"Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy!" (I Corinthians 14:1)
Last week, we dealt with I Corinthians 13, perhaps the most poignant and compelling, and inspiring, literary passage ever penned by the apostle Paul! It begins with a challenge focused on himself but clearly directed as well to all believers and followers of Christ! And here's how he began: "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong and clanging cymbal! If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing! And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but have no love, it profits me nothing!" Wow!
It comes ironically in the middle of a discourse that is otherwise almost completely problem-oriented"! Coming "like a breath of fresh air--like an oasis in the desert--in the midst of a disputation of continual reproof and correction, of wrong understandings, and wrong attitudes, and serious abuses of God's ordinances and spiritual gifts," notes MacArthur. Where the very absence of love is the main culprit, the key missing ingredient, that led to factions and quarrels, idolatry and immorality, and exhibitions of selfishness and pride within the church of Corinth, the body of Christ!
Paul begins by speaking about "tongues" and, more specifically, about the misuse of tongues, because (Constable notes) of "the Corinthians' fascination with them!" And he says simply that if one is able to speak with the eloquence And fluency of the greatest speaker in the world, or even of angels (using a hyperbole, since there's no evidence in the Bible that angels actually speak in a special heavenly language)! Without love, they become nothing more than "noisy gong and clanging cymbal" (comparing them with pagans who engaged in ecstatic sounds and incoherent babble, spouting gibberish in a state of emotional frenzies, accompanied by smashing gongs, clanging cymbals, and blaring trumpets as part of their worship of idols)!
Real love--the "agape" love of the Bible, Paul says, is "the love of God," exemplified by Him sending His Son into the world to die on the Cross, as our substitute, so that we might be delivered from sin's consequences! Self-sacrificing! Measureless and strong! More important than any other gift, including the gift of tongues! The first and foremost "fruit of the Holy Spirit," which comes only by "walking in the Spirit"!
In verses 4-7, Paul gives us the best possible description of what it's actually like to live out this kind of love--words to which we can relate, but are unable to fully emulate! And here's how he puts it: "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things..."! Wow!
And so we see that love is defined by what it does, and doesn't do! It's action-oriented and intentional! It's the "still more excellent way" that Paul promised to show the Corinthians (in 12:31)! And it's the one thing that will stand when all else fails! "Love never fails!" Because, as Constable notes, "it shares God's very nature and eternality"!
The apostle Paul ends his great discourse with this final thought which, in the Phillips translation, says this: "In this life, we have three great lasting qualities--faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of them is love!"
While Paul was finished, we weren't! And we wanted to turn to other Scripture that speaks further about this great "agape" love! Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you love one another; by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another!"
Then, in I John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God!"
And, finally, in I Peter 4:8, where the apostle Peter writes, "Above all keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins!"
And how about some hymns and songs of the faith? Like "The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell! It goes beyond...! O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong! It shall forever more endure--the saints and angels song!" Or, "Sing the wondrous love of Jesus..."! Or, "Love lifted me...!" Or, "They will know us by our love..."! Or, "Jesus love me, this I know, for the Bible says it so!" Go head and sing them!
And that set the scene for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 14:1-12, where verse 1 continues with (you guessed it!) Love!
"Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy..." And so, the apostle Paul is back to speaking more about spiritual gifts, and he's not through speaking more specifically about "speaking in tongues"!
So what are the tongues he's speaking about?
Two kinds of tongues, it turns out! First "in a tongue," singular, referring to the "unknown," or unintelligible speaking of pagans in their worship of idols! The KJV translates verse 2 more clearly, and correctly, when it says, "For one who speaks in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men..." Not unto men, because there's no way they could understand the emotionally-driven and incoherent bunch of gibberish being spoken as part of their worship of idols! And the second part "unto God" should be translated as "unto god," in lower case, speaking of an "unknown god," as also used in Acts 17:22-23! MacArthur notes that "all spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of ministering, or speaking to men! No spiritual gift was ever given to minister to God, since God doesn't need to be ministered to"! And that "no ecstasies, no sensualities, no eroticisms, no jumping up and down, no feelings of "going out of yourself (in an emotional frenzy, and no loss of control is ever associated with the true work of the Holy Spirit, in the New Testament"!
The second use of tongues is the plural form, used in verse 5 where the apostle Paul writes that "he wishes they all could speak in tongues..." speaking of "other languages," just as the miraculous "gift of tongues" God gave to the early believers, as recorded in Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost when people from many other nations gathered together to hear the gospel spoken in their own languages, and many believed, leading to founding of the church!
The Corinthians, however, had counterfeited the gift of tongues and substituted the same incoherent emotionally-driven utterances as was common among the pagans! Resulting in their worship services becoming "bedlam and chaos, with little real worship and little or no edification taking place! MacArthur notes that "the believers in the church of Corinth so abused the gift of tongues that they rivaled Babel in the confusion of speaking," and so Paul devotes an entire chapter in addressing the problem, which was "so representative of their sinfulness"! The ecstasies and eroticism, as well as the immoralities and idolatries accompanying pagan worship, and the pagan culture, had somehow influenced and infiltrated the "body of Christ" in the Corinthian church! It was "their desire for the showy, and the attention-getting, and ego-building, and the emotional "speaking (supposedly!) with the gift of tongues that they used as a badge of their spiritually"! And they even claimed to "reach such a spiritual plateau, so as to speak to the eternal God in their own private way of speaking in tongues"!
And it's happening again today, MacArthur notes, in the so-called "Charismatic movement"! Which he calls, "Corinth revisited"!
The apostle Paul says he preferred, now with the church established, that believers "prophesy"! Or "speak and preach and teach the Word of God, in a language, and with words, that everybody can understand, so the church can be edified"! And that describes the real purpose of the church, and the foundational principle that should govern all worship!
Prophecy edifies the whole congregation of the church and would continue to be used by the Lord to build and sanctify the church long after tongues "ceased"! Paul writes, in verse 6, "But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will it profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation (some new revelation from God), or of knowledge (an insight into truth), or of prophecy (a word of edification, or exhortation, or consolation(, or of teaching (instruction in righteousness)!"
But Paul can't let go about speaking in tongues and, in verse 7, uses the analogy of musical instruments to make his case about the importance of intelligible sounds! "Even musical instruments must have "distinctions in tone so they don't give an uncertain sound," and confuse the hearers! And he further writes, in verse 19 (which we'll deal with more specifically in next week's lesson) that he'd rather "speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a (unintelligible!) tongue"!
Not that some excitement and a bit of emotion aren't to be expected, or even called for, as we "pour out our hearts" in expressing praise and adoration, and gratitude in worshiping our great Creator God Almighty! But Paul makes it clear (in conclusion, as the last word of I Corinthians 14) that, at least for public worship, "all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner"! And that should settle it!
So, looking back, what might the apostle Paul expect us to take with us from the last couple lessons?
How about this:
Lowell
Last week, we dealt with I Corinthians 13, perhaps the most poignant and compelling, and inspiring, literary passage ever penned by the apostle Paul! It begins with a challenge focused on himself but clearly directed as well to all believers and followers of Christ! And here's how he began: "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong and clanging cymbal! If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing! And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but have no love, it profits me nothing!" Wow!
It comes ironically in the middle of a discourse that is otherwise almost completely problem-oriented"! Coming "like a breath of fresh air--like an oasis in the desert--in the midst of a disputation of continual reproof and correction, of wrong understandings, and wrong attitudes, and serious abuses of God's ordinances and spiritual gifts," notes MacArthur. Where the very absence of love is the main culprit, the key missing ingredient, that led to factions and quarrels, idolatry and immorality, and exhibitions of selfishness and pride within the church of Corinth, the body of Christ!
Paul begins by speaking about "tongues" and, more specifically, about the misuse of tongues, because (Constable notes) of "the Corinthians' fascination with them!" And he says simply that if one is able to speak with the eloquence And fluency of the greatest speaker in the world, or even of angels (using a hyperbole, since there's no evidence in the Bible that angels actually speak in a special heavenly language)! Without love, they become nothing more than "noisy gong and clanging cymbal" (comparing them with pagans who engaged in ecstatic sounds and incoherent babble, spouting gibberish in a state of emotional frenzies, accompanied by smashing gongs, clanging cymbals, and blaring trumpets as part of their worship of idols)!
Real love--the "agape" love of the Bible, Paul says, is "the love of God," exemplified by Him sending His Son into the world to die on the Cross, as our substitute, so that we might be delivered from sin's consequences! Self-sacrificing! Measureless and strong! More important than any other gift, including the gift of tongues! The first and foremost "fruit of the Holy Spirit," which comes only by "walking in the Spirit"!
In verses 4-7, Paul gives us the best possible description of what it's actually like to live out this kind of love--words to which we can relate, but are unable to fully emulate! And here's how he puts it: "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things..."! Wow!
And so we see that love is defined by what it does, and doesn't do! It's action-oriented and intentional! It's the "still more excellent way" that Paul promised to show the Corinthians (in 12:31)! And it's the one thing that will stand when all else fails! "Love never fails!" Because, as Constable notes, "it shares God's very nature and eternality"!
The apostle Paul ends his great discourse with this final thought which, in the Phillips translation, says this: "In this life, we have three great lasting qualities--faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of them is love!"
While Paul was finished, we weren't! And we wanted to turn to other Scripture that speaks further about this great "agape" love! Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you love one another; by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another!"
Then, in I John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God!"
And, finally, in I Peter 4:8, where the apostle Peter writes, "Above all keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins!"
And how about some hymns and songs of the faith? Like "The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell! It goes beyond...! O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong! It shall forever more endure--the saints and angels song!" Or, "Sing the wondrous love of Jesus..."! Or, "Love lifted me...!" Or, "They will know us by our love..."! Or, "Jesus love me, this I know, for the Bible says it so!" Go head and sing them!
And that set the scene for our lesson last night on I Corinthians 14:1-12, where verse 1 continues with (you guessed it!) Love!
"Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy..." And so, the apostle Paul is back to speaking more about spiritual gifts, and he's not through speaking more specifically about "speaking in tongues"!
So what are the tongues he's speaking about?
Two kinds of tongues, it turns out! First "in a tongue," singular, referring to the "unknown," or unintelligible speaking of pagans in their worship of idols! The KJV translates verse 2 more clearly, and correctly, when it says, "For one who speaks in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men..." Not unto men, because there's no way they could understand the emotionally-driven and incoherent bunch of gibberish being spoken as part of their worship of idols! And the second part "unto God" should be translated as "unto god," in lower case, speaking of an "unknown god," as also used in Acts 17:22-23! MacArthur notes that "all spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of ministering, or speaking to men! No spiritual gift was ever given to minister to God, since God doesn't need to be ministered to"! And that "no ecstasies, no sensualities, no eroticisms, no jumping up and down, no feelings of "going out of yourself (in an emotional frenzy, and no loss of control is ever associated with the true work of the Holy Spirit, in the New Testament"!
The second use of tongues is the plural form, used in verse 5 where the apostle Paul writes that "he wishes they all could speak in tongues..." speaking of "other languages," just as the miraculous "gift of tongues" God gave to the early believers, as recorded in Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost when people from many other nations gathered together to hear the gospel spoken in their own languages, and many believed, leading to founding of the church!
The Corinthians, however, had counterfeited the gift of tongues and substituted the same incoherent emotionally-driven utterances as was common among the pagans! Resulting in their worship services becoming "bedlam and chaos, with little real worship and little or no edification taking place! MacArthur notes that "the believers in the church of Corinth so abused the gift of tongues that they rivaled Babel in the confusion of speaking," and so Paul devotes an entire chapter in addressing the problem, which was "so representative of their sinfulness"! The ecstasies and eroticism, as well as the immoralities and idolatries accompanying pagan worship, and the pagan culture, had somehow influenced and infiltrated the "body of Christ" in the Corinthian church! It was "their desire for the showy, and the attention-getting, and ego-building, and the emotional "speaking (supposedly!) with the gift of tongues that they used as a badge of their spiritually"! And they even claimed to "reach such a spiritual plateau, so as to speak to the eternal God in their own private way of speaking in tongues"!
And it's happening again today, MacArthur notes, in the so-called "Charismatic movement"! Which he calls, "Corinth revisited"!
The apostle Paul says he preferred, now with the church established, that believers "prophesy"! Or "speak and preach and teach the Word of God, in a language, and with words, that everybody can understand, so the church can be edified"! And that describes the real purpose of the church, and the foundational principle that should govern all worship!
Prophecy edifies the whole congregation of the church and would continue to be used by the Lord to build and sanctify the church long after tongues "ceased"! Paul writes, in verse 6, "But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will it profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation (some new revelation from God), or of knowledge (an insight into truth), or of prophecy (a word of edification, or exhortation, or consolation(, or of teaching (instruction in righteousness)!"
But Paul can't let go about speaking in tongues and, in verse 7, uses the analogy of musical instruments to make his case about the importance of intelligible sounds! "Even musical instruments must have "distinctions in tone so they don't give an uncertain sound," and confuse the hearers! And he further writes, in verse 19 (which we'll deal with more specifically in next week's lesson) that he'd rather "speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a (unintelligible!) tongue"!
Not that some excitement and a bit of emotion aren't to be expected, or even called for, as we "pour out our hearts" in expressing praise and adoration, and gratitude in worshiping our great Creator God Almighty! But Paul makes it clear (in conclusion, as the last word of I Corinthians 14) that, at least for public worship, "all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner"! And that should settle it!
So, looking back, what might the apostle Paul expect us to take with us from the last couple lessons?
How about this:
- Go out there and share the message of the gospel with someone!
- Learn, teach, and live out the Word of God!
- Give due praise and adoration to our great God and Father!
- Do whatever you do (or don't do!) in love! The "agape" kind!
- And watch your tongue!
Lowell
RSS Feed