1 Corinthians (Written)

Friday, 16 January 2015

 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 1 Corinthians 14:2

Paul will now contrast the speaking of a “tongue” to “prophesying” which he mentioned in the previous verse. Before analyzing this contrast, it needs to be noted that the word translated here as “tongue” signifies a human language in Acts 2:11, 10:46*, 19:6*; Romans 3:13;  1 Corinthians 13:1, 14:4*; and Revelation 5:9, 7:9, 10:11, 11:9, 13:7, 14:6; 17:15. The other times that “tongue” is used, it refers to the literal tongue in the mouth or something which resembles a tongue (such as “tongues” of fire). In three of these verses marked with an asterisk (*) it is implicitly understood to be a language because the people around them understood what was said.

There is no instance recorded in the Bible where the word “tongue” signifies anything other than a known language. The text must be forced to have this word imply some type of ecstatic utterance or a “shoo bop be loo bop” type of sound which is so commonly used by Charismatics and others in an attempt to draw attention to themselves.

Understanding that this is speaking of known languages, Paul’s words imply that the language is not known to all. It would be comparable to saying, “A French guy stood up and spoke French in a German church meeting.” In grasping this, we can properly interpret Paul’s intent. When a person “speaks in a tongue” (meaning a known language which is not understood by those in the congregation), he “does not speak to men but to God.”

When Charlie Garrett preaches at the Superior Word in Sarasota, Florida, he often preaches words and sentences directly from the Hebrew. When he blesses the elements of communion, he often gives the blessing in Hebrew. In this, none of the congregants understand what he is saying. If he throws in a German or Japanese phrase, the same will probably be true. Either few or none of those present will understand. Thus he speaks not “to men but to God” (who understands all languages). However, holding to the tenets of Scripture, (as will be seen later in this chapter), he always translates what he says in a foreign tongue for the benefit of those in attendance.

The reason that when he speaks in a tongue he “does not speak to men but to God” is explained by Paul as he continues with verse 2. It is because “no one understands him.” Without training in a language, nobody suddenly grasps that language. Instead, they sit listening without comprehending. This is no different than the recipients of the tongues spoken to in Acts 2. People heard the gospel preached in their own languages. If the languages were unknown to them, there would have only been confusion in their minds. But the Holy Spirit, acting as a “universal translator,” converted the words of the believers into a language that they could understand; a known language.

If this didn’t occur, a different outcome would have resulted. As Paul says, “However, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” The term “in the spirit” is pneumati. It can mean “wind,” “spirit,” or “breath.” Only the context of the surrounding verses can properly interpret the exact meaning of pneumati. As this is speaking of oral utterances, the word pneumati is certainly referring to “breath.” His “breath” speaks mysteries.

But even if it is to be translated “spirit,” it is certain that the breath of the man indicates the utterance of his spirit. There is no reason to assume that this is referring to the work of the Holy Spirit. From the later verses, it will be seen that speaking in “tongues” which do not fit certain guidelines cannot be of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this here is certainly not speaking of Holy Spirit inspiration either.

In Paul’s words, we see that anyone who speaks in a different language will not be comprehended by those who hear it. Instead, they will find the words to be a mystery. A mystery is simply something unknown and which cannot be grasped without an explanation of the matter. Thus, Paul will give very strict guidelines in the verses ahead for the speaking of tongues.

Too often, readers of the Bible insert presuppositions into the text as they read. When this is done, anything can mean anything. Along with presuppositions, sensationalism is also introduced in order to heighten the experience of reading. The reason why this is often the case is because Bible study takes effort and contemplation. But that is hard work. And so rather than enjoy the Bible for the depth of wisdom it contains, a lighter and more sensational approach is taken in order to find satisfaction from the words which seem difficult and even confusing.

Life application: Be diligent in the study of the Bible. As believers, we get just one brief life to glean from it all we can before we will stand before our Creator for rewards and losses.  Let us be approved on that day.

Lord God, life is such a brief vapor. In my mind, I’m still young and full of energy, doing the things that I did as a youth. But in my body I am slowing down and finding a few new pains with each passing day. Lord, help me to use my time rightly before my days are done. Give me the wisdom, the intelligence, and the desire to pick up Your word, read it, study it, and cherish it during this brief moment of my existence. Why should I stand before You and say, “I was busy watching TV”? Instead, let me say, “Your word carried me though each wonderful day.” Amen.

Thursday, 15 January 2015

Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:1

Paul now returns to the subject of “gifts” which he left off with in Chapter 12. However, even in Chapter 13, he never really left the issue behind. Rather, he had used his discourse on love to show the believers at Corinth that their use of gifts, and particularly tongues, wasn’t in line with that precept. This will be seen in his coming words.

In order to set up his logic concerning tongues in the coming verses, he will first introduce a thought concerning obtaining a different gift. Why would he do this? The answer becomes evident when we see how Paul viewed the gift of tongues and its use within the church at Corinth.

Chapter 14 will explain these things in detail and understanding his instruction on tongues, in proper context, should be mandatory for every charismatic Bible college, seminary, and church. Almost every verse in chapter 14, a chapter which is 40 verses long, is given to properly instruct us on the completely abused gift of tongues.

And so to begin the chapter, he says to “pursue love.” This asks us to reflect on his words of chapter 13. Everything that is done should have this as its main consideration. In pursuing love, the use of our spiritual gifts will be proper.

Secondly, he says to also pursue “spiritual gifts.” True gifts of the spirit are necessary for the instruction and edification of the church. In that then, we are to pursue obtaining them. In fact, in 12:31, just before his parenthetical thought concerning love of Chapter 13, he said, “But earnestly desire the best gifts.” So it is right to seek after spiritual gifts and it is right to seek after the best of those gifts.

Having said that, and understanding the context of his words, he now finishes this verse with, “but especially that you may prophesy.” Why has he said this? To understand fully, consider again what he was speaking about in Chapter 12 – all the gifts of the spirit. To him, the best of the gifts was that of prophesying. This does not mean specifically “foretelling” but “forth-telling.” Forth-telling is the right interpretation and then explanation of Scripture in order to build up and edify the church; it is “preaching.”

The value of preaching the word is the highest gift to Paul because “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). The means of hearing about the salvation which God has chosen for the people of the world is preaching. Without people exercising this gift, the word won’t be heard and people won’t be saved.

Therefore, Paul says that men of God should pursue this gift above all else. With that now understood, he will contrast this with “tongues” in the coming verses. In other words, the intelligible, thoughtful, and proper preaching of God’s word will be used as the standard to compare to the gift of “tongues.”

Thus he will demonstrate that the use of tongues at Corinth (and which continues to this day in unstable churches) is unintelligible, thoughtless, and even improper. Instead of edifying the body, it often divides and confuses it. For this reason, Paul will set very strict limits on the use of tongues; limits which are all but ignored in many churches. In ignoring Paul’s words, they ignore the One who inspired his words.

Life application: Pay attention to the coming 39 verses of 1 Corinthians 14. Be prepared to rightly explain the use of tongues in a church – why they are to be spoken, who should speak them, and when they are to be allowed.

Heavenly Father, we often claim that we love You, but then we don’t do what You have instructed us. Sometimes it’s willful disobedience and sometimes its just our human weakness. Help us to know Your word and then to live by it. How can I say I love You and then willingly ignore what Your instruction manual says? Would my boss be pleased with me if I did this? Would the government allow me to ignore their laws? Help me in this. Surely obedience to You is a demonstration of love for You. And loving You is what I truly desire. Amen.

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Paul concludes his discourse on love in this verse by beginning with “And now…” Among scholars, there is division over what this means. Some take it as a temporal sequence which would place it in opposition to the “then” of the previous verse. What that would mean is that “now” isn’t speaking of our present existence in comparison to the future, such as – “And at this time abide faith, hope, and love, but someday only love will abide.” Instead, it is speaking of the logical nature of the summary thought; it is the conclusion of everything he has said. “And now when every other gift is done away with, faith, hope, and love will remain.”

Other scholars will argue the opposite by stating that only love will remain in the future. Faith will no longer be needed because it will be swallowed up in sight, and hope will no longer be needed because we will have possession of our hope in the joy of the Lord. Thus, only love will remain.

The first argument is correct; all three will remain. They are all permanent and they are all essential, even in the eternal state. What Paul is telling us here is that the “gifts” which the believers at Corinth had been arguing over were temporary and that they would pass away, even gifts such as prophecy. On the other hand, the three individual components of faith, hope, and love would continue on forever.

If eternity is set before us and yet our eternity is based on God’s willingness to maintain His created order, then our faith will remain in God who continues to sustain our existence. Tied into this is hope which will always remain as an anchor for the soul of the redeemed. It will never find its completion, but will always exist. Because God is infinite, we will infinitely hope to see more of His infinite goodness as He ceaselessly reveals Himself to us.

Despite these being eternal though, the facet of love is greater than they are. It is not greater in duration (which is impossible because all are eternal), but in logical order. The Pulpit Commentary explains why love is greater than faith and hope in four ways –

“1. Love is the greatest, because it is the root of the other two; ‘we believe only in that which we love; we hope only for that which we love.’
2. And love is the greatest because love is for our neighbours; faith and hope mainly for ourselves.
3. And love is the greatest because faith and hope are human, but God is love.
4. And love is the greatest because faith and hope can only work by love, and only show themselves by love. Thus love is as the undivided perfection of sevenfold light. Faith and hope are precious stones of one colour, as a ruby and a sapphire; but love, as he has been showing us throughout the chapter, is a diamond of many facets.”

Life application: Paul has shown a “more excellent way” in 1 Corinthians 13. Rather than arguing over who has the better gift, and rather than having feelings of either jealousy or contempt towards others because of their gift, we should express gratitude to God for His provision and demonstrate love towards God and others as we await our final call to eternal glory.

O God, I cannot express to You the thanks in my heart and soul for the people I worship with, work with, walk with, and who I share in life with even on the internet each day. There is always someone to lift me up in prayer or someone that I can return that favor to. When I have something exciting to share, folks are there to share in those moments. And when they have good times, I get to revel in their happiness as well. Thank You for all the people who I have had the pleasure and honor of coming to know in this life. Thank You, O God! Amen.

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Paul has been contrasting the imperfect world in which we live with the purity of the world to come. He has been doing this by comparing that which is temporary and physical with that which is eternal and spiritual. With that thought in mind, he now gives a description of what our knowledge is like at this time in comparison to what it will be like in the future. In order to do this, he uses words concerning a mirror which would have been perfectly understood by anyone in the church at that time.

However, in his words, he is certainly using an example from the Old Testament as the basis for his thoughts. In Numbers chapter 12, the Lord spoke these words to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam –

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
⁷ Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
⁸ I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?” Numbers 12:6-8

Knowing that this is Paul’s point of reference will help to explain his words to the Corinthians. He begins with the word “for” as a conjunction to the previous statement. What is earthly will be explained first. In this earthly existence (now) he says that “we see in a mirror, dimly.” Mirrors of Paul’s time were made of highly polished metal. They reflected an image, but it was far less perfect than our modern glass mirrors. When looking at such a mirror, just as when looking at a mirror of today, it appears that the image is standing on the other side of the mirror.

But the reflection in those ancient metal mirrors would have had imperfections which skewed what a person actually looked like. They could get the general sense of how they looked, but it wasn’t perfect. Hairs which were out of place may have gone unseen, lipstick might have been off a wee bit, and the teeth might not have been as clean as one hoped for. Such a mirror wasn’t capable of giving a perfect reflection and so imperfection in actual appearance was to be expected.

Paul shows that this is comparable to what is spiritual. We now see God’s plan only partially. We now study the Bible with preconceptions and using faulty logic. Our minds are dull in understanding many aspects of Scripture and we are incapable of seeing some things which would otherwise be obvious. But in this earthly existence, they are hidden.

In contrast to this, someday we shall see “face to face.” In Numbers 12:8 (above), the term the Lord used when speaking to Moses is peh el peh, or literally “mouth to mouth.” There was direct and intimate dialogue between the two. The Lord hid nothing from Moses when He spoke to him. This is the way it shall be for us when we are glorified. Until then, we still see dimly and our understanding is therefore obscured.

This word, “dimly,” is from the Greek en ainigmati. It means “in an enigma.” Everything is somewhat obscured in some way or another. Again, this is comparable to what was said to Moses with the words “in dark sayings.” When God spoke to the prophets of old, His word was given in such a way that they often had no idea what God was speaking about. It was as if a dark shadow were cast over the eyes of their minds to keep them from fully realizing what was intended by the words they uttered or wrote down.

This is no different even today. Although we have clarity that the prophets didn’t, particularly about the work of the Lord Jesus, there are still aspects of the Bible that are completely hidden from us. We can understand the surface meaning of the words, but the true depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God which is found in the Bible is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. This is confirmed in Paul’s words which continue on by saying, “Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

We have the Bible, and with it we can know how to be saved through the work of Jesus. It also tells us about the sure return of Jesus for us someday. But it doesn’t tell us when that will happen. Nor does it tell us an infinite number of details that we might like to know. Instead, with it we can only know in part. However, when we stand in the presence of the Lord in our glorified state, we will have a much more perfect understanding of the Lord and of His work, just as He at this time fully knows all about us.

Life application: Just because we cannot fully know all the mysteries of the Lord in this life, it is no excuse to not do our very, very best to study the Bible and seek out the mysteries which are hidden there. What a shame to spend our time learning an infinite number of sports statistics while knowing almost nothing about the riches contained in Scripture! Study your Bible.

Lord, from time to time, I have to stop and ask myself questions about where I stand with You. Will You be more pleased with me for knowing all the statistics of my favorite football team, or will You be more pleased with me reading and understanding the book of Romans? Are You going to say “Well done” to me for having the shiniest car in town, or will You be more pleased that I went to church and there worshipped You on Sunday morning?” Is increasing the size of my bank account more important than attending Bible Study? Priorities Lord… help me with my priorities. If this is my one chance to get it right, help me to get it right.  Amen.

Monday, 12 January 2015

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11

In this verse, Paul is making an analogy between spiritual immaturity and spiritual adulthood through the use of the natural growth of an individual. He has been discussing spiritual gifts and the need to use them in connection with love for them to have any true value. In the previous two verses, he showed that eventually those gifts will be done away with altogether.

In his analogy then, he says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child.” Babies have their own sounds which develop into short sentences and then into the talk of teens. Each is discernable and shows a lack of development. Eventually though, most people learn to speak as adults. Sentences are more complex and they convey the higher thoughts necessary to accomplish the challenges of adulthood.

In a similar fashion, Paul says that, “I understood as a child.” Children look at the world in a completely different way than adults. Adults have had experiences which allow them to hopefully make wise decisions. Children don’t have such experiences. They may touch hot surfaces, they may get swindled out of their school lunch, or they may step on sandspurs because they didn’t know that sandspurs existed. Their understanding of the world around them has limited their ability to think in more developed ways.

And this leads to the next thought of Paul which says, “I thought as a child.” Without experience, thoughts will be naive about the world around us. Without a developed language, our tongues will only speak either unintelligible or rather simple sentences. And without experience, we cannot make rational choices about our future, how to care for our present needs, or how to empathize with others when they suffer.

In contrast to this, Paul tells us that “when I became a man, I put away childish things.” This state is analogous to what he said in verses 8-10. The connection is obvious when one looks at how Paul has cited his examples. “I spoke” relates to the gift of tongues, “I understood” relates to the gift of prophecy, and “I thought” relates to the gift of knowledge. Paul showed us in those previous verses that each of these gifts were temporary and would be done away with. Thus he has equated that time of spiritual maturity to being a man. In adulthood, we have put away the ways of childhood; and in our glorification, we will have put away these lesser gifts.

Isaac Newton, one of the greatest intellectual minds in all of human history, understood this to be true when he wrote these words –

“I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself by now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

Life application: Those gifts which we cherish now, and which we too often use to the harm of others rather than to their edification, will someday be done away with. Keeping this in mind, let us use our gifts for building others up, not attempting to tear them down.

Lord, I know that all the knowledge I possess, all the supposedly great things that I have done, and the wealth that I have obtained in this life are like grains of sand on an infinite shore in comparison to the true wealth of heaven. What I seek after in this life has no comparison to what You offer to those whom You have redeemed. Because this is true, help me not to focus on these temporary things, but to think on and strive for that which is true wealth. Help me to use my time wisely in the pursuit of You. I know You will be pleased with the life I live in this way. Amen.