Proper worship
Proper worship has proper order…
Christian prophets do not lose control in some ecstatic trance or as though possessed by some foreign spirit. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. The use of spiritual gifts in the congregation is for the building up of the congregation as together they grow up into Christ and reflect God’s renewed humanity. The use of spiritual gifts requires the engagement of the mind and/or spirit of the gifted individual and their ability to restrain, channel, and control their gift in a way that reflects their own progress in developing Christ-centered attitudes and priorities and in prioritizing that which will most benefit their brothers and sisters in Christ. Spiritual actions that can be wholly attributed to an external spiritual power would say little about and contribute little to the spiritual growth of the practitioner. No one is to use prophetic inspiration as an excuse for continuing on in contradiction to Paul’s instructions.
Proper worship has proper roles..
Perhaps some women were especially likely to treat their Christian prophets as they would other prophets in their world, by peppering them with questions such as “Will my child be a boy or a girl?” or “Should I employ this slave or that?” They may also be asking questions that are not part of the weighing of the prophecies but that are motivated by a desire to understand the content of the prophecies or the way in which the prophetic ministry works.
In this case, the point would be that the law does not allow a wife to behave in an insubordinate way which brings shame on her and her husband, which is the kind of speech (in the worship gathering) Paul has in mind
Whether Paul has in mind participation in the critique of other prophets and their messages or disruptive (and shameful) chatter or conversations during the gathering, his main point seems to be that the women should show respect for order and for others (especially their husbands) in the worship setting
Proper worship is focused on the Lord..
Paul’s arguments are not to be taken as an outright rejection of the gift of tongues, but as an attempt to help the Corinthians (and us) focus on what is really important in worship. It also serves as a corrective to some unedifying practices that were not consistent with the God-centered and other-centered approach to proper Christian worship. Paul’s choice of terms is telling: one gift should be eagerly sought out while another is not to be forbidden. As he concludes this part of his discussion, Paul could hardly make it clearer which gift is to be more highly valued and more consistently practiced in the church’s worship.
Paul’s instructions in this chapter have all been intended to guide the Corinthians to a more orderly and fitting approach to the use of spiritual gifts in worship so as to better reflect the glory of God. It is God’s glory which is to be our preoccupation in worship, and that can be honored only when we maintain an atmosphere that does not distract people from his glory. Some Corinthians had manifested attitudes and behaviors which had drawn attention to themselves rather than to God, and which reflected a greater concern for self-edification than the edification of others
At this point a summary of the place of speaking in tongues in the apostolic community of the first century A.D. and also a discussion of tongues in the post-apostolic period and the relevance of tongues in the twentieth-century church is in order. First, in Paul’s discussion of this and other gifts in chapters 12 to 14, he emphasizes priority of love over “tongues” and the other gifts (1 Cor 13).
Second, in the list of offices (those of apostles, prophets and teachers) and gifts for the church (12:27–31a), the office-gifts are listed first, with other gifts following, the last being “tongues.” This implies that Paul gives priority to office-gifts over “tongues.” Furthermore, among the office-gifts, that of apostles, who were unique in having seen the Lord, ceased to exist in the first century A.D.
Third, in his treatment of tongues and prophecy in chapter 14, Paul again shows his preference for prophecy over tongues, since the former was the gift that brought edification to the church (vv. 1–5). He minimizes the importance of the gift of tongues when he says, “In the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousands words in a tongue” (v. 19).
Fourth, in his discussion in chapter 12 regarding the diversity of gifts and their functions in the church, the body of Christ, Paul uses the analogy of the human body with its various parts functioning in unique and distinct ways without each one trying to usurp the function of another part. So he shows that the gifts, including tongues, were not to be sought for the sake of the gifts nor was everyone to seek to have the same gift, such as tongues.
Fifth, God does not have to work by miraculous means to accomplish his purposes; he usually uses ordinary natural means—e.g., in the production of crops, he uses the sun, the rain, and the nutrients of the ground, as well as the hard work of men in farming the land. In connection with charismata (the Greek word from which we get the current term “charismatic”), which is translated “spiritual gifts” in NIV (1 Cor 12:4), it is significant that in 1 Corinthians 12:5–11 not all of the charismata mentioned are miraculous, as, e.g., the gifts of wisdom and knowledge (v. 8), which are mentioned before the miraculous ones, including tongues. It is not essential that everyone have a miraculous gift; see 12:29, 30, where Paul uses rhetorical questions to show that not all Christians had, or were to have, one particular gift in common. The questions in the Greek sentences that comprise 12:29, 30 begin with me negative, which expects a negative response.
Sixth, on the basis of the phenomenon of foreign languages spoken of in Acts 2:5–12, we have argued that the tongues referred to in 1 Corinthians 14:13–15, 20–25 were also foreign-language tongues—not ecstatic utterances, gibberish, or nonunderstandable erratic variations of consonants and vowels with indiscriminate modulation of pitch, speed, and volume.
Seventh, the essential offices for building up the body of Christ, the church, are, according to Paul (Eph 4:11–16), those of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors-teachers (the one Greek article unites the pastor-teacher gift and office). He says nothing there about the necessity of miraculous gifts either in evangelism (Eph 4:11) or in the teaching-edifying ministry of the church (vv. 12–16).
Eighth, the other NT passages in which Christian worship patterns are set forth do not include, or as in the exceptional case of the Corinthian church, do not emphasize, miraculous gifts and functions. This is true not only for worship in the developing church under Paul’s ministry as portrayed in the last half of Acts and in the epistles, but also in the worship of the OT and early NT periods involving predominantly Jewish Christians—worship patterns taken over largely by the developing Jewish-Gentile Church. These important elements of worship were: the reading of Scripture and expounding it with understanding (Neh 8:1–8; Luke 4:16–30; Acts 2 and other sermons in Acts); prayer (1 Kings 8:10–61; Acts 14:23; 16:25); singing (1 Chron 25; Acts 16:25; Eph 5:19); Christian koinonia or fellowship (2 Kings 23:1–3; Acts 2:42); Christian ceremonies or sacraments (as the Passover [Exod 12] and the Lord’s Supper [Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor 11:17–32]); and fasting (Acts 14:23). Miraculous gifts, including tongues, are (apart from the unique situation at Corinth—1 Cor 14:26), absent from these contexts, the conclusion being that they were not to be a necessary part of the general worship patterns of the church.
Ninth, miraculous activity, including speaking in a tongue, did come in biblical times from other sources than the Lord. Witness such activity induced by evil spirits and satanic forces—the Gerasene demon-possessed man (Luke 8:26–39), the spirit-possessed girl (Acts 16:16–18), the image of the evil beast that is given the power to speak by the other satanic beast (Rev 13:15). Psychological factors were involved in the superhuman strength and tongue-speaking activity of the Gerasene demon-possessed man, for upon his deliverance from the demons, he was found to be in his “right mind” (Luke 8:35). Therefore caution and balance are needed in relation to such miraculous activities as speaking in tongues.
Having pointed this out, we must also recognize that the Bible shows that other gifts were also perverted by Satan. The OT speaks more than once of false prophets, as does the NT. The Bible speaks of false pastors (e.g., “worthless shepherd,” Zech 11:17; “hirelings,” John 10:12, 13) and frequently warns against false teachers. Yet no one would insist that either prophecy in its valid sense of speaking out for God to the people or the pastoral-teaching ministry is no longer valid. Misuse of a gift does not invalidate the gift itself. However, because of their intimate psychological nature, “tongues” must be viewed with special caution and not be overstressed.
Tenth, it is to be noted that directly after the first-century-A.D. apostolic period legitimate miraculous gifts, such as tongues, practically ceased. According to Warfield,
There is little or no evidence at all for miracle-working during the first fifty years of the post-Apostolic Church; it is slight and unimportant for the next fifty years; it grows more abundant during the next century (the third); and it becomes abundant and precise only in the fourth century, to increase still further in the fifth and beyond. (Miracles: Yesterday and Today [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953], p. 10.)
In discussing the witness of the apostolic fathers (the early Christian writers of the late first century A.D. and the first half of the second century) Warfield goes on to say,
The writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers contain no clear and certain allusions to miracle-working or to the exercise of the charismatic gifts, contemporaneous with themselves. (Ibid.)
In the place of these authentic apostolic miraculous gifts, including tongues, there arose in later centuries reports of many preposterous miracles. One such story is told in Los Evangelios Apocrifos (ed. Aurelio de Santos Otero, 2nd ed. [Madrid, 1963], p. 219). According to the story, the infant Jesus, on the trip to Egypt, caused a palm tree “to bow down” so that a coconut might be picked for his mother. Such so-called miracles occur in the writings of the NT Apocrypha, both in the apocryphal gospels and the apocryphal apostolic and early church writings (E. Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha, ed. W. Schneemelcher, Engl. trans. R. McL. Wilson, vols.1, 2 [London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, 1965]). The questions to be asked are these: Why did the authentic miraculous gifts cease? Are such miraculous gifts to be sought today?
The first question leads us to ask why there was a preponderance of miraculous gifts, including tongues, at the time of the ministries of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Certainly, miraculous gifts do not appear as a part of God’s working among the believers in all parts of the biblical record. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs did not possess or use miraculous gifts (apart from receiving the Word of God in visions and dreams in a day when the Scriptures were being given). The same is true of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. However, when certain prophets of God needed particular support and verification, then God performed great miracles through them, as with Moses and Joshua (Exod 12–40; Joshua 1–7, et al.) and Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17–2 Kings 13).
Likewise, in the time of Jesus’ ministry and that of his apostles, God verified the message and work of Jesus and the apostles, who had witnessed to God’s work in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, by performing mighty miracles through the apostles, including speaking in tongues. Then miracles ceased when the need for the particular witness was ended and the writing of the Scriptures was complete. Thus Warfield argues when, in speaking about the charismatic gifts, he says,
It is required of all of them [the gifts, such as tongues] that they be exercised for the edification of the church; and a distinction is drawn between them in value, in proportion as they were for edification. But the immediate end for which they were given is not left doubtful, and that proves to be not directly the extension of the church, but the authentication of the Apostles as messengers from God. This does not mean, of course, that only the Apostles appear in the New Testament as working miracles, or that they alone are represented as recipients of the charismata. But it does mean that the charismata belonged in a true sense, to the Apostles, and constituted one of the signs of an Apostle. (Miracles, p. 21.)
Now as to the relevance of tongues-speaking in the church today, we may observe, in addition to the foregoing discussion, first, that the requirements Paul gives for the important offices of elder and deacon (1 Tim 3:1–13; Titus 1:5–9) say nothing about the necessity that the bearers of these offices have such gifts (cf. also Eph 4:11–13).
Second, the instructions given Christians as to how they are to live together in the various units of society (Eph 5:21–6:9; Col 3:18–4:1; 1 Peter 2:13–3:7; 5:1–7, et al.) say nothing about the exercise of these kinds of gifts.
In conclusion, the writer believes that the best answer to the question of the relevance of the gift of tongues today is found in the principle that God used this and other miraculous gifts in OT and apostolic times to authenticate the messengers of his Word, and that the present-day Christian is not to seek such gifts. This is not to say, however, that the churches collectively and individually should not pray that if it is God’s will, the sick may be healed by his power, or that the church should not pray for deeper illumination in understanding God’s inerrant written Word.
Having said this, the writer realizes that there are many Christians of orthodox and evangelical commitment who hold that the gift of tongues as set forth in Acts and 1 Corinthians 12–14 is relevant today. Some of them would no doubt recognize that speaking in tongues is the least of the gifts, as suggested in 1 Corinthians 12:28–30, where Paul placed it last in the list, or in 14:5, 18–20, 22–24, where he subordinates it to prophecy. But they would insist that the gift is not completely ruled out for this modern era, since Paul declares, “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” (14:39).
Moreover, some Christians who accept the present validity of tongues would doubtless say that contemporary conditions seem to point to the end time and are the reason for a resurgence of tongues. For corroboration, they point to actual instances of tongues speaking, especially on the mission field. (For examples of the latter, see David Howard, By the Power of the Holy Spirit [Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973], pp. 29, 30, 107–110.) Also, they would emphasize that any practice of tongues-speaking today must be done in accordance with the guidelines laid down by Paul (14:26–40). Perhaps most would say that tongues-speaking may best be practiced in private (especially when there is no interpreter) where one can speak in a tongue to God alone (14:2, 8).
These present-day advocates of tongues would undoubtedly agree that this gift, as well as any of the other gifts, is not to be considered an end in itself but must be exercised in love (1 Cor 13:1–3)—not as a spiritual ornament to be seen or as a test of spiritual attainment. Rather, they would say, it is to be used as an instrument for the service and glorification of God.