1 Corinthians 14:36-40

 

Throughout chapters 12-14, Paul has been dealing with the problem of spiritual gifts. Within the Corinthian church, it seems that these gifts had become a point of contention and disunity. Rather than building up the church, these gifts were tearing it down.

In chapter 12, Paul urged the idea of unity—all these gifts came from God and should be used for the good of God's work. The church should be like a body, where each individual part plays a role for the good of the whole. In chapter 13, Paul emphasized that love is more important than any gift and therefore every gift must be used in the context of and for the sake of our love for one another (and God.) In chapter 14, Paul emphasized the importance of clarity and edification—our gifts must be aimed at helping one another, which can only happen when the clear truth can be understood through them. Finally, in these last few verses, Paul gives a final exhortation on the subject.

Paul begins with two rhetorical questions. He asks if the word of God came from them? Were the Corinthians the first preachers of the gospel? Had their church been the origin point of Christianity? And did the gospel go to them only? Were they the sole recipients of the gospel? Certainly not; they were one of many who received the truth spread by the apostles. They were neither the source nor sole proprietors of the truth. And therefore, they should not act as if they were. This connects back to verse 33--there were certain principles that were in place in all Christian churches. No one church should act as if it knows better than everyone else and reject the general truth of the gospel.

Many of the Corinthians claimed to have special, supernatural knowledge. Paul argues that if they do, then they should recognize the commandments of God as laid out through Paul's writing.

To bring this into a more modern context, we can say that all spiritual insight and church practice must be judged in the light of God's word. The Corinthians may have had only a couple of Paul's epistles (and the Old Testament) to go by; we have the entire Bible. 

Do you remember how Paul opened this entire discussion? “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” (1 Corinthians 12:1) Paul's whole purpose in this section was to remove their ignorance on this topic. But the sad truth is that some people prefer to be ignorant—who would rather have their own ideas than the truth. And so we have the ominous words of verse 38: “If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” Those who refuse to be taught will never learn. If you close your eyes, you will be in darkness. Those who do not have ears to hear will not hear.

Verses 36-38 are admonitions aimed at making sure the Corinthians listen to what Paul has said. He is making it clear that he speaks with apostolic authority; that he is speaking the truth of God, the truth known and accepted by the church as a whole, and that the Corinthians will ignore it at their peril.

Verses 39-40 summarize what that message is, the main thrust of this passage, especially chapter 14. He urges them to seek out the gift of prophecy. We remember from earlier why this is: “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:4) The gift of prophecy is best because it most directly edifies the church. And yet, for all that—for all the warnings and cautions he gives regarding speaking in tongues—he wants to make it clear that he wasn't condemning it. It had its place in the church and should not be barred out.

As I've said before, I personally don't think that either of these gifts is still, generally speaking, present in the church today. But the general truth holds. The center of church worship is edification. That is why, in protestant churches, the whole service revolves around preaching. And yet there are other gifts which have their place as well—singing, let's say, is different from preaching, and I would argue is less important. But it still fills a vital role in the service, and we would be wrong to eradicate it.

Verse 40 summarizes the whole matter. In the church, there is a place for many things and many people with many gifts. But everything must be bound together with decency and order, for God is not a God of confusion but of peace. Barnes says that the word 'order' has a military connotation. The hymn says that 'Like a mighty army/Moves the church of God.' But how does a mighty army move? It moves in a disciplined, well-ordered way; an army ideally acts not as isolated individuals but as one organic whole. And a church, while very different from an army, must also ultimately be one organic whole. And this means it must act with decency and order.