1 Corinthians 14:26-40

Butler's Comments

SECTION 3

Perfecting With Decorum and Decency (1 Corinthians 14:26-40)

26 What then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. 28But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God. 29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30If a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first be silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged; 32and the spirits of prophets are subjects to prophets. 33For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

As in all the churches of the saints, 34the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. 35If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 36What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only ones it has reached?

37 If any one thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. 38If any one does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; 40but all things should be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:26-33 a Decorum: If the Corinthian church (or any church in any age) was to ever reach maturity, or perfection (reach the goal God had for it), it would have to bring order out of the confusion caused by the childish attitudes and practices with miraculous gifts. Paul sets forth specific rules of conduct to be followed for this problem of the Corinthian church of the first century. These are not, specifically, rules for the church today since miraculous gifts no longer exist. However, the principle teaching, that all things should be done decently and in order in the church, still applies. Therefore, there is much for us to learn from this section.

The idiomatic phrase, What then, brethren? is much like the modern phrase in English, How about it, then, folks? Paul is saying, This, then, is the way it is to be when you meet in your Christian assemblies. He recognized that there would be a multitude of people with gifts all at the same gathering. He also realized that a person with a miraculous gift could hardly be asked never to use it. After all, God would not give any gift, miraculous or non-miraculous, and forbid its use. God would certainly want it to be used. But the controlling principle for use of all gifts was, Let all things be done for edification. These are the apostolic rules:

1.

If any are to speak miraculously, in a foreign language, there must be only two, or at most three, and each in turn (Gr. kaiana meros, the word meros, means, to divide up, to allot, to distribute). One at a time!

2.

Those with the gift of tongues were permitted to speak only if they knew there was a translator (Gr. hermeneuto) present. If there was no translator present, they were to keep silent! Any so-called private exercise would be misuse.

3.

If any prophesied, only two or three were to prophesy. And, they were told, prophesying would be each in turnone at a time, (1 Corinthians 14:30-31).

4.

Those with the gift of prophecy were to exercise their gift only when there were others present to discern (Gr. diakrinetosan, the word from which the English words, critique, criticize, critic, meaning, to judge, to discriminate, to decide). The discerners had the miraculous power to decide (not interpret) whether a prophet spoke from God or not.

5.

Evidently, no one prophet had all the truth to proclaim. One by one they were to teach at each corporate assembly of the church. And all, even those who taught, were to do some learning at one time or another (1 Corinthians 14:31).

6.

All gifts were to be kept under these controls, for the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (and so were the spirits of the language-speakers). Every apostolic command here by Paul presupposes that these gifts could be, and were to be, exercised under their control. Paul would not have insisted on the gifts being exercised by only two or three, and one at a time, had they not been controllable. No tongues-speaker, or prophet, was to jump up and begin to exercise a gift when another was doing so. No one was to claim he could not help himselfthat it was the Holy Spirit forcing him to exercise his gift. These gifts were not exercised spontaneously!

God would never produce disorder and confusion! God brings order out of chaos. God does not produce fragmentationhe creates wholeness. The Greek word akatastasia, translated, confusion, means, instability, anarchy, revolution, and from it we get the English words, catastasis, catastrophe, and catatonia.

The church today, though not possessing miraculous gifts, will do well to learn a lesson from the fundamental principle Paul teaches here. The principle is decorum, orderliness. Worship does not, in fact should not, have to be spontaneous, to be worship! Of course, worship must come from the heart. And, simply following a regimen of worship ceremonies does not insure that worship is being done. But neither does spontaneity! Paul is saying to these Corinthians (and to all Christians) that God is not pleased with any worship service that is disorderly and confusing. The worship of God must be intelligent, instructive, maturing, and orderly (according to a design, with regularity). If spontaneity must suffer, then let it suffer. This is true of youth sessions as much, or more, than adult sessions. How can Christians learn to order their lives if they are taught that the worship of God is some exercise in spontaneity, impulsiveness, and confusion?

1 Corinthians 14:33 b - 1 Corinthians 14:40 Decency: Is it indecent for a woman to speak in church? The instruction concerning women in the public assembly, in this context, must have involved the misuse of miraculous gifts. We really do not know what the problem was, specifically, but it was probably one of the following situations:

a.

either some women had miraculous gifts and were using them publicly which, in that culture especially, was an indecent usurpation of male leadership in the public assemblies; the dignity of man and woman is preserved only if the place God has ordained for each is maintained (see our comments in 1 Corinthians 11:1 ff.).

b.

or, some women, who did not have miraculous gifts, were prodding and agitating their husbands or others who did have gifts to use them contrary to the apostolic guidelines; this also was indecent behavior for women.

c.

or, some women who did not have miraculous gifts were insisting they were going to teach in the public assemblies without gifts.

The point is, even had there been women in the Corinthian church with miraculous gifts, they were not to exercise them in the public assemblies. This certainly is not the case with most of the so-called charismatic assemblies in modern times.

The apostle reiterates a teaching he has made in other places in the New Testament. He says, ... women should be subordinate, as even the law says. The Greek same word hupotassesthosan (be subject, subordinate) is used in Ephesians 5:21 ff. and in Colossians 3:18. The woman was created by God subordinate to her husband. Male chauvinism has nothing to do with itit is divinely ordained.

Paul anticipated there would be those who would not agree with his teaching about women in the public assembly, but he reminded them that the word of God did not originate with them, nor did it come to them alone. Actually, Paul says, Did the word of God go forth from you. or are you the only people who have and know the word of God? The Greek word is exelthen, go forth. In other words, the word of God is not subject to the whims of the Corinthiansthe Corinthians are to be subject to the word of God.

Furthermore, Paul speaks the word of God. Any member of the Corinthian church who would disobey the apostle's instructions about the use and misuse of miraculous gifts in this letter is not possessed of God's truth, nor is he spiritually-minded. This warning is as relevant for the church today as it was for the first century church.
When all is said and done, it comes down to this: Earnestly desire to prophesy, because that is what converts and edifies. But do not forbid anyone who has the miraculous gift of speaking in a foreign language to do so for God had a purpose for the exercise of all the miraculous gifts. But let all things be done decently and in order. The word decently is a translation of the Greek word euschemonos, and means literally, well-schematized, or, with good schematics. Any worship of God that does not follow God's schematic (plan, blueprint, order, arrangement) is not decent! The words in order are translated from the Greek words, kata taxin; the word taxin is related to the Greek word tagma, and both are used to signify to arrange something in order, especially in a military order. It would not, therefore, be altogether unscriptural to say that the worship of God in the church's corporate assemblies, should be regimented!

We believe the apostolic doctrine concerning miraculous gifts is clearly set forth in these three Chapter s (I Cor. 12-13-14). We believe all Christians, using accepted hermeneutical rules, should understand this teaching alike. But we also acknowledge that as long as some accept what they believe they have experienced in the place of understanding what Paul teaches here, there will continue to be division among Christians, just as there was nearly two thousand years ago, when Paul wrote to the brethren at Corinth.
A quotation from Seth Wilson, Dean Emeritus of Ozark Bible College, is in order here. Dean Wilson has spent nearly fifty years researching this subject and counseling individuals and congregations who are plagued by this problem.

The tongues-speaker (modern-day) who says, You cannot understand or give any true judgment about a gift from God which you have not experienced and do not believe in, is saying, in effect, that it is not subject to critical examination in the light of Scripture. An error which grows out of this is the belief that one cannot understand the Bible unless he has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. To say that only the believer in the tongues experience is qualified to comment on it begs the question, supposes that it is always from God, and puts the subjective (inward and personal feeling) above the Scripture as a source of truth. This takes the attitude that tongues speaking is something that is beyond the realm of reasonable evidence or factual investigation.

from an unpublished essay on the Holy Spirit by Seth Wilson