When Unbelievers Come to Church

1 Corinthians 14:20-26

Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. In the Law it is written:

“Through men of strange tongues

and through the lips of foreigners

I will speak to this people,

but even then they will not listen to me,”

says the Lord.

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

The test of any act of worship is, does it make us know the presence of God? Joseph Twitchell tells how he went to visit Horace Bushnell when Bushnell was an old man. At night Bushnell took him out for a walk on the hillside. As they walked in the dark, suddenly Bushnell said, “Let us kneel and pray,” and they did. Twitchell, telling of it afterwards, said, “I was afraid to stretch out my hand in the darkness in case I should touch God.” When we feel as near to God as that, we have really and truly shared in an act of worship.[1]

As a community of faith, we want always to ensure that anyone wishing to join us in worship is not only welcome, but that as they share in our service the presence of God is made known to them. There will always be people joining in worship at this church who are not members of the congregation. Among those joining the services will be some who are exploring the Faith—both those who wonder what makes us tick and those who are themselves ardent inquirers after truth. We are responsible to ensure that when we gather to worship that both we who are pledged to mutually share this Faith as a church and those sharing our service as guests know that God is present.

Jesus presents a startling truth in saying to Nicodemus, Flesh gives birth to flesh [John 3:6]. That which is of the flesh can give rise only to that associated with the flesh. The remainder of the statement our Lord presents provides the obverse of that truth, namely that the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Every motive is born either in the realm of the flesh or in the realm of the spirit. Efforts to worship which are born of the flesh can give only that which the flesh is capable of providing.

The flesh of necessity can only seek that which excites the emotions. The Spirit, on the other hand, is driven to seek that which exalts Christ. Herein lies the difference between worship which glorifies God and worship which exalts man. At the conclusion of worship, every worshipper should be able to say with conviction that God was exalted. Whether one “feels” as though he or she has worshipped is of less importance than to have been in the presence of the Living God. Those seeking God will find Him; those seeking excitement will have pursued a mirage which leaves them thirsting for more.

Tragically, contemporary worship often excites the flesh, but fails to honour God. People “feel” good at the conclusion of their exercise, but we must wonder if God is glorified through the efforts exerted. Swaying and swooning is no more evidence of worship than is laughing or babbling gibberish. Similarly, sitting stoically and silent is not necessarily evidence of worship. It is time that we again understood worship and sought to honour God through biblically sound worship.

I iterate that worship is the spontaneous response of the heart of the creature in the presence of the Creator. As God reveals Himself to those who will worship, worshippers will find themselves marvelling at His glory, wondering at His mercy, and rejoicing in His grace. Those who worship will experience awe before the majesty of the Living God and they will find themselves fascinated by His might and power.

Worship results as God reveals His attributes to His people and as they reflect upon what He has revealed. All such worship is dependent upon the revelation of God’s character through His Word and results as His people respond to this self-revelation. Without a biblical foundation, man naturally gravitates toward that which excites the emotions and seeks to substitute excitement for awe.

I am seeking to stress in the message this day the need for thoughtful preparation for worship. I am endeavouring to have us understand the need to organise ourselves to worship, while yet permitting ourselves to be surprised by God. Therefore, I encourage each member of the congregation to always bear in mind that the conduct of our services of worship will either result in glory to God through revealing His presence to outsiders or will result in dishonour to His Name as we exalt the flesh and entertain one another.

The Church at Worship must Seek to Build Believers. Though not strictly part of the text, this issue underlies the text. Paul begins the chapter with the following statement. Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church [1 Corinthians 14:3-12].

Whatever else we may say concerning worship, we must recognise that we are each responsible to build one another through the mutual exercise of those gifts and ministries which strengthen, encourage and comfort others. That which merely startles, entertains and confounds is of no lasting value in building up the Body of Christ.

The thrust of this text is that we are to aspire to so invest our gifts in one another that together we reflect the wholeness of Christ the Lord. Unfortunately, there have been throughout the history of the Faith individuals and groups which emphasise individuality and even a sort of collective individualism which can never build up believers.

One glaring weakness which condemns the charismatic movement is the emphasis upon self—self-fulfilment, self-awareness, and even self-worship. Essentially, this contemporary worship movement (including related phenomena such as the Vineyard movement, laughing revivals, Word Faith and similar phenomena) emphasises the exaltation of the “self” with the result that the Body of Christ is divided into multiple enclaves of self-seeking individuals. The emphasis upon emotional fulfilment as worship ensures that the movement must ultimately dethrone God through exalting the individual.

I wish to be neither cruel nor controversial, but I must issue an urgently needed note of caution. I am not condemning those believers who are of a charismatic persuasion, but I am cautioning all such fellow saints to guard themselves lest they fall unawares into a trap which leads them away from the very thing they profess to seek—exaltation of Christ the Lord. We, also, are susceptible to the very danger of which I warn, which is precisely why I address this matter to the congregation at this time.

As we come together to worship, the focus of each worshipper must be outward. We are to consider how to strengthen, how to encourage and how to comfort one another. Certainly, we are to endeavour to be aware of God’s presence and to respond to the revelation of His glorious person, but we must not neglect the aspect of building others. We dare not focus on how we feel nor self-fulfilment as the primary purpose of worship.

Perhaps you will recall the response of Isaiah when God revealed Himself to the prophet. Listen again to the setting. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke [Isaiah 6:1-4].

There can be no question but that Isaiah here describes an awe-inspiring scene. How would we respond should God draw back the curtain separating time from eternity and permit us to see Him seated in majesty on His eternal throne? Would we shout for joy and find ourselves lost in a glorious trance which left us at peace and filled with joy? That wasn’t the experience Isaiah had.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” [Isaiah 6:5].

John, worshipping while in exile on Patmos, turned and saw the Risen Christ. He fell at His feet as though dead [cf. Revelation 1:17]. The Risen Saviour first addressed the Apostle’s fear: Do not be afraid. The reason He urged John to cease from His fear is that fear is the natural response to God’s revelation of His glorious Person.

The reason for this brief excursus into the response of godly people to the presence of the Lord of Glory is that we need to realise that as God reveals Himself to us, we will not feel good about ourselves. Witnessing His glory, we will feel bad about ourselves! That “worship” which endeavours to substitute as true worship an alternative response to God’s majesty other than fear is incomplete at best and fraudulent at worst!

Make no mistake, the issue before us is whether we worship through thoughtful participation in and preparation for the act of worship, or whether we seek to be enthused. To be enthused, according to the Greek mindset, was to be filled with the gods. We would say that to be enthused is to lose control of how one conducts oneself because he or she is possessed by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is a gentleman, however; He does not violate our will when He fills our lives. Thus, filled with the Spirit and seeking to worship we will be impelled to do all possible to strengthen fellow worshippers, to encourage fellow believers and to comfort those fellow Christians who are hurting.

The point to grasp is that though worship may be carried out on an individual basis, the church is appointed to worship corporately. Through corporate worship we will collectively reveal the presence of our God with the consequence that we indeed fulfil the intent of the Apostle to strengthen, encourage and comfort one another. In the process, we will confront inquirers and outsiders sharing the service with the demands of the Saviour and they, also, will become aware of the presence of God and worship.

The heart of the text is verses 22 through 26. Initially, it may appear that Paul contradicts himself in these verses. It seems that he first speaks of the sign gift of tongues with approval and then with disapproval. We haven’t time to do a thorough exegesis of the whole of chapters 12 through 14 at this time, but such a study would reveal that throughout the chapters he is cautioning the Corinthians against their tendency to exalt the individual to the detriment of the community.

Canon Leon Morris argues that verse 22 should be seen as a rhetorical question (like that in Galatians 4:16, where the construction is similar). The Corinthians may well have argued that a man speaking in “tongues” would be a sign to outsiders that God was at work, whereas prophecy did no more than convey a message to the believer. Paul asks, “Are tongues, then, a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, and prophecy for believers, not for unbelievers?” The Apostle proceeds to refute this view in the examples that follow.[2] I would encourage you to seize two great truths concerning worship, then. Speaking in tongues (whether actually speaking an unlearned language or whether making ecstatic utterances) is a sign of judgement on those who hear. Prophecy, however, is a sign of grace and mercy.

Believers are built up through prophecy. What is prophecy? Again, we haven’t time to provide a thorough exploration of the subject, but prophecy, especially in the New Testament sense, is a declaration of the mind of God to the contemporary generation. A prophetic preacher is one who communicates the mind of God to his generation. Prophecy, in the worship of the church, is a recitation of the mind of God to the congregation. Congregational prophecy is tantamount to what we once spoke of as a testimony. Whenever believers delivered testimonies of God’s grace or recited what God was doing in their individual lives, they were in effect delivering prophecies.

Unfortunately, many well-meaning people have assumed that prophecy is foretelling the future. Prophecy, neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament, is primarily foretelling the future. Prophecy is revealing the mind of God to a particular generation. It is perhaps more accurate to say that prophecy is “forth-telling.” As an individual relates God’s mercies or work in his or her life, they are prophesying to the congregation. Such prophesying builds up the people of God.

“When [an inquirer or outsider] sees that God is being praised and that Christ is being adored and that nothing is disguised or being done in secret, as happens among pagans, he will understand clearly that this is true religion.”[3] Whatever is done in the conduct of a service of worship is to be done openly and in such a manner that there is no hint of secrecy—our teachings are to be an open secret. Outsiders are to witness that we have no secret rituals or occult meanings to our acts, but that rather we are people who live openly and without fear.

Indeed, those who are seeking truth and sharing in the worship of the assembly will discover as the people of God prophesy that God is alive and well and intimately acting in behalf of His people as He actively works in their lives. According to Professor Ralph Martin, “prophecy” acts as a divine judgement, revealing a person’s secret thoughts and confronting him with the truth that humbles and saves.[4]

The effect of the prophetic word comes to the non-Christian with convicting power… His whole inner being is searched out. Those things he fondly imagined to be hidden in his heart he finds reproved and judged, and he can ascribe this only to the activity of God. The result of prophecy is that he comes to worship God, recognising that God is present in his church. Prophecy leads him to God.[5]

I invite you to again turn your attention to the text. With the background provided, we can paraphrase Paul’s thought [in 1 Corinthians 14:23] as follows:

When God speaks to people in a language they cannot understand, it signifies his anger and results in their turning farther away from him. Therefore (v. 23), if outsiders or unbelievers come in and you speak in a language they cannot understand, you will simply drive them away—this is the inevitable result of incomprehensible speech. Furthermore, in your childish way of acting (v. 20) you will be giving a ‘sign’ to unbelievers which is entirely wrong, because their hardness of heart has not reached the point where they deserve that severe sign of judgement. So when you come together (v. 26), if anyone speaks in a tongue, be sure someone interprets (v. 27); otherwise, the tongue-speaker should be quiet in the church (v. 29).

Similarly with prophecy, verses 24 through 25 follow quite easily from the statement in verse 22 that prophecy is a sign to believers. Once again we paraphrase Paul’s thought:

Prophecy is an indication of God’s presence among the congregation to bless it (v. 22). Therefore (v. 23), if an outsider comes in and everyone prophesies (v. 24), you will be speaking about the secrets of the outsider’s heart which he thought no one knew. He will realise that these prophecies must be the result of God’s working, and he will fall on his face and declare, “Truly, God is among you” (v. 25). In this way prophecy will be a sure sign to you that God really is at work in your midst.[6]

Believers are not built up through signs. I am humbled to think that thought Jesus healed many people and performed many miracles, yet the most witnessing the miracles did not believe that He was the promised Messiah. The reason for my humility is that the evidence is counter intuitive. I would think that people would be astounded by the miracles and believe. However, that is not the case in the Gospels, nor is it the case in this day. Miracles will never convince the unbelieving.

In my ministry, I have met an astonishing number of people who “used to be” Christians. Not infrequently, such individuals have related great miracles they witnessed and which some have even experienced personally. However, the miracles have seldom resulted in faith. An unbelieving heart will not be convinced through miracles to believe the Saviour, though the individual may believe that miracles can and do occur.

As Jesus related the account of the rich man and Lazarus, He concluded the story with this telling indictment of the unbelieving heart. If [people will] not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead [Luke 16:31]. John’s Gospel, summarising the early days of Jesus’ ministry, records the following words. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man [John 2:23-25].

After Jesus had fed the five thousand [John 6:1-13], He withdrew from them and crossed the Sea of Galilee. The crowd began a diligent search which culminated in Capernaum. When the spokesmen of the people protested that they had been searching for Him, Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” [John 6:26, 27].

This rebuke elicited the question, What must we do to do the works God requires?

When Jesus taught that the work of God is … to believe in the one he has sent, the people reveal the focus of their heart by asking for a miracle. What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat” [John 6:28-31].

They were addicted to miracles, but failed to worship the One performing the miraculous. Just so, many professing Christians are addicted to the spectacular and will continue to seek ever-greater signs as a means of authenticating their pursuit In their desperate search for the spectacular, they too often fail to discover the Living God. Those seeking for God in the spectacular would do well to remember the account of Elijah as God appointed Him to a new task following his fearful flight from Jezebel.

The discouraged prophet was called to account by God and commanded to go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord [was] about to pass by. Elijah witnessed awesome phenomena, but the phenomena were not what he was to see. A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave [1 Kings 19:11-13].

God is King over all that is spectacular, but God is not in the spectacular. God speaks in the mundane and the pedestrian, and in the quietness of the heart He is heard. It is the voice of God which thunders and commands earthquakes. He sends lightning to do His bidding and rides on the storm [see Isaiah 29:6 and Jeremiah 10:13]. We would each do well to recall God’s Word to ancient Israel through the Prophet Isaiah.

In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength.

[Isaiah 30:15]

The controversy between the spectacular and the spiritual, between the flesh and the Spirit, between self-fulfilment and worship, is as old as the church itself. The ancient Greek commentator, Severian of Gabala, wrote: “tongues are a miracle in themselves. Prophecy, however, is a miracle in the substance of what it contains but not in the way in which it is uttered.”[7] He was aware of the conflict between signs and the Spirit.

Really, the issue was not quantity of words, but quality of communication. The Corinthians were like children playing with toys. When it came to knowing about sin, Paul wanted them to be “babes”; but when it came to spiritual understanding, he wanted them to be mature men [1 Corinthians 3:1-4; 13:11-13]. Perhaps we would do well for someone to remind us of these same truths today.

Do we communicate? Though God is the author of language and though He can understand any language man may speak, those who share our service require clear words which communicate God’s work in our midst. We are responsible to worship with the spirit, but we are also responsible to worship with the mind [cf. 1 Corinthians 14:15]. Some people have the idea that speaking in a tongue is an evidence of spiritual maturity, but Paul taught that it is possible to exercise such a gift in an unspiritual and immature manner. We are responsible to be spiritually mature, and that does not include the spectacular as man counts the spectacular.

Paul’s concern was for the unsaved person who happened to come into the assembly during worship [1 Corinthians 14:21-25]. Underscore the truth that a message in tongues (unless interpreted) could never bring conviction to the heart of a lost sinner. In fact, the unsaved person might leave the service before the interpretation was given, thinking that the whole assembly was crazy. Tongues were not used for evangelism, neither at Pentecost nor in the meetings of the early church.[8]

What is the true situation when a church practises speaking in tongues as is so often done in this day? The answer is found in verse 23. Inquirers and outsiders, Paul says, will … say that you are out of your mind (oujk ejrou`sin o{ti maivnesqe)? These unbelievers unacquainted (ijdiwvth") with Christianity will say that the Christians are raving mad… They will consider such an assembly to be a congregation of lunatics.[9]

All that has been said concerning tongues could be said of “miracle” services or “healing” services. We need to be honest enough to confess that much of such efforts are born in the flesh and not born of the Spirit. We need to confess that God has chosen to speak to us by His Word and we are likewise responsible to use our faculties as we worship. We are taught to prepare ourselves to communicate, especially so that should an inquirer or an outsider share our service they will be confronted by the reality of God.

The Church at Worship will Lead Outsiders to Worship our God. One of the great preachers of a past generation was G. Campbell Morgan. Morgan provided an insightful commentary on the Corinthian letters. In that commentary, he writes, “If one shall come in, an unbeliever, an unlearned man, a man who does not believe, who is ignorant, there should be something for him. Therefore let the gift be exercised, one that reaches him and brings conviction to him, and brings him to the place of surrender to God Himself.

“To summarise the teaching of this passage, we learn that gifts are for service. Every gift the Spirit bestows constitutes equipment in some form for service for others. The very holding and possession and exercise of a gift is of value personally, but we must test its value by the influence it exerts upon others.”[10]

Let any who may share our services of worship know that we will speak the mind of God. Let them know that this is true because we found our Faith on His Word and refuse to seek merely that which excites and astonishes. Let all inquirers rest confident that we shall glorify God and not our own persons or even our own congregation.

The most dangerous cult in Canada is located neither in Salt Lake City, Utah nor in Brooklyn, New York, nor in Clearwater, Florida nor yet in Toronto, Ontario. Rather, the most dangerous false religious movement in Canada today is organised, social, cultural, traditional Christianity that emphasises all the good things about the faith but misses the point. And that point is that we must know and own Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Saviour. Without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Christianity is about as nourishing as pre-chewed sawdust. Without a personal relationship to Jesus Christ, we shall never worship.

The invitation of this church is to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. That shall never be possible until you exercise faith in Christ the Lord. We call all who hear our message to life in Christ the Lord. This is eternal life. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13]. Amen.

The test of any act of worship is, does it make us feel the presence of God? Joseph Twitchell tells how he went to visit Horace Bushnell when Bushnell was an old man. At night Bushnell took him out for a walk on the hillside. As they walked in the dark, suddenly Bushnell said, “Let us kneel and pray,” and they did. Twitchell, telling of it afterwards, said, “I was afraid to stretch out my hand in the darkness in case I should touch God.” When we feel as near to God as that, we have really and truly shared in an act of worship.

The Church at Worship must Seek to Build Believers.

Leon Morris argues that verse 22 should be seen as a rhetorical question (like that in Galatians 4:16, where the construction is similar). The Corinthians may well have argued that a man speaking in “tongues” would be a sign to outsiders that God was at work, whereas prophecy did no more than convey a message to the believer. Paul asks, “Are tongues, then, a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers, and prophecy for believers, not for unbelievers?” He proceeds to refute this view in the examples that follow.

Believers are built up through prophecy.

When [an inquirer or an outsider] sees that God is being praised and that Christ is being adored and that nothing is disguised or being done in secret, as happens among pagans, he will understand clearly that this is true religion. Whatever is done in the conduct of a service of worship is to be done openly and in such a manner that there are no surprises. Outsiders are to witness that we have no secret rituals or hidden meanings to our acts, but that rather we are people who live openly and without fear.

“Prophecy” acts as a divine judgement, revealing a person’s secret thoughts and confronting him with the truth that humbles and saves.

The effect of the prophetic word comes to the non-Christian with convicting power… His whole inner being is searched out. Those things he fondly imagined to be hidden in his heart he finds reproved and judged, and he can ascribe this only to the activity of God. The result of prophecy is that he comes to worship God, recognising that God is present in his church. Prophecy leads him to God.

I invite you to again turn your attention to the text. With the background provided, we can paraphrase Paul’s thought [in 1 Corinthians 14:23] as follows:

When God speaks to people in a language they cannot understand, it signifies his anger and results in their turning farther away from him. Therefore (v. 23), if outsiders or unbelievers come in and you speak in a language they cannot understand, you will simply drive them away—this is the inevitable result of incomprehensible speech. Furthermore, in your childish way of acting (v. 20) you will be giving a ‘sign’ to unbelievers which is entirely wrong, because their hardness of heart has not reached the point where they deserve that severe sign of judgement. So when you come together (v. 26), if anyone speaks in a tongue, be sure someone interprets (v. 27); otherwise, the tongue-speaker should be quiet in the church (v. 29).

Similarly with prophecy, verses 24 through 25 follow quite easily from the statement in verse 22 that prophecy is a sign to believers. Once again we paraphrase Paul’s thought:

Prophecy is an indication of God’s presence among the congregation to bless it (v. 22). Therefore (v. 23), if an outsider comes in and everyone prophesies (v. 24), you will be speaking about the secrets of the outsider’s heart which he thought no one knew. He will realise that these prophecies must be the result of God’s working, and he will fall on his face and declare, ‘Truly, God is among you’ (v. 25). In this way prophecy will be a sure sign to you that God really is at work in your midst.

Believers are not built up through signs.

The ancient Greek commentator, Severian of Gabala, wrote: “tongues are a miracle in themselves. Prophecy, however, is a miracle in the substance of what it contains but not in the way in which it is uttered.

Paul made here another point for the superiority of prophecy over tongues: a message in tongues (unless interpreted) could never bring conviction to the heart of a lost sinner. In fact, the unsaved person might leave the service before the interpretation was given, thinking that the whole assembly was crazy. Tongues were not used for evangelism, neither at Pentecost nor in the meetings of the early church.

Will they not say that you are out of your mind [verse 23] (oujk ejrou`sin o{ti maivnesqe)? These unbelievers unacquainted (ijdiwvth") with Christianity will say that the Christians are raving mad… They will seem like a congregation of lunatics.

The Church at Worship will Lead Outsiders to Worship our God.

If one shall come in, an unbeliever, an unlearned man, a man who does not believe, who is ignorant, there should be something for him. Therefore let the gift be exercised, one that reaches him and brings conviction to him, and brings him to the place of surrender to God Himself.

To summarise the teaching of this passage, we learn that gifts are for service. Every gift the Spirit bestows constitutes equipment in some form for service for others. The very holding and possession and exercise of a gift is of value personally, but we must test its value by the influence it exerts upon others.

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[1] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, The Letters to the Corinthians (Revised Edition) (Philadelphia, Westminster Press 1975) 132-3

[2] Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Revised Edition), 1 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans 1985) 193

[3] Ambrosiaster, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vienna, 1866-, in in K. Staab, (ed.), Pauluskommentare aus der griechischen Kirche: Aus Katenenhandschriften gesammelt und herausgegeben (Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church: Collected and Edited Catena Writings). NT Abhandlungen 15. Münster in Westfalen: Aschendorff, 1933. in Gerald Bray (ed.), Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament, VII, 1–2 Corinthians (InterVarsity, Downers Grove, IL 1999), 143

[4] Ralph P. Martin, The Spirit and the Congregation: Studies in 1 Corinthians 12–15 (Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans 1984) 73

[5] Morris, op. cit., 193-4

[6] Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Westchester, IL, Crossway Books 1988) 176-7

[7] Severian of Gabala, op. cit. 142

[8] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Volume 1, Matthew-Galatians (Wheaton, IL, Victor Books 1989) 614

[9] A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Volume IV, The Epistles of Paul (Broadman, Nashville, TN, 1931) 184

[10] G. Campbell Morgan, The Corinthian Letters of Paul (Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, NJ 1946) 176-7