For the past few weeks I’ve been helping a friend put together an online course to teach undergraduate students about preaching. This has caused me to go back and read a number of books on preaching (which is ironic since I started a sermon not too long ago noting that I’d not read many books on preaching). In my reading of these books, I found a paragraph in one book that I particularly enjoyed reading. It reads:
“If you follow the most typical pattern of presentation, you will first state what the text means. Next, . . . locate . . . where in the text you derived that idea. If you are preaching on a didactic portion of Scripture (an epistle, a prophecy, a proverb, or a psalm), you will probably say, ‘The Bible makes this plain to us in verse 6,’ or more simply, ‘Look where Paul says this in verse 9.’ Then read the verse (or the portion of it) that supports the statement you just made.”1
There are two reasons why I like that paragraph so much. The first is that it just seems funny. It feels a bit like you’re explaining to someone how to do something that should be intuitive. It’s like saying to students in the school of meteorology, “When you’re giving the forecast for Monday morning’s weather, start by saying something like, ‘On Monday morning’ before telling what the specific weather will be for that time period.”
The second reason I like that paragraph so much is because it is so necessary to say because it’s not exactly intuitive to preach that way. Once you’ve been working with a text all week (or as the case with our interns sometimes, for months), then you begin to feel like what you’re saying about the text is so obvious to you that it must be that obvious to everyone. Therefore, you make some point in your sermon and just assume that everyone listening gets exactly where you’re deriving that from the text, as if you make your main point and everyone just naturally saying to themselves, “Well, obviously, because of the logic Paul unfolds in how he connects the last phrase of verse 16 and the first half of verse 17.” People who haven’t spent all week studying the text don’t naturally make those connections, do they?
Well, when you come to 1 Corinthians 14:26-40, it almost reads like that paragraph in the preaching book I referenced. It reads a bit like Paul is giving instructions for how to conduct a corporate prayer service as the church gathers. And the reason it reads like that is because that’s pretty much what he’s doing. Now, I say it’s pretty much what he’s doing because Paul doesn’t specifically say that he’s laying out ground rules for having a corporate prayer service like we’ll have this evening at 6:00. However, it doesn’t seem that he’s envisioning everything that would happen in a corporate worship service because though he tells Timothy, for example, to devote himself to the public reading and preaching of the Word of God (1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2), we don’t see either one of those things in this text. So, Paul, it doesn’t seem, is envisioning every aspect of a corporate worship gathering but perhaps only a part of that gathering in which the church would focus on and provide for opportunities for each one to minister. Again, this is perhaps something like our Sunday evening gathering where we gather together and each is given opportunity to share struggles, prayer requests, words of encouragement, and the like.
Paul clearly thought that kind of opportunity for believers needed to happen, whether in a gathering on Sunday morning or as we practice in small groups. But Paul also acknowledged that some ground rules needed to be laid out for meetings when it is open for individuals in the church to contribute. So, 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 isn’t Paul’s way of saying, “I’m changing my mind. Don’t desire spiritual gifts or practice them. It’s too messy.” But it is his way of saying that if we’re going to effectively build up our brothers and sisters in a corporate gathering, there needs to be not only individuals ministering according to the Spirit’s (even supernatural) gifting, but there also needs to be a willingness to exercise restraint and practice order. In fact, we might say that the message of 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 is that it is only when our earnest desire to minister according to the Spirit’s gifting is combined with a willingness to exercise restraint and practice order when we gather that others in the church will be encouraged and built up in the Spirit.
And knowing that we want our brothers and sisters to be encouraged and edified as we gather together, whether on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, or in our small group meetings, we need to learn from Paul’s instructions here as well. So, let me note a few things we should take note of from these verses. First, we see in verse 26 that:
That is, when we gather together and consider what we’re here to do, all of our actions, thoughts, and words should be guided by the principle of our need to build up and edify others. This is the obvious point in verse 26 where Paul writes, “What then, brothers? When you come together [so, he is envisioning a meeting where you’ve gathered with others for worship – again, perhaps something like our Sunday morning, Sunday evening, or small group gatherings], each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”
Paul envisions all individuals in the church considering how they might build up others through their Spirit-empowered and Spirit-provided gifting as the church gathers together. One might share an encouraging hymn, another a word of prophecy [which is what Paul is referring to by “revelation”], another a tongue or interpretation, and so on. But Paul’s point is, whatever you do in the service, filter it through the guiding principle of edification. That is, make sure that this is going to build up others.
So, let’s use our small group gatherings as an example. After all, one of the reasons we put small groups together was so that we might have a means for more individuals to be able to exercise their gifts in a setting where they hopefully will be comfortable doing so. Well, Paul wants us to understand that when you gather with your brothers and sisters, you need to ask, “What can I do that would edify them?” Now, he’s going to outline some guidelines that will help us in this in verses 27-38. But for now, we can already see that Paul envisions the Corinthians, in their setting, coming together and seeking to say or do something that would build up another.
In the same way, then, we should first commit ourselves to gathering with others. There’s a really low chance that you’ll edify others in your small group meeting if you don’t come. And that’s a big deal because the Christian life is meant to be lived corporately. We’re no longer allowed to be concerned about ourselves and our preferences only. Then, Paul envisions them contributing. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be the main spokesman at your small group meeting, but I will say that you’ll have a better chance of edifying others if you’ll share your struggles, how you’re trying to obey God’s Word, and how you’re encouraged by others in your group. Again, just ask yourselves, “Is what I’m doing allowing me to edify others?” That must be our guiding principle. And you’ve got a pretty good chance of failing to edify others if you stay home or refuse to share as you gather.
However, the next question, then, will be something like, “But how do we keep such a meeting where each is coming ready to edify from turning into a chaotic meeting?” That’s a good question, and thankfully Paul spends a majority of his time in the text we’re looking at answering it. In verses 27-38, we see that:
The way Paul lays this out in these verses might feel a bit like that paragraph I read from that preaching book earlier (i.e. when you want to point out what verse you’re referencing say, ‘We see this in verse 6’), but all that he says here is as necessary as it may be obvious. And the reason why it’s necessary is because even a group of people who all are bent toward edification will fail to edify one another without exercising some restraint and order. Let me list a few of Paul’s points of order and restraint that he lays out:
1. No one individual or group needs to monopolize the meeting or let it turn chaotic.
Paul starts out by dealing with those speaking in tongues. It seems that there might have been a group of tongue-speakers from what we’ve seen already in chapters 12-14 and here as well who tried to monopolize the meeting, displaying their spiritual gift for all to see so that they might be exalted among the group. Therefore, Paul’s first note is that no individual or group needs to monopolize the meeting of the church or let it become chaotic.
He writes in verse 27, “If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.”
So, first, Paul limits the group of tongue-speakers altogether. He’s not saying this isn’t a legitimate gift. Remember, he’s earlier said in 14:5, “I want you all to speak in tongues,” and even noted in 14:18 that he thanked God that he spoke in tongues more than all of them. Moreover, later in this chapter he’ll command the Corinthians not to forbid speaking in tongues (14:39). So, this isn’t Paul’s way of saying speaking in tongues isn’t a legitimate gift. However, nor does he want tongue-speakers to monopolize the service. Therefore, he limits them, saying, “Let there be only two or at most three.” He doesn’t want the Corinthians’ corporate worship to turn solely into a display of tongue-speakers. He doesn’t want a certain individual or group to monopolize the service.
Not only that, but he wants to make sure the worship gathering is not chaotic either. He notes that they should each speak in turn. That is, if three individuals have a message they could share in tongues, Paul didn’t want them all standing up and doing it at once. That’d be chaotic.
It’s an odd thing that drives a church to encourage members to all speak out in tongues simultaneously. I think this text completely contradicts such an exhortation. Rather, they are to speak one at a time, each in turn. I don’t say that so that we might think of some church that practices that and sit in judgment on them. After all, some of us have noted such abuses in churches and used those churches’ wrong practice of spiritual gifts to distance ourselves as far as possible from spiritual gifts. And when we’ve done that, we need to realize two things. First, we’re not on page with Paul when we do that. After all, Paul starts this letter, writing to a church that has abused spiritual gifts as much as any church, and tells them that he thanks God that they’re not lacking in any spiritual gift and encourages them to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that they might prophesy. Second, if we’ve noted the abuse of others and used that to have nothing to do with spiritual gifts, I think we are directly disobeying the exhortations Paul gives repeatedly in these chapters to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. So, I’m not making this point about an abuse I’ve noticed that directly contradicts Paul’s command of order so that we might exalt ourselves and sit in judgment on our brothers but simply so that we might ourselves come more in line with Scripture.
Finally, Paul notes here that someone needs to interpret, whether the individual who speaks in the tongue or someone else. If there’s no one to interpret, then the word in tongues may well be a legitimate gift, it judge doesn’t need to be spoken in the corporate assembly because it won’t be able to edify anyone else. Rather, go home and speak there to oneself and to God (v. 28).
And we can see that this call for individuals not to monopolize the meeting let it turn into chaos isn’t specific to tongue-speakers. Paul applies it to individuals who are sharing a word of prophecy as well. He writes, “Let two or three prophets speak, and … if a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged” (vv. 29-31). You can see the same note here. Take turns, let others speak, make sure all can learn and be edified. But we also see another principle for order in exercising gifts in the church, namely:
2. We must make sure what is said is examined in light of the Scripture.
Paul says in verse 29, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” What in the world does Paul mean by that? Well, in order to make sense of it, first we need to recognize that the gift of prophecy Paul is talking about here simply is not the same thing that we see Jeremiah or Isaiah doing when they speak infallible, authoritative, Scripture-level speech from God. That’s not what Paul is talking about here with the gift of prophecy. He means rather something that the Spirit simply brings to mind that is spoken to others so that they might be encouraged, built up, or consoled. There are a number of reasons we need to understand this different category of prophecy. One of which is that Paul wanted all of them to prophesy (14:5), and I can’t believe he wanted all of them to go around speaking Scripture-level authoritative speech. Another is that he’s going to say in verse 30 that if another receives a revelation while one is speaking, the first should be silent and let the second speak, and I have trouble believing that Paul would envision someone saying to Jeremiah in the midst of his prophesying, “Hey, stop one second, I think I’ve got something to share.” Also, Paul tells us that what is shared is “weighed,” which I think means compared to the Scripture to make sure that it doesn’t contradict God’s Word.
Do we see this kind of idea anywhere else in the New Testament? Indeed we do. In 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, Paul writes, “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast to what is good.”2 Thus, Paul envisions a shared prophecy as perhaps having good and bad (or right and wrong) elements in it. And therefore he exhorts the Thessalonians not to despise it, even though it is fallible. But that also means that we need to weigh what is said. Let me give you a picture of how I think Paul sees this working out by laying out a situation in one of our prayer meetings recently.
A few Sunday nights ago, we were sharing requests and struggles together as a church so that we might pray for one another when Aaron O’Kelley (who told us this the next day in our elders’ meeting) was praying the Lord might gift him by the Spirit to minister to another, and this thought kept floating around in his mind, “Your failures will abound to God’s glory.” However, no one had specifically mentioned his or her failures. Struggles, yes; failures, no. Then, right as I was about to wrap up our time together and Aaron was thinking to himself, “Well, maybe I should share this thought anyway, even if it doesn’t seem to reference anyone’s specific struggle,” one last person spoke up, and she went on to speak about what she perceived as her repeated failures. Suddenly, Aaron believed that the Spirit had indeed given him something to share to encourage that person specifically, and, if you were there, you remember, he spoke up, saying, “I think the Lord has given me something to share with you; your failures will abound to his glory.”
At this point, what are we to do? Do we all say, “That must be true because Aaron believes that the Spirit brought it to mind”? No. Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:29, “Let the others weight what is said.” And by “others,” I think he means the others in the assembly (or worship gathering). So, when Aaron said that, our minds should start racing through the Scripture to see, examining what he shared, to see if in any way what he shares is out of step with what God has revealed in Scripture. And the reality is that what he said not only is in step with the Scripture, it is a specific application of Romans 8:28, isn’t it? If all things work together for good for those who love God and are the called, then that means even our failures will abound to God’s glory. It was simply an application of a Scriptural text to a specific situation. However, the reason I believe it was powerful was because the Spirit was bringing that to mind, it seems, to let the person sharing her perceived failures know that the Lord sees her concerns and wants to comfort, encourage, and console her, which fits in line with 1 Cor. 14:3, where the Lord says, “The one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”
Now, imagine, that Aaron had said, “Your failures will abound to the glory of God, therefore let us all intentionally fail so that God’s glory will abound.” In that case, we all should have weighed what was said, examining it in light of the Scripture. And hopefully one of the other pastors (but it wouldn’t have to be a pastor) would have spoken up and said, “Well, the first half of that statement is true, but the latter half doesn’t follow.” Thus, we would be able to hold fast to what is good and let go what is bad, even as Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21. So, as we are together, we must examine all things in light of the Scripture.
Also, as we exercise the Spirit’s gifts in ministry to one another, there’s one more thing Paul notes in the following verses.
3. We can’t forget God’s order for men and women in the church.
There’s an interesting few verses in 33b-35. Paul says that women can’t speak in the church, noting it is shameful for women to speak in church. So, what do we do with that? Well, first we can acknowledge that Paul can’t be strictly forbidding women to speak in church because in chapter 11 he’s already spoken about women praying and prophesying in church. So I think that Paul is talking about a specific time or setting in the church in which women shouldn’t speak, namely, when those shared prophecies are being weighed.
Let me give you an illustration for how I think verses 29-35 are structured. Imagine I said to my oldest son, Michael, “I want you to mow the yard and take the trash out. This means you need to make sure you get all the clippings of grass, keep the mower straight, and don’t miss any spots. Also, make sure no trash is left in the can when you lift the bag out.” Now, do you see how I said that? First, I gave him the total tasks to be done: mow the grass and take the trash out. Then, I elaborated for a good bit on what mowing the grass would involve. Then I elaborated a bit on what taking the trash out would involve. I think that’s what Paul does in verses 29-35.
First, in verses 29, Paul gives the two issues he wants to discuss: some prophesying and others weighing what is said. Then, in verses 30-33a, Paul elaborates on those prophesying. He notes that they should each take turns, stop speaking if another has something to share, and let all learn. He even notes in verses 32 that they can’t claim that they can’t control the Spirit’s gifting and must speak by reminding them that the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. We’re in control of using or not using our spiritual gifts. Then he notes that such order and restraint among those prophesying in the church is pleasing to God because he is not a god of confusion but of peace (v. 33). So, he’s elaborated on what it looks like for individuals prophesying.
Then, in verses 33b-35, Paul elaborates on that second task he mentioned in verse 29, namely, weighing what is said in the service. Now, he has said that all should weigh. That is, we should all silently examine what was said in light of the Scripture. However, if someone then speaks up perhaps to correct or teach someone who has shared why it is good or perhaps not in line with the Scripture, Paul doesn’t want women to be the ones speaking in that moment of addressing the prophecy that has been weighed. That’s what I think Paul is saying in verses 33b-35 when he says, “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a women to speak in church.”
You see, I think this is in line with Paul’s teaching in 1 Timothy 2:11-12 where Paul says, “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” That is, recognizing God’s order in creation in the beginning, it is men who are to teach and exercise authority in the church. That’s the order established in creation, an order which Satan intentionally sought to overturn in the garden. Therefore, if the weighing of the prophecy results in the need to teach and perhaps even correct one who has shared, the order for men and women in the church needs to be recognized. A man should teach and utilize correcting authority. After all, this the order from the very beginning, which I think Paul is referencing in verse 34 when he says, “As the Law also says.”3 Then, one more note of order:
4. We must make sure that the Scripture is the foundation, guide, and authority.
Though Paul has mentioned must about how to order a service where individuals are ministering according to the gifts God provides, Paul isn’t abandoning the Scripture. In fact, in verses 36-38, he reminds everything that the Scripture is to be our foundation, guide, and authority. If the Corinthians think for some reason they want to do differently than Paul has commanded, Paul asks them if they think they’re the ones to whom God’s Word was revealed or if they are the only ones who’ve received God’s Word (v. 36). The reality is that it is Paul, as an apostle, who is sharing God’s very Words with them as he writes this scriptural letter. Paul even says that if someone doesn’t recognize that what he writes is the very command of the Lord itself, then that person should not be recognized in the church, (vv. 37-38).
Therefore, we as a church will always make the Scripture our authority, foundation, and guide. And if we ever fail to do this we might as well just close the doors. But this doesn’t mean that Paul is undoing all his exhortations to this point. Rather, he closes with this summary word of application:
Paul concludes in verses 39-40, “So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.” What does Paul want us to do as a people who love the Bible, see the Bible as our authority, foundation, and guide, and always want to be people who obey the Bible? He wants us in our love and devotion to the Bible to obey this biblical command to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that we might prophesy. He wants us to love one another enough that prior to and as we gather together for worship, we pray that the Spirit might gift us so that we can build up, encourage, comfort, and edify others. Then, as we seek to do so, he wants us to do it in an orderly way, according to what we’ve seen in these verses, so that more and more people might be able to minister and more and more people might be built up in the Lord. And that is my prayer for us as well.
Therefore, let us edify one another even now as we come to the table, reminding our brothers and sisters that Christ has lived, died, and been raised for us, proclaiming his death until he comes. Amen.