JESUS CHRIST, THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH

As I was thinking and praying about the message I should bring on the weekend of the coronation of King Charles III, a phrase from Revelation 1:5 came to my mind:

JESUS CHRIST, THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH.

Of course, the word king is used in a variety of ways, but its general meaning is someone who rules and it’s in that sense that we’ll be looking at it today. But first, let’s read Revelation 1:4-8.

4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.  So shall it be! Amen.8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Notice that this passage has something to say about:

·       King Charles, who is one of the kings of the earth.

·       The Lord Jesus Christ, the king of kings, who is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

·       Us Christians who as Christ’s church are a kingdom of priests.

A.     The kings of the earth (5)

Of course, King Charles is just one example. But let’s not to concentrate on King Charles. Rather, let’s take a brief look at what the Bible says about kings and rulers in general. Much of what we say will apply to King Charles – I’ll leave it to you to decide how much – but in many mays it’s more applicable to those who hold high office in government. Please notice 4 things:

1.     Their authority to rule is God-given

Romans 13:1

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Of course, we know that historically this has been used to insist that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority. King James I of England (1603-25), for example. Fortunately, we know that  her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II understood her role as one of servanthood, and there are indications that King Charles will be adopting the same approach. Indeed, in our constitutional system, the power of the monarch is extremely limited anyway.

However, the NT clearly teaches that God himself is the source of all authority, and that all human authority is delegated from him. That’s why as Christians we should obey the laws, pay our taxes etc., unless, of course, the law of the state is contrary to God’s law. But those to whom God has given authority are ultimately accountable to God for the way in which they handle that authority and are responsible for the wellbeing of their people.

2.     Their accountability to their ruler

As we have seen, verse 5 describes the Lord Jesus as the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the king to whom all other kings are accountable. He is the King of kings. The late queen was very conscious of this, and it is said of Queen Victoria that she hoped that the Lord would return in her lifetime so that she could be the first to cast down her crown at his feet. If only world leaders were equally aware of their accountability to him.

3.     Their responsibility for the wellbeing of their people

Some of the parables Jesus told teach clearly that we are all accountable to God for our use of the things he has entrusted to us. This is particularly true of those who are in authority. The more we have been entrusted with, the more is required of us. Read Ezekiel 34 to see what God says about the shepherds (i.e. kings) of Israel, who had looked after themselves rather than caring for the people.

4.     Our responsibility to those in authority

a)     We should pray for them

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:2)

b)     We should submit to them

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and commend those who do right (1 Peter 2:13).

c)     We should honour them

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor (1 Peter 2:17).

B.     JESUS – The ruler of the kings of the earth (5)

WHAT HE IS:  

The ruler of the kings of the earth

The kings of the earth are temporal. They live, they die. And their authority perishes with them. But Jesus is eternal. Before Abraham was, I AM. He always has been, and he always will be, and his power and authority will never end.

1 Timothy 1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:15-16

God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen.

N.B. Here God is described as the only ruler. But in Revelation 1:5 Jesus is described as the ruler of the kings of the earth. This is just one of many evidences for the deity of Christ.

The Eternal Son of God

Grace and peace to you from

him who is, and who was, and who is to come

and from the seven spirits before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ (4-5).

Cf. verse 8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”    

The faithful witness

Jesus said that the reason he came into the world was to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37). His word is reliable. You can count on it. Everything he ever said was true. And because he wouldn’t deny the truth, they crucified him. But God raised him from the dead. Jesus was vindicated! He had said that he would rise from the dead, and he did. And he has promised eternal life to those who believe him. Because he lives, we shall live also. You can rely on what he says. He’s the faithful witness.

The firstborn from the dead

Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Compare Colossians 1:18 where he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

And in verse 15 he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Everything in heaven and earth was created by him and for him (16). He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (17). In short:

He is supreme in the church. He is supreme in the earth. He is supreme in heaven. He is supreme over death itself.

And in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that his victory over death is the basis of our victory too:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his turn, Christ the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him (1 Corinthians 15:23).

WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US:

He has freed us from our sins by his blood (5)

We have all sinned, but because Jesus died for us, when we accept him as our Saviour we are freed from the penalty of sin.

He has made us a kingdom, and priests to serve his God and Father (6)

More of this in a moment.

He has promised to come again (7)

7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.  So shall it be! Amen.

The details need not concern us. What matters is:

·       He is coming

·       Those who rejected him will know they were wrong

·       There will be ultimate justice

·       But we have nothing to fear because he has freed us from our sins…

And all this is because he loves us (v5).

C.     YOU AND I  as part of the church, a kingdom of priests

6…and has made us to be a kingdom, and priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession…

Revelation 5:9-10

And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Note: he has made us…  you have made them… We’re already a kingdom of priests.

But they will reign on the earth.

Exactly what this will mean in the age to come has not been revealed, but 2 Peter 3:13 tells us that

In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells.

All earthly rulers are temporary.

Only Christ the supreme ruler is the King Eternal.

We, as Christians, are already part of his kingdom – a kingdom of priests with direct access to God.

But in the age to come WE WILL REIGN WITH HIM.

Galatians   Talk 2.  Galatians 1:6-9

In our first talk we began by looking at three reasons why Galatians is important:

It has made a significant impact on the history of the church

It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works

It’s of practical relevance to our daily lives.

We then made a start on the text by reading the first 6 verses:

1. Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead  2. and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:  3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4. who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5. to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

We noted that Paul’s purpose in writing was to correct a serious doctrinal error that had crept into the churches since Paul had planted them. Paul had taught them that we are saved by faith in Jesus, and not by observing the law of the Old Testament, but some were now teaching that circumcision was now necessary for salvation, and Paul was amazed that they had so quickly turned away from what he had taught them (6). And that’s where we pick up the reading today. Let’s read verses 6-7.

6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel –

7. which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

v 6 I am astonished

After the customary greeting at the beginning of his letters, Paul usually says something to commend his readers, even if later he has to say something to correct or rebuke them, but the problem in Galatia is so serious that he moves straight into the issue he urgently needs to deal with. He is astonished, astounded, appalled at what they are doing. There are some issues in church life where we need to be direct, although the usual approach to those who need to be corrected is gentleness (6:1).

so quickly deserting

He’s astonished that they’re departing from the gospel he preached to them, but particularly that they’re doing it so quickly. It wasn’t long since they had heard and received his message of salvation by faith in Christ, but they had soon moved away from it when they heard a different ‘gospel’.

the one who called you

But they were not only rejecting the true gospel. They were rejecting the one who had called them. But what does Paul mean by the one? Does he mean himself or Christ? Of course, it is Christ who calls us to salvation and the rejection of Christ is far more serious than the rejection of his messengers. But Jesus did say to his disciples, Whoever rejects you rejects me (Luke 10:16), so is there a double – or even treble – meaning here? In rejecting Paul’s message, they were rejecting the messenger, and in rejecting the messenger they were rejecting Christ, the one who sent him.

What should we do when people reject our message? Paul was certainly exasperated by the behaviour of the Galatians, but he did not desert them. He felt responsible for them and cared enough to warn them of the serious consequences if they continued to reject his message.

by the grace of Christ

As Christ’s messenger, Paul had called them by the grace of Christ. Grace, the unmerited favour of God, was the heart of Paul’s message. On his first visit to Galatia he had preached that

Through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39).

And this was the message of his grace (14:3).

If the churches he is writing to in Galatians are the same as those he planted in these chapters in Acts, they had certainly already heard Paul’s message of justification by faith.

and are turning to a different gospel

But now they are turning to a different gospel. The word Paul uses for different is heteros, which means another.  In Greek there are two different words for another:

            heteros which means another of a different kind

            and

            allos which means another of the same kind.

Paul uses both these words in verses 6-7. In verse 6 he says that the Galatians are turning to another gospel. Here he uses heteros. Their so called ‘gospel’ of justification by obeying the law of Moses was a totally different kind of gospel than that which Paul preached, justification by faith. Gospel (euangelion in Greek) means good news.  And their insistence that for a man to be saved he must be circumcised as well as believe was certainly not good news!

In most countries today circumcision is probably not the issue that it was back then, but any insistence that any ritual baptism, communion for example is essential to salvation is a false gospel. We should be baptised and take communion because Jesus commanded it, but it’s only faith that saves us.

v 7 which is really no gospel at all

In fact their ‘gospel’ was really no gospel at all. Translated literally, what he says is:

which is not another.

Here Paul uses allos (another of the same kind). Their ‘gospel’ is not the same kind at all. It’s bad news, not good news.

some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ

Any teaching that detracts from the simplicity of the true gospel of salvation by grace through faith is in fact a perversion and will only lead to confusion. In 1 Corinthians 14:33 Paul tells us that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. It was God the Holy Spirit who brought order out of chaos (Genesis 1:1).

8. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned

9. As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

But even if we…

In effect, Paul is saying, Even if I start preaching a different gospel, don’t believe it! The message of the gospel is more important than the messenger, however impressive their credentials, their personality, or their presentation. It’s the truth of the message that validates the messenger.

or an angel from heaven

This may reflect the Jewish belief that the law had been given through angelic mediators (cf. Acts 7:38) but is more likely to be connected with the fact that Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Confusion is his work and he’s still in the confusion business today. What Bible believing Christian can fail to see the hand of Satan in the upheaval of moral standards that has taken place in recent decades, as biblical revelation has been rejected, even in some churches, and replaced with the mistaken ideas of godless people?  Those who bring confusion, whether it’s into the churches or into society at large would do well to heed Paul’s urgent warning in these verses:

But why the repetition? This may be just for emphasis, but As we have already said (9) may well be a reference to his teaching when he had planted the churches. However, the two verses are not entirely identical:

Verse 8 refers to the gospel he had preached.

Verse 9 refers to the gospel they had accepted.

Paul had not only preached the true gospel, but the Galatians had accepted it.

let him be eternally condemned

The word Paul uses here is anathema. He uses it in Romans 9:3 where he says that he could wish himself accursed from Christ if only his fellow Jews might be saved. The plain sense there is that he would have been willing to sacrifice his own salvation if only it could achieve theirs. And in 1 Corinthians 16:22 he uses it to say, If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ let them be accursed. So the NIV translation, eternally condemned, here in Galatians, does not seem inappropriate.

But did Paul really want anyone to be eternally condemned? If it sounds like it here, we need to remember that Paul had dedicated his life to preaching the gospel so that others might be saved. If his words seem harsh, we should remind ourselves that God himself, who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, will not force salvation on anyone. He has provided the way of salvation through faith in the atoning death of Christ, but, if that is rejected, Jesus said those who do not believe are condemned already (John 3:18).  This is because the only way of salvation is through faith in Christ – and that’s because only Christ was capable of saving us.

So here in Galatians Paul is only affirming what God has already said. Those who were teaching, and those who were believing, a different ‘gospel’ were denying the total efficacy of Christ’s death on the cross, and to reject that is to reject the salvation that it offers. And as Paul says elsewhere, Their condemnation is just (Romans 3:8).

This matter is so important, and Paul cares so much about those he had led to Christ, that he urges them to reject the false gospel of the Judaizers and to return to the gospel by which they had been saved in the first place. Salvation is dependent on accepting the gospel. We cannot lose our salvation, but this passage shows that we can reject it by rejecting the gospel we once believed.

Paul’s teaching throughout Galatians reminds us of the urgency of both believing (and continuing to believe) and preaching the one true gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. We will return to this theme again and again, but as we do so perhaps we should ask ourselves how seriously we are taking our responsibility of sharing this truth with others.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians.    Talk 1. Why Galatians is important

Welcome to a new series of talks in which we will be studying Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this talk we’ll be looking at the first five verses, but I’ll begin by giving you three reasons why Galatians is important.

1.      It has made a significant impact on the history of the church

It’s clear from what Paul writes in the letter that the young Christian Church was facing very real problems. Christianity had its beginnings in Judaism and the majority of the first Christians were Jewish. But as more and more Gentiles became Christians the question arose as to whether the Gentile Christians needed to obey all the laws of the Old Testament.

The most significant of these was the Jewish rite of circumcision, and some were insisting that Gentiles who became Christians needed to be circumcised if they were to be saved (Acts 15:1). The matter was so serious that the apostles convened a special meeting to discuss the matter, sometimes referred to as the council of Jerusalem, details of which are given us in Acts 15. It was probably around this time (AD49) that Paul wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia, where the problem was particularly acute. Humanly speaking, if the church had insisted on circumcision, Christianity would have made little impact on the Gentiles and almost certainly would never have grown to become the world’s largest religion as it is today.

And Galatians was again to become highly significant in church history several hundred years later, when, as a result of reading it, an Augustinian friar named Martin Luther (1483-1546) became convinced that Christians are saved through faith, and not as a result of their own efforts, which is the main theme of the letter.

2.      It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works

In the first two chapters, speaking from his experience, Paul insists that his apostolic authority comes from none other than God himself (1:1), and that the gospel he preaches is the only true gospel (1:6-10), because he received it by revelation from Jesus (11-12), not as a result of human consultation (1:16). Only later, in response to a revelation, did he go up to Jerusalem and set before the church leaders there the gospel that he preached to the Gentiles (2:1-2) and Titus, who was a Gentile Christian accompanying Paul, was not compelled to be circumcised (2:3). In fact, James, Peter, and John had recognised the special ministry that God had given to Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (2:7-9) and in 2:15-16 Paul reports how he had said to them:

We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Having recounted his own experience in chapters 1 and 2, at the beginning of chapter 3 Paul appeals to the Galatians’ own experience of how the Holy Spirit works among them, not because they observe the law but because they believe (1-6). This is followed in the rest of chapter 3 and throughout chapter 4, by a theological explanation of why we are made right with God, not by our good works, but by our trusting in Jesus, something which Paul develops later in greater detail in his letter to the Romans. But that leads us to the third reason why Galatians is important:

3.      It’s of practical relevance to our daily lives

Paul’s teaching that justification is by faith and not by works is not just a theological theory. It’s of vital importance to our lives, and not only to our initial experience of salvation, but also to how we live our Christian lives from day to day. So in chapters 5 and 6 Paul offers a practical application of all he’s been saying in the first four chapters.

Christ has set us free from the law of the Old Testament and we’re not to let ourselves get tangled up in it again (5:1). We’re free from it, but we’re not to use our freedom as an excuse for wrong-doing. The important thing is to serve one another in love (5:13) because love fulfils all the requirements of the law (5:14). In fact, the whole law can be summarised in the commandment, Love your neighbour as yourself. We can do this if we live by the Spirit, and if we live by the Spirit we are not under the law (16-18).

In verses 19-21 Paul lists what he calls the works of the flesh – the kind of things the Spirit will not prompt us to do – and in verses 22-23 he tells us of those things which will be evident in our lives if we follow the leading of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He calls these the fruit of the Spirit.

Finally, in chapter 6, we fulfil the law of Christ (2) (the law of love)

·        by gently restoring those who have sinned (1)

·        by carrying each other’s burdens (2)

·        by carrying our own burdens (4)

·        by pleasing the Spirit (8)

·        by doing good to all (10).

Of course there is far more in Galatians than the brief summary I have given so far, and we’ll be looking at each chapter in more detail in future talks. But I hope I’ve said enough to persuade you that Galatians is well worth studying, because, as we have seen:

It has made a significant impact on the history of the church

It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works

It’s of practical relevance to our daily lives.

But now, let’s make a start by reading the first six verses of chapter 1.

1. Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead  2. and all the brothers with me,     To the churches in Galatia:  3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4. who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5. to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel..

Paul, an apostle

Paul begins his letter with his name, which was the custom at the time (unlike our custom of leaving our name until the end of a letter). He then immediately reminds the Galatians of his apostolic calling. (For a detailed study of apostles in the New Testament, please see Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow, Chapter Two). The word apostolos in Greek literally means someone who is sent, but usually carried the idea of someone who had been given special authority to speak on behalf of someone else, rather like an ambassador. The more important the person he was representing, the more important the ambassador himself, and Paul knew that he was representing the highest authority of all.

sent not from men nor by man

Acts records how, before his conversion, Paul had already been an ambassador – an ambassador sent by man to persecute the church (Acts 9:1-2, 22:4-5, 26:9-12).

but by Jesus Christ and God the Father

But now he is God’s ambassador. He needs to remind the Galatians of this, because they had so quickly moved away from the truth of the gospel he had preached to them and in doing so had deserted him (v6).

who raised him from the dead

It was the risen Christ who had appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road and given him his apostolic authority.

v.2 and all the brothers with me

We don’t know who these brothers were as Paul does not name them and we can’t be sure of the exact timing of the letter. However, despite the apostolic authority he had been given, Paul was not a loner. Whatever our gifting, we all need the fellowship, encouragement and support of fellow Christians. Perhaps Paul’s reason for mentioning them here is to stress that, although the Galatians were deserting him, there were still those who were loyal to him and the message he preached.

To the churches in Galatia

There has been some debate as to who these churches were. Those who are interested should consult the commentaries. But what’s important is that they were churches that Paul had planted and had originally received gladly his message of salvation through faith in Christ and not by observance of the law.

v.3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Paul often sent this greeting at the beginning of his letters, but this was no mere formality. It’s a measure of the stature of the man that he could speak grace and peace over those who were rejecting his message.

v.4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father

the present evil age

Since the coming of Jesus the Christian message has transformed society wherever it has been accepted, yet who can doubt, as we look at the world around us today, that we are still living in the present evil age of which Paul speaks in this verse? Yet there is hope in this verse, because it’s the present age that is evil. The Bible is very clear that things will be different in the age to come!

who gave himself for our sins to rescue us

We have all played our part in contributing to the evil of this present age. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But Jesus came to rescue us. He did this by giving himself for our sins. He did this by dying on the cross and taking on himself the punishment our sins deserved. In doing so he has rescued us from the penalty of sin, he continues to rescue us from the power of sin, and one day, in the age to come, he will rescue us from the presence of sin.

according to the will of our God and Father

And he did this according to the will of God. God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). But, as Paul tells us throughout Galatians, a vital aspect of the truth is that salvation is through faith and not by works. How grateful we should be for that! Our good works could never save us, but by his death on the cross Jesus has made salvation available to all who will believe. No wonder Paul could say in verse 5:

to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Next time, we’ll pick up where we left off, beginning with verse 6.

Dr David Petts preaching at Brixham Community Church, 19th March 2023.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

The Death of Jesus

28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”

29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.

30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

IT IS FINISHED

What was?

His earthly life – v. 30 With that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit

But far, far more than that!  It was the end of much, much more.

The old covenant that God had made with his people, the Jews

Hebrews 8:7-13

7 … if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

8 But God found fault with the people and said (in Jeremiah 31:31-34): “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete…

The OT is a revelation of the old covenant that God made with his people, but the OT itself promised that the day would come when God would make a new and better covenant with them.

We are not living under the old covenant that God made with the Jewish people, but under the new covenant which is sealed with the blood of Jesus.

When Jesus died on the cross he declared, IT IS FINISHED (John 19:30). The word ‘finished’ here means ‘accomplished’ or ‘completed’.

Jesus had completed the work his Father had given him to do. His death on the cross provided atonement for our sins and was the fulfilment of all OT law. His finished work on the cross is the basis for the new covenant which extends beyond the Jews to the Gentiles as well…

The barrier between Jew and Gentile

Ephesians 2:14

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

The barrier between God and man

Matthew 27 :51

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom

The written code that was against us

Colossians 2 :13-14

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

The tyranny of the principalities and powers

Colossians 2 :15

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

The power and fear of death

Hebrews 2 :14-15

…he too shared in (our) humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

‘Tis finished! The Messiah dies, cut off for sins, but not his own.

Accomplished is the sacrifice, the great redeeming work is done.

‘Tis finished! All the debt is paid. Justice divine is satisfied,

The grand and full atonement made. God for a guilty world has died.

The veil is rent in Christ alone. The living way the heaven is seen.

The middle wall is broken down and all mankind may enter in.

The types and figures are fulfilled. Exacted is the legal pain.

The precious promises are sealed. The spotless Lamb of God is slain.

The reign of sin and death is o’er, and all may live from sin set free.

Satan has lost his mortal power. ‘Tis swallowed up in victory!

Saved from the legal curse I am. My Saviour hangs on yonder tree.

See there the meek expiring Lamb. ‘Tis finished, he expires for me.

Accepted in the well-beloved and clothed in righteousness divine,

I see the bar to heaven removed, and all thy merits, Lord, are mine.

Death, hell, and sin are now subdued; all grace is now to sinners given.

And lo, I plead the atoning blood, and in thy right I claim thy heaven.

Charles Wesley

When you come together

Talk 12   Putting it all into practice

As we now turn to suggesting how we can put Paul’s teaching into practice, it will be important first to consider exactly who is responsible for doing so.  And, as we look again at 1 Corinthians 14:26, it becomes immediately apparent that the verse is addressed to everyone in the church:

What then shall we say brothers and sisters? When you come together, everyone has…

So everyone has a responsibility in this matter. But that raises the important question of the role of church leaders. What exactly is their responsibility? In my book, Body Builders, I have discussed the role of church leaders in some detail [1]. There we noted that their responsibilities include shepherding the flock, instructing them in the truths of God’s word, and managing and directing the affairs of the church (1 Timothy 3:5, 5:17).

Applying these principles to 1 Corinthians 14:26, this clearly implies that, apart from any other duties they may have, church leaders have a special responsibility in ensuring that what Paul teaches is put into practice whenever Christians come together to worship the Lord. If church members are to fulfil their responsibility to participate in the meetings as Paul teaches in 14:26, church leaders will need to encourage them to do so. The purpose of this talk is to offer some guidance as to how they might do this.

Being fully persuaded in your own mind

Now that we’ve almost finished this series, the time has come for you to make up your mind. I encourage you to read again chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians and especially consider what implications 14:26 might have for your church. In Romans 14:5, Paul wrote:

Let everyone be fully persuaded in their own mind.

Although written in a different context, this principle is of vital importance in every area of our Christian living. We must take care that we are not tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching (Ephesians 4:14).

This is particularly relevant in situations where the implementation of a 14:26 style of worship could be controversial. Change often makes people feel uncomfortable, and some of them will probably tell you so. But, if you are fully persuaded in your own mind that this is what God says, you will be able to bear criticism patiently and in time, hopefully, to persuade them of the truth. That’s why it’s especially important to pray for guidance.

Praying for guidance

In making these suggestions on how we might lead our church into a more biblical way of doing things, I am well aware that every situation is different. Apart from the obvious denominational differences in styles of worship and leadership, there are sometimes very different ways of doing things in churches of the same denomination. That’s why, I have placed prayer for guidance high on our list of priorities.

Once we have grasped the truth of God’s word on the matter, we need to pray for guidance on how and when we should introduce these things. When seeking to introduce any form of change where there has been a well-established tradition, I have personally always felt it wise to take things slowly and only introduce the change after teaching clearly why the change is both biblical and necessary. But that’s something for the leaders of each local church prayerfully to decide together. Which leads us to our next point.

Consulting your fellow leaders

As I’ve just mentioned, I realise that different churches have different forms of leadership. Although I am fully persuaded that team leadership should be the aim of every local church, it’s not my intention to argue the point here, as I have already done so at some length in Body Builders. However, I would suggest that, even in churches where there is only one leader, it would be wise for that leader to consult with key people in the church before seeking to implement any major changes in the style of worship.

On the other hand, where there is already an established pastoral team, it’s important that each pastor or elder is committed to the principle of 14:26 meetings and that the team agrees on how it should be applied in their local situation. Decisions need to be made not only on how and when to introduce it, but also on how to interpret and apply Paul’s teaching, particularly where there is legitimate room for different ways of understanding what he is saying.

I have listed below some of the issues it would be wise to consider. I have already expressed my own opinion on these matters, but it’s for each leadership team to make their own decision. The sort of things I’m referring to are:

a) With regard to speaking in tongues when unbelievers come in, should there be:

            No tongues at all?

            Tongues only if interpreted?

            Everybody speaking in tongues?

b) With regard to the gift of interpretation of tongues:

            Should this sound like praise or prophecy?

            What does Someone must  interpret mean (v. 27)?

            Should a fourth utterance in tongues be interpreted?

            Should private tongues be interpreted?

c) With regard to the gift of prophecy:

            How many? 2 or 3?

            How do you judge it? Who should judge it?

            How do you apply v.30? 

And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.

Once you have decided these issues you will need to teach them. But there may be other areas where teaching will be needed too.

Teaching the people

I have discovered from years of experience that you get what you teach for. Jesus said, You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). God’s people are released into freedom when they know the truths of God’s word. Few will be saved if we do not preach the gospel. Few will be healed if we do not preach about healing. And the same applies to the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit which are essential if our meetings are to follow the biblical pattern of 1 Corinthians 14:26.

It is vital that when people become Christians they are encouraged to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit as soon as possible after their conversion (Acts 2:38). This gives them an early introduction into the charismatic  dimension of life in the Spirit. And, of course, they must be taught to keep on being filled with the Spirit on a daily basis (Ephesians 5:18, 2 Timothy  1:6).

And once people have been filled with the Spirit, it’s important that they receive teaching on spiritual gifts. It’s important that we give clear guidelines for the use of the gifts (as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 12-14). This way the people feel the security of knowing how and when they may be appropriately exercised. That’s why we need to have decided in advance what our policy will be with regard to the issues we just mentioned.

We must encourage people to exercise the gifts and lovingly correct them where necessary. The gifts are not infallible, and because we are human, people will make mistakes. But if these are corrected lovingly and sensitively, the whole congregation will feel secure under a firm but caring leadership, and those who are beginning in the gifts can learn to excel so that the church might be built up (1 Corinthians 14:12).

Finally, we need to remember that the best way to teach is by setting an example. We need not only to tell people what they should do, but, equally importantly, to show them how to do it. Some of the fastest growing churches  in the world are churches where the leadership  sets the example in the use of spiritual gifts . However, it’s important that leaders do not give the impression that they are the only ones that God can use in the exercise of these gifts.

Making space

And if we really want to encourage people to participate in our meetings, we must make space for them to do so. We have already acknowledged that it will be difficult to put into practice the principles taught in1 Corinthians 14:26 in a large gathering, but there is no good reason why space could not be made available for people to participate for at least a part of the meeting.

Another way to make such participation possible would be to ask the congregation to break into groups of say seven to ten people and encourage them to share together for perhaps twenty minutes or so. I once did this after teaching for six Sunday mornings on 1 Corinthians 12-14. I encouraged everyone to say at least something that might be a blessing to others, even if it was just a favourite verse of Scripture or the verse of a hymn. And I was pleased to hear afterwards how grateful the people were to have been given the opportunity to do so.

You might also consider arranging some special ‘14:26 meetings’ either on a Sunday or during the week. This could be a useful way of gradually introducing a congregation who have been unused to it to this style of worship. If you decide to do this it would be wise to tell people in advance what you’re going to do and to come prepared to participate.

And of course, an obvious setting for this kind of meeting would be in home groups. However, before attempting to do so, home group leaders might well need training and teaching the principles we have already discussed.

Creating a suitable environment

Finally, it’s vital that we provide the right environment for the gifts  to flourish. If as leaders we seek to create an atmosphere of love (rather than criticism) in the church, people will not be afraid to move forward in faith . In the right kind of spiritual atmosphere spiritual gifts  flow naturally and easily. It is not difficult to have the faith  to prophesy in a fellowship where believers love  each other and want to edify one another and where the leaders will sympathetically encourage us and, if necessary, lovingly correct us as we seek to move forward in faith.

Conclusion

My purpose in this series has been to show that we should take seriously Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14:26 and encourage a greater measure of Spirit-led congregational participation in our meetings. We have acknowledged that the things that Paul wrote are the commandments of the Lord (14:37), not just for the Christians in first century Corinth, but for us today.

In order to put 1 Corinthians 14:26 in context, and to understand more fully what Paul is saying in this verse, we have examined chapters 12-14 in some detail and have seen that there’s a supernatural dimension to the worship of the church expressed in the manifestation of supernatural gifts given by the Holy Spirit (12:1-11) and that these all spring from our being baptised in the Spirit (12:13), which is an experience promised by Jesus and described by Luke in the Book of Acts.

We saw that Paul’s teaching that the church is the body of Christ, that every member of the body is different, and that everybody is needed (12:12-30), undergirds his recommendation in 14:26 that everyone should have opportunity to contribute to the meeting.

Furthermore, his teaching that everything we do must be motivated by love (13:1-13) and that, as an expression of that love, we must always seek to put other people first (14:1-25), impinges directly on how the principles taught in 14:26 should be applied in practice. This will mean, among other things, using correctly the spiritual gifts God has given us by taking responsibility for our actions (14:26-40).

In this connection, we examined carefully Paul’s teaching on tongues, interpretation, and prophecy in chapter 14, as these are the subjects he concentrates on in that chapter and are specifically mentioned in 14:26. We sought to clarify the meaning of verses that are open to differences of interpretation and to suggest how they might be applied in practice, acknowledging that in everything we must submit to the authority of scripture (14:37).

Finally, in this talk we have offered some guidelines as to how all these things might be put into practice. Church leaders have a special responsibility in this, and, as I have said more than once already, it is not my intention to tell leaders what they should do – that is their responsibility under God. But it is my sincere prayer that what I have said may be of some help in bringing our meetings closer to God’s revealed will for what should happen when we come together.

When you come together

Talk 11   Identifying Underlying Principles

We have now completed our examination of 1 Corinthians 12-14 with a view to seeing how Paul’s teaching in those chapters might help us better understand the verse upon which this series has been based, 1 Corinthians 14:26. In our consideration of chapter 12 we saw from the first part of the chapter that we should expect the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit in our meetings and that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the gateway to those gifts.

In the second part of the chapter, we highlighted the principles of unity, diversity and interdependence. The different gifts we have are all given by the same Spirit, and we all belong to the same body. Every part of the body is important, and every part needs each other part.

The chief lesson that we learnt from chapter 13 is that nothing that we have and nothing that we may do is of any value without love. We also saw that, wonderful though they are, supernatural gifts have their limitations. They are neither permanent nor perfect. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. And that’s because that which is perfect has not yet come.

In chapter 14 we discovered that most of Paul’s teaching is taken up with the value and use of the gifts of tongues, interpretation, and prophecy, and so we devoted the last three talks to discussing what Paul teaches about each of these gifts in that chapter. We looked in some detail at his specific instructions and sought to clarify their meaning where that was open to possible differences of interpretation and application.

With all these things in mind, we now return to 1 Corinthians 14:26 to consider in more detail some of the things we outlined in the Introduction.

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

The first thing to remember about this verse is that Paul is giving guidance on what should happen in a meeting of BELIEVERS. This is clear from the overall context, from the use of the words brothers… when you come together, and from verse 24 where he says if an unbeliever comes in. So I am not suggesting that the principles taught in this verse should be applied to an EVANGELISTIC meeting, for which his recommendations might have been different.

Secondly, as I pointed out in the Introduction, the words, What then shall we say, brothers? are a recommendation rather than a criticism, as some have suggested. Clearly this is crucial to all that I am arguing in this series, but my confidence is based on Paul’s use of the same Greek phrase in verse 15 where it’s clear that Paul is making a strong recommendation.

Thirdly, in the Introduction we identified three key principles in this verse:

·       Participation

·       Variety

·       Edification.

We will now explore these concepts in more detail.

Participation

Paul hardly needed to recommend that the Corinthians participate in their meetings. That was something they were doing already. Verse 23 seems to suggest that there were occasions when they were all speaking in tongues at the same time and this was something Paul wanted to discourage, especially in the presence of unbelievers. This is why he felt the need to limit speaking in tongues to two, or at the most, three.

The problem was not lack of participation, but too much participation in things that did not edify the church. So verse 26 is both a recognition and a recommendation. A recognition of what was already happening, and a recommendation that whatever that was, it should be done for the strengthening of the church.

But to say this is not to minimise the importance of the whole verse as a recommendation to us. Referring to the things he has listed in the verse, Paul says, All of these must be done. And they must be done for the strengthening of the church. As we saw from chapter 12, every part of the body is needed. There should always be opportunity, whenever we gather together, for the expression of the many gifts and graces that the Spirit has imparted to the members.

Of course, it would not be possible in most churches for every person present to participate in every meeting, other than to join in singing the songs and, perhaps to say an occasional Amen to what is being said by others. But there should always be opportunity for them to do so.

And they should be encouraged to do so. People are more likely to participate when time is specifically allocated for this and it’s made clear that participation is welcome. If we really want people to participate, we must make room for it, even if it means arranging smaller meetings, or, in larger meetings, breaking down into small groups for part of the service.

But, as I said in the Introduction, it’s not my intention to try to tell church leaders what they should do. If we really believe that the things that Paul has written in this chapter are the Lord’s command (37), we will find ways of implementing them that will work in our particular situation.

Variety

Paul refers to:

a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

These are, of course, just a representative sample of what might happen in a meeting, but they suggest three main areas:

·       The musical dimension (a hymn)

·       The doctrinal dimension (a word of instruction)

·       The supernatural dimension (a revelation, a tongue, etc).

We have already dealt with the supernatural dimension at some length. So we will confine our attention to the musical and doctrinal dimensions.

The musical dimension

The first thing Paul refers to in 14:26 is a hymn. Actually the word in Greek is literally a psalm. A psalm has been defined as a song or poem used in worship, so the translation hymn is quite appropriate. Of course, at the time Paul was writing to the Corinthians they would not have had the vast repertoire of hymns and songs that are available to us today.

However, because of the Jewish origins of the Christian church, it’s likely that their main source of songs for worship would have been the Book of Psalms that we have in our Bible. In fact, where the word psalm is used everywhere else in New Testament it refers to one of the Psalms, so this is probably what Paul had in mind when he said:

Everyone of you has a hymn (or psalm).

But what exactly did Paul mean by this? Although we cannot be sure how this recommendation would have been applied in Corinth, there is one clear implication in what Paul is saying. Everyone should have the opportunity to contribute to the worship by having a song. But how do you have a song? This surely means more than joining in the songs chosen in advance by the pastor or worship leader! And Paul is hardly suggesting that everyone should have the opportunity to sing a solo, wonderful though the ministry in song of Christian vocal artists may be.

In my view, the most appropriate way of implementing Paul’s recommendation within the context of modern worship is to give opportunity for people to choose a hymn for everyone to sing, or, in a time of open worship, to spontaneously start singing a well-known hymn or chorus for everyone to join in.

I realise that this may not easily fit in with modern styles of worship where the pursuit of excellence in performance is paramount, but I know from experience what a blessing it can be when someone in the congregation spontaneously has a song in one of the ways I have just suggested.

Finally, with reference to the songs we sing, may I make two pleas to Christian song writers? First, with regard to the tunes, would you please compose tunes that are quickly learned, easily remembered, and easily sung by members of the congregation who don’t have your musical expertise?

And secondly, please remember that the words of a song are more important than the music. Music is valuable, not only because it helps us express our emotion and lifts our spirit, but also because it helps us remember what we sing. So it’s important that our words clearly express in easily understood English the great truths of our faith. Your songs have the potential to be remembered far more than my sermons! So please make sure you’ve got your theology right, and, if you’re not sure, get someone else to check it for you.

Finally, we need to consider the only other reference to singing in 1 Corinthians 14, where in verse 15, talking about singing in tongues, Paul says:

I will sing with my spirit (in tongues), but I will also sing with my mind (in a language I understand).

However, as we have already seen, this is part of what Paul is recommending for the use of tongues in private, which raises the question as to whether singing in tongues is appropriate in public. There may be a reference to this in Ephesians 5:19 where Paul mentions spiritual songs along with psalms and hymns. KJV is more literal than NIV when it translates this as

speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…

We know from 1 Corinthians 14 that speaking in tongues is one way of speaking to ourselves and to God (28) and that in doing so we are praying or singing with our spirit (14-15). However, it’s unclear whether, in Ephesians 5:19, Paul is envisaging a public or private situation. The reference to heart rather than hearts might suggest that he is speaking to them as individuals, whereas speaking to yourselves (plural) could be taken to refer to when they are gathered in worship.

Perhaps he intends both. At Pentecost the disciples were filled with the Spirit both collectively and individually and we need, both as a church and as individuals within it, to keep on being filled with the Spirit. If I can sing in tongues privately to maintain the fulness of the Spirit, cannot the church do so collectively? I confess that I was once rather concerned about this, especially when unbelievers were present, on the basis of what Paul says about them thinking we are mad (14:23). But the following episode made me think again.

During part of the time when I was Principal of Mattersey Hall Bible College, the college chapel was across the road from the main part of our campus, and the students’ worship could easily be heard by anyone passing by. There would often be times when everyone was spontaneously singing in tongues to worship the Lord, and I wondered what the local residents might think of it.

But I was greatly reassured when I heard that one of them had asked:

What is that beautiful singing I sometimes hear when I walk past your chapel? It’s so unusual, and it gives me a great sense of peace.

The Corinthians were undoubtedly out of order in the way they were exercising the gift of tongues and clearly needed the strong warning that Paul gave them. But perhaps today he might be encouraging  some churches at least to move in the opposite direction and be less concerned about what outsiders might think. As at Pentecost, there will always be those who criticise the moving of the Spirit, but if we are able to give an explanation of what’s happening, as Peter did, there may well be more who are persuaded by our message than those who oppose it.

The doctrinal dimension

The Greek word translated in NIV as a word of instruction is didache, which literally means teaching. It can also mean doctrine (which comes from a Latin verb meaning teach). Paul says relatively little about this in 1 Corinthians 14, but in verse 19 he stresses the importance of teaching when he says:

But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue,

and in verse 31 when he says:

For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

And of course, as we mentioned in the Introduction, most of the contents of Paul’s letters were written to instruct the churches in the truth and to expose false doctrine. As I have said elsewhere,

What we believe is of vital importance. The scriptures were written that we might know the truth, and that the truth might set us free (John 8:32). Every genuine experience of the Spirit finds its foundation in the truth of God’s word. The Bible is the inspired word of God. It teaches the truth – about God, about man, about life and death, good and evil, heaven and hell. If we want to know the truth about any of the important questions of life, we will find it in the Bible [1].

John tells us that

Anyone who… does not continue in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son (2 John 9).

Jesus himself told his disciples to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:12) and said that their teachings were just rules made by men (Matthew 15:9), and Paul warns us of the same danger in Colossians 2:22. But what a wonderful contrast is the teaching of God our Saviour (Titus 2:10) which is to be recognised by a right attitude to Christ (2 John 7-10) and a right attitude to scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).

We need to know what we believe and why we believe it so that we can by sound doctrine convince those who contradict us (Titus 1:9). It is by knowing the truth that people are set free (John 8:32). That’s why Paul told Timothy:

Devote yourself to… teaching. Watch your life and doctrine closely; persevere in them; because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:13, 16).

The sound exposition of the Scriptures is essential whenever we come together.

Edification

We said at the beginning of the talk that the three key principles underlying 14:26 are participation, variety, and edification. Now that we have discussed the first two of these, we turn to the subject of edification, which, without doubt is the major theme of the whole chapter. If love is the dominant theme of chapter 13, in chapter 14 edification is the way that love is expressed in the context of the gathered church. That’s why Paul says everything must be done for the strengthening of the church.

We have already looked at Paul’s specific teaching in chapter 14 in some detail, but now it will be helpful to consider the key principles that underly that teaching and see if they can be applied more widely than the specific issues Paul was addressing in Corinth. As we do so, we will discover five principles that need to be applied if our meetings are to be edifying.

Putting other people first

This is the principle underlying Paul’s teaching in verses 1-5. There he is saying that in church prophecy is more valuable than tongues because when you speak in tongues you edify only yourself, but if you prophesy you will edify others. He picks up the same theme in verse 17:

You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.

The principle underlying this teaching is putting others first. And that principle can be applied far more widely than the issue of speaking in tongues. It’s good that I have the freedom to stand and worship the Lord while others are sitting down, but if by standing I prevent the person behind me from singing because they cannot see the words on the screen in front, I may be giving thanks well, but the other person is not edified. People need to be taught to be considerate to others in the way they worship the Lord.

Intelligibility

Another of the ways we can build up our fellow Christians is by making sure they can understand. In verse 9 Paul says:

Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying?

Of course, he talking about the futility of speaking in tongues in church unless it’s interpreted. It’s pointless unless people can understand it. But that’s true of everything we do in church. Not everything we say in English is easy to understand – but it should be! This applies to our preaching, our prayers, the songs we sing, our praise and worship – everything. In verse 16 it’s clear that Paul expects that everyone present should be able to say Amen to whatever we say, but to do that they must first understand it,

…how can one who… does not understand say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?

Again, in the context, he’s talking about speaking in tongues, but the underlying principle of intelligibility has a wider application. For example, how can I say Amen  to someone’s prayer or praise if I can’t make out what they’re saying because the people around me are making too much noise, or if the background music is too loud? Which, incidentally, it often is. Saying Amen means expressing your agreement with what’s been said, and you can’t do that if you haven’t heard it properly.

Responsibility

As we saw in the last talk when discussing prophets and prophecy, Paul says that

The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets (32).

This implies that both prophets and those who have the gift of prophecy are responsible for how they use their gifts. But the need to take responsibility for our actions goes far wider than the gift of prophecy. If God has entrusted us with any spiritual gift, we are responsible for how we use it.

For example, the Holy Spirit does not force us to speak in tongues. He enables us to do so. We are responsible for when, how often, and how loudly. This principle applies to everything we do in church. We are to follow the teaching of Scripture and of our leaders (37-38) and we cannot make the excuse, I couldn’t help it. The Holy Spirit made me do it. And, as we have already said, the very fact that Paul gave us instructions on how these gifts should be used implies that we are responsible for how we use them.

Order

Paul says that God is not a God of disorder but of peace (33), and it’s our responsibility to see that everything is done in a fitting and orderly way (40). In the context this meant ensuring that speaking in tongues should be done one at a time and that only one person should interpret each utterance (27). And the same principle applied to the use of prophecy (30).

Paul’s specific teaching on this is still applicable today, but the wider principle holds good for everything we do. Everything should done in a fitting and orderly way. Interpretation of what is fitting and orderly will possibly vary from church to church, and there will undoubtedly be cultural variations, but the leaders of each church should be able to agree on what is appropriate in their situation, bearing in mind the overall principles taught in Scripture.

Balance

Finally, it’s clear from Paul’s teaching that there needs to be a measure of balance in our meetings. In Corinth there was too much speaking in tongues. In another church it might be too much music, or even too much teaching! If there is to be the variety of which Paul speaks in verse 26, and if each member is to have the opportunity to contribute, church leaders need to ensure that there is a healthy balance in each meeting.

But that is not to say that there cannot be special occasions when an entire meeting is given over to teaching, or to prayer, or to worship, for example. Such occasions are not to be confused with the regular meetings of the church, where preserving a measure of balance will be essential to the edification of all God’s people.

So, to summarise, in this talk we have examined the three principles underlying Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14:26 – participation, variety, and edification. We noted that our meetings should include the supernatural, the musical and the doctrinal. But, most important of all, we saw that everything should be done for the edification of the church, and that this will be achieved by putting others first, making sure that what is said is intelligible, taking responsibility for our actions, and by preserving order and balance  in our meetings. These principles have a wider application than the specific areas that Paul was addressing in the Corinthian church. Exactly how they should be applied is for each local church leadership to decide.  And that is something we will be discussing in our next and final talk.

Talk 10.   Paul’s Teaching on Prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14

Having discussed Paul’s teaching on tongues and interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14, we now turn to the subject of prophecy. We will consider what it is, its value and purpose, its limitations, and its use in church.

What is prophecy?

In both Old and New Testaments the basic meaning of the word prophesy is to speak on behalf of someone else. A good illustration of this can be found in Exodus 7: 1-2 where the Lord says to Moses :

See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet . You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go…

Aaron  is called Moses ’ prophet  because he is going to speak on his behalf. Understood this way, to prophesy is to hear from God and then pass on to others what he has said [1].

Today, however, prophecy is often used to mean foretelling the future, but although it can contain an element of prediction, this is not its essential meaning. And it should not be confused with preaching or teaching. In Body Builders I described the gift of prophecy as:

speaking on behalf of God by the supernatural  inspiration of the Holy Spirit  for the strengthening, encouragement  and comfort of the church . It may at times contain elements of revelation  or even prediction , but must be distinguished from the ministry  of the teacher  whose message comes from God by way of the Scriptures. 

In the New Testament, apart from the many references back to the prophecies contained in the Old Testament, we find that there are three different ways in which the words prophecy and prophesy are used.

First, remembering that the basic meaning of prophesy is to speak on behalf of someone, as God’s people there’s a sense in which we can all ‘prophesy’ because we are all called to speak on his behalf. The purpose of the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost  was that we might receive power  to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). The Spirit was poured out so that all God’s people could prophesy  – sons and daughters, young and old, servants, men and women  (Acts 2:16-18).

Secondly, however, although we are speaking for God when we witness for Jesus, it is not the same as the gift of prophecy that brings strengthening, encouragement and comfort to the church (14:3). In 12:8-11, where Paul  lists nine spiritual gifts , one of which is prophecy , he says:

 …to another prophecy … he (the Spirit ) gives them to each person just as he determines.

This shows that this gift  is not given to everybody, and Romans 12:6 backs this up by saying:

We have different gifts  according to the grace  given us. If a man’s gift  is prophesying…

So, although all Christians are to ‘prophesy ’ in the general sense of speaking on God’s behalf, not all will exercise the gift of prophecy Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians.

And, thirdly, not all who exercise the gift of prophecy will be prophets  in the Ephesians 4:11 sense. In Body Builders I have suggested that the clearest role of a New Testament [2] prophet is to be seen in the ministry of Agabus who spoke with great revelation  from the Spirit  (Acts 11:27-28, 21:10). This included the accurate prediction  of certain future events. His prophecy  about a widespread famine (Acts 11:27-30) and  his prediction of Paul ‘s captivity in Jerusalem  (Acts 21:11) are well-known examples of this. They demonstrate that his ministry  involved more than the simple gift  of prophecy.  In short:

·        All God’s people should prophesy  (speak on his behalf).

·        Not all will receive the gift  of prophecy  (to edify the church ).

·        Not all of these will exercise the ministry of a prophet like Agabus .

With these things in mind, as we now turn to 1 Corinthians 14, it should be clear that it’s the gift of prophecy and possibly the ministry of prophets that Paul is talking about.

The value and purpose of prophecy

Returning now to 1 Corinthians 14, as we read verse 1 it becomes immediately clear that Paul valued prophecy very highly indeed. He says that we should eagerly desire it:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

This is the main theme of the chapter. He ends the chapter as he has started it:

Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy…(39).

The Greek word Paul uses for eagerly desire is very strong. It’s the origin of our English word zeal. God wants us to be passionate about prophecy. Notice that in verse 1 Paul doesn’t say or. He says and.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts.

The pursuit of spiritual gifts is not an optional extra. We must not say, I have love, so I don’t need spiritual gifts. We must eagerly desire spiritual gifts, and especially the gift of prophecy (1). But why?

The value of the gift is to be seen in its purpose. We should be passionate about prophecy because it edifies the church. Paul says in verses 4 and 5:

… he who prophesies edifies the church. I would rather have you prophesy… so that the church may be edified.

What he means by this is explained in verse 3 where he says:

But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

In the context of church worship this is the practical outworking of Paul’s teaching about love in chapter 13. We are to love our fellow Christians, and if we love them we will want to be a blessing to them, to strengthen, encourage, and comfort them. And that’s what prophecy does.

But that’s not all. Prophecy can also have a powerful effect on unbelievers who may come into the church. In Talk 8 we discussed some of the difficulties in understanding verses 22-23, but verses 24-25 are very clear:

But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all,

25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

So prophecy is to be valued very highly, not only because it strengthens, encourages, and comforts believers, but also because of the powerful effect it can have on people who do not yet believe. But having said that, prophecy is not without its limitations. In 13:9-10 Paul says:

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

This is because at present our knowledge is incomplete. We see but a poor reflection as in a mirror (12). Our prophecies are imperfect because they are our prophecies, and we are not perfect yet. That’s why in 14:12 Paul tells us to try to excel in it. If our use of God’s precious gifts were perfect, we would not need to try to excel in them – in fact all Paul’s instructions about their use would have been unnecessary! And that’s why we’re told in 14:29 that we should weigh carefully what is said. But that brings us to how prophecy should be used in church.

The use of prophecy in church

Perhaps the first thing to say about the use of prophecy in church is that we should always bear in mind its purpose, which is to strengthen, encourage, comfort, and edify God’s people (3-4). There is no suggestion that it should be used to rebuke them, or even to give them guidance.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:14 that it’s our privilege as God’s children to be personally led by the Spirit . Guidance received through prophecy should simply serve as confirmation of something that God has already spoken to us about in our hearts. A good example of this is found in Acts 13:1-3 where the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch were told by the Holy Spirit to set Barnabas and Paul apart for the work to which he had already called them [3].

So, bearing in mind the purpose for which the gift of prophecy is given, we are now in a position to consider Paul’s specific teaching on the use of the gift in church. This is found in verses 29-32 where he says:

29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.

Two or three prophets should speak (29)

Note the contrast with verse 27. Paul does not say if with regard to prophecy. It is not merely to be permitted but to be encouraged. The prophets should speak. But how is Paul using the word prophet here? Is he talking about prophets like Agabus, the kind of ministry he refers to in Ephesians 4:11, or does he mean those who exercise the simple gift of prophecy?

Some have suggested that two or three prophets should speak in verse 29 refers to those with the ministry of a prophet (as in Ephesians 4:11), but that when Paul says in verse 31 you can all prophesy he is referring to the whole church. However, the use of the word for in verse 31 clearly identifies the people he is speaking to as the prophets he addresses in verses 29-30. This means that verses 29-31 must all refer to the same people, either those who are prophets, or those who have the gift of prophecy, or even to both.

In my view we cannot say with certainty which group Paul is addressing in these verses, it is very clear that the principles he is teaching apply to both. The first of these is that although prophecy is to be encouraged its use is to be limited and it needs to be judged or weighed carefully.

The others should weigh carefully what is said (29)

The verb translated weigh carefully is the same as is used for distinguishing between spirits in 12:10. The clear implication is that every prophecy needs to be evaluated, and this illustrates the point that we made earlier that it is by no means infallible. However, despite its limitations, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 that it’s not to be despised. But even that  may indicate the possibility of human weakness in the operation of the gift, for why else would the Thessalonians have been despising it?

So prophecy needs to be judged or weighed carefully. But this raises two questions. The first is: Who is responsible for judging it?  Looking at the immediate context, Paul seems to mean the other prophets. The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned (2:14), and those with a prophetic gift are more likely to accurately weigh a prophetic revelation.

But surely the others may be applied more widely than that? As we have seen, there is a sense in which all God’s people are prophets, and we all have the capacity, and the responsibility, to weigh prophetic words. And certainly those who are pastors or teachers have a special responsibility to be alert for anything that might mislead the flock.

Secondly, we need to consider the question: How is prophecy to be judged? There are two areas of importance here, its authenticity and its application. By authenticity I mean its conformity to Scripture. Paul is very clear in verse 37 that what (he is) writing… is the Lord’s command. All prophecy must be judged in the light of what the Spirit has already said in the Bible.

By application I mean that we need to consider to whom the prophecy may apply. Is it for me? Is it for the whole church? How do we apply it in practice? These are decisions that we all must make after hearing a prophecy. Clearly, we cannot judge it until we have heard it! However, in some churches people who feel they have a prophetic word to bring are expected to share it with the church leadership before bringing it publicly. The church leaders evaluate it before it is given. The advantages of this are twofold:

·        It prevents any unauthentic or inappropriate prophecy being given in public.

·        Those who are inexperienced, but eager to prophesy, feel more secure in having their prophecy confirmed by the leaders before bringing it.

However, it’s surely unthinkable that those with a proven track record in prophecy should have to consult the church leaders before they prophesy. Their prophecies should be judged after they have delivered them, which is almost certainly what Paul intended. Furthermore, the insistence that leaders must be consulted before prophecies are given seems out of keeping with the encouragement Paul gives in verse 26 for all to participate, and with the spontaneity implicit in his teaching on the matter in verse 30.

And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop (30)

This not only shows the spontaneity that Paul envisages; it also shows that, although the purpose of prophecy is mainly the strengthening, encouragement, and comfort of the church, it may also contain an element of revelation. It also seems to suggest that it was the custom to stand when prophesying while others were seated. Perhaps the second person would stand to indicate that they had received a revelation from the Spirit and that is how the first person would know it was time to stop. Be that as it may, the important point here is that each prophet must be prepared to make room for others who exercise the gift.

For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged (31)

What does Paul mean when he says, You can all prophesy?  In my view this cannot possibly refer to all the congregation, as this would contradict the principle taught in chapter 12 that the gifts are distributed as the Spirit determines and would be out of harmony with the phrase to another prophecy (12:10).

Taken in context he must surely mean that all the prophets, or all those with the gift of prophecy, may prophesy. Each person must be given opportunity to exercise their gift as the Spirit may lead, but presumably not in contravention of the two or three principle of verse 29.

The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets (32)

It seems likely that by spirits here Paul is referring to their spiritual gift. While the Greek word pneuma normally means spirit, Paul does use it in 14:12 to refer to spiritual gifts, when he says, Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel… Understood this way, verse 32 means that the spiritual gift of prophecy is under the control of the person who exercises it.

Indeed, all the gifts that God gives us are under our control. This is clear from the fact that specific instructions are given for their use.  If the use of the gifts were only dependent upon the Holy Spirit  himself such instructions would be both inappropriate and unnecessary.  And because of our responsibility for the control of the gift  God has given us, as we have already seen, Paul  teaches that we are able to:

·        regulate the number of prophetic utterances in any one meeting (14:29).

·        cease prophesying if something is revealed to someone else (14:30).

·        prophesy  rather than speak in tongues  if unbelievers are present (14:23-25). 

Our ability to control the gift  of prophecy also implies that we are responsible for the terminology in which we express the message that God has given us.  Since we are not infallible, we would be wise to phrase our prophecies in the third person rather than the first, to talk of God as he and not I.  For example, it would be better to say

 The Lord loves you…

than to say, ‘

               I love you, says the Lord.

We may believe that God has given us something to say, but we are not God, and we should not talk as if we were! 

But that now brings us to the final verses of 1 Corinthians 14. As our subject in this talk has been Paul’s teaching on the gift of prophecy, we will confine our attention to those verses that are directly relevant to this subject. Verses 34-35 in the NIV read as follows:

34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

It is clear that in the context silence is relative and not absolute. The exhortation relates to asking their husbands questions at home (35) and not to worship or exercising spiritual gifts such as prophecy. In fact we read in 11:5 that Paul permitted women to both pray and prophesy in church, and although it’s possible to pray silently, it’s certainly not possible to prophesy silently!

37 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored. 39 Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40  But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

As he draws to his conclusion Paul summarises his teaching on public worship in a few short verses. Whatever your spiritual gift may be you must submit to the authority of the apostle’s commands (37). This has obvious implications with regard to the authority of Scripture, but also to the authority of ministry gift over spiritual gifts. Prophecy is to be encouraged and tongues should not be forbidden (39). Whatever happens, everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Next time, we’ll be looking at the key principles that underlie Paul’s teaching in this chapter with a view to indicating how church leaders might seek to implement them in their churches.

When you come together

Talk 9 Paul’s Teaching on Interpretation of Tongues

The gift of interpretation of tongues is a gift imparted by the Holy Spirit that enables Christians to understand what is said when someone speaks in tongues. It is given to individual Christians, as determined by the Holy Spirit, with the specific purpose of edifying the church.

Paul’s entire teaching on this gift is found in 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14. In chapter 12 it is mentioned twice, first in verse 10 where it is mentioned among the list of supernatural gifts given to individual Christians as the Holy Spirit determines, and then in verse 30 where Paul asks the rhetorical question, Do all interpret? clearly implying that all do not. This means that apart from Paul’s overall teaching on supernatural gifts, some of which we have outlined in Talk 2, our main source of material for understanding this gift is found in 1 Corinthians 14. In this talk I will:

·       Examine the references to interpretation of tongues

·       Discuss certain practical issues that arise from this

·       Share a personal testimony.

References to interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14

These are found in verses 5, 13, and 26-28. We will examine each of these in turn.

Verse 5

The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless they interpret so that the church may be edified.

This verse makes clear the purpose of the gift – the edification of the church. We have already seen that in verses 1-5 Paul is arguing that prophecy is preferable to tongues because prophecy edifies the church whereas speaking in tongues does not, because no one can understand it (2).

Here, however, he acknowledges that if speaking in tongues is interpreted it can edify the church, in which case it is as valuable as prophecy. But this need not mean that it’s necessarily the same as prophecy. We will discuss this later when we consider the form the gift should take.

Verse 13

In verse 12 Paul underlines his teaching that the main purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the church by telling the Corinthians to try to excel in gifts that build up the church. This gives the reason for what he says in verse 13.

Anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.

He says this because the only way that speaking in tongues will edify other Christians is if it is interpreted. This does not mean, however, that all interpretation should be given by the person who has spoken in tongues. Far from it. The interpretation may very well be given by someone else. And to allow someone other than the speaker in tongues to interpret means that more people are participating in the meeting, something Paul is keen to encourage, as the next passage makes clear.

Verses 26-28

26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two – or at the most three – should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

Verse 26 is the key verse upon which this series is based. It gives clear guidance on the sort of things we should expect in our meetings, and it’s noteworthy that tongues and interpretation are included in what Paul is recommending. But note the use of the word if in verse 27:

If anyone speaks in a tongue…

This shows us that Paul does not automatically assume that there will be speaking in tongues in the meeting. The things mentioned in verse 26 are not obligatory ingredients for every meeting. They are the kind of things to expect, but not necessarily in every meeting. The manifestation of spiritual gifts will vary from meeting to meeting as the Spirit leads. The main point is that whatever is taking place, everything must be done for the strengthening of the church.

So, if anyone speaks in tongues, what should happen next? Paul is quite clear on this as the following literal translation shows:

If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be by two or at the most three people. And let one person interpret (my translation).

At first sight the first part of the verse is reasonably clear. Paul seems to be saying that during the course of a meeting, no more than three people should speak in tongues. But this clearly applies to the use of tongues for the purpose of interpretation, because he says, Let one person interpret.  However, he does allow for the private use of tongues in church, provided that this is done quietly, speaking to oneself and to God (28) and this need not be limited to three people because it is done privately.

Furthermore, even with regard to the use of tongues for interpretation, bearing in mind the flexibility of starting and finishing times that would have been current in Corinth, it’s possible that Paul meant no more than two or three people should speak in tongues before moving on to other things. We will consider this further when we discuss practical issues that arise from Paul’s teaching.

Another practical issue that we will need to consider in due course is how to understand and apply the final part of verse 27, which NIV translates as, Someone must interpret, but which KJV translates this as,

Let one interpret (my emphasis),

which is the literal translation of the Greek word that Paul uses here. The word is heis and students of Greek will know that this is used for the numeral 1. (The Greek for 1, 2, 3, is heis, duo, treis). It occurs 20 times in 1 Corinthians and everywhere else it can only mean one. That’s why, in the translation I offered earlier I translated it as

Let one person interpret.

But does this mean that Paul is saying that if there are two or three utterances in tongues, the same person should give the interpretation for all of them, as some have suggested? I think not, and I will give my reasons for saying so later.

Finally, we have already commented on verse 28 in the last talk with regard to speaking in tongues, but Paul’s use of the word interpreter is interesting. He says:

If there is no interpreter, the speaker (in tongues) should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

The term interpreter clearly indicates that those who exercised the gift of interpretation were seen as permanently possessing the gift. If that were not so, how could the speaker in tongues know whether there was an interpreter present or not? Supernatural gifts are not something which God gives and then takes away. They are given to individual Christians (12:8-11) for the benefit of the church. A person who has interpreted once can be expected to do so again. Obviously this places a heavy responsibility on the interpreter, as I know from my own experience, which I will share I the last part of this talk.

Practical issues arising from Paul’s teaching

The form the gift should take

We saw in the last talk that Paul describes speaking in tongues as speaking with our spirit as distinct from speaking with our mind (14:14). This may take any one of several different forms – prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and speaking mysteries, which, we said, could well be connected with declaring the wonders of God revealed in the truths of the gospel. Now, if the gift of interpretation enables us to understand what is being said when someone speaks in tongues, it follows that the interpretation should take the same form as the tongue, whether prayer, or praise, or thanksgiving etc.

It’s my view that interpretation can take any of these forms and it would be wrong to limit its expression to just one of them. However, in some churches interpretation almost always takes the form of a prophecy and in others it tends to take the form of praise. Those who take the view that interpretation should take the form of a prophecy base their argument on 14:5 where Paul says:

The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless they interpret so that the church may be edified.

The argument goes like this. Prophecy edifies the church. Interpretation edifies the church. Therefore, the interpretation of tongues equals prophecy. But there is a logical flaw in this argument. It’s like saying,

Tea is a drink. Coffee is a drink.

Therefore, tea is the same as coffee!

Paul says that both prophecy and interpretation edify the church, but that does not necessarily mean that they do so in the same way. If, for example, interpretation were to take the form of praise, rather than prophecy, would it not edify the church? And who is not edified by the psalms of praise? I have personally been greatly edified by both forms of interpretation.

Those who insist on praise interpretations base their argument on the NIV translation of 14:2, which reads:

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him…

So, it is argued, if the tongue is to God, the interpretation must be to God, in the form of either praise or prayer. However, as I explained in the last talk, a more literal translation would be:

For the person speaking in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he is speaking mysteries with his spirit (my translation).

This makes clear that the reason for saying that speaking in tongues is to God is that no one can understand it. When the disciples spoke in tongues at Pentecost, did it not speak to men? And why was this? Because they understood what was being said. It follows, therefore, that if tongues in church can be understood through the use of the gift of interpretation, it can most certainly speak to us.

I have said more on this in the chapter on interpretation of tongues in Body Builders, but I hope that I have said enough here to show that both praise and prophecy style interpretations are legitimate manifestations of the gift and we should accept and encourage both.

Two or at the most three…

I suggested earlier that, bearing in mind the flexibility of starting and finishing times that would have been current in Corinth, Paul may have meant that no more than two or three people should speak in tongues before moving on to other aspects of worship. However, I am not convinced that this would be helpful for most of our meetings today, but during protracted meetings like days or nights of prayer it would make room for further expressions of the gift. For meetings of normal length, it would, in my view, be wise to apply quite strictly the limitations Paul imposes in this verse. But that raises the question, What should we do if someone brings a fourth utterance in tongues? Should it be interpreted?

The first thing to say in response to this is that it’s unlikely to happen if the church has been taught how spiritual gifts should be operated in our meetings. However, on the rare occasion when it might happen, my own view is that it should be interpreted on the grounds that the overriding principle in Paul’s teaching in this chapter is edification, and interpreted tongues are more edifying than tongues that are not interpreted.

However, to avoid repetition of this, I would gently point out to the congregation that the scriptural limit is two, or at the most three. But this is something about which the leaders of the church should decide in advance their interpretation of Paul’s teaching and how it should be applied locally.

Let one person interpret

I said earlier that the Greek in verse 27 is best translated as, Let one person interpret. This in fact reflects how the Authorised Version translates it and, as a result of this, some churches have taught that, if there are two or three utterances in tongues, the same person should give the interpretation for all of them.

However, although this is a valid application of what Paul is saying, I think it more likely that his intention is to say that each utterance in tongues needs only one person to interpret it – an instruction that may well have been needful for the unruly members of the Corinthian church.

A personal testimony

I said earlier, when talking about Paul’s use of the word interpreter (28), that a person who has interpreted once can be expected to do so again. Paul’s teaching implies that, if we want to speak in tongues publicly, we need to check that there’s an interpreter present. And if there is, we are free to go ahead. That places a heavy responsibility on the interpreter to be ready to interpret at any time, because we do not know when someone is going to speak in tongues..

I confess that I have sometimes found this difficult and am often tempted to doubt, wondering how I can be sure that any interpretation I might bring will be correct. But I have also discovered that, as we overcome our doubts by trusting the Lord, he does not let us down, as the testimony I’m about to share confirms.

I first started interpreting tongues as a student at Oxford, shortly after I was baptised in the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal church I was attending in Oxford was a good church and the gifts of the Spirit were in evidence during most Sunday morning services. However, there were one or two occasions when speaking in tongues was not interpreted, and I was quite concerned because I knew that this was not in line with Scripture.

I shared my concern with a friend who was an evangelist and he said that the solution was simple. I should interpret it. But the problem was that I didn’t have the gift of interpretation. To which he replied, Then ask for it. As I knew that this was in line with 1 Corinthians 14:13, I began to pray that God would give me the gift, and a few weeks later the opportunity came. Someone spoke in tongues, and I was expecting, and hoping, that someone else would interpret it! But when no one else did so, I began to speak out in faith, believing that God would not let me down, yet wondering all the time if I was saying the right thing!

For months I wondered if the gift I had received was genuine, or whether it was ‘just me’. Then, one day, at the close of a meeting in which I had interpreted, someone came up to me and told me that they had received word for word the interpretation which I had given.  I had exercised the gift in faith for months, but finally I had God’s confirmation that it was real.  Similar confirmation has come dozens of times since. The following testimony is the most outstanding example.

In November 1977 I was serving as Acting Principal of Mattersey Hall Bible College prior to becoming Principal in 1978. One Saturday evening we took a bus-load of about 45 students to Bethshan Tabernacle in Manchester. There were several hundred people in the meeting during which the students sang and testified, and I preached. As soon as I had finished preaching, a woman near to the back of the meeting began to speak in tongues. As I was still at the microphone, it seemed appropriate for me to interpret so that everyone present would hear and be edified. As usual I spoke out in faith what I felt the Lord had put on my heart. When I had finished, we sang a hymn and the pastor closed the meeting in prayer.

As soon as the meeting was over, one of our students, Guetawende Roamba from Burkina Faso rushed up to me. He was clearly very excited, and when I asked him what was the matter, he told me that the woman who had spoken in tongues had been speaking his native language. Now in Burkina Faso they speak French, and because I also speak French fairly fluently, I knew that she had not been speaking French. So I wondered what language it might be.

‘What language?’ I asked. Moré, he replied. Frankly, at that time I had never heard of it – and we found out later that the Irish lady who had spoken in tongues had never heard of it either! But I was excited that I had been present when speaking in tongues had been recognised as a real language.

At the same time I was not a little concerned because I was the one who had given the interpretation! I had been interpreting tongues since I was a student at Oxford in 1960, but it had always been (as it always must be) ‘by faith ’. I had simply trusted the promise of Jesus  that God gives good gifts to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11). Of course, I had no need to fear, but it’s easy to imagine how embarrassed I would have been if I had ‘got it wrong’ in the presence of one of my Bible  College students!

I hardly dared ask the question, but I knew I had to.

And what about the interpretation, Gueta? Was it accurate?

 Of course, you know the answer, because I wouldn’t be telling this story if the interpretation had been wrong!

What an amazing thing! The Holy Spirit inspired an Irish woman to speak an African language which she had never heard, or even heard of, and then gave the interpretation to an English man who had never heard of it either! God is faithful. His word is true. And his Spirit is still at work distributing his gifts  as he himself determines.

Talk 8   Paul’s Teaching on Tongues in 1 Corinthians 14

So far in this series we have suggested that 1 Corinthians 14:26 should be taken as a serious indication of what God desires when we meet for worship, and we have been looking at chapters 12 and 13 to see how they might influence our understanding of this verse.

In chapter 13 Paul has demonstrated the futility of spiritual gifts unless they are exercised in love. He now goes on to give practical instructions concerning the use of the gifts in public worship. The underlying theme of the chapter is edification, which must be the basic motive for the exercise of spiritual gifts. Prophecy is seen as the most appropriate means of edifying both believers and unbelievers. The New Testament believers’ meeting was a time when all should participate with a view to edifying the church (26).

In this talk we’ll be considering what Paul teaches in chapter 14 about speaking in tongues. In following talks we’ll consider what he says about interpretation of tongues and prophecy, as they are all mentioned in verse 26 and much of the rest of the chapter is taken up with these themes. As we do so, we will discover what Paul has to say about the value, purpose, and use of these gifts.

In the final talk we’ll be looking at some of the key principles which underlie his teaching, such as edification and the need for intelligibility, variety, order, and balance in our meetings. Handling things in this way will mean that we will not be moving through chapter 14 verse by verse, as Paul’s teaching on each of these themes is scattered throughout the chapter.

Today we will seek to answer three questions:

·       How does Paul describe speaking in tongues?

·       What is the purpose of speaking in tongues?

·       How is speaking in tongues to be used in church?

How does Paul describe speaking in tongues?

Perhaps the first thing to say is that Paul uses exactly the same Greek expression as is used by Luke when he describes the events that took place at Pentecost. Acts 2:4, when literally translated, reads:

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages…

I have translated the word for tongues here as languages for two reasons. First, because the context clearly shows that the disciples were speaking the languages of the people in the crowd, and secondly, because tongues is in fact just another rather old-fashioned word for languages. Our English word language is derived from the French word langue which can mean either tongue (the thing in your mouth you speak with) or language (the thing you speak).

The words used by both Luke and Paul are laleo (speak) and glossa (tongue or language). So when Paul talks about speaking in tongues he is referring to the same phenomenon as took place at Pentecost when the disciples spoke languages they had never learned. However, at Pentecost there were people present who recognised the languages the disciples were speaking, whereas usually there is no one present who will recognise the language we are speaking. This is probably why in 1 Corinthians 14:2 Paul says:

For the person speaking in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he is speaking mysteries with his spirit (my translation).

Here Paul tells us that when we speak in tongues we are speaking to God. This is because, unless it’s interpreted, as we shall see later, no one can understand us. We are speaking mysteries with our spirit. Indeed, we ourselves do not understand what we are saying. This is confirmed in verse 14 where Paul says:

…if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

So speaking in tongues is speaking a language we do not understand and which no one else can understand. When we speak in English we are speaking with our mind. We understand what we are saying. But when we speak in tongues we are speaking with our spirit, and we do not understand what we are saying.

In verse 14 Paul has described speaking in tongues as praying with our spirit, but in verse 16 it’s clear that it can also be praising:

If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?

So he also refers to it as thanksgiving and this is repeated in verse 17 when he says:

You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.

This is in harmony with what we read in Acts 2:11 when the bewildered crowd at Pentecost exclaimed:

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!

This could either mean that the disciples were praising God in tongues or that they were proclaiming the gospel. The Greek word musterion which Paul uses in verse 2, which tells us that when we speak in tongues we are speaking mysteries, is used elsewhere in Paul’s writings to refer to the gospel as a secret made known by God to man (my italics) through his Spirit (e.g. Ephesians 3:4-5). 

So Paul describes speaking in tongues as speaking with our spirit rather than with our mind. He uses verbs like speaking (2), praying (14), praising (16), and giving thanks (17). And, as at Pentecost, it can also be a sign for unbelievers (22). But this is something we will discuss in a moment.

What is the purpose of speaking in tongues?

The apostle Paul valued very highly his ability to speak in tongues. In verse 18 he says:

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

But in verse 19 he adds:

But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

This makes clear that, although he spoke in tongues a great deal when he was not in church – that is, when he was in private – he did not do so in public. In an earlier talk we have already argued that the distinction between the public and private use of tongues explains what Paul means when he says in 12:30, Do all speak in tongues? All may speak in tongues privately, but not all will do so publicly.

But chapter 14 sheds light on both these uses. The purpose of private tongues is, as we have already seen, that we might speak with our spirit as distinct from speaking with our mind. This may take the form of prayer, or praise, or thanksgiving. Used in this way it is an important means of building ourselves up spiritually, as Paul says in verse 4, He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.

This is presumably why Paul valued so highly his personal use of tongues, and it may well be what he was referring to when he told Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God that he had received when Paul had laid his hands on him (2 Timothy 1:6-7). Verses 14-15 reveal Paul’s personal determination to do the same:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

He is clearly recommending that we should do the same. And if we really want the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in our meetings, we will be willing to make time in private to pray, not only in English with our mind, but also in tongues with our spirit.

Now with regard to the purpose of the public use of tongues, we have already mentioned the day of Pentecost, where the miracle of unlearned Galileans speaking languages they had never learned led to the conversion of some 3000 people. But his was clearly not the scenario Paul had in mind when he said to the Corinthians that tongues are a sign for unbelievers (14:22).

It’s clear from the next verse that, far from expecting unbelievers to come to faith when hearing speaking in tongues, he thinks it more likely that they will conclude that the Corinthians are out of their mind! So in what sense are tongues intended as a sign to those who do not believe? As we examine the passage in which he says this we find what at first sight appear to be two contradictions, one with regard to speaking in tongues and the other regarding prophecy:

·       Regarding tongues, in verse 22 Paul says that they are a sign for unbelievers, but in verse 23 he implies that it’s not good to speak in tongues in their presence in case they think you’re out of your mind.

·       Regarding prophecy, in verse 22 he says that it’s not for unbelievers, but for believers. However, in verses 24 and 25 he says that if unbelievers come into a meeting where everyone is prophesying, they will be convinced that they are sinners and fall down and worship God.

So how do we explain these apparent contradictions? Paul’s instructions are fairly clear. He is continuing the theme he started at the beginning of the chapter that prophecy is preferable to tongues. It is more helpful to believers and now, he says, it is more helpful to unbelievers too. So if unbelievers come in, it’s better to prophesy than to speak in tongues.

But the argument he uses to back up this teaching is extremely difficult to follow. However, one possible way of resolving the difficulty is to begin by taking the reference to prophecy in verse 22 as referring, not to the gift of prophecy, but to the prophecy of from Isaiah 28:11-12 that he has just quoted. Abstract nouns like prophecy usually take the definite article in Greek, whereas in English we leave it out. So he propheteia can be either translated prophecy or the prophecy. In Matthew 13:14-15, for example, he propheteia is used to refer to a specific quotation from the prophecy of Isaiah. It is possible that Paul is doing the same here.

Taken this way, verses 21-24 could be paraphrased as follows:

21 In the law it has been written that I will speak to this people in other tongues (even though they are an unbelieving people, as the context of Isaiah 28:11 makes clear) and yet they will not listen to me, says the Lord (Isaiah 28:12).

22 So, on the basis of the quote from Isaiah, tongues were and are given as a sign to unbelieving people. However, the prophecy (Isaiah 28:11-12) is not given for the benefit of the unbelievers but for us believers in order the we might act upon it in the following way:

23 (Because Isaiah’s prophecy was written for us believers telling us that the unbeliever would not hear even the sign of tongues), when we gather together in worship we shouldn’t speak in tongues when unbelievers are present, because it’s a sign they will reject (and will only lead to their condemnation).

24 On the other hand, if we all prophesy the unbeliever will be convinced…

Although we cannot be sure that I am right in understanding the passage in this way, this suggestion does overcome a notorious difficulty for which, in my view, no satisfactory explanation has been offered so far. But, even if it’s correct, we still have the difficulty that Paul’s warning that, if we all speak in tongues unbelievers will say that we are out of our mind, appears to be contradicted by events on the day of Pentecost.

However, we need to remember that in Acts 2, when some 3000 people were added to the church, the first effects of the miracle of tongues were bewilderment (6), amazement and perplexity (12), and, on the part of some, cynicism (13). It was the preaching of the gospel by Peter that led to their conversion. So Paul’s warning that speaking in tongues may lead to opposition, and his insistence that prophecy – speaking words that people can understand – is preferable to tongues, are not out of harmony with Acts 2.

On the basis of all this, it’s better, in my view, to consider the use of tongues as a sign to unbelievers as something exceptional [1]. We rarely, if ever, know that a language we may be speaking in tongues is going to be recognised by someone present and we must trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to speak that language if he so determines. He alone knows what impact it will have on the hearer.

But this is by no means the only way that tongues may be used in public, as Paul makes clear in the opening verses of chapter 14, where he says:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. 3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

The reference to interpretation of tongues in verse 5 makes clear the purpose of its use. It’s for the edification of the church. Tongues are unintelligible unless they are interpreted and without interpretation the speaker is just speaking into the air (9).  But when interpreted they can fulfil a similar function to prophecy, which also edifies the church (4) bringing strengthening, encouragement and comfort (3).

We will return to this in the next talk when we consider Paul’s teaching on the gift of interpretation of tongues, but for now it’s sufficient to note that the purpose of the use of tongues in church must surely be the same as that of the gift of interpretation – namely, the edification, strengthening, encouragement and comfort of believers.

How is speaking in tongues to be used in church?

Despite Paul’s clear teaching that prophecy is preferable to tongues (1-5), he by no means discourages the use of tongues in church. Although in verse 5 he says that he would rather have them prophesy, he does say, nevertheless, I would like every one of you to speak in tongues. And we have already seen that he expects speaking in tongues to be a regular part of the worship of the church (26) and it is certainly not to be forbidden (39).

However, the key to its use in church is that it needs to be interpreted so that everyone may be edified. In fact, in verse 28 he tells us that

If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

This suggests that the personal use of tongues in church is not prohibited, but it must be done quietly as it will edify no one except the speaker (cf. 4). Speaking out loud in tongues, therefore, is to be strongly discouraged unless it is intended that it be interpreted, and that of course will require someone with the gift of interpretation to be present.

This may, of course, be the person who has spoken in tongues, as in verses 12-13 Paul encourages those who speak in tongues to pray for the gift of interpretation:

So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church. 13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.

But if a person who wants to speak in tongues does not possess the gift of interpretation, they must first make sure that someone is present who does, and if not, they must speak quietly to themselves and to God (28).

However, if an interpreter is present, the speaker in tongues may  speak out loud with a view to its being interpreted for the edification of the church, subject to the conditions Paul gives in verse 27, where he says:

If anyone speaks in a tongue, two, or at the most three, should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.

This instruction is so clear that it hardly requires further comment, but we will discuss some of the practical implications in the final talk in this series.

Conclusion

In this talk we have argued that when Paul uses the term speaking in tongues, he is referring to the same gift as the disciples received on the day of Pentecost – the ability to speak languages they had never learned. We saw that tongues may be expressed in a variety of ways, including, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and declaring the wonders of God.

We discovered that when we speak in tongues it’s our spirit that is praying, not our mind. God gives us this gift to help us edify ourselves – to build ourselves up spiritually. It is also given so that when it’s interpreted it will edify the church. It can also be used as a sign to unbelievers when, as at Pentecost, they understand the language that is being spoken.  Finally, we saw that Paul does expect this gift to be in operation in our meetings, but that it should be used quietly if it is not for interpretation. It must only be spoken aloud if an interpreter is present, and  it must be used only two, or at the most three, times in a meeting. We will consider this further in the next talk when we examine Paul’s teaching on the gift of interpretation.