1 Corinthians 14. This chapter has many challenges and I wish we had an hour together to talk through all that is going on and what the Apostle Paul is communicating. Let’s keep everything in context – in chapters 11-14 Paul is addressing multiple issues related to chaos and confusion in a worship setting. He started back with the questions like what women are wearing (don’t be distracting), the communion ritual (not a feast for people to get drunk), and the value of various spiritual gifts in the community (they’re all valuable and need to be treated as such). He wraps up his instructions with comments on two specific gifts – speaking in tongues and prophecy – and one challenging side note about women being quiet in worship.

The summary of these chapters is here: Strive to excel in building up the church (14:12). Let all things be done for building up (14:26). All things should be done decently and in order (14:40). That’s it – that’s the standard. Does it help encourage and enlighten everyone worshipping in the room? If yes, then do it. If it creates confusion, chaos, disruption, or division; don’t do it.

On prophecy and tongues: First, these spiritual gifts still exist and are in use today. Speaking in tongues takes two forms, (a) a Spirit inspired ability to speak a known language (like Pentecost) and (b) a Spirit inspired prayer language that is only known to God (helpful for connecting you to God in a deeper way, but not helpful if no one around you understands what is being said). Paul is saying, if you have the gift of tongues, that’s great, pray in tongues! But when you are with others, pray in a language everyone around you knows and then everyone is edified in a public worship environment.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding about the gift of prophecy. * Prophecy and teaching are different gifts. The gift of prophecy is exercised when the Spirit gives someone a word from God at a specific moment to encourage, edify, or comfort the community. It is not the result of Bible study or preparation; it is a Spirit-inspired word for the group at that moment. Interestingly, Paul’s starting point is that there will be errors in prophecy, so others must weigh what is said (14:29-33). Prophetic words must be tested to see if they are true and others with the same gift have the same word of direction from God. If it sounds like it might be chaotic, it certainly could be! And that’s why Paul was addressing it here – church leaders must take care that all things are done decently and in order and that there is no opportunity for untruths or manipulation.

Then Paul jumps right into a section (14:34-35) where he says that wives should be quiet in worship and ask questions of their husbands at home. Many commentaries have worked on this section in depth, and they still disagree. Here’s my 30 second take: In 11:2-16 Paul presumes that women are praying or prophesying out loud in worship, he simply asks that they be properly dressed. The spiritual gifts are not restricted by gender, and several of them involve speaking in worship. And 9 of the 16 church leaders Paul mentions as his partners in Romans 16 are women, including Priscilla who led the church at Ephesus and helped train the apostle Apollos. Paul is very supportive of women speaking and in leadership (far beyond the norm in his day!). The end of chapter 14 is about order in worship and about testing prophecies. The phrase be silent has occurred several times in the chapter, as people are encouraged to not be disruptive in worship. My opinion is that there must have been women who were being disruptive in worship by asking questions, or by challenging prophecies their husband shared, and Paul asks them to be silent and save their questions for later when it’s not disruptive to the worship setting. That’s it. Not women must be silent forever and always and in all settings; as the rest of Paul’s teachings do not indicate that was his belief or what Jesus himself practiced.

In conclusion, pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts… speak to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation (14:1,3). Strive to excel in building up the church (14:12).

We covered some big topics today! What stood out to you?

*My new favorite book on spiritual gifts is Convergence by Jon Thompson.