A great tendency
in the church of the 20th century, particularly within pentecostal and charismatic churches, has been to focus largely on the exercise of spiritual gifts. It has been argued that these
gifts of the Holy Spirit had been forgotten by the church and
therefore, it was argued, that the
church had become powerless and dead.
What was needed was
a return to the exercise of the spiritual gifts, primarily the mystical gifts such as tongue speaking and
prophesying. Well, history judges her children and her movements. The 20th
century shall go down in church history as the
century of the greatest church divisions and church splits - and many of them on account of
the matter of the use of the charismatic gifts.
What shall we say about this?
The Holy Spirit surely is is the Spirit of unity. He is not the author
of confusion. He is the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:17) given to lead the
church into the truth. The Holy Spirit has
inspired the sacred text which we
hold in our hands (1 Pet. 1:19-21). He is
committed to unity, because Jesus has prayed for the unity of His church,
“… that
they may become perfectly one, so that
the world may know that you have sent me
and loved them even as you have
loved me.” (Jn 17:23)
I am convinced, more than ever, that the Scriptures which
are inspired by the Holy Spirit do not allow us to organize and
work as we please in the church. The work
of the church must be done with a
spiritual mindset.
The spiritual gifts
must be used spiritually, and
not selfishly.
Love, as defined in 13:4-7 is the key to
the attitudes that undergird the use of
spiritual gifts for our ministry.
The “building up of the church” is the desired outcome (4:4,5,12,26).
“Unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God to mature manhood,
to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13)
is the goal.
Speaking in
tongues as an end in itself, or
prophesying as a reason to boast, as if this gift had its origin in ourselves is childish and immature.
The Bible reminds us that the Holy Spirit is the Sovereign
Dispenser of spiritual gifts (1
Cor. 12:6,11).
He is the One who decides which spiritual gifts are needed for the church at any given time.
He decides which gifts are to be withheld from
the church at any time.
The
matter whether all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the NT
must be in operation today is
not as important as the question, "What gifts does the church need in order to be built
up?" "How can the church see
and cherish the Lord Jesus Christ
better?"
Paul argues in 1 Corinthians 14 that what the church needs most is
clarity- clear speech!
As Paul begins
to wrap
up his thoughts concerning spiritual gifts he reminds the church that all
things be done for the building up of the church (14:26) and that “all things should be done decently and in order…” (14:40). This includes the favourite gifts in the Corinthian church which included tongue speaking and prophecy.
Concerning
these Paul has some specific
instructions in terms of what should happen in
public worship:
1.
He recognizes them as beneficial gifts for
the church of that time, and he therefore encourages them in 14:39 : “My brothers,
earnestly prophesy, and do not forbid
speaking in tongues…”. Nothing that benefits the church must be withheld.
We need to pray for grace and desire to know
which gifts presently best up-build the church.
2.
He limits
the tongue speaking in public
worship. "two,
at most three and not without
interpretation (14:27,28) to keep the
clarity principle intact- (14: 6-24)
3.
He also limits the prophesying in public worship. "two or three prophets..." (14:29-32), and he encourages them to weigh
or judge (Gr. diakrinÅ) what is being said. Prophecies must not be received uncritically. They must
be limited and
those who prophesy must not ‘hog’ the
meeting. When somebody else wants to prophesy, they must keep silent and allow the next person to speak.
4. An important
observation is that the worship
meeting of the church ought not be a ‘free for all’. It must be orderly and regulated, without quenching the Spirit. It may be
right at times for those with prophetic
urges to restrain themselves. This is the way in which
Charles Hodge interprets the
phrase “the spirit of the prophets
are subject to prophets.” (Hodge:p.303). The great
principle of order becomes
apparent again when Paul
says in 14:33, “For
God is not a God of confusion but of
peace.” How about the modern church? Why do we not have a time
when we allow those with
prophetic urges to speak?
I have much sympathy for such a need. I could see for instance that at the end
of an exposition of Scripture, when our hearts and minds have
been settled under the word of God, a number of spiritually minded and
accountable church members might be
given the opportunity to speak into our lives, to warn us concerning a matter, or to exhort us
to love God and one another more.
5. Next, and in
this same context concerning the use of spiritual gifts, Paul addresses a controversial matter:“As in
all the churches of the saints, [34] the women should keep silent
in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in
submission, as the Law also says. [35] If there is anything they desire to
learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to
speak in church. This may come as a surprise to us, since the OT had predicted that
at the time of the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit (referring to Pentecost) “...your
sons and daughters shall prophesy!”
(Joel 2:28ff). Peter the apostle
quoted this text on the day of Pentecost
(Acts 2:17) and Acts
21:9 makes mention of the fact
that Philip had four daughters that prophesied. Furthermore in 1 Cor. 11:5, Paul seemed to take it for
granted that women would prophesy. There
is certainly no reason to believe that women
cannot be equally gifted in all areas of ministry. There is no reason
to believe that women cannot
contribute equally to the up-building to the church. So
what is the actual issue here? The matter here concerns order in public worship. Creation order determines that men must lead. Men in this instance are called to lead in public worship. That is
the pattern from the beginning. OT
temple worship knew of no female priests, and it had nothing to do
with OT male chauvinism or Hebrew culture. This was all by God’s careful design. This was apparently the practice also in all the NT churches (14:33). Jesus chose no female apostles for the public ministry. Elders and diaconal leaders in the churches were always
men, although it is clear that women
also have pastoral
gifts (e.g. Priscilla the wife of
Aquila – Acts 18) and diaconal gifts (e.g. Phoebe- Rom 16:1) that build up the
church. However, God’s plan
for a woman is that she
should influence mankind “from
the bottom up“ and not “from
the top down“. Ignoring God’s will on this matter
has severe consequences. In 1
Tim 2:14 Paul reminds us
that Eve’s fall occurred when she ignored her divinely ordained position (i.e. when she began to ‘desire’ her
husband’s position). Instead of following, she chose to lead. Instead of being submissive
to God she wanted to be like God. Paul reminds us that in this aspect it was
Eve (not Adam) who was first deceived. She listened to Satan. She sinned before Adam
did. In this aspect she was the leader and he was the follower. The reversal
of roles in this case led to the fall.
6. Let no
church think that she is an exception to the rule (14:36). The Corinthians
might have thought that they were superior in the matter of unrestrained tongue speaking, prophesying and
giving little attention to
male leadership in the church. Consequently Paul rebukes and challenges them: “[36] Or
was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it
has reached? [37] If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he
should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the
Lord. [38] If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. Paul engages in some sarcasm here! "Are you the mother church? Are
you the only church? Did the Word of
God (i.e. the gospel) originate with you in Corinth? Did the Gospel stop here with you?"
In so doing Paul appeals that the consideration of the practice of the other churches is significant, and this too must be noted by the
Corinthians.
7. The authority that Paul
carries as an apostle, is of a higher order because it carries the direct calling and authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ (14:37-38). He bears the direct authority or command of the Lord. So, when Paul speaks on these matters to
them, they ought to listen, and if not - that meant that they were not recognized by God in the authority that they claimed to bear.
They would simply be men driven by their own impulses, and unfortunately there
are far too many churches like that! Likewise, for us the Scriptures ought to have a higher authority than the opinions of men.
8.
All
things should be done decently and in
order. The final exhortation is that
all worship should be marked by
beautiful and peaceful order, and not by chaotic disorder, which
inevitably happens when men and their ego’s take over and when and God becomes peripheral to worship.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
God, in His
Word has given us general principles in terms of how the church ought to be
organized and led in terms
of spiritual gifts and in terms of leadership [1].
The Corinthian
church had experienced fractured relationships and chaotic meetings, all the result of a lack of proper respect to God and His word
through the ordained apostle of God - the apostle Paul. That is why now Paul ad to teach them
and remind them once again that in the
church, “… all things should be done decently and in order” (1
Cor. 14:40). In 14:33 he also
has reminded them that God is not a
God of confusion but of peace. In the immediate context he was speaking
about the use of tongues and prophecies, but the principle surely applies to
everything done in the church!
The place of worship is not a place for
self- expression. It is a place of adoration and for mutual up-building. True worship must cause you to leave the place of worship encouraged and thoughtful and resolved to
serve God and His kingdom.
The place of
worship must be respected. It is
for this reason also that
the first epistle to Timothy, the
pastor of the church at Ephesus (1 Tim.1:3) was written. The purpose for writing is explicitly stated in
1 Timothy 3:14-15: “Although
I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people
ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
When a large group of people get together for a public worship meeting there is even more need
for self- restraint and control. We cannot worship as we please. We
cannot organize the church as we
please. The question as to whether women
should occupy pastor - elder positions in the church is unfortunately no longer an issue for many churches. It has, in
fact become an entrenched practice in many churches. Female pastors and elders
occupy the pulpit and leadership of many churches in Namibia and in the world at large. This is not helping the church, and sadly this practise has led to churches racing down the slippery slope of liberalism, which ultimately destroys the church.
We are not free to
depart from the divine
design. We need to be
faithful to the teaching of the Scriptures, and in doing so we remain faithful to God. We must not go with the
times, as if modern times were more spiritual than the Scriptures.
As for us and our household we
will continue to hold on to the
firm belief that the Bible
is not controversial in these matters. The biblical teaching is not ambiguous in this matter.
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