and have any evidence of speaking in tongues like they did on the day of Pentecost or in the house of Cornelius. Let’s seek to understand the spirit of what Paul is trying to say instead of waiting to pounce on those that speak with tongues and make a false doctrine out of what Paul is saying. Paul is not making hell (heaven) salvation doctrine here, he is giving advice on how to have spiritual successful meetings in which all are edified. Paul does this many times. In chapter 11 where he speaks of women praying or prophesying with their heads uncovered and men praying with their heads covered. He is not making doctrines about whether or not one should cut their hair, he is trying to keep peace and not offend people who have certain customs concerning men and women and how they should act. He is not making any commandments that would result in the loss of one’s soul if they have long hair or short. I’ve read on the Internet that there are some that actually believe a woman will not enter heaven if she goes out in public with without a head covering of some kind. There are others that have strict standards against speaking in tongues in public or even against speaking in tongues at any time yet they will ignore the hair chapter. Their women will get haircuts and do not wear head coverings. If you’re going to accept Paul’s writing on tongues in a literal (This saith the word) sense, then one should accept his writing on head coverings literally.
Paul here says that tongues are a sign for unbelievers and I believe that statement. There could also be many reasons for this wonderful gift of praying in tongues. I believe it is a sign for unbelievers. 1. That the Holy Spirit is present
This is the main purpose of public assemblies. To help, to edify, to comfort, or bring forth the word, to strengthen to bless others until the end of the service when many of us gather just to pray. Tongues would be okay at that point when the preaching or teaching has concluded and it was prayer or worship time. Love, Love, love is the key. Do all in love and for the glory of God. Don't seek just to be heard, just to glorify self or just to entertain. Seek for the good of others and for the glory of God. Will what I'm about to say help someone else or is it going to puff up myself?
He has to speak first before it can be known if there is an interpreter. Some take this to mean that no one ever should speak in tongues in church. Interpreters can be the one speaking in tongues or someone else. A person has to be yielded to the Holy Spirit at that particular time in order to interpret tongues. If there is no interpreter present, it could just mean that no one present has been spiritually prepared to interpret. To interpret tongues, I believe one has to be what we use to call, "Prayed up." He has to be spiritually in tune with what God wants at the time. If we make rules and say that if there is no interpretation, they must not ever speak in tongues in a public assembly, then how could anyone ever receive the Holy Spirit if when they receive the Holy Spirit they speak in tongues as a sign that the spirit has come? If we forbid the public speaking in tongues, we may be quenching the spirit. Again I repeat, lets seek the spirit of what Paul is teaching, not the legalistic letter of what he is saying. He is not making a doctrine or creed for us to write up and have people sign. At times he does give commandments and instructions from the Lord and at other times he speaks for himself out of his own opinion. He does say at the end of this chapter that he is stating these words to be commandments from the Lord and he also says not to forbid the speaking in tongues, so we have to be careful not to misunderstand what he is saying and get it right or we will put people into bondage. Comparing these scriptures with other scriptures on the same subject may help.
Maintain order so that others can be edified. God does not cause confusion. In saying that, we must be compassionate toward the newbie that may have not learned to yield to the spirit in a way that edifies others. If we are quick to pounce on those that make mistakes, we may discourage them from ever being used by the Holy Spirit. Remember again to seek the will of the Holy Spirit and seek for all to be edified not seek to make a list of legalistic rules to bring people into bondage so that no one can be used by the Holy Spirit at all. Again we are reminded of the 13th chapter on love that is previous to this chapter.
Although the gifts are perfect, we are not perfect. We still have control over how and when they are used. The Holy Spirit does not take over and dominate our will. If all of us try to speak forth a message at the same time without waiting until one is done and the message is interpreted, then it will cause confusion. We can hold back or we can yield to the spirit.
The strange thing with this verse is that there is nothing in the law that refers to a woman’s silence so it must be referring to the law of the land in that area. If it was in the law given by Moses, then Paul is one that teaches we are no longer under the law so why would he try to bring the church back under it in the case of a woman?
It could be that women were interrupting the service by making enquiries that should have waited until they got home. It is said that the old custom was that men and women sat apart on different sides of the building and didn’t worship together as they do now. Many take this to mean that women are not to give messages in tongues, prophesy, preach, teach or say anything in public. When we run across passages such as these we must consider other passages and again remember that Paul is not making commandments but trying to maintain order. This has caused a lot of controversy about whether a woman can preach or prophesy. First of all let us consider other verses. The first one I will consider is the words of Paul himself in chapter 11.
Why would Paul give instructions about a women not praying or prophesying with
her head uncovered if she was not to prophesy in public. Prophesying is done in
public so the church can be edified. So we see from this passage that he
couldn’t be forbidding women to prophesy.
Daughters are women in case no one understands that. Peter quotes this verse on the day of Pentecost when both men and women received the Holy Spirit, spoke with tongues and prophesied.
In Acts 21 we see that the daughters of Philip prophesied publically.
Why would God give women gifts of the spirit and then tell them not to use them? Why would God give women a burning desire to teach the word and then forbid them not to teach? When we read all four gospels which contain the words of Jesus more than any other books of the bible, we see that Jesus Himself never put any limitations on women like many modern preachers do. If Jesus thought it was that important to suppress the use of women, why does He never mention it? So Paul must be referring to something else. Perhaps they had a habit of interrupting the men and asking questions in the middle of the service thereby causing confusion and disorder. Perhaps they wanted to take over the authority and were not allowing the men to use the authority given to them. We could suppose all kinds of things and we have to consider other verses. We know that women prophesied in the bible. Also Anna was a prophetess. God did use women.
It could be that in the women in Paul’s day figured that since God gave them the Holy Spirit and they could prophesy then they could speak anytime they wanted to and didn’t have to submit to any male authority or even their husband’s authority. There was a woman spoken of in the church at Thyatira that was allowed to teach false teaching. Had she taught truth and was given authority to teach, it would not have been wrong. She was teaching evil things and was allowed to do so. All women who teach do not teach evil. There have been more male false teachers over the centuries than there have been false prophets among women. We see from both Old and New Testaments that God had women who were prophets. If it is not wrong for a woman to be a prophet in the Old Testament or like Anna the prophetess in the New Testament, then it couldn’t be wrong now. God doesn’t change. I personally prefer a man for the church leadership because in my background and the way I was brought up, my Dad was my spiritual mentor. My mother was not serving the Lord at that time. Naturally, I’m going to be more comfortable with male leadership because of Dad’s faithfulness to the Lord and He was the one who raised me, took me to church and taught me the word. There are times though when God uses women to lead. It could be that there is a shortage of male leadership. It is better to have a Holy Spirit filled woman who is listening to the Holy Spirit than a half baked worldly male who does not have respect to the word or the will of God. Even if I prefer male teachers, I would rather hear a godly woman teach than a false male teacher who doesn’t love the flock and who does not even know the Lord. Why should a woman be penalized for something in which she had no control? The way she was born, male or female. If we lived in a remote place and there were no saved men called of God, and there was only a woman who was saved and had a burden for the lost, how can we say that God wouldn't want the gospel to be preached because there were no qualified men who would do it? We can't just use Paul's words to forbid women to be used of God. It’s obvious to me that women were to be in subjection and not to assume authority that God doesn't give them, but there are many times when God uses women. Godly women though usually are not the type to desire to be domineering over men or anybody. None of us are supposed to control or dominate someone else according to the words of the Lord. The apostles were not supposed to be big chiefs either. Jesus said that whoever is chief among you let them be the servants. That is a trait of Gentiles, not God’s people and perhaps it is Gentile people who were used to a male dominated society that Paul is trying to deal with.
This verse is strange indeed and I will include what another writer wrote about this verse. "Remember Paul is writing this letter as an answer to one they previously wrote him. If we had a copy of that letter, this letter would be clearer to us but it wasn’t given to us so we have to just guess what they wrote. Some believe they were trying to forbid women to speak or prophesy and wrote to Paul about it. As a result, Paul was just quoting what they had written to him previously and it caused him to write, “What? Came the word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only?” Thereby rebuking them for trying to forbid women to be used by the Holy Spirit publically. Some believe Paul was saying. “Did the word of God only come to you men and not to women? Is not the word for women also?” As for their explanation for Paul’s words to Timothy, they say that the word man should have been interpreted as husband and that a women should not attempt to use her new found freedom in the Holy Spirit to assume or usurp authority over her husband but submit to him as unto the Lord. This of course is presumed that her husband is a godly husband that is apt to teach and take godly authority.
The word “man” here may have been meant to be “husband.”
Paul said his words were commandments of the Lord. Many take all verses up to verse 38 to be commandments of the Lord but ignore verse 39. "Forbid not to speak with tongues" is to be remembered for some have used this same chapter to do that very thing. We are also to desire to prophesy and not despise prophesy. They will edify, and comfort the whole church. We must get away from the idea that tongues are strange and weird. It is a sign from God that He is among us, it is a sign that the gospel is for every tongue, tribe and nation, it is proof of the supernatural power of God and to speak by the spirit in this manner is beautiful. The first time I spoke in tongues was on the way home from church in the back seat of my dad's car. He was driving. My step mother was beside him. I was in the back seat just thinking about God. No one was praying or even paying any attention to me. All the sudden I started saying, "Praise the Lord," quietly. I felt something take over my tongue and I began to speak in a beautiful language that I had never heard before. I could tell it was a language. The enunciation was perfect. I never can deny the existence of God after that. That was proof to me that God exists, the bible is true and Jesus Christ is the way of salvation just like the bible teaches. I have proof every time I speak in another tongue.
All must be done to edify the church, save the lost and bring glory to Jesus
Christ. Love is the key.
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