Milo

OCTOBER 24

Reading 297

TRANSFORMATION 2 Corinthians 2:5–3:18

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).It’s not what we are, but what we are becoming, that communicates Christ.

Overview

Paul urged restoration of the penitent sinner (2:5–11). He spoke of his motives (vv. 12–17) and explained implications of the Spirit’s New Covenant ministry (3:1–18).

Understanding the Text

“Reaffirm your love for him” 2 Cor. 2:5–11. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul demanded that a brother living in open immorality be expelled. A majority (2 Cor. 2:6) did as Paul commanded, and the brother repented and broke off the illicit relationship. While the Corinthians may not have known how to handle repentance, I suspect many felt the sinner deserved to be punished anyway. It seems too easy to let folks who have done wrong off the hook, just because they say, “I’m sorry,” and promise not to do it again. It goes against our human sense of justice. A person who does wrong ought to pay. But the purpose of Christian discipline isn’t to punish! It’s to restore. We’re not out to make a person suffer for his sins. Christ has already suffered for those. What we’re out to do is to bring a sinner back to righteousness and to fellowship with the Lord. Repentance—turning away from the sin and back to God—is everything. How we need to remember this in our families, with our spouses, with our children. We punish to restore, not to make a person pay. Afterward, as Paul said, “You ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (v. 7). Love without discipline encourages a self-indulgent life. But discipline without love encourages bitterness and rebellion. “We are not unaware of his schemes” 2 Cor. 2:11. Satan is much too clever to incite us to do open violence to others. We’d realize how wrong this is, and draw back from our hostile, angry feelings. So Satan encourages us to do destructive things that we can feel holy about. That’s what was happening in Corinth. The penitent sinner was left hanging, even after he renounced his sin, and most of the Corinthians felt self-righteously that justice was being done! Watch out for self-righteousness. “Well, they deserve it” is true. But it isn’t a Christian attitude. We all “deserve it.” Yet what God poured out on us so richly was forgiveness, not punishment. Forgiveness is a gift that has the power to transform. No wonder Satan schemes and struggles to convince us that we should punish instead. “The aroma of Christ” 2 Cor. 2:12–16. The Gospel message stimulates conflicting reactions. Some who hear respond like a child who smells his mother’s chocolate chip cookies baking. Some who hear react with wrinkled noses and expressions of disgust, as though a skunk had just passed by. People’s reactions to the Gospel tell us nothing about Jesus. Their reactions tell us everything about them. “We do not peddle the Word of God for profit” 2 Cor. 2:17. The reaction of the hearer to the Gospel reveals their character. The motive of the preacher reveals his. Even in the first century, traveling evangelists could draw crowds and make a good living off offerings! We have no right to judge the motives of anyone in ministry. If you should give, and later discover the ministry was run by a peddler who was only interested in his own profit, don’t condemn yourself. God may even lead us to give to a religious huckster, for the Word of God is powerful even when preached with twisted motives. The peddler, who is paid in cash for his services, is the real loser. You still win, for you’ll be rewarded in heaven for yours. “Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” 2 Cor. 3:1–3. With this chapter Paul began his exposition of New Covenant ministry. The “New Covenant” is that special way in which God relates to human beings now that Jesus has died and been raised again. The “Old Covenant” refers to Mosaic Law, which defined the way God related to human beings from the time of Moses till Christ came. In the earlier age “ministry” involved teaching the commandments and lifestyle God ordained for the Jews. In the present age “ministry” involves sharing the Good News of Jesus, and opening hearts to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us that there is one unmistakable mark of New Covenant ministry. People are transformed, so that what was written in stone is written now on the heart. The world knows of righteousness, not because it is recorded on stone tablets, but because it is engraved on the hearts of Christian men and women around them, and seen in their lives. “Competent as ministers of a New Covenant” 2 Cor. 3:4–6. What an idea for the church’s search committee. Next time you send out a questionnaire, don’t ask folks to say how well the candidate preaches, or how often he visits. Simply ask, Has he helped the members of your church be like Jesus Christ? “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold” 2 Cor. 3:12–18. New Covenant ministry calls for transparency and honesty. It calls for taking off our masks, and being our real selves with others. It requires us to let others know us as we are. Warts and all. That’s the message of this important passage. It’s not a message most are comfortable with. But it’s one Paul desperately wanted us to understand. To help us, he looked back to Moses and the incident of the veil (v. 13). Whenever Moses met with God, his face shone with an awe-inspiring splendor. But the brightness faded in time. Since Moses wanted the people of Israel to see only the splendor, he began putting on a veil to hide his face. Maybe then the people would assume he was still bright with glory. With us, Paul said, it’s just the opposite. We’re not like Moses. We’re bold! We meet others with “unveiled” faces (v. 18). The reason is a basic difference in our relationship with God. We don’t go to meet Him. He has come into our hearts! His Holy Spirit is present within us, and is in the process of transforming us “into His [Jesus’] likeness with ever-increasing glory.” The glory seen on Moses’ face was marred by deterioration. The glory that shines out through our faces is magnified by ever-increasing transformation! Thus we take the veils off our faces, convinced that as others are allowed to see the work that God is doing in our lives, they will be convinced that Jesus is real. I know. It goes against everything most of us have been taught. After all, people say we have to try to present our best face as a “testimony” to Jesus. But people are wrong. If we pretend, if we try to act holy, all that others will see is our posturing. But if we are real with others—if we don’t hide our fears, our doubts, our weaknesses, our struggles—they will know that we are real. And because the Holy Spirit is in our lives, they will sense the reality of Jesus as our transformation continues to take place. Let’s be bold. Let’s believe the Good News of the New Covenant. Trust the Holy Spirit to do His transforming work in your life. And be honest with others, so they can see that Christ is really in you (see DEVOTIONAL). Moses’ face shone with glory after each visit he had with God. But that glory faded after a time, and the veil Moses wore was intended to disguise that fact. Paul used this Old Testament incident to contrast Old and New Covenants. The glory of the Old, in which Moses went to God, faded as Moses left His presence. The glory of the New shines ever brighter, for God’s Spirit has come to us never to depart, and He is transforming us from within (vv. 7–18).

DEVOTIONAL

“Norm, Meet Jesus”(2 Cor. 3:12–18)Dwight buttonholed me as soon as we came out of church. “Larry, I want to talk to you,” he said. And for 10 minutes he proceeded to recount the sermon I’d just preached. Later my friend Norm grinned. “He didn’t want to talk to you,” Norm said. “He wanted to talk at you.” I smiled. If Norm had only known. Eighteen months before two members of our church picked Dwight up off the street. He’d just been released from a local mental hospital, but still was unable to speak a sentence. They took him into their home, where he spent most of the time curled up in a dark closet. They brought him to church, but often Dwight would get up in the middle of the service and run out into the yard. Then they started bringing Dwight over to my house each Wednesday evening. We’d play basketball, eat hot dogs, and talk together about Dwight’s progress and how the couple could best help him. In time we learned Dwight’s story. He’d been a successful young businessman, with a wife and two kids, a nice home, two cars, a boat. But then he’d become obsessed with illicit sex. Gradually his world fell apart. He lost his job, his home, his family, his cars and boat. Finally he even lost the capacity to talk in sentences. He was below rock bottom when the couple from our church found him and took him into their home. The morning Norm made his joking remark I thought back over the months since Dwight had come to us. As he experienced the love of his new friends, he’d gradually calmed. As he participated with us in church, he’d found the Saviour. And then, not suddenly but surely, he’d begun to heal. That very week Dwight had begun to work again—he’d started a lawn service. And that morning he’d been able to tell me, in great detail, exactly what my sermon was about, and what it meant to him. I had the overwhelming realization as I looked that morning at Dwight, that the Person I saw was Jesus. It was Jesus, looking out through the unveiled face of Dwight, revealed clearly through the transformation His Holy Spirit had worked in Dwight’s life. Each Sunday that I came to our little church and looked around, I saw Jesus everywhere. For each of us, like Dwight, had shared our lives with the others. We were an imperfect people. The warts and blemishes of our humanity were all too visible. But we were growing and changing too. In the ever-increasing glory of the transformations taking place, we recognized and knew our Lord.

Personal Application

Let the glory of Jesus be seen in you.

Quotable

“The Christian is a person who makes it easy for others to believe in God.”—Robert M. McCheyne

2 Corinthians

OCTOBER 23

Reading 296

GOD AND COMFORT 2 Corinthians 1:1–2:4

“God . . . who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:3–4).Only the hurting know what it means to be comforted by God.

Overview

Paul praised his God of Comfort (1:1–7), and shared a personal experience (vv. 8–11). He explained his failure to visit, which had been misunderstood (v. 12–2:2), and the reason for his earlier, blunt letter (vv. 3–4).

Understanding the Text

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” 2 Cor. 1:1. This unusual greeting reflects on the background of this letter. Paul’s ministry had been challenged, and the apostle rejected, by many of the Corinthian Christians. This had to hurt Paul. But it did not shake him. His appointment as an apostle did not come from the Corinthians, but from God. It’s not what they wanted, but what God willed that counted. I’ve known many people who have suffered rejection. I’ve heard pastors weep over being considered—and treated—as nothing more than an employee of the church rather than a minister called by God. I’ve heard moms and dads with rebellious children weep too. Paul would understand. And his response to the Corinthians’ reaction serves as a guide to all of us in similar situations. Remember first who has appointed you to your role, whether it be pastor or parent, and serve Him. As the rest of this letter shows, keep on loving. Keep on sharing. “The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” 2 Cor. 1:3–5. God is not only the source of His servants’ authority, He is the source of our comfort as well. Paul was sure that God understands. He suffers along with us, for as members of Christ’s body we are experiencing the overflow of His suffering. It’s all right to weep when the pain is great. But never imagine yourself alone. The God of compassion and comfort is right there with you, and if you will, you can sense His loving arm around you. “If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation” 2 Cor. 1:3–6. This is one of the most powerful ministry principles to be found in the entire Bible. Paul explained in verse 4: God “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” What Paul was saying is that people can identify with those who share the same pain. Have you lost a baby? Then those who have lost a child will understand. Have you known the anguish of a divorce? Then those whose marriages have crumbled know you understand them! Why is this so important? Because the first reaction to any words of comfort is likely to be, “But you don’t understand what I’m going through.” Talk to such folks about God’s comfort, and anything you say will seem empty and foolish. But listen to their pain, share enough so they know you do understand, and then share the comfort God has given you. This the sufferer can hear. If you’ve ever anguished over the pain in your life, and cried out, “Why?” here is one possible answer. The pain has equipped you to minister to others who suffer now as you have. Without experiencing their pain there is nothing you could say that would be heard. It is only because you hurt that you can help others heal. “Just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort” 2 Cor. 1:7. We parents have this terrible weakness. We don’t want our children to go through all the troubles we have had. I find I don’t care about winning Lotto for myself. But I sometimes daydream about what it would mean for my boys. It’s foolish, I know. God, lacking this kind of weakness, knows what Paul also understood. Only by going through the painful experiences as Paul himself, would the Corinthians become strong in their faith and commitment to God. We parents need desperately to understand this principle. The overprotective mom and dad, who try to isolate their children from the troubles of life, do them terrible harm. “We despaired even of life” 2 Cor. 1:8–11. Paul had that most unusual of qualities: moral courage. What I mean is this. Most of us, if our authority were challenged, would rise to meet the challenge. We’d ready ourselves for war, gather all our strength, and march out to meet the rebels on the field of battle. But not Paul. He actually humbled himself to meet the challenge! He put off his weapons, and exposed his weaknesses! Is an apostle supposed to feel at the end of his strength, unable to endure a day longer? (v. 8) Is an apostle supposed to feel despair? (v. 8) Isn’t the dark valley of depression something that only pagans experience, while believers dance on sunlit mountaintops for joy? Some may think so. But Paul knew better. And Paul knew something else too. Only as we minister from weakness, in transparent honesty, will we win others to commitment to Jesus Christ, and to trust in us. Paul was an apostle. But he was also a human being. Because he suffered, he came to know God’s comfort as a reality in his life. In this letter Paul was about to share all, and expose his humanness. Yet in the process he would reveal something else. God was, and had been, at work in his life. If we want to touch others’ hearts, we must take the path the apostle trod. “In the holiness and sincerity that are from God” 2 Cor. 1:12–14. Today we call it transparency and honesty. Or we say, so and so is “real.” Paul used theological terms instead of psychological and ethical ones. But the essential meaning is the same. The holy and sincere among us live without masks. They let us know them and their hearts. They are not perfect, but they are growing. We come to understand them even as we understand what they teach. In a world when men and women wear masks, the person who wears his real face is often misunderstood. The face he presents is assumed to be a mask too. But keep on living that life of holiness and sincerity. In time everyone will know who you are. And through you they will come to know God. “It was in order to spare you that I did not return” 2 Cor. 1:15–2:4. Paul had heard that some in Corinth scoffed at the idea that Paul loved them. And they pointed to the fact that instead of coming himself, Paul wrote them a blunt and (to them) insensitive epistle. “Holy and sincere? Paul? Ha!” Holiness and sincerity do imply being a person of one’s word. Paul fully intended to carry out his promise to visit Corinth again. So he explained why he hadn’t been able to do so yet—and why he hadn’t wanted to! Rather than hurt his beloved Corinthians, he wrote so they would have an opportunity to correct what was wrong in their fellowship! It’s not unusual for a “holy and sincere” individual to be misunderstood. People are likely to impute shameful motives to the best intended actions. People are also likely to criticize actions they don’t understand. When that happens to you, it’s best to follow Paul’s example. Keep on affirming your love. Explain the motives and feelings that lie behind what you have done. Don’t take personal offense. And don’t quit. Most of all, don’t quit living that holy and sincere life. You and I can’t help what others say about us. But we can make sure that what they say isn’t true.

DEVOTIONAL

Caring Enough(2 Cor. 2:1–4)

Sometime ago David Augsburger wrote an excellent book called Caring Enough to Confront. In it he showed that if we really care about others, we will be willing to confront them when their actions call for it. Paul, who cared enough to confront the Corinthians in his first letter, shows us here just how to go about confronting. First, he confronted to avoid a greater grief that would otherwise distort their relationship (v. 1). Confronting is a way to keep relationships strong and warm, for things left unmentioned can bring grief. Second, his goal was not to hurt but to heal (v. 2). Confrontation works only when your motive is to help the other person. Don’t think you can confront in anger or antagonism. Your hostility will come through more strongly than any of your words. Third, he expected a positive response. It takes a large dose of trust in others to free us to confront. Paul’s trust had solid roots in his faith in God. He knew God was at work in his brothers and sisters. God would use his blunt words to help them and to heal. Finally, Paul hurt with the Corinthians as he confronted them. He wrote “out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears” (v. 4). Confrontation must grow out of and be an expression of love. You need to hurt along with the person you confront. Your pain will prove your love, and move the other person to respond. Do you care enough to confront others when they go wrong? If you do, be sure your confrontation is marked by a desire to deepen the relationship, by love, by positive expections—and by personal grief and pain.

Personal Application

Confronting is one of those gifts we only give if we care enough.

Quotable

“The better friends you are, the straighter you can talk, but while you are only on nodding terms, be slow to scold.”—Francis Xavier

2 Corinthians

INTRODUCTION

Paul’s second Letter to the Corinthians was written a short time after the first. Though some of his instructions were followed, many in Corinth still seem to have rejected the apostle’s authority. This most open and revealing of Paul’s letters is an “apology”: a defense of his apostleship and a compelling revelation of his motives in ministry. Highlights include Paul’s explanation of New Covenant ministry, his expression of confidence in God’s transforming power, his teaching on giving, and his clarification of apostolic authority.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS

I.	Personal Items	2 Cor. 1–2
II.	New Covenant Ministry	2 Cor. 3–13
	A. Principles	2 Cor. 3–5
	B. Practice	2 Cor. 6–7
	C. Giving	2 Cor. 8–9
	D. Authority	2 Cor. 10–13

OCTOBER 22

Reading 295

RESURRECTION AHEAD 1 Corinthians 15–16

“So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:42–44).Life for the Christian never ends. New and endless life lies ahead.

Background

Resurrection.

A number of Old Testament passages suggest that God intends to resurrect His saints (cf. Job 14:14; Pss. 17:15; 73:23–26; Isa. 25:8; Dan. 12:2). Yet the doctrine takes clear and definite form only in the New Testament, where the resurrection of Jesus serves as history’s great example, and 1 Corinthians 15 provides the exhaustive teaching. It’s important to realize that incidents in the Old and New Testaments of bringing the dead back to life are not resurrections. They were simply restorations to earthly life, and the persons so restored were doomed to die again. On the other hand, resurrection involves a transformation of the believer’s body; an infusion of immortality that renders the believer forever free from the powers of sin and death. It is this transformation, which awaits us at Christ’s return, that Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians 15.

Overview

Jesus’ resurrection is a thoroughly attested historical event (15:1–11), essential to Christian faith (vv. 12–34). And the bodily resurrection that awaits us is God’s final victory over death! (vv. 35–58) Paul closed with an exhortation to give (16:1–4), personal remarks (vv. 5–18), and greetings (vv. 19–24).

Understanding the Text

“This is what we preach, and this is what you believed” 1 Cor. 15:1–11. Ancient mystery religions featured mythical stories of gods who died and were restored to life. These represented the seasons of the year; the deadness of winter, followed by the revitalization of plant life in the spring, in the never-ending, repeated cycles of nature. But such folklore offered no hope to the individual, who when fallen was planted in the ground, never to rise again. And then God broke into history in the person of Jesus Christ. It is no myth that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day as predicted in the Scriptures. It is no myth that the risen Jesus, who appeared to many witnesses, dies no more. And this, Paul says, is “of first importance” (v. 3). The endless, hopeless cycle represented in ancient nature and mystery religions was broken by a real, historical event: an event that displays the power of the true God—and offers mankind hope. The literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. It took place in history—in real space and time. And as Jesus was raised from the dead in this fashion, you and I will be too! “If Christ has not been raised” 1 Cor. 15:12–19. The notion that the soul persists after death was common in Greek thought. But the idea of a bodily resurrection was not. So some in Corinth spiritualized the resurrection, as some do even today. It was Jesus’ “spiritual presence” that the disciples sensed after the Crucifixion. And it was the awareness that what Jesus stood for would never die that transformed the disciples into bold missionaries of a new, positive faith. To Paul, this was utter nonsense. “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (v. 14). “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (v. 17). What God did for us in Jesus was real. Christ became a real human being, lived a real human life, died a real human death. He was actually raised from the dead in a transformed body, and now lives an endless life. Because the historical Jesus experienced a historical death and resurrection, and only because of this, our salvation is secure. “So in Christ all will be made alive” 1 Cor. 15:20–29. I enjoy science fiction. The imagination that creates new worlds and strange beings delights me. But when I read I’m always aware of the difference between science fiction and truth. One exists only in the realm of the mind. The other exists in the realm of space and time. The one is fantasy, the other historical, solid, real. True Christianity is firmly rooted in history. It is touchable stuff. Jesus told Thomas to: “Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side” (John 20:27). This reminds us all that what we believe is historical, solid, real. If the past that Scripture describes is real, so is the future! We can look forward to the flowering of the new era Christ introduced in His resurrection. We can know that the day is coming when it will be our turn to rise. To rise, and share in the ultimate reign of God over all. “Baptized for the dead” 1 Cor. 15:29–34. This is the only reference in Scripture to this practice. Apparently some in Corinth were baptized for dead loved ones, assuming that somehow this rite, that symbolized participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus, might assure their resurrection too. Paul didn’t cite the practice because he approved. He cited it only to show that it is inconsistent to both deny resurrection, and then be baptized for the dead in hopes of winning resurrection for them. Paul believed totally in resurrection, and his life demonstrated it. Knowing and valuing what lies ahead more than present pain or pleasure, Paul “endangers” himself “every hour.” What Paul said makes sense. Our lives should be consistent with our beliefs. How is your life different from that of others because you know resurrection lies ahead? “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable” 1 Cor. 15:35–39. We can’t know what our resurrection bodies will be like. Paul himself could only draw analogies. Our present body is like a seed. When placed in the ground a seed is transformed and becomes a vital, living plant. Resurrection is something like this. Adam and Christ provide another analogy. The body we inherit from Adam is flesh and blood, driven by its material (“earthy”) character. The body we will receive through our relationship with Jesus is spiritual, and like His, will be driven by its spiritual character. The analogies are insufficient. One thing we do know, however. We who die in weakness will be raised in power, to be forever like our Lord (see DEVOTIONAL). “Your labor in the Lord is not in vain” 1 Cor. 15:50–58. The author of Ecclesiastes looked back over a busy and successful life, and declared it meaningless. All he had accomplished meant nothing, he complained, for he would die. And what he had built would be left to another (Ecc. 2:17–23). Paul, however, shouted out in triumph. What we accomplish for Jesus is never in vain. Death is not the end! Death is a defeated enemy, to be swallowed up in victory when God clothes us with immortality. All that we accomplish for the Lord will reflect His glory for eternity. “Now about the collection” 1 Cor. 16:1–4. After the theological “high” of chapter 15 Paul now brings us down to earth with talk about money. Right? Not at all. There’s a logical bridge here. Because resurrection lies ahead, and what we do for the Lord on earth is not in vain, money has heavenly significance. We use it now with eternity in view. Paul suggested we give systematically, weekly, “in keeping” with our income. (He had more to say on this in 2 Cor.) Do keep resurrection in mind as you reconsider your giving. What you spend is gone. What you give is yours forever. “Do everything in love” 1 Cor. 16:5–24. The close of this letter is warm with love. Here as at the end of Romans Paul mentions person after person—people he knew and cared about—people he wanted the Corinthians to care about too. “Love” can’t be an abstract concept for us Christians. It’s a people concept, and only becomes real as we spend time with others.

DEVOTIONAL

Sown Perishable(1 Cor. 15:42–57)

Dad didn’t want to go with my sister and me to meet with the doctor. We all knew what the verdict would be. Cancer. Later Eunice and I told Dad what the doctor had said. The cancer was all through his body. It was just a matter of months. I moved into my childhood home to take care of Dad those last weeks. At first he sat out in the living room with me and talked or watched TV. As a fighter, Dad overcame many a physical adversary during his 86 years. Now he felt frustrated. This was something he couldn’t fight. Soon he was unable to sit up, and he stayed in bed. As the pain got worse, I gave him regular shots of morphine. I listened as he ranged over his life in his delirium. And I watched his body shrink. When the men from the funeral home took his body away, he seemed no larger than a small child, curled up on his side. This wasn’t the father I’d known in my childhood, so big and so strong. It wasn’t my fishing companion of our later years. It couldn’t be. And yet it was. As Paul says, the body is sown perishable. Sown in dishonor. Sown in weakness. But the glorious message of the Gospel is that the shriveled body that returns to the earth is nothing like the body that will be raised! I’ll see my father again. I’ll share with him in the coming resurrection. And when I do, the body in which he dwells will be imperishable, glorious, bearing no mark of man’s weakness, but only the mark of God’s power. That’s the vision I have of my dad today. Not the withered frame that lay dead on the bed in my boyhood home. But the vibrant form of the man I knew, vitalized by God’s transforming power.

Personal Application

Thanks be to God who gives us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Quotable

“Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no single historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.”—B.F. Westcott

OCTOBER 21

Reading 294

CHURCH PRIORITIES 1 Corinthians 14

“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” (1 Cor. 14:5–6).We gather to worship and build one another up.

Background

More about tongues.

Modern exercise of the gift of “speaking in tongues” has become a divisive issue in many churches. A careful study of 1 Corinthians 14 should correct excesses of those on both sides of this issue. On the one hand, the validity of the gift of tongues was not challenged by Paul, nor was its exercise. On the other hand, Paul offered no support to those who held that this gift is “the” test of having received the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul’s argument hinged on intelligibility. Whatever happens when Christians gather as Christ’s church must be for the building up of believers. Speaking in tongues does not make this contribution, unless the speaker interprets what he or she said. But perhaps the greatest contribution to settling the controversy was made earlier, in 1 Corinthians 8. There Paul taught that doctrinal disputes do not need to divide Christians if those on each side consider the possibility that they may not have all the answers. Those on each side should constantly express their love for those with whom they differ, seeking to build them up rather than tear them down (8:1–4, see DEVOTIONAL).

Overview

Intelligible speech is to have priority in church meetings (14:1–19), where “tongues” has limited value (vv. 20–25). Participation during services is to be orderly (vv. 26–40).

Understanding the Text

“Especially the gift of prophecy” 1 Cor. 14:1–5. The exact nature of the gift of prophecy as exercised in the first-century church is much debated. Some take 13:8, “prophecies . . . will cease,” to mean that after the New Testament writings were complete, special revelations given through members of local congregations were no longer needed. The original “gift of prophecy” has been transmuted into a gift of preaching the Word. Others hold that this is a gift of revelation. Not that prophecy replaces the Word of God, but that it somehow supplements, while remaining subordinate to, Scripture. Paul’s view was clear. “Prophecy” is instruction uttered in plain, ordinary speech so everyone can understand, that builds up believers. Whatever prophecy was, it did the same thing for the church that a mother does when talking about God as she tucks her child in bed at night. It did the same thing for the church that a family does in reading a devotional book and talking about its meaning. It did the same thing for the church that a Sunday School teacher does when explaining how a passage of the Bible applies to daily life. You may not think of yourself as a prophet. But you can have a prophet’s ministry—and reward—as you share your faith with your family and friends. “Speak intelligible words with your tongue” 1 Cor. 14:6–19. What we do when Christians gather is minister to each other. We need this perspective, not just for setting the gift of tongues in proper perspective, but for everything we do in our services. In prayer, praise, teaching, and sharing, God can and does use what we say to build up His church. “Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers” 1 Cor. 14:20–25. Here as elsewhere, a “sign” is a visible mark of God’s presence or activity. In saying tongues are not a sign for believers, Paul underlined an earlier point. We’re not to look to this or any spiritual gift as a gauge of spirituality. Tongues might have served, in first-century culture, as a sign to unbelievers who associated such phenomenon with a work of God (see 1 Cor. 12–13). But even then intelligible speech has priority in church. As Paul noted, if an unbeliever visits a church meeting and finds everyone speaking in tongues, he’ll say, “You are out of your mind” (14:23). But an unbeliever who comes and understands what is being said will be convicted of sin, and converted (vv. 24–25). Tongues are a valid spiritual gift. But they really weren’t anything for the Corinthians to get so excited about. “Women should remain silent” 1 Cor. 14:34–36. This is one of the most debated passages in the New Testament. Why? Because: (1) It doesn’t seem to fit the context of Paul’s argument. (2) It doesn’t seem to reflect the attitude toward women that Paul displays in other passages, such as Romans 16. (3) It seems to directly contradict what Paul had said in 11:5, 13 about the right of women to “prophesy and pray” in congregational gatherings. Some have argued, and on strong grounds, that these verses were not written by Paul, but were incorporated from a “gloss”—notes that someone made on an early manuscript. This may be the solution, as surely Scripture does not contradict Scripture, and earlier Paul argued powerfully for the right of women to take an active part in church meetings. There’s another possibility that some have suggested. Perhaps those who upset the orderliness of church meetings in Corinth were women, whose obsessive emphasis on tongues led to outbursts and loud demands. In that case, Paul might not contradict himself at all. First Corinthians 11 would teach that women can participate with men, while 1 Corinthians 14 would correct the abuse of that participation. I don’t think anyone really knows the answer. But we do know, for sure, that when the text says, “It is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church,” it is not saying, “Shut up!” to women who have a testimony to share, a prayer to offer, or a truth to relate. Women have spiritual gifts too. And a church needs the exercise of those gifts to be healthy and whole.

DEVOTIONAL

Come on In!(1 Cor. 14:26–40)

We knock. The door’s thrown open wide, and we’re welcomed by a smiling slave. One of the brothers. This is “going to church” in the first century, and we know it’s going to be, well, different. Inside we sit down in the largest room with some 15 or 20 others. The meeting starts with singing, and everybody seems to want to start a hymn. The singing is interrupted now and then as one person or another speaks—contributing “a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.” We can’t make out just who the pastor is. No one gets up in front and talks 30 or 40 minutes. Instead, almost everyone speaks; some just a word or two, others saying more. There’s prayer too. And, even though we can’t understand the Greek they speak, we sense their warmth and sincerity. This is the picture Paul gives us of a church meeting in 1 Corinthians 14. One that fits perfectly with other New Testament references to Christian gatherings, found in Colossians 3:15–16 and Hebrews 10:24–25. What strikes us most of all is the informality, and the fact that everyone participates. These folks seem to take the teaching that everyone has a spiritual gift seriously! So everyone is given the opportunity to share. Somehow in the nearly 2,000 years that have passed since Paul wrote these words, church meetings have changed. They’re more formal now. Usually only one person, a professional, selects the hymns, prays, and speaks. The rest of us sit there, dressed up, worshiping. Even learning. But not using our gift, and not being ministered to by others. I don’t suppose any of us seriously imagine that we can go back to the first-century church. Or even that we should. But somewhere in your Christian experience and in mine we have to make room for that same kind of quiet gathering of believers who know, love, and minister to each other. Maybe this is happening in your Sunday School class. Maybe in a prayer cell. Maybe even in your own living room, in a home Bible study. But it does need to be happening somewhere. You do have a spiritual gift. Others need your ministry to them. And you need theirs.

Personal Application

You don’t have to go to church to be in church.

Quotable

“What matters in the church is not religion but the form of Christ, and its taking form amidst a band of men.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer