1 Corinthians 14:1-25, Called to Clarity

Theological Proposition/Focus: God desires for his church to operate for the edification of the body, in unity, that the Gospel be proclaimed. 

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Because edification, unity, and the Gospel matter we must strive for clarity in all we do. 

Introduction:

Setting the Stage:

Tongues were a significant spiritual gift but with tongues came potential for significant misunderstanding and abuse.

The Corinthians were perverting the use of Spiritual gifts and it appears from context that one of the biggest abuses was abuse of the gift of tongues. The Corinthians were fascinated by tongues. In fact, a strong argument can be made that the Corinthians had a major problem. “some of the Corinthian Christians brought aspects of their pagan background into their worship and theology .” Take a second and think about that. The emphasis on tongues was an emphasis that seems to be rooted in prior pagan practices. In order to make sense of this we need to understand that there are two ways in which tongues are used in the Bible.

In the books of Acts immediately following Pentecost people began hearing the preaching of the Apostles in their own native language. This phenomena is described in Acts 2 and an explicit reference to the tongues γλώσσῃ is made in Acts 2:4. In Acts 2 references to tongues are references to spoken languages. The other way in which tongues is used is of utterances which are not languages but sounds and babblings. This is where some incredibly important distinctions need to be made. The city of Corinth was home to several temples to the god Apollo and the shrine at Delphi which was primarily a shrine for Apollo. Worship of Apollo involved oracles and a practice known as glossolalia. Worship in the greek mystery religions was often ecstatic in nature and involved activities such as gnashing one’s flesh, dancing nude in a frenzy, and speaking ecstatic utterances in an attempt to have communion with a saving deity. In short, the non-language version of tongues was a regular practice that was in practice before Christ and may have found its way into the church.

As we read through 1 Corinthians 14 I want you to notice that much of the language Paul uses is in fact conciliatory not commendatory. Paul does not come right out and condemn ecstatic speech. He instead builds an argument and puts up a very narrow fence for any who would bring this ecstatic speech into the church. Some of Paul’ statements may even be ironic if we read them carefully. For example, listen to me read 1 Corinthians 14:2 in two different tones

Read with scoff and appal -  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.

Now look at 1 Cor. 14:1 based on just that verse do you believe Paul wants his readers to look favorably on tongues or not? The problem with arguments on tongues is that we are looking at written word outside of context without the benefit of personally knowing the individual who wrote the letter or the individuals to whom the letter is written.

So what does this mean for us here and now? The gift of tongues is a divisive issue for churches but there are some guidelines we can apply. First, today we are not talking about actual languages but rather ecstatic speech. Second, tongues, as ecstatic speech, is dangerous. After all, it has its roots in the mystery religions. So what does Paul do? Paul lays down some important principles that we can study.

• 1) Tongues are dangerous (look at 12:1)
• 2) Therefore, care must be taken to distinguish an authentic gift of the Spirit from a counterfeit product of a mystery religion.
• 3) One way of checking authenticity is checking if Christ is glorified (that was what we talked about in chapter 12).
• 4) Another way of checking authenticity is checking if the gift has sufficient clarity to edify, bring unity, and declare the Gospel.

Body

Clarity is important for edification (1-12).

Edification is the standard (1-5).

Paul begins chapter 14 with this statement “follow the way of love.” What cold Paul mean by this?

Love drives us to consider others. Love drives us to look for the good of others. Love drives us to be be otherish.

Paul's command for the Corinthians is for them to measure their views on Spiritual gifts against the backdrop of love. This was the whole point of 1 Corinthians 13. Paul is telling the Corinthians,

In order to emphasize this Paul quickly exemplifies one such gift, prophecy.

The gift of prophecy was a gift that allowed an individual to speak authoritatively on behalf of God. This gift was complementary to the apostles at a time when the Bible was incomplete. “Persons possessing the gift of prophecy shared with the apostles the privilege and responsibility of being channels of direct divine revelation .”

Paul’s point, edification is the standard that we need to aspire to. For edification to occur we need clarity, we need intelligibility.

You see,

Intelligibility is an obvious need (6-9).

In verse 6 Paul creates a Greek Third Class conditional to propose a hypothetical situation. Paul in sort of asking the Corinthians to image if he had come to them and spoken in ecstatic tongues. How helpful would that have been he asks? Wouldn’t you rather receive some revelation, knowledge, prophecy or even just instruction? Paul is forming an argument in which he reminds them that he did come and when he came he provided some incredibly helpful instruction, but this instruction was only possible because he was clear, he was intelligible.

Image: Middle School Band Concerts

I love music and enjoy going to see some of our kids play in their concerts but I will let you in on a secret. The best thing about a middle school band concert is not the music, it is the people you are there to support. Sometimes Emily and I like to play the game, what tune was that!

When it comes to edification, clarity and intelligibility matter.

I enjoy studying foreign languages the sounds different languages make and emphasize are a lot of fun. Paul, in verses 10-12, makes a rather fun explanation in verses 10-12. He starts by talking about all sorts of different languages (φωνῶν). We might actually translate this as sounds. He then says that those sounds all do have a meaning. But if you don’t understand then meaning than you are a foreigner now this is the part where the fun comes in. The word that we translate as foreigner is the greek word βάρβαρος from which we get the word barbarian. Now the cool part of that word is that the etymology of barbarian is that the Greeks would say anyone who didn’t speak Greek sounded like they were just saying bar bar bar bar.

Our priority should be the building up of the church (10-12).

Let me move from the subpoint directly into an action step.

MTR: As you serve make sure you are valuing clarity.

So we have the first truth when it comes to clarity. Clarity is important for edification. Since edification is a primary task of the church it should be obvious that clarity is of primary importance to the church. But what if you are not preaching or teaching? What if your job is some other ministry of the church besides teaching? Well, Paul does not take you off the hook. In verses 13-17 we see that

Clarity is important for unity (13-17).

Unity matters and unity matters to everyone so clarity matters. The details Paul gives in verses 13-17 expand on the ways in which clarity is important for unity. The first thing Paul tells the Corinthians is that

Clarity benefits the one speaking (13-15).

Paul tells the Corinthians that clarity is important because you benefit from knowing what you are saying.

As kids my brothers and I used to enjoy arguing with each other in a made-up language. It was fun, we would start yelling at each other in non-sense words and see if we could get things heated up. But guess what, it was meaningless and so even though we could make it seem really emotional we had no understanding.

Paul told the Corinthians that they should ask God for the ability to interpret their babblings because the cognitive matters.

We are more than just feeling individuals and ministering to the whole person, including ourselves, involves more than just ministering to our feelings, it involves ministering to our cognitive faculties too!

Image: A caution about multi-lingual services.

I want to take a second to make a cautionary warning right here. Recently there has been a big push in our area to make services or events lingual. For example, have a service where one verse of a song is sang in one language and another verse in another language. These events are being touted as giving a taste of eternity. Guess what, we are not in eternity yet and so many of us cannot understand. I can see how multi-lingual is valuable as a demonstration of a culture or the work of a missionary. In fact, we allowed once verse of a song to be sung in Spanish when we sent off the Viveros. However, I think a great deal of Caution is warranted for normal practice in a church. Understanding really matters!

Since understanding matters so much we must strive for clarity. This may mean we employ a translator or it may mean we have multiple meetings. What it does not mean is that we sacrifice clarity for wow factor, show, or convenience.

Clarity benefits everyone else (16-17).

Verses 16 and 17 are important reminders that whenever we are together we need to take actions that benefit the corporate body. Sharing prayer requests and praises should mark our relationships. We all grow and benefit when we share with each other. When clarity is what marks our time together we all benefit.

Clarity allows us to unite (16).

The Hebrew word ἀμὴν is transliterated into the Greek and then again transliterated into English in the NIV. There is a ton of theology here.

For the Corinthians this could be accomplished with the word amen.

Even saying “amen” is a way in which all can join by affirming or, as it were, adding their name to what is going on. The word “amen” is a transliteration of the Hebrew. In its verbal form in Hebrew it connotes “standing firm” and so in its liturgical setting comes to imply full and firm agreement or consent with what has been said or sung (cf. Deut 27:15–26 for such congregational assent to the reading of certain laws). From an individual’s perspective an endorsement with the word “amen” means “this is true and valid for me.” The whole congregation must therefore be able to understand what the blessing or thanksgiving to the Lord means if they are to identify with the message!

So how do we apply this today?

MTR: As you serve invite others to serve with you.

For the corinthians this meant they required a translator for tongues. For us it may mean we need to spend time explaining how a system works or the right procedure for a project.

Finally, clarity is important for the outward ministry of the church. That is

Clarity is important for evangelism (18-25).

Before going into a bunch of details let me start by explaining verse 18. In verse 18 Paul seems to be dealing with those who might complain that Paul just didn’t understand because he didn’t speak in tongues. To this Paul tells the readers that he does in fact speak in tongues. In fact, he has the ability to speak in tongues a lot, but it is not about quantity. Because,

Clarity is more important than quantity (18-19).

The contrast Paul makes is significant, five vs. 10,000. Paul is not holding back here.

Image: Bad run-on sermons.

I have, unfortunately, heard some really bad run-on sermons. You know, someone gets on stage and starts speaking. An hour later you have heard a lot of words, a few catchy phrases, nothing was heresy, some of the jokes were funny, but nothing of substance and nothing fit together. I hate to say it but all too often this is what I have experienced. I think that as a church we have reached a point of maturity where we do not want or tolerate this. My desire for our church is that we hold those who preach to a high standard and expect them to give us intelligible sermons that edify based on sound exegesis of Scripture.

You see,

Clarity is a mark of maturity (20-22).

Paul in his argument drew on a citation of Isaiah 28:11-12 where Israel refused to listen to the message of God proclaimed by the prophets and the result was that God said he would use foreigners.

This then provides us with some deep insight into Paul’s theology of tongues. Because of Israel’s rejection of God God chose to set Israel aside for a time and work through a different people (that is most of us here). We do not speak Hebrew. The fact that God is working through Gentile churches today is an important reminder that Israel failed to submit to God. One day, Israel will be restored to their place but in the interim period we are in the position of being part of God’s work.

In this sense, tongues, when they are the language form of tongues are a sign to those who do not believe that God is at work in a people other than Israel.

But remember I told you there are two different uses of tongues in the New Testament. What about the forms of tongues that is babling?

Lack of clarity will drive people from the Gospel (22-25).

When the bababling form of tongues is used it made the Gospel seem like nonsense. The result was that people had reason to reject the Gospel. Paul follows this with a positve statement. If someone comes into the church and instead of hearing lack of clarity finds clarity about matters of significance they will be convicted and seek to better know the truth!

So, how do we apply this to ourselves today?