Slices
Prepare
Sit in silence for three minutes (a challenge for some of us!), and then invite God to give you a listening ear today.
Bible passage
20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 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.’
22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and enquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an enquirer 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!’
Good order in worship
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. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 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.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 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. 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.
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 enquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 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. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.
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.
Explore
Paul now turns to practical advice on how to act in church meetings, in order to build others up. He continues to insist that what is said must be understandable – otherwise visitors will think believers are crazy (v 23)! Good order – rather than several speaking at once – is necessary for the sake of understanding (vs 26–33,40).
Bible-readers have puzzled over Paul’s instructions about women (vs 34,35). He cannot be commanding women to absolute silence, for he has spoken about women praying and prophesying earlier (11:5). The clue seems to be the instruction for wives to ask their husbands questions at home (v 35). This suggests that some wives were raising questions about their husbands’ prophetic speech during church meetings, causing some chaos. Rather, Paul wants good order when the church meets – one speaker at a time (v 31) and others should hold back, whether in tongues, interpretation or prophecy (vs 27,28,31,32).
There’s a great art to balancing contributions from different people – and different kinds of people – in church meetings, whether for worship or business. Some of us need to be humble enough to hold back and make space for others, and others courageous enough to speak up and not be silent!
Respond
Talking too much or too little can both be marks of childishness (v 20). Do you need to give others greater chance to speak, or be more courageous and speak more yourself?
Deeper Bible study
Paul refers to his words as ‘the Lord’s command’ (v 37). Spend time asking God to help you to be obedient to him.
What do you think when you hear a statement like, ‘Good order is important in worship’? It doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Surely, a church that emphasises this will be ‘traditional’, ‘boring’ and ‘quenching the work of the Spirit’. Yet Paul is very much concerned for good order (v 33). In these verses we see why.
The themes are familiar. Paul’s passion for the building up of the church (v 26) and its reputation with outsiders come again to the fore. The challenging section which begins ‘Women should remain silent …’ (v 34) should be read in the light of these central concerns. As we saw previously, Paul assumes that women will speak in meetings, so what does he mean here? The word ‘speak’ in this context might be better rendered ‘chatter’. This fits much better with the flow of the chapter and its emphasis on orderly worship. The ‘disgrace’ in verse 35 surely highlights a concern for how the church is perceived in the wider community.
It might seem that good order is promoted above the work of the Spirit, yet the reverse is true. Ironically, a complete free-for-all quenches the Spirit. Words will be given which cannot be weighed, so the unhelpful will be mixed in with the good; tongues will be spoken which are not interpreted, so no one will know what is said. Instead of instruction and encouragement (v 31) there will be confusion and discouragement. A good framework for worship allows the Spirit to work in healthy, life-giving ways; no framework at all is harmful and brings the church into disrepute. In our churches, cell groups, accountability groups and so on, a certain amount of order is invariably an aid to the Spirit’s working. It turns out that such order is not so boring after all.
How can the groups and meetings you’re a part of be both orderly and open to participation? What sort of order facilitates the Spirit’s work?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Jeremiah 23,24; John 9
Pray for Scripture Union
Ask God to bless and guide Faith Guides and their churches, to open doors of opportunity and enable them to derive great joy in this vital work. (This week's prayers relate to this article)
