An Exegesis of 1
Corinthians Chapter 14
By Prof.
Mario Velez, Th.M.
Chapter One
Introduction to Chapter 14 of First
Corinthians
This epistle has caused many divisions
in the Church today, specifically the fourteenth chapter, which will be the
focus of this study. Before beginning our exegesis of this chapter from
the original Greek text, we must briefly examine all of the preceding chapters,
as well as the ones that follow our chapter in view. We must first
objectively analyze the author of the epistle, as well as to whom the author
was writing to, the historical time and place of the writing, and the Greek
words and grammar. We must also reconcile all of the pertinent scriptures
so that none contradict themselves. When a Pastor or a Teacher overlooks
any of these factors, it is inevitable that distortions will ensue. As
you embark in this study, please continue to keep all the evidence in mind, so
that the correct message comes together as the Lord intended it to be.
When we read a regular book, we don’t take a sentence from the middle of the
book and totally ignore what comes before and what follows that sentence, do
we? Why do we do this with God’s Word? In doing so, we will take
scripture out of the context in which it was intended to be
in.
Author and Date
Paul’s Authorship of this Epistle is acknowledged by the
Epistle itself (1:1‑2; 16:21), as well as by the early
church fathers. Today, there should not be any contradictions to this
fact; since scholars do not have a problem with the epistle’s authorship, to do
so would simply be a waste of time. Paul also tells us in this epistle
that he was writing from
The City of
In the time of the New Testament,
Another reason that
Another item of importance to remember is the number of
temples that were in the city; these were used for pagan worship. One of
which was the temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which housed
hundreds of priestesses, who were ritual prostitutes. Needless to say,
this priestesses would prostitute themselves to, not only all the foreign
travelers in the city, but to the local men in the name of religion. Not
far from the
History of the Church at
Paul had not traveled to
The first
people that Paul met when he arrived in the city was, a Jew named
We know that Paul continued to teach the Word of God in
After Paul, a Jew named Apollos,
who was a native of
First Corinthians
Chapter One
After introducing himself, Paul begins the Epistle by
reminding the Corinthians of their position in Christ. All believers have
been sanctified in Christ and are saints the moment they accepted His work on
the cross. The Greek word translated “sanctified” is [hegiasmenois], meaning “set apart
as sacred to God, holy, purified.” We are holy because
of the Lord's substitutionary sacrifice on the cross
and it is His perfect righteousness, which is credited to us, that makes use
holy. Likewise, the Corinthian believers had been set apart as sacred to
God because of God’s gift of salvation, regardless of any sins which they were
guilty of committing. This was a permanent position, regardless of the
doctrinal distortions that were going on among the Corinthians, as we will see
as we progress through the Epistle.
From reading verses 5‑7, Paul seems to
be referring to the Corinthians as spiritual giants, but as we read in chapter
3:1, we see that they were mere infants in Christ. The reference
was to the complete provisions that God has provided to believers. The
Corinthians did not lack any of these provisions, which they had in Christ of
growing and using their spiritual gift; they had simply not used them
properly. This was something that caused various problems within the
Church at
In verses 4‑5, Paul is thankful for what
God has provided to every believer during his or her life on this earth.
The first provision that we have in Jesus Christ is, of course, salvation.
After salvation, God has provided everything that it takes to reach spiritual
maturity (Heb. 6:1). Every believer has the capacity to
reach spiritual maturity and thus be enriched continually in his or her speech
and knowledge by accurately handling the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).
Paul is telling the Corinthians that he prays that in-taking accurate teaching
of God's Word will continually enrich them, and that it be manifested in them
being prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks to give the reason for
their hope (1 Pet. 3:15). The blessing of speech and
knowledge refer primarily to sharing the saving work of Christ to the world,
and continuing with the comprehension and application of the spiritual
mechanics that result in spiritual growth and maturity.
In verse 7, Paul is telling the Corinthians,
as well as every believer in Christ, that whatever gift we receive from God the
Holy Spirit (1 Cor.12: 11), was received the moment we were born
again. As in physical birth, a newborn possesses all of his or her
physical assets. As the newborn grows in stature, so does their physical
assets, no new assets are added later on in life. When we become newly
born again believers, we fully possess our spiritual assets as well, in those
assets will be included the spiritual gift that the Holy Spirit determines we
should have (1 Cor.12: 11). We must grow in our spiritual life to
the point where we identify what that gift is, and develop it. Some
believers, due to disinterest or inability to rightly divide the Word of truth (2
Tim.2: 15), never even recognize their gift, much less develop it, even
though they already posses it.
After comforting the Corinthians in their position in
Christ, and giving thanks for all God has provided for them as believers, Paul
now begins to address the problems that were occurring in the
The first problem that Paul addresses was the divisions
that were happening within the congregation (v. 11). These
divisions were occurring because the Corinthian believers were quarreling over
their loyalty to men (vs. 11,12).
The fact that Paul did not spare the confidentiality of the source that had
informed him of this problem indicates that indeed it was a serious problem (v.
11).
After Paul had left
First Corinthians
Chapter Two
In the City of
First Corinthians
Chapter Three
In beginning this chapter, Paul continues on what he has
gradually been building in the previous two chapters. In chapter one, he
lovingly reminded them of their position in heaven and the provisions that
their heavenly Father has provided for all His children (1:1‑9).
After comforting the Corinthians in these matters, he continues to still
progressively build his case (1:10). In verses 11
and 12 of chapter one, Paul opens it up and point blank,
addresses the first pressing issue of the Epistle. In continuance of
chapter 2, the Apostle differentiates mere carnal knowledge (human wisdom) and
God's perfect knowledge (divine wisdom).
In this chapter, the Apostle begins to really lay on the Corinthians a little heavier. He begins by
focusing on the fact that even though they were Christians they were not the
spiritual giants that they thought they were. He refers to them as carnal
infants in Christ who had never grown to learn what the Christian way of life
really was (3:1-3). They had substituted their own set of human
standards according to what their human wisdom dictated. The fact that
jealousy and quarrels were the result of their actions is evidence that their
motivation was not from the Holy Spirit, but their sin nature (Gal. 5:19‑20;
Rom. 7:17; 8:8; James. 4:1).
The problem of divisions, which was the result of their
idolatrous behavior towards mere man, is once again addressed and explained by
Paul in verses 5‑9.
In verses 11‑15, Paul now uses the fear
of their loss of heavenly rewards, due to their motivation being wrong.
Paul is led to use a magnificent analogy to describe what occurs after God has laid
our foundation to our spiritual house (salvation). The Christian who is
out of fellowship (carnal) may appear to be a good and
moral individual to those around him. Unfortunately, if there is even the
slightest mental attitude sin of gossip or slander (2 Cor. 12:20) in
their life, it will mean that their house was build out of wood, hay and
straw. This the Apostle tells us, will results in their house burning
(loss of rewards) when they stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive
their rewards, yet they themselves will be saved, thanks to the foundation that
was laid down in Christ.
Those Christians that train themselves to correctly divide
the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15) and distinguish when they are out
of fellowship (Heb. 5:14), will use God's provision of confession
(1 Jn. 1:9). By confession, the Christian is now restored
to fellowship with God and controlled by the Holy Spirit, who is strengthen by
the amount of metabolized doctrine in their soul. This will result in the
right motivation and will cause our spiritual house to be made out of gold,
silver and costly stones (heavenly rewards) (Rev. 3:18).
This, of course, will result in great inequality in heaven amongst
believers. This is much like those born in this country. Even though
we all have the same opportunity to succeed before the laws of this country,
some will use that opportunity to become rich and others will become
poor. Some become famous and others are obscured, some succeed as
starters for their team and others are only backups, some are in jail and some
are not. Even though we all live in this country, our opportunities are
manifested differently amongst each individual.
In heaven likewise, although we all had the same
opportunity to buy gold from Christ (Rev. 3:18) by reaching
spiritual maturity during our life here on earth, some took advantage of that
opportunity and some did not. This will result in some having authority
over nations and some not (Rev. 2:26), some will have the right
to eat from the tree of life and other will not (Rev. 2:7), some
will have the right to sit with Christ on His throne and some will not (Rev.
3:21). Even though all believers will be in heaven, the opportunity
that they had here on earth will be manifested differently amongst each
believer in eternity. Paul is using this example to motivate the
Corinthians into getting on the right path; otherwise they risk losing great
rewards in heaven, even though they themselves will be saved (v. 15).
In the remaining verses of the chapter, Paul stresses that
the Corinthian believers are defiling the
First Corinthians
Chapter Four
Now the Apostle points out the Corinthian's self‑righteous
arrogance, because in their blindness, they had gotten divorced from grace
orientation. Some thought that somehow they were better because of the man
that they followed. They were judging themselves by human standard, in a
sense saying, “I am a better Christian because
I studied under Paul.” And whether it was Paul, Apollos or Cephas (Peter), they
were taking pride in one man over against another and this is one of the root
causes of division (V. 6).
In verse 8 Paul uses irony and sarcasm to get
the Corinthians to see how poor they really were because of the haughtiness and
spiritual immaturity in comparison with apostles. And in verse 10
the sarcasm continues. The fact that the Apostle was not praising the
Corinthians, but in actuality was trying to shame the Corinthians to see the
error of their ways is verified in verse 14.
Paul then urges the Corinthians to stop walking in the
power of their flesh and instead imitate him as he walks in the power of the
Holy Spirit (vs. 16‑20).
First Corinthians
Chapter Five
Up to this chapter, the apostle has addressed the
motivational, emotional and volitional evil within each believer. Now he
begins to address the evil that was being overlooked within the Corinthian
church.
Paul states that there were some within the church that
were sexually immoral. He specifically pinpoints the problem as being
incest, for there was a man who was having sexual relations with his father's
wife. He tells the Corinthians that this type of behavior is not even
tolerated amongst unbelievers, yet they were winking at this man's sin instead
of excommunicating the man who did this (vs. 1,2).
In the same manner as many Christians today, the
Corinthians looked on the incest as part of their Christian freedom, probably
justifying it in the name of love. The fact that so many Christians today
share the same view when they say, “well that's just one
of their weaknesses and who are we to
judge them for it,” is reason to grief.
Towards this attitude the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they are to pass
judgment on the man by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus'
power is present through His Word and His Holy Spirit; God's Word condemns the
continued practice of such fornication (Lev. 18:7‑8; Deut.
22:30; 27:20) (vs. 3‑4).
In verse 5, Paul says to abandon this sinful
man to the devil that he may afflict the man as he pleases. This
abandonment to Satan was to be accomplished, not by some magical incantation,
but by expelling the man from the church (vs. 2,7,11,13).
To expel him was to put him out in the devil's territory, severed from any
connection with God's people. So that being officially ostracized from
the church will cause the man such anguish that he will repent and forsake his
wicked way. Tolerating such sin (yeast) will eventually effect the rest
of the church (dough) by opening the door to every type of sin imaginable such
as homosexuality, lesbianism, people living together out of wedlock and all the
other sins condemned by God's Word (vs. 6‑ 8).
Paul now concludes the chapter by telling the Corinthians
that they are not to associate with sexually immoral people (v. 9).
Not at all, referring to the unbelievers, for we are to witness to them (v.
10), but to the ones who call themselves professing Christian, yet they
disobey God’s Word by their sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, slandering,
drunkenness or swindling (v. 11). To these, Paul says do
not even eat with, because calling oneself a Christian while continuing to live
an immoral life is reprehensible and degrading, and gives a false testimony to
Christ. If the true Christian has intimate association with someone who
does this, the non‑Christian world may assume that the church approves
such immoral, ungodly living and thus the name of Christ would be
dishonored. Questions could arise concerning the true character of the
Christian's own testimony (
First Corinthians
Chapter Six
In this chapter the matter of lawsuits among believers and
sexual immorality are address. Paul begins by addressing the disputes
that the brethren were having amongst one another. Paul seems to be
talking about various kinds of property court cases here, not criminal cases
that should be handled by the state (
In verse 2, Paul views believers as fully
competent to resolve cases where Christians have claims against each other,
because they view matters from a divine viewpoint. In comparison with the
future role of a Christian in the judgment of the world and of angels (v.
3), judgments of this life should be insignificant. Yet Paul raises the
Corinthians sense of shame by saying, “Isn't anyone among you
wise enough to settle such simple disputes,
that you have to take each other to
court, and this in front of unbelievers
(vs. 5‑6).”
The fact that these believers were having lawsuits amongst
themselves gave evidence that they had no idea what it was to have the mind of
Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). Someone with divine viewpoint would
not have retaliated when wronged, but instead would have endured it with joy
practicing unselfishness, forgiveness and love‑even willing to suffer
loss. These believers were so concerned with their possessions of this
world that they were willing to cheat and wrong their own brethren in order not
to lose those possessions (vs. 7‑8).
In verse 12, Paul is quoting some in the
Corinthian congregation who boasted that hey had a right to do anything they
pleased. The apostle counters by observing that such freedom of action
may not benefit the Christian, because one may become enslaved by those actions
in which he freely indulges.
Again in verse 13, the apostle quotes some
who were claiming that as the physical acts of eating and digesting food have
no bearing on one's inner spiritual life, so the physical act of promiscuous
sexual activity does not affect one's spiritual life. Paul denies that
what one does with his body is unimportant. This is particularly true of
the use of sex, which the Lord has ordained in wedlock for the good of mankind (Heb.
13:4).
The inner defilement of God's temple that Paul mentions in chapter
3 is due to moral degeneracy. This moral degeneracy had ultimately manifested
itself into immoral degeneracy, which Paul addresses in the second part of this
chapter. He refutes the sexual evil that the Corinthians had gotten
involved in (v. 18) and says that sexual relations outside the
marriage bond is a gross perversion of the divinely
established marriage union (v. 16).
First Corinthians
Chapter Seven
In this chapter, based on the immoral degeneracy of chapter
6, Paul begins to bring out some of the things about marriage.
Since there was so much immorality within the city of
Paul then continues by saying that marriage is not
mandatory and wises that all could have the gift of celibacy as he had (v.
6‑7). He says that if you have no desire for marriage it is
good, because your whole time can be devoted to the
Lord, but if you have no control, then you should marry (vs. 8‑9).
Now he addresses the subject of divorce, which was yet
another problem that the Corinthians had. He states that a believer's
first choice should not be to divorce, but to stay and win over the unbelieving
spouse, unless the unbelieving spouse leaves (vs. 15‑16).
Verse 36 of this chapter has cause much trouble to many, mainly because it seems to be
saying that a man who is engaged to his virgin can do as he wants, as long as
they are engaged he is not sinning. The word virgin should be translated “virgin
daughter” and the male who is in reference here is her father.
In Jewish culture, the father had an influential role in
deciding their daughter's future husband. Apparently, some fathers had
dedicated their young daughters to the Lord as permanent virgins. But
when some of the daughters became of the age to marry, many of them had a
desire to get married. Since celibacy is a gift from the Lord, it would
be difficult for someone without this gift to maintain his or her single
status. This caused a dilemma for the father, because he had to make a
choice whether he should break the vow that he had made for the girl and let
her marry or force the girl to stay a virgin. Paul is saying that the
father can choose either way that he should decide is best and that neither
decision will cause him to sin.
First Corinthians
Chapter Eight
In this chapter, Paul is going to open us up to the
mentality that he is going to be faced with throughout the rest of this Epistle
and that's the mentality of “I'm more spiritual than you
are.”
Another of the problems that these believers were having
was about eating food sacrificed to idols. He states that food that is
sacrificed to an idol, means nothing to him who has the knowledge of knowing
that there is no other God but one (v. 4). Therefore, the
idol that the food is being offered to represent no real god and possesses no
power, thus it is not any different than any other food and he knows that he is
free to eat it.
He then tells us that not all Christian know that an idol
has no personal reality. These Christians cannot eat such food, because
having a weak conscience they think that they have sinned against Christ.
By thinking this, they felt guilty and defile themselves by the mental attitude
sin of guilt. The apostle marbled at the fact that there were still some
who had such a weak conscience and states that what you eat doesn't make you
worse or better before God (vs. 7‑8).
In the remainder of this chapter, Paul expresses to the
stronger brethren not to cause their weaker brothers to stumble. The fact
that knowing that this food was all right to eat was no reason to do it in
front of those that taught differently, because in doing so, the stronger
believers were causing the weak to sin. Paul says that he would rather
refrain from eating in front of the weaker brethren then to be the cause of
their fall.
First Corinthians
Chapter Nine
We must keep in remembrance that Paul is talking about the
difference between those who think they are spiritual and those who think they
are not spiritual based on a particular type of relationship.
Paul begins by saying that even though he may not be an
apostle to others, to the Corinthians he should be. Apart from the fact
that he had seen the Lord, his ministry in Corinth should have been evidence
enough, because it had resulted in them being saved and sanctified into the
family of God (vs. 1‑2).
The apostles' main objective was to win as many as possible
to the Lord (v. 19). He would adapt to any situation around
him in order to witness the gospel, as he explains in verses 20‑22.
If it meant mingling in an immoral environment of the nature of
The Corinthians were judging Paul because he was being what
he was called to be “shrewd as
serpent, and harmless as dove (Matt. 10:16).”
A judgmental Christian is going to judge the true evangelist, because the true
evangelist is every Christian who makes the winning of souls the most important
part of his live.
There were some in the
He then continues in verse 11 to tell them that
he had a spiritual right to except financial support from them, for if the tax‑collectors
have this right, shouldn't he have it all the more (v. 12).
Yet, Paul surrendered all his rights so that the gospel might not be hindered
and may be offered free of charge (v. 18). Paul was living
in poverty and preaching the gospel and there were those who were saying, “it is a judgment of God upon
him,” because his reward was not the carnal things of the Corinthians.
This entire chapter, along with chapter 8 is
designed to humiliate in every possible way those who have decided to base
spirituality on any outward expression. Examples of this type of outward
expression of spirituality would be something like how esthetic you get on
Sundays, or an outward expression of how you live, such as not drinking,
smoking etc. or what you have, such as material possessions.
First Corinthians
Chapter Ten
This is a strong doctrinal chapter in which Paul uses the
example of
Paul begins by writing that just as our forefathers were
under the bondage of slavery in
At the moment they believed in the saving work of our Lord
on the cross, they were born spiritually. God has provided His Word,
which is the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), to all who are born
again so that they might eat it and grow to spiritual maturity (Matt. 4:4;
Heb. 6:1).
Unfortunately, most of the Corinthians had committed the
same mistake as most of the people of
In verse 9 the apostle tells them not to
grumble as
In continuing, Paul tells these self‑righteous
believers that these examples are warnings to those who may be caught in the
same type of sin (v. 11). So he tells them not to be so
sure of themselves, for they to might fall (v. 12).
He says in verse 19 that a sacrifice offer to
an idol is nothing and that an idol is also nothing. And then he continues
to say that even though they are nothing, they are offered to demons and he
doesn't want them provoking the Lord to discipline His children that He loves
because of disobedience (vs. 19‑22).
In the remaining verse of the chapter, Paul once again
addresses the subject that he addressed in chapter 8. This
was to not ask no questions about the food that an unbeliever may invite you to
eat (v. 27), that is unless it causes someone else to stumble
because of their weak conscience whether Jews, Greeks or the
First Corinthians
Chapter Eleven
Paul now continues in this chapter by saying, “follow
me as I follow Christ (v. 1).”
This was in preparation to give the order of relationship between men and
women, not only in propriety of worship but also in marriage.
The basic problem in the Corinthian church did not concern
doctrine but morals, not theology but life‑styles. They remembered
and believed the cardinal truths about God's nature and work, but they did not
live godly lives. And so Paul praises them for their strengths before he
again begins to correct their weaknesses. In this case was their misunderstanding
of male‑female roles and relationships (v. 2).
In verses 3‑10 we see some verses that
prohibit women from claiming the gift of pastor/teacher. In the order of
God's plan we should realize that the head of every man
is Christ, and the head of the woman is
man, and the head of Christ is God (v.
3). The body (church) can never dictate to the head (Christ)
what to do; it cannot lead the head because it does not have the eyes to
lead. In the same way as the church is to learn to glorify or magnify Christ,
so to is the woman to learn to reflect man's
glory. This by reflecting all the positive
attributes of the man to the extent that when people see her mate and people
see her, they see the same. This is only accomplished when the man first
trains himself to have the mind of Christ. It is impossible for a woman
to reflect man's glory if she is trying to be the leader. This can only
be done as a follower. Any woman, who is trying to reflect the glory of
her husband to the extent that she is an image of him, cannot pastor a flock
because she is under subjection to someone other than Christ.
The apostle then establishes this relationship once again
when he writes that woman was created for man and not man for woman, and man
was created for God (vs. 8‑9). For this reason, and
because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head (v.
10).
In the second part of this chapter, Paul addresses another
aspect of divisions, which was occurring during the communion service (vs.
17‑18). The early church held the agape (love) feast in
connection with the Lord's Supper (2 Pet. 2:13; Jude 12).
This meal was something like a present‑day potluck dinner. In good
Greek style they brought food for all to share, the rich bringing more and the
poor less, but because of their cliques the rich ate much and the poor were
left hungry (v. 21). Once again, this showed the
Corinthian's standard of judging with the mentality of “well you didn't
bring anything, so you don't get anything.”
For this type of behavior, Paul had absolutely no praise (v. 22),
and if continued, it will ultimately result in disciplinary action from the
Lord in physical ailments or the sin unto death (v. 30).
All this once again is just setting up the stage for
divisions occurring in the Corinthian church.
First Corinthians
Chapter Twelve
Now Paul begins to really get into it full blown by talking
about spiritual gifts.
The first thing to note out of all of these gifts is that
they are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, as
He determines (v. 11)! All spiritual
gifts are a decision of God the Holy Spirit at the moment we are born‑again,
as discussed in chapter 1. Today Christians run around
begging for other gifts after they have already been born‑again.
This is due to misapplication and misexegesis of
scripture.
God the Holy Spirit is the builder of the body and the
Spirit baptized us all into one body (v. 13). At the moment
we are baptized, God the Holy Spirit decides what part of the body you are by
giving your gift at that time according to what the body needs. What we
are supposed to do is grow to learn how to operate with the gift that we have
because the Holy Spirit knows that it is what the body needs.
Paul then gives an analogy of the body of Christ as liken
unto our physical bodies. Only God could build such a complicated and
amazing thing as the human body, in the same way only God the Holy Spirit could
build the body of Christ (v. 18). When we have an ear
infection, it can develop to the point that the balance of the whole body is effected. When the kidneys malfunction, the whole body
suffers. The body of Christ in the same way must have all the parts
mutually working together in order for it to stay healthy and one part cannot
take the place of another.
After Paul has stressed God's sovereignty in distributing
the gifts and believer's responsibility to be content with them, he now
addresses the reason they were fighting amongst themselves. This was due
to the fact that in their arrogance they had been seeking the showier gifts
such as tongues. In verses 29 and 30 the Apostle states
that not all can have the gift of apostle, prophet, teachers, miracles,
healing, speaking in other languages and interpreting. He ranks the
communication gifts such as that of teacher as the important gifts and that of
tongues to the lowest position. In their blind arrogance, the Corinthians
had gotten their rankings backwards and had placed the speaking in tongues in
the forefront. The superordinating conjunction [de],
which is translated "but" is introducing a contrast to what
the Corinthians were guilty of doing. Paul is
now going to express a command for the Corinthians to follow. It was a
command that is contrary to what the Corinthian believers were doing.
The Greek verb [zeloo] is
the Greek root word from which the words "earnestly desire"
are translated. This verb is in the imperative mood, present tense,
active voice, and is second person plural. The second person plural is
indicating that Paul was talking to the entire Corinthian congregation.
The second person imperative is the most forceful way of telling someone to do
something. This form of the imperative mood is conveying Paul as an authority
figure from God who expects those that he is addressing to do exactly as he has
ordered. He is commanding the Corinthian believers to desire that when
they assemble together, the bests gifts such as teaching may be used instead of
those in lower ranking, which tongues was. One gift is not greater
than another, for it is God the Holy Spirit who gives them and they are all
equally important for the building up of the body of Christ. But, in the
list of spiritual gifts, tongues was at the bottom of the totem pole and was
never to be coveted by the Corinthians as they had been guilty of doing.
It is a sad fact that many today are guilty of this same action. In conclusion
to all this, Paul states the alternative to the action of the Corinthians when
he states, "and now I will show you the most
excellent way."
First Corinthians
Chapter Thirteen
In this chapter Paul continues by saying that the thing
that they did need to seek and were not seeking was the most excellent way, and
this way was the way of love.
Paul now describes the qualities of true divine love which
are develop as we learn to love God through the study
and obedience of His Word (2 Jn. 6) (vs. 4‑7).
He points out these qualities to show the Corinthians that the divisions of the
previous chapters were caused due to the fact that they lacked these
characteristics. If they had been operating from true divine love,
everyone would have work with one another for the betterment of the other as
oppose to the betterment of self.
The apostle writes that this true divine love never fails (v.8),
as oppose to “prophecies which shall fail.”
The apostle tells us that there will come a time when the gift of prophecy
would cease. The last prophetic words were written down in the book of
Revelation by the apostle John. This marked the completion of the Bible
and further addition is strictly disallowed (Rev. 22:18). Now
that the Scriptures are completed, there is no further need for the gift of
prophecy.
In continuance, we now read that “whether there
be tongues, they shall cease.” At the time of
the destruction of
In addition to prophecies and tongues terminating, the gift
of “knowledge” was to also cease. The Greek noun for "knowledge"
is [gnosis] and it pertained to the temporary gift of teaching
believers certain doctrines of the faith. We have to remember that the
New Testament had not yet been completed, this gift was use to teach the
doctrines that would eventually be part of the New Testament scriptures.
These doctrines were being built to a time when they would be completed, but
had not yet gotten to that point. In the mean time, those with this gift
only knew "in part" and could only teach "in
part" (v.9). They communicated on the basis of what they knew at
the time until the "perfect" would be completed (v.10).
In verse 10 the phrase “that which
is perfect” is a reference to a perfect thing and not a perfect
person. The Greek noun [to teleion]
is the nominative neuter singular from the noun [teleios].
The fact that it is in the neuter gender reflects that it is speaking of a
thing and not a person. We could therefore translate this noun as “the
perfect” or “the completed” since it is a reference to the
completed bible. Another reference to the "perfect" is
in the epistle of James when he refers to the “the perfect law
of liberty” (James. 1:25) as being synonymous with God's
completed Word.
We now see the conclusion of this chapter with Paul saying
that the Corinthians should put away the childish attitudes that they were
guilty of committing. Instead, they should grow to spiritual maturity so
that they may walk in love, because God is love (1 Jn. 4:8) and
has communicated His love to us through His Word (1 Jn. 4:10),
and He commands us to love one another (Jn. 13:34‑35).
This divine love that we are commanded to have is obtained only through first
loving God, which comes from knowing Him (2 Pet. 3:18), thereby
obtaining the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
The Corinthians might have known God's Word, but did not
understand it, otherwise they would have known what the Christian way of life
was all about, they were learning but never coming to an understanding of the
truth (2 Tim. 3:7). They had failed to grow to know what
the Christian way of life was and had substituted God's standards for their own
self‑righteous moral standards, and in the next chapter Paul comes to the
high point of this epistle.
Chapter Two
Follow the Spirituality that Builds
(14:1-6)
Verses 1‑6:
1.) Follow after charity, and desire
spiritual [gifts], but rather that ye
may prophesy. 2.) For he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue
speaketh not unto men, but
unto God: for no man understandeth
[him]; howbeit in the spirit he
speaketh mysteries. 3.) But
he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification,
and exhortation, and comfort. 4.) He that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue
edifieth himself; but he that
prophesieth edifieth
the church. 5.) I would that ye
all spake with tongues, but
rather that ye prophesied: for greater
is he that prophesieth than
he that speaketh with tongues,
except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. 6.)
Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit
you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by
knowledge, or by prophesying or by doctrine?
Paul had addressed the problems that had to do with
divisions in the church, which had been caused by their moral degeneracy. In
addition to their allowance of immorality within the church, lawsuits among
themselves, divorce, food sacrificed to idols, lack of respectability in
worship and the Lord's supper, Paul had one last problem
to pinpoint, the problem that was causing the most distraction to the
Corinthians. This problem was the fact that in their state of carnality, they
had gotten to the point were they did not properly understand and improperly
used the gift of tongues. The Apostle had begun to build his case in chapter 12
and 13, but in this chapter he addresses the main and foremost problem without
reservations. The Corinthians had so abused this gift that Paul devoted this
whole chapter to this particular problem. Let us now examine the chapter that
addresses the misunderstanding and confusion that not only to the Corinthian
believers of Paul's day had, but also to so many believers of the time that we
now live in.
1 Corinthians 14:1
Paul begins the first verse with the word “Follow.” There
are two Greek words for “follow.” The first is [mimetes]
meaning “to mimic, to imitate,” as used in verse one of
chapter 11, and the second word is the verb [diokete]
meaning “to follow zealously, chase after with
intensity,” which is the Greek verb that "follow" is
translated from. [Diokete] is in the
imperative mood, present tense, active voice and second person plural. The
imperative mood is use when giving a command. This command is most forceful
when it is used in the second person plural. The present tense declares an
ongoing continuous action. The active voice is expressing that the subject is
performing the action; in this case it would be the Corinthians that Paul is
addressing as the subject or, as indicated by the plural form, the subjects.
The Apostle is strongly commanding that the Corinthians continually and
actively be intensely desirous of something. The root word for [diokete] is [dioko].
The root word [dioko] is translated “persecute”
in 2 Corinthians 4:9 meaning “hounded, chased,
hunted, unrelentingly hounded,” which would qualify the
same type of persecution of which the apostle is now writing about. This verb
connotes a state of "unrelentingly hounding" something. In Philippians
3:12, Paul again uses [dioko] for the
words “follow after” to relate the Christian life to a race and
how he presses on or quickens his step towards the goal (1
The word “charity (love)” is translated from
the Greek noun [agapen], which is speaking of “divine
love” which always has God as its primary object. [Agapen] is in the accusative case, which is the case
that shows the direct object of the verb. The continual intense desire that
Paul has just commanded the Corinthians to have is to be directed towards love
as its target. The Christian love that is being spoken of in this verse is not
an impulse from the feelings (emotions) or a personal love that is directed to
only a few individuals such as mother, father or spouse, for even unbelievers
can accomplish this type of love (Matt. 5:47-48). The unconditional divine love that is spoken of here is only
accomplished by loving God first. If you are going to show God that you love
Him, you are going to learn how to obey Him more perfectly (Jn. 14:15,
21, 23; 15:10; 1 Jn. 2:5; 5:3; 2 Jn. 6). If you
are going to chase after His love more and more, you are going to learn to obey
Him more and more. The more you learn to obey Him, the more you will learn to
love Him. The more you learn to love God, the more you will manifest the
virtues of His love in your Christian life toward all mankind. The
characteristics of God’s love that are mentioned in chapter 13
slowly manifest themselves as one accurately and consistently learns,
understand and applies God's Word in their life by the renewing of the mind (Rom.
12:2). This unconditional, impersonal divine love is not easy to obtain
since it requires the same type of consistency, dicipline
and dedication of an athlete competing in the games (1Cor. 9:25). For
even the Humanity of our Lord had to learn and grow in the wisdom of God’s Word
(Luke 2:52), which is love (1 Jn. 4:8).
When we allow the
Lord to be the source that fulfills our love, we don't have to depend on people
for our happiness. People are limited and imperfect and will not be able to
sustain the strength in our love. The Lord is the only One that is perfect
enough to perpetually feed our desire to be loved. With the Lord as the source
of their love, a husband and a wife can enjoy each other without having to
depend if one or the other is doing or not doing something to make each other
happy. There will not be any conditions to their love for one another. A person
does not have time to complain about what they are not getting when they
themselves are to busy giving.
Unconditional love is a tremendous problem solver when both
spouses are giving totally of themselves without expecting anything in return.
After telling the Corinthians what to follow, Paul now
tells them to “desire.” This verb is the English word that is translated
from the Greek verb [zeloute], from the root
word [zeloo], meaning “to have a
zeal for, to be zealous towards.” The
mood for [zeloute] is the imperative mood, which
expresses a command and the present tense speaks of a continuous action. The
active voice indicates the subject (the Corinthians) performs the action.
Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to “desire,” not
spiritual gifts as translated in today's Bible, but simply “spiritual.”
The word “gifts” is not part of the original Greek text, but was added
on by the translators of the Bible.
The Greek word for “spiritual” is translated from
the adjective [pneumatika], from the root word
[pneumatikos], meaning "spiritual,
pertaining to the spirit." Again, the accusative case is seen in this
adjective indicating the direct object of the verb [zeloute]
"desire." The desire that Paul has just exhorted the Corinthians
to have is to be directly centered on the "spiritual" or the
things "pertaining to the spirit."
That which is
spiritual would be the maturing act or that which love
matures. As previously discussed, we receive a spiritual gift at birth (see
Intro. P.3). This gift is of no value to us
as children, mainly because we have no idea what it is. We must mature into the
use of that which is spiritual. Love is what brings about that which is
spiritual in our life through a process of growth that allows us to know our
spiritual gift within the body of Christ. [Pneumatikos]
is also used in Colossians 1:9 were it states to “be filled
with the knowledge of His will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”
We then can say that in 1
Spirituality for the believer is dependent on us being
under the filling of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is an absolute in that we
are either under the control of the Holy Spirit or we are not. When we
are not under the control of the Holy Spirit, we are under the control of our
sin nature. We have to remember that God is perfect and the plan that He has
designed is also perfect. Since we are imperfect sinners, He had to provide
certain provisions to aid us imperfect sinners in executing this so perfect
plan. The first provision is the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is dependent
on us using the confession procedure through 1 John 1:9 when there is known sin in our lifes.
Any sin in our lifes, whether known or unknown, takes
us out of fellowship with God and under the control of our sin nature. The
bible distinguishes the filling of the Spirit as walking in the light, were as
being in carnality, because of sin, is referred to as walking in darkness (1Jn
1:6-7). Being a believer does not mean that we will never sin again. 1
John 3:4 speaks, not of a completed termination of sin, since we still
possess our sin nature, but of a life that is not typified by a blatant
continued practice of sin. Through the filling of the Spirit, we have the
ability to be in a sinless state. Unfortunately, the moment we use our freewill
to sin, whether knowingly or unknowingly, we get out of the control of the
Spirit and under the control of our sin nature and it is
in this state that we do sin. God provided confession as a means of reversing
this problem.
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul tells us to "be fill with the Spirit." The Greek verb in this verse
is in the imperative mood and present tense. The imperative mood is one of
command and the present tense declares that the command is to be continually
done. Paul is commanding us to continually be under the filling of the Spirit.
This lets us know that the filling of the Spirit is not a one-time occurrence
that happened at salvation, if it were, there would be no need to continue to
be filled with the Spirit as Paul commands. We have to distinguish the
difference between the filling and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Unlike
the filling of God the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit is related to
God the Holy Spirit permanently residing within the temple or body of the
born-again believer (1Cor 3:16; 6:19-20). The filling of the Spirit, on
the other hand, is related on the Holy Spirit controlling our soul and
influencing our daily decisions. When we are under the power of our sin nature,
the Holy Spirit still lives within our body, but He has no control over our
decisions. Anything done under the power of the sinful nature, no matter how
good and noble it might seem is consider evil since it's source was not from
God.
The second provision that is available to us is having the
resources to learn the mystery doctrine of the Church Age that we are now
living in (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:4-6; Col. 1:26-27). It is this
through this knowledge and application that we gain the strength and wisdom to
reside more under the filling of the Spirit than under the control of our sin
nature. As food is fuel for our bodies, the doctrines of our faith are fuel for
our soul. The more we learn, understand and apply, the more strength and
momentum we build in our spiritual growth. This is the spirituality that Paul
is commanding us to have our sights on. The Apostle is commanding us to reach
the state of spiritual maturity that will allow us to recognize the gift that
we received at salvation and develop that gift. Paul wants us to mature to the
point that one day we may also proclaim that we have run a good race, we have
fought a good fight and we look forward for our rewards in heaven (2Tim
4:6-8).
The second part of this verse now reads, “but rather that ye may prophesy.” The word “rather”
is [mallon] in Greek
and is the comparative degree of [mala] meaning “very, very much,
(adverbially) more (in a greater degree).” The Lord uses [mallon] in Matthew 10:28
when He says, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul: but rather (very much more) fear Him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Now we come to the word “that,” which is [hina] in the Greek and means, “in order that.” Paul
uses [hina] in 1Cor. 2:12 when he
writes, “Now [we] have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
which is of God; that (in order that) we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God.”
So far, Paul has said to follow after love and desire the
spiritual, and he says to do this more correctly in order that you might “prophesy.”
The word “prophesy” is from the Greek verb [propheteuo]
meaning, “to proclaim, publicly expound or explain, telling forth the Divine
counsels.” This word has never initially meant one who predicts as much
as it meant one who proclaims. Prophecy was one of the gifts of the Spirit, and
its chief design was to comfort, exhort (Acts 15:32) and testify from
the Scriptures for the teaching of believers. In the masculine form it's meaning is “to be a proclaimer”
and in the feminine it is [propheteia] and
denotes “the ability of proclaiming.” So if I wanted to say that you had
the “ability to proclaim,” I would use the feminine and if I
wanted to say that you are a “proclaimer” I
would use the masculine.
In Matthew 7:22 [propheteuo] is
use by many who tell the Lord, “…have we not prophesied in Thy
name?” This word could be translated "proclaimed" or "acted
as spokesmen." In Matthew 11:13 we see the same word used, “For
all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” This word does
not mean foretold, because the law was not prophetic, it foretold by its
proclamation. An example of this prophecy can be found in the Levitical offerings. When the Israelites followed the
instructions of the Lord to slaughter, skin and cut their burnt offering etc. (Lev.
1:1‑17), they were publicly proclaiming God's instructions (God's
Word). We can then see that when you are publicly proclaiming God's Word, you
are prophesying. This word does not mean to have a vision or dream as many
claim today (Jer. 23:25‑26, Jude 8, Deut. 13:1‑ 3).
God has given us all that He wants us to know in the completed Bible and
nothing further is to be added (Rev. 22:18‑19). Therefore,
prophecy today would refer to publicly proclaiming God's Word.
*Corrective Translation*
Verse 1
Follow zealously after divine love. Furthermore, earnestly desire to
mature into the use of that which is spiritual, and do this in order that you
might accurately clarify to others God's Word.
1 Corinthians 14:2
In this verse we begin with the words “For he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue.” The first word
in this verse is "For" and is a translation for the superordinating conjunction [gar] and could be
translated "for" or "since." Paul uses
this explanatory conjunction to connect verse one with verse two with emphasis
on want he has just told us in verse one. The Apostle is, once again, about to
introduce more of the sarcasm he has displayed in previous sections of this
epistle. He stressed in verse one that he wanted the Corinthians to follow
after love and grow spiritually so they would be able to speak forth God's Word
clearly. The conjunction [gar] now introduces the Apostle's sarcasm,
which begins by him stating that, "For he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue speaketh
not unto men, but unto God."
The word “speaketh” is
translated from the Greek participle [lalon],
derived from [laleo], meaning “to talk, speak,
also to prattle or utter or make meaningless sounds suggestive of the chatter
of children, to babble.” In regards to speaking, the word denotes
sound rather than meaning, but it also has a reference of being able to speak.
A participle has characteristics of both a verb and adjective and usually has
an "ing" ending. As to its
verbal aspects [lalon] is in the present tense
(continual action) and active voice (subject performs action). The adjectival
nature of [lalon] would include it being in
the nominative case (subject), masculine and singular in number. The subject
(nominative case) here is the person who continually (present tense) and
actively (active voice) is speaking or babbling and this babbling is in a "tongue."
In 1 Corinthians 13:11 Paul uses [laleo]
in the same sense as here when he writes “When I was a child, I spake (babbled) as a child.”
Now we see that
this babbling is in a “tongue” which is translated from the Greek noun [glosse] meaning "tongue, language,
utterance." [Glosse] is in the
dative case, which is expressing the object (tongue) for which something
(speaking) is done. The babbling in reference is for the purpose of being
expressed in a "tongue." [Glosse]
has a threefold meaning, the first meaning being that of the physical “tongue”
as it was used in Luke 16:24 or Mark 7:33. Intelligent
meaningful “language” is the meaning in Acts 2:11. “An
expression which is strange or obscure and needs explanation” is a third
sense, in other words, an unknown language. The third sense of this word
can be seen when the drunken religious Jewish leaders (Isa.28: 1,3,7-8) were mocking Isaiah's teaching (Isa.28: 9)
and in their drunken state started mimicking the prophet's words in a slurred
speech that resembled the babbling of a child, “Do and do, do and do, rule
on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there” (Isa.28: 10).
We can see that what Paul is saying is, “For he that
babbles meaningless sounds in an unknown language doesn't babble to men, but
unto God.” The type of meaningless babble that the Corinthian
believers were involved in doing had no edifying value at all. This was,
of course, because it could not be understood by anyone; this so-called tongue
speaking did not give them any kind of instruction or even direction. We
read then that it could only speak “unto God.”
The Greek noun for “God” is [theo], from [theos],
meaning "God, god, goddess." In the polytheism (believe
in or worship of more than one god) of the ancient Greeks, [theos] denoted a god or deity (Acts
14:11; 19:26; 28:6; 1 Cor. 8:5; Gal. 4:8). As a result, this word was
seized by Jews and retained by Christians to denote our one and true God.
When [theos] is use
to imply the one true God, it will be used with the definite article, which is
sometimes, but not always translated “the” in the English. This
example can be seen in Acts 7:2 in which we see the definite article
translated in the English, “The God of glory.” Yet, five
verses later in Acts 7:6 we see that the article does not need to be
translated “the” in the English because we know from verse 2 that
it is still talking about the one true “God.” In Acts 7:6 the
article is also not translated in the English for a smoother reading, it reads
smoother as "God spoke" instead of "the God
spoke." [Theos] will not always
require the definite article for it to be a reference to the one true God.
For example, John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The first word translated "God" has the definite article [ton]
included with it [ton Theon]. However, the
second word that is translated "God" does not have a definite
article but is simply [Theos] because it is
still referring back to the first "God" since it is it's antecedent (the noun it refers back to). The
Jehovah's Witnesses' bible has erroneously translated the second
"God" of this verse as "a god" because of the
absence of the article totally ignoring the antecedent rule. This was to
discredit the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ since they do not believe in the
Trinity. Yet, in verse 12 of the same chapter of John they correctly
translated, even though it does not have an article, [Theou]
as "God" instead of "a god" ignoring their
own rule of translating it "a god" when there is no article.
The [Theou] of verse 12 is still a
reference to the same [ton Theon] of verse
1 because of the antecedent and context of the rest of the verses it
follows. Therefore, in 1Crointhians 14:2 since there is not an article
or antecedent the reference is to "a god" and not "the
God."
The translation here of “a god” is also supported by
the fact that nowhere in scripture are we commanded, "to pray by
babbling meaningless sounds in an unknown language that even we don't
understand." The example of the wonderful prayer that the Lord Himself
prayed in John 17:1-26 let's us know that prayer should be done in
normal and intelligent speech. The prayer that is commonly called
the Lord's Prayer is certainly another great example of simple and clear
speech. The Lord in fact warned against using “meaningless repetition
(babbling), as the pagans do, for they think they will be heard because of
their many words” (Matt. 6:7). His reference included the repetitious
and unintelligible gibberish of pagan tongues‑speaking, in which certain
meaningless sounds were repeated over and over again, in much the same way as
Buddhism of today.
So far, the sarcasm of Paul that has been evident
throughout this epistle is once again in view in this verse. The apostle
continues in his sarcasm as he writes, “for no man understandeth
him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.”
The words “no man” is used for the Greek word [oudeis]
meaning “not even one” or “no one” as use by our Lord when He
said, “no man comes to the Father except through Me.”
Now, we come to the word “understandeth”
which is from the Greek word [akouo] meaning “to
hear, listen.” The apostle's reference is that “no one,” even
though they may hear, understands the meaningless sounds that are being
babbled. The negative use of [akouo] in
this verse is certainly a contrast to the positive use of the same word by our
Lord in Matthew 13:23, in which it is translated “heareth.”
The positive use of [akouo] is related to
hearing and understanding (Eph. 1:13; 2 Tim. 1:13; Acts 2:6; 4:4).
In continuing with our verse, we now see the word “spirit”
which is [pneumati] in the Greek and primarily
denotes “a current of air (Jn.3:8), i.e. breath (2Thess. 2:8) (blast) or
breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational
soul (Acts 7:59; 1Cor. 5:5), (by implication) vital principle, mental
disposition, etc. or (superhuman) an angel (Heb. 1:14; Acts 12:15), demons
(Matt. 8:16), the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 2:11; Matt. 28:19).” The noun [pneumatic]
is in the dative case (indirect object/instrumental), neuter in gender and
singular in number. The dative indicates the indirect receiver of the
action of the verb. In this verse the "spirit" is the indirect
recipient of the action of "speaking," since that is were the
action of "speaking" is taking place. Since [pneumatic]
is in the neuter gender the reference is to the human "spirit"
and not to God the Holy Spirit. The human spirit is also in view in verses
14‑16. The fact that the spirit that is spoken of here is the human
spirit and not the Holy Spirit, let's us know that the “mysteries” that
are spoken of in this verse have a humanistic origin and thus, would be
considered pagan.
The apostle concludes his sarcasm in this verse with the
word “mysteries.” This word is translated from the Greek noun [musteria], which is from a derivative of [muo], “to shut the mouth,” “a secret” or “mystery”
(through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites).”
This word should further verify that “a false god” is the reference in
this verse, because it would be senseless to assume that one can speak “a
secret” to the God who knows all things (Ps. 139:1‑6; 147:4; Matt.
10:29‑30; Heb. 4:13).
We must remember that God does not need man to speak “mysteries”
back to Him. The Holy Spirit reveals divine truth, not hides it (Eph.
6:19). Furthermore, in the Church assembly, the Spirit of God speaks
so we may know the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). In addition, the
Spirit of God “groans” in the act of unheard intercession, not “tongues”
(Rom. 8:26). In Romans 8:26 the Greek word for “groanings” is [stenagmos]
meaning, “sigh” or “sighing”
and the word uttered is [alaletos] meaning “unspeakable”
or “unutterable.” Some today, may distort what Paul write in Ephesians
6:19 as asking to pray in tongues, “that utterance may be given unto
me.” The Greek word for “utterance” is [
We can conclude then that praying in the power of the Holy
Spirit means praying in fellowship and always with knowledge of God’s
Word. He who prays in the power of the Holy Spirit prays with knowledge
of the perfect will of God.
The mysteries Paul has in mind here are of the type
associated with the pagan mystery religions (Especially important in
Evidently, in their lust for the legitimate gift of
tongues, they had gotten involved with the pseudo tongue speaking practice of
the pagan religions. He is sarcastically trying to redirect them back on
the right track of their spiritual walk, which they had replaced with this
pagan mystery tongue speaking. The practice they were involved in had nothing
to do with their spiritual growth, but simply "edified" the
self-righteous pride of their soul (v.4).
Many today, have totally ignored the sarcasm of Paul and
have distorted this verse to be a positive. The apostle's satirical
statements were designed to give pain to the Corinthian's pride so that they
might see the error of their foolishness. He by no means had intended to shame
them but to warn them of the deception that they had gotten involved in.
The apostle did this from his love and concern as a father watching out for his
dear children (4:14).
*Corrective and Expanded Translation*
Verse 2 For he that speaks gibberish in an unknown language, doesn't
babble to men, but to an unknown god! Indeed, no on hears him so as to
understand what he is saying; for from his human spirit he utters mysteries
that are not explained!
TO BE CONTINUED