What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace —as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
- 1 Corinthians 14:26-33
This passage starts with a connecting phrase to the previous section, so it’s important to know what point Paul made in this letter to the Corinthians just before this. His key idea there was that our focus as a church should not be on the personal preferences of the believers in attendance but rather on what we’re doing to spread the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to more people. Paul builds on that point in this section as he begins to give instructions on what worship services should look like.
One important thing to note for this passage is that Paul is not calling out specific individuals with his comments here but rather the church as a whole. He’s not naming names of those who were acting inappropriately, as that would cause more division and strife in the church, but rather he addresses the group as a whole. The Greek verb tense used indicates that this needs to be a constant action of the church to check themselves in these areas.
In verse 26, we see the elements of a worship service in first-century Corinth: a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, and an interpretation. But even more important than that is the last part of the verse: “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” The elements of any particular worship service are much less important than the purpose of doing those things – so that the church may be built up. Why waste time doing things in a worship service that do not help those who are present to grow in their faith? Everything that we do together as believers should be to build one another up in the faith.
Paul addresses the idea of speaking in tongues again in verses 27-28. Paul addressed a similar idea earlier in this chapter, but it’s worth another mention. It is important to provide some regulation for speaking in tongues; not only should people take turns, but there should not be so many people who speak in tongues that it takes over the service. If there is no one to interpret what is said in the tongue, then no one should do it aloud. If a person has that gift and desires to speak to God silently in that way then that’s fine, but it would serve no good purpose for them to speak aloud in a tongue if no one else can understand what is being said.
Next, Paul turns to addressing the gift of prophecy in the worship service. Just like with tongues, in verse 29 he instructs that only two or three prophets should speak. The others should carefully consider the prophecies that are spoken. The Greek word used there means to evaluate by paying careful attention to something, or to pass judgment on it. It’s not enough for the prophecy to simply be spoken, but others present must pay attention to what is said and evaluate it. This is why a good church community is so important, so others around can help evaluate what is being said.
In verse 30, Paul gives further instructions on order by telling them that if someone “sitting down” (i.e. not actively prophesying) receives a prophecy, the one speaking should stop and allow the next person to speak. It was customary for the one speaking to stand while all others would be sitting down to listen.
Paul summarizes these two verses in verse 31 basically saying that they should all take turns prophesying, which will allow for everyone to be both instructed and encouraged. This all has to be accomplished in an orderly fashion to be effective; if there were chaos and everyone speaking whenever they wanted to speak, then no one would be able to follow what was happening and learn from it.
The “spirits of prophets” in verse 32 refers to the internal spirits of those prophesying, not the Holy Spirit. They should all keep control of themselves, as self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Those prophesying are being guided by the Holy Spirit, but they must not lose control of what they are saying and doing.
Following all of these instructions is important in worshiping God, because “God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (verse 33). All gatherings of the Lord’s people should also be orderly and peaceful to represent God’s character well. If God’s people are disorderly, then those who do not know God may think He is disorderly as well.
The main point of this section is that worship should be orderly. That doesn’t necessarily mean that a strict and rigid order must be followed every single service, but rather that there should not be chaos in the service. Some congregations take this to the extreme and are not open to any minor changes in the structure of their worship service, even if what they’re doing is not necessarily encouraging and building up the people. It is not necessarily disorderly to change elements of a worship service, as long as that sense of order and peace is maintained.
Worship services were important for the first-century Corinthian church, and they are still important for us today. The elements of the service are less important than the overall purpose – that those present are built up in their faith through orderly conduct in the service.
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