§42 Protocol for Practicing Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 14:26–33a)
Paul steps back from a strict focus on prophecy and tongues in verses 26–33a as he considers more generally the practice of Christian worship. Essentially, Paul delineates regulations for orderly assembly and worship. Behind all the particular instructions about worship practices, however, is the basic theme Paul sets out at the end of verse 26, “All of these things must be done for the strengthening of the church.”
14:26 / The modern reader of Paul’s letter gains a glimpse into the worship of the early church in the initial lines of this verse. Paul refers to specific elements of early Christian worship: a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Paul’s Greek is telling at this point: Hymn is psalmos, perhaps a reference to the use of the Psalms in the life of the early church; instruction is didachē, indicating teaching of all kinds; revelation is apokalypsis, a form of eschatological teaching that implied a special communication from God and that some scholars suggest may have included the phenomenon of prophecy; tongue is glōssa, in this context a reference to inspired speech that was directed from the speaker to God but that was unintelligible to other human listeners; interpretation is hermēneia (as in Hermes, the message-bearing god), a gift that complemented tongues by explaining the tongue speaking for the edification of the church.
Paul’s encouraging words are not complete without important qualification. In fact, the principle he articulates validates the activities of worship. All of these worshipful activities must produce edification for the entire congregation.
14:27–28 / Having called for active participation in worship and for all worship to contribute to the strengthening of the church, Paul issues further, specific regulations that restrict the practice of tongues. According to his directions, tongue speaking was to be limited to two or three tongue speakers per assembly. He insists that there must be someone present who can interpret the tongues for the benefit of the congregation. Furthermore, Paul adamantly adds that when no interpreter is present, the ones gifted with tongues must restrict themselves to practicing tongues only in private communication with God. Without interpretation glossolalia is unintelligible and therefore useless, and, as he described in the previous verses, uninterpreted tongues in a disorderly presentation might cause observers to think that the congregation is crazy.
14:29 / By this point in the correspondence, Paul’s preference for prophecy over tongues in the setting of worship is indisputable. Nevertheless, he regulates the practice of prophecy in worship in much the same way that he regulates the practice of tongues. Two or three prophets may speak in a single assembly, and when listening to the prophecy the others should weigh carefully what is said. But who are the others? Paul may mean that the other prophets are to evaluate the words of the prophets who speak, or he may mean that the rest of the congregation should assess what the prophets bring to the worship of the congregation.
Since in this letter Paul exhorts the entire congregation to desire to practice the gift of prophecy, it is unlikely that he assumed prophecy to be the strict prerogative of a special group. Prophecy was for the good of the whole church, so it seems most likely that Paul is telling the entire church to practice active listening when the prophets speak. The prophets do not speak as tongue speakers, primarily for themselves; and their words do not await an interpreter to make them meaningful for the other members of the church. Thus, it appears that the whole church is to be involved in discerning the message(s) of the prophets.
14:30–31 / Curiously from what Paul writes in these verses, some prophecy is recognized to be more urgent than other prophecy, since at times one speaker is to yield to another. The prophets are assumed to be in control of their minds and their actions to the point of responsibility. Exactly how this process would have worked in practice is lost to later readers of the letter, although in other ancient Christian literature there are many more and more explicit regulations for the critique of prophets and prophecy. Paul is not concerned at this point with the problem of false prophecy, which occupies him in other contexts and which so bedeviled the early church that prophecy came under general suspicion and fell almost completely out of practice.
Paul is concerned with order. More than one prophet can be in communication with God at a time, and in the context of worship more than one prophet may have something to say. Paul calls for the responsible execution of decision making with regard to prophecy, exactly as he had called for the congregation to evaluate the messages brought to them (v. 29). Prophecy was prized, but it did not have a privileged status that put it beyond sensible standards for the general life of the church. Verse 31 extends the direction of the previous lines. Nevertheless, in elaborating this point, Paul specifically reiterates his ultimate concern for the Corinthians: so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.
14:32 / This verse is also difficult to grasp on a first reading. Paul means either “each prophet controls the spiritual gift he or she possesses” or “one who prophesies is subject to evaluation by other prophets who are present.” Given that 12:10 recognizes discerning the spirits as an identifiable gift of the Spirit and Paul’s emphasis in 14:13–19 on the importance of mind and spirit working in conjunction with each other and Paul’s stated assumption (and expectation) that tongue speakers can limit their expression to instances when interpreters are present, the first option seems most likely. That is, a prophet is to assume responsibility for the legitimate use of the gift of prophecy. The prophet is not assumed to be in a trance, and Paul has encouraged congregational reaction to the prophecies, probably including discussion, so that the prophets are to govern their employment of the gift they have been given for the good of the congregation.
14:33a / This verse both forms a summary of all that Paul has been saying about worship and serves as a bridge to what is about to follow. Paul articulates the central or most important theological conviction that underlies everything he has said and will say: for God is not a God of disorder but of peace. Order is understood by Paul to be the very nature of God, and so whatever God is doing should result in order; humans should be aware of this reality.
14:26 / The form of Paul’s sentence, indeed the opening phrase that forms the question What then shall we say? is the same as the opening phrase of v. 15, which was translated, “So what shall I do?” In both cases the Gk. (ti oun estin) means, “How therefore is it?” The NIV applies the sense of this question to the different verses in light of the particular subjects of the ensuing sentences. The parallel form of the question does make a rhetorical connection between the questions and forms a kind of refrain as Paul pursues his complicated arguments.
The manner in which the NIV proceeds after this point is questionable, although not an issue of enormous weight. The NIV’s rendering of Paul’s words When you come together, everyone has … is confusing. Does everyone do everything? Paul’s Gk. is much clearer, saying, “When you [pl.] come together, each one has …” Paul expects that one by one each person will contribute one item to the worship.
14:28 / Paul’s statement If there is no interpreter … is stronger in Gk. than the NIV’s translation indicates. Paul uses the mildly adversative conjunction “but” (Gk. de) at the beginning of this statement to coordinate and juxtapose the remarks in vv. 27–28.
14:29 / Paul’s concern, expressed in the form of a double command, is that prophets should speak and the others should discern or weigh carefully. The identity of the others was discussed in the commentary above, but what should be seen in this compound command is that prophecy, a matter of supreme importance and divine inspiration, should not drop into the middle of the life of a congregation as an unquestioned word of God. Paul insists that those hearing the prophets listen and evaluate what they hear. This dynamic operation of prophecy in the life of the church precludes some special persons assuming an authoritative role and requires responsibility of those to whom the prophets speak.
14:30 / The translation And if a revelation comes to someone … roughly captures the sense of Paul’s own words, which more literally say, “But if to another a revelation is made.” Revelation is not, despite the NIV, an independent operation. Someone—God—makes a revelation or reveals something to someone. Divine initiative is in Paul’s mind as he makes this statement; the initiative of God in working with the one who receives the revelation demands the attention of the others, who should honor God’s work and make way for it. For Paul, one’s getting a revelation is not as important as God’s giving the revelation.
14:31 / The degree of concern in the early church with prophecy and with discerning authentic and inauthentic revelation is seen in the Didache, a second-century church handbook that claims to be a collection of teachings by the twelve apostles on issues of relevance to the ancient church. In chs. 10–13 of the Didache there are extensive observations and elaborate instructions for dealing with prophets and prophecy. Paul’s words here are the earliest preserved discussion of this phenomenon in the life of the church, but the topic became a matter of importance as prophecy flourished and was badly abused. Paul’s letters and Acts all demonstrate that there were false prophets and bogus prophecy from the very first years of Christianity.
14:32 / The verb translated are subject to the control (Gk. hypotassō) is the same as the verb translated “be in submission” in v. 34. Here, Paul is explicit that the spirits of the prophets are in submission to the prophets. For a helpful comparative description of Greco-Roman, Hebrew, and early Christian prophets and prophecy that sets 1 Cor. 14 in its own rich historical context, see T. Callan, “Prophecy and Ecstasy in Greco-Roman Religion and in 1 Corinthians,” NovT 27 (1985), pp. 125–40.
14:33a / The reason for breaking this verse at this point is explained in the materials that follow on v. 33b.