1Corinthians 14 -- Let’s learn how to prophesy

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This may be one of the most important and most misunderstood chapters in the entire Bible. Without a doubt those that attack Paul for being sexist support that claim almost exclusively on this chapter. Since these verses are misunderstood it is essential that we go through this chapter verse by verse to understand the context.

1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.

This chapter tells believers how to meet, there is no other chapter in the Bible that gives such a clear picture of what a church meeting is supposed to be. First, follow the way of love. Jesus told us that if we love one another all will know that we are His disciples. That is the overriding principle. When faced with tough decisions for the congregation you should first make sure that you are following the way of love. In the previous chapter Paul has given us the way of love.

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

This is the overriding principle for everything the church does. However, in this chapter we are told to also desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. The word prophecy means to “speak for”, “speak forth” and “speak before”. It is not simply predicting, or speaking before something happens. A press secretary is considered a “prophet” in the Bible. They are speaking for someone, they are speaking forth something that is being pronounced, and in some cases they are speaking “before” something happens. The church, as the embassy of the Kingdom of Heaven, should be the Lord’s prophets.

2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

It seems obvious reading this that tongues were an issue with the church meetings. First, tongues were not fulfilling the mission of the church as an embassy. You are here, in this city, representing God to the people. This meeting is for the Lord to speak to the people through His prophets. If the people don’t understand what you are saying, what is the point. The church is not some ridiculous secret society where people who visit have no idea what is going on. Therefore speaking a clear and intelligible word is greater than speaking in tongues unless someone also interprets. If you interpret the tongue so that people understand, then it is really no different than prophesying. But the way Paul says this it sounds like one person is speaking in tongues and another person is interpreting. Instead what I have seen is that people will speak in tongues, and then interpret what they just said. Why? Why not just tell us directly what God has said? What was the point of speaking something that no one understands first? You aren’t edifying the church that way, you are edifying yourself.

6 Now, brothers and sisters, 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?

Paul has had a tremendous impact on the church and the believers over the last 2,000 years. He also told us that he spoke in tongues more than us all. But that had nothing to do with the good he has been to us. It is the revelation, knowledge, prophecy and word of instruction that has built the church. So then Paul is an example of what he is saying, he is not asking us to do anything that he himself did not do. Take Paul as your example.

7 Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9 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.

Clear, intelligible words, that is the focus. If you play a clear tune we can all sing along. If you are sounding a clear alarm we can all react appropriately. If we have no idea what you are saying we will tune you out.

10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.

The key principle is love and that means your meeting must be welcoming, inclusive. Making someone feel like a foreigner is not love.

 

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12 So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.

By all means be eager for the gifts. All believers are. But try to excel at building up the church. It is hard, you have to work at it, but that is what Paul is encouraging you to do. Don’t give up.

13 For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.

Now he is saying, hey if you do speak in tongues pray to the Lord that He will also give you the gift of interpretation. If you have both gifts then in the meeting simply give us the interpretation. Recently I have been seeing people share their “dreams” online but they then give us the interpretation as well. Still, you could have taken a 15 minute video talking about a dream and the interpretation and distilled it down to a 2 minute prophecy.

14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit,but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.16 Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.

This verse is huge and always ignored. I am not aware of anyone picking this up before. The person who is hearing your speaking in a church meeting “is put into the position of an inquirer”. The church meeting is not your private worship time or prayer time. Some people are speaking and some are listening. Those that are hearing are “put into the position of an inquirer”. You cannot understand this chapter unless you understand that.

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

5 intelligible words in a meeting are worth much more than 10,000 words of gibberish. What he has done is focus on “return on investment”. How can a church meeting be most effective? Clear, intelligible words, words of instruction, prophecy, encouragement, revelation, knowledge. These words will build up the church much, much more effectively than gibberish.

20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

An adult has learned they don’t want to waste their time. They don’t want to spin their wheels getting nowhere.

 

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21 In the Law it is written: “With other 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.”

The prophecy about tongues in the Old Testament was that it would be a sign of unbelief.

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

As a new believer our faith is weak, perhaps the simplest way to begin speaking in a church meeting is in tongues, just like a baby starts by speaking gibberish. But you continue to grow and you pray that you could interpret. Soon not only can you speak in tongues but you can also interpret. Now, cut out the tongues and just give us the interpretation. Now you are prophesying.

23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all,25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

This was my experience. I discounted what the preachers were saying, I figured they were well able to hoodwink me. But when other saints began to share, that is when I saw that God was really among them. There was one brother named Raul. He was learning to read and was in his thirties. I figured this brother was way too simple to hoodwink me. It is very powerful when we all speak, even if it is only five words.

26 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.

Every single one of us should have something. It can be a hymn we were enjoying. I remember I once went on a field trip for Geology and so missed the church meetings. While on the bus I discovered a new hymn, figured out how to sing it, and sang it to myself on the bus. The next week I shared this hymn with the church. They were stunned because they also had discovered the same hymn during the meeting I had missed.

Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

The guiding principle is love, but if you love someone you will build them up. So the corollary of the Lord’s word that we are to love another and then everyone will know that we are His disciples, is that everything we do must be done to build up others.

27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

Can’t get any clearer than that. You don’t speak in tongues in a meeting unless you know it will be interpreted. This can also refer to someone visiting from another country and speaking to the church. If someone came to NY speaking in Chinese we would want an interpreter. No one is going to have a church meeting where a 90 minute message is given in chinese if no one understands chinese.

29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.

Once again, you have speakers and you have listeners. If you are listening you are put in the position of an enquirer and you are to weigh carefully what is said. The reason people twist what Paul says in this chapter about women speaking is they are ignoring the context.

30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

It is very clear in this chapter that men and women are in the meeting. When Paul says “you can all prophecy” there is no distinction made.

32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

Second major issue, God is not a God of disorder. I used to meet in a church that as a rule allowed thirty minutes or more in every meeting for anyone to stand and speak. But they exercised strict control to make sure everything was done in good order. It is very tough to stand in front of two hundred and speak because they are weighing carefully what you are speaking, there is a judgment going on. I have seen people rebuked. I have also seen people try to rebuke someone and have that rebuke backfire and rebound onto them. I have seen elders and church leadership rebuked. I have seen this happen in meetings with thousands of saints. These meetings can become very intense, full of light, where people are convicted of sins, the secrets of their hearts are laid bare and they worship God that He is truly in the midst.

34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
This is the verse, used more than any other, to accuse Paul of being sexist. If this were the only thing that Paul had ever said on the subject they would have a good case. But already in this chapter Paul has said that they all can prophesy. He has also made it clear that those who are listening are put in the position of questioning what they are hearing, weighing it for themselves. Here he connects this woman speaking with her having a question that she wants to ask. In chapter 11 of this same letter he says that a woman should have her head covered when she prays or prophecies. Therefore it is absurd to say that Paul is forbidding her to pray or prophesy in the meeting. Instead he is forbidding her from standing up to question someone who just spoke in the meeting. I have seen this practiced, it is very difficult to keep things in good order. Therefore only the elders question, rebuke or challenge anything that is said. Generally they tell the person to sit down, occasionally they will give a correcting word. If you let everyone do this the meetings would be like social media, total chaos. What happens if an elder tells someone to sit down who was speaking the word of God? I had an experience once where Witness Lee told me to sit down in a training with thousands of saints. I was speaking on the verse in Peter about multiplied grace. No one questioned him, but over the next few meetings one by one people stood up to share how that testimony had helped them, how it matched their experience of what multiplied grace was. Even the elders began to talk to him privately about this. Over time Witness Lee publicly shared that he had made a mistake. You do it in good order, you don’t allow chaos to reign, and you trust in the Spirit. But you know that the atheists will not accept this. He said “I do not permit a woman to speak”. This is true, he also shared that in the Body of Christ there is no male or female. He shared that in Galatians, the first letter he wrote. He also shared that when you speak you need to have your head covered. So here where he says he doesn’t permit a woman to speak. He says she should ask her husband. That is her head covering. This is the secret. How do you rebuke an elder of sin? You must have your head covered. Paul says when you speak you must speak as oracles of God. How? Well every word in the Bible is an oracle of God. Speak the words of the Bible. When you speak in the church you must have your head covered. I don’t mean you must wear a doily, I mean that Jesus must be Lord of the words you are speaking. There have been a number of times I knew that if I speak this word it will cause me very great trouble. I also knew that the Lord was speaking clearly that I must speak it. It all comes down to “who are you going to be faithful to”? In the end I pray Lord have mercy on me, you know I am always going to choose to be faithful to You. That is what it means to have your head covered. Now when I speak it is not the “woman” who is afraid, but I am speaking the words of the Lord, as oracles of God.

 

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36 Or did the word of God originate with you?

Why is it that everyone thinks they need to be original? The Bible is a deep well of water that never runs dry.

Or are you the only people it has reached?

When you speak the word you have to keep this in mind. Those people who are weighing your words, questioning what you are saying, the Lord has reached them. They know the Lord. If you speak from your spirit it will touch their spirit. “Deep calleth unto deep”. When you are speaking you are throwing the football, have faith that they will catch it.

37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.

I am thoroughly amazed by Paul. How precise his speaking was. How he was fearless in his speaking. How much faith he had that we would catch his words thousands of years later.

38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.

We all have pet peeves. My pet peeve is people who stand in doorways. You can’t get in the room, you can’t get out because they are just standing there. In Malachi 2 the Lord shares his pet peeve. He tells people what to do, they ignore it, and then they fill up his altar with tears and long prayers because He is ignoring them.

39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Social media is not an example of things being done fitting and in an orderly way. Do not pattern a church meeting after social media.