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Reading 1 Corinthians 14:29-33 where Paul goes from instructions on speaking in tongues to instructions on prophesying for the benefit of the church. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
When we read about prophecy in the first century church, they did not yet have a completed canon or a whole Bible. So what prophecy looked like in the New Testament is different than prophecy today when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 1 Corinthians 14. And as with yesterday, I'll begin reading in verse 26, but I'll go through verse 33. This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible, the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.
What is the outcome then, brothers? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has a translation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three and each in turn, and one must translate.
But if there is no translator, he must keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. And let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent for you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.
And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace as in all the churches of the saints. So yesterday we looked at mainly verses 26 through 28. Paul begins this particular section talking about proper and orderly worship.
And he comes back even to talking about tongues. One has a tongue, one has a translation, but let all things be done for edification. So the gifting of the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of feeding the flock of God, building up the church according to God's word.
It is by the word of God that we are sanctified. It's by this word that we came to faith and it's by this word that we grow in our faith. And so we grow one another in these things as well. We encourage one another according to God's word.
We know of God's promises. We know of what he expects of us, the godliness that we are to walk in. We know of Christ whom we are to imitate, the instructions that he has for his churches. All of this is only according to God's word.
There is no other way for us to grow as a Christian except by the word of God. Now we are certainly called to grow together. So we gather together as a church. That's very important that we attend church together.
Paul exhorted Timothy to preach the word that he'd do this publicly. So in other words, before the congregation of believers that we all may be built up in this most holy faith, there is a call to church discipline.
And we're gonna talk about that here in a little bit as well. There is a call to baptism, to partaking in the Lord's supper. That's an instruction that we've seen here in first Corinthians back in chapter 11, the proper practice of the Lord's table.
Becky and I also talked about that on the Q &A that we did this past Friday. So there's certain things that we are called to, but all of these things are guided and instructed according to God's word.
And that word, by the way, is in the Bible. We don't have new revelations that are given to us. Divine revelation has been given by the prophets and apostles and written down in the pages of scripture, which we have canonized in the word of God, the Bible.
We're gonna talk about that a little more as we get to these next verses. Regarding prophecy, consider verse 29, and let two or three prophets speak and let others pass judgment. Now, remember how many people were supposed to speak when it came to speaking in tongues.
That instruction we had in verses 26 to 28. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three and each in turn, and one must translate. So Paul cut it off at three people at the most.
Two people, yeah, three at the most. And if anybody is gonna speak in a tongue, one must translate because again, as we had read in previous instructions in chapter 14, if there isn't one who can give a translation of the tongue that is being spoken, then how does anybody know what's being said?
Nobody can give an amen to that saying, so be it, or I agree, I agree with that declaration with what has been proclaimed in God's word. You can't agree with it. If you don't know what it is that is said.
So one who speaks in a tongue must pray that he must translate, or there must be somebody that stands up and translates. And if there is nobody to translate, he's to sit down and be quiet. That goes on in verse 28.
If there is no translator, he must keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God. And as I mentioned yesterday, that means he must pray that he may translate. Is that what, that's what Paul had said earlier in chapter 14.
So you had regarding speaking in tongues, two and at the most three, how many prophesy? Verse 29, let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. Why this number? Why two or three speaking in tongues and why two or three prophesying?
Well, that's what we have throughout scripture as bearing witness. The testimony that is given by two or three witnesses in Deuteronomy 19, 15, only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
And then Jesus repeats that when he talks about discipline in the church in Matthew 18 verses 15 to 17. It's in verse 16 there where Jesus says that if someone will not listen to your rebuke, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
So when it comes to prophesying in the church, we have this model of two or three witnesses being applied here as well. So that what is being proclaimed can be testified to as coming from God, what the next prophet says does not contradict what the previous prophet says.
Rather, he verifies, he authenticates that this is truly God's word. And then if a third comes along, that is all the more strengthened when it comes to verifying this particular testimony as being from the Lord.
Now in Corinth, when this was going on, they did not have the Bible. They had letters, like there is a reference in this letter to a previous letter that Paul had written. So there were letters that had been given to the churches and then they had been written down, copied, and they were distributed to other churches.
Peter talks about this also in 2 Peter 3. We start to see kind of a collected body of works of these epistles that had been written to other churches. They were copied and distributed to the churches as being the instructions that come from Christ's apostles applying the scriptures, living out the gospel in their Christian lives.
So they did have some New Testament. It was a little bit shorter than the New Testament that or what we call the New Testament today. The 27 books that have been canonized for us in the New Testament, that's not what they had at the time that this letter was being written, of course, because this ends up being one of the books that goes in to the New Testament.
And of course, Paul had not written 2 Corinthians yet, which comes later. I was listening to Mike Riccardi teach on 2 Corinthians not long ago, and he actually talks about there being a fourth letter.
So there was a letter that was written previously to 1 Corinthians, which Paul talks about in this book. Then there was one in between, and then there was 2 Corinthians, but we don't have that first and third letter preserved.
So what we call 1 Corinthians is not really the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it's just the first one we have in canon. We'll talk about this a little bit more when we get to 2 Corinthians.
But all of that to say that there were epistles that were being copied and distributed among the churches. What did they consider their main text of scripture that was being preached in the church? It would have been the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
And of course, in Corinth, probably not a whole lot of Hebrew speakers or readers, except among the Jews. And so when it came to the Old Testament that they would have had, it would have been the Greek Old Testament.
And many of those synagogues in the Greek cities, Greek or Roman cities, throughout the Roman Empire, they would have had the Septuagint. There would have been some that would have had Hebrew scrolls, but they also would have had the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
So that's what they had in Corinth. That's what they would have read publicly. And their understanding of Christ would have been that he is the revelation of these things that were promised and prophesied about in the Old Testament.
So they're looking to see how the Old Testament points to Christ. It's rather unfortunate that we don't love the Old Testament as much in the church today, because it's still the word of God. Even the 10 commandments, right?
In Exodus chapter 20, we don't really wanna think about that because hey, in Romans chapter six, it says we're no longer under the law, we are under grace. So we don't wanna think about law anymore. We just have the grace of God.
But the law still reveals the character of God when it comes to knowing what we must do as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we know what to do. What God's will is for us, according to the commandments that we have written there.
And Jesus said to his own disciples in John 14, 15, almost said Romans, but in John 14, 15, he said, that you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments. And it's in Romans chapter three, where the apostle Paul said, do we then overthrow the law by this faith?
So we don't have to keep the law anymore because we have faith in Jesus Christ? By no means, Paul says. On the contrary, we uphold the law. And now as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, we're able to do that in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord.
Before, our best deeds were as filthy rags, as it says in Isaiah 64, six. But now in Christ, we can live in such a way that is pleasing unto the Lord. And when we do, we are being sanctified. We are growing in holiness and godliness and Christlikeness when we hear his word and we do what it says.
All of these things come according to the word of God. So once again, they did not have New Testament canon as we have it today. So what were these prophets saying? Well, the prophets were speaking from the scriptures of the Old Testament and showing how Christ is the fulfillment of these things.
There were also future predictions that were being made by these prophets in the church in Corinth, which had not yet been written down. What would those future prophecies and predictions have looked like?
Well, it was talking about the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. That would have been one of them. Because as they come to an understanding of the temple and what it represented, and that God no longer dwelled in places that had been built by human hands, Paul talked about that at the Areopagus in Acts 17, then they understood they were kind of in this transient period where the old is passing away and the new has come, right?
So the temple is eventually going to fall as Jesus had talked about. We read about it in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. So Jesus is saying, talking about the temple, talking about the buildings there in Jerusalem, that these stones that you see now, that the disciples were marveling at when he told them about these things, he said, these stones will not remain one on another.
And then the disciples asked him, so what's the signs that we should be looking for? When will these things happen? When will these things take place and what will be the sign of the end of the age? And so then Jesus tells them about the destruction of the temple.
And he also talks to them about things regarding his return, because that was the second part of their question. What will be the signs of the end of the age? So he talks about the destruction that's gonna come upon Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, which would be 40 years after that conversation he was having with his disciples, and all of that came to fulfillment.
So the prophets that are speaking in the church in Corinth, they would have been talking about that. They would have been talking about some things that even Paul had told them about regarding the return of Christ.
And then those things would be written down later when John would have his revelation, and then he would be writing, of course, the book of Revelation. Now, when we get to 2 Corinthians 12, I'm gonna mention this here, and then I'm gonna talk about it again later.
But remember that in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talked about a man who had been caught up into the third heaven. And he says there, whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows.
And he was caught up into paradise and he heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. Now, he's talking about this person in the third person, but he's really talking about himself.
He's doing this humbly. So not to boast in himself, he talks about these things, these exceedingly great revelations, he calls them, as though they had happened to somebody else. Now, again, I'm gonna talk about this when we get to 2 Corinthians 12, but I'll mention it here.
I believe that what Paul saw when he was taken up into the third heaven, I think he saw the same thing John saw. He saw exactly what John wrote down for us for the churches in the book of Revelation. It was just not gonna be for Paul to write that down.
It was gonna be for John to be the one to write it. But you have the testimony of another prophet that could verify, I saw the same thing that John saw. So what he's testifying about regarding this revelation, that's what Paul had seen as well, only he was not permitted to talk about it or to write it down.
That responsibility was gonna be left to John. And there were probably other apostles that saw the same thing. So that John's prophecy is therefore verified by other witnesses who can say, I saw that too.
But it was to John that the Holy Spirit had commission to write these things down. So here, when you have prophecy going on in the church, during a period of time in which there is not a completed canon, you have one that would prophesy and then another that would verify that prophecy and maybe you even have a third.
And all three of their testimonies agree. They don't speak in contradiction to one another. That's what we see going on in the first century church, especially in that 40 year period between Christ's ascension into heaven and the destruction of the temple.
You see prophecy going on in this way. That kind of prophecy is not happening in the church anymore. Because as I've said to you previously, this was for a certain time and place and we do not need any more new revelation.
As J .I. Packer said, and he said this summarizing some thoughts that were shared by John Owen. But from the words of J .I. Packer, we have this popular saying, you've probably seen it on different memes online or something like this.
But Packer said, if private revelations agree with scriptures, they are needless. And if they disagree, they are false. So if anybody comes to you claiming that they have a new revelation from God, if their new revelation is in agreement with the scripture, then you didn't need that new revelation.
You already had the scripture. And if what they say does not line up with scripture, if it runs contrary to scripture or even adds to the Bible or takes away from it, then what they are saying is false.
So all of that to say, we don't need any new revelation. The scripture is sufficient. We have it for everything that we need. God was working through miracles in a certain time and place to verify these words.
That period has come and gone. The apostolic age concluded with the death of John at the end of the first century. And God is not revealing any new things anymore. The Bible has been given to us and scripture is sufficient.
It's in Hebrews chapter two, we read that God testified with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his will. That was the purpose of the miraculous sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, to verify that a word that was being spoken was from God.
If anybody comes to you claiming to speak from God or they come to you claiming to be an apostle, there's even some out there who claim to be super apostles. And just as Paul had made fun of in second Corinthians chapter 11, there are people today will claim to be superior to the apostles that we have who wrote the new Testament.
If somebody ever comes to you proclaiming such a thing, you should say to them, oh yeah, we'll raise the dead and prove it. Until you can regrow limbs or raise the dead, I'm not gonna believe that you're an apostle.
The apostolic age is over. And Paul says, we're gonna get to this here next week, I believe in first Corinthians 15, eight, that he's the last apostle appointed. There would be no other apostles appointed after him.
John was the last one to die, but Paul was the last one to be appointed to be an apostle. So the apostolic age is over. Scripture has been completed for us. This is sufficient for everything that we need to know of God, his will, his intentions for us, our hope for the future, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so much more.
The very fact that you have heard that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. He rose again from the grave. And by believing in him, you know that you have the resurrection of the dead. You have eternal life.
You have become a fellow heir with Christ of his eternal kingdom. All of these have come to you having been written down in the Bible. All of this testimony is from scripture. Romans 15, four, for the things that happened in former days have been written down for our instruction that through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.
And that's what we have here. So at this particular time, you've got prophets that are standing up and speaking in the church. Paul says, let there be two or three, let others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent.
So this person has had the opportunity to give his revelation. Somebody else is receiving something when he stands up to speak, they shouldn't be speaking over one another. Because once again, all of these things must be done in a proper order.
God is a God of order, not disorder. So don't be speaking over each other or even saying things that contradict one another. Verse 31, for you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.
This is not about the person speaking. They're speaking for the edification of the church. Going back to verse 26 again, let all things be done for edification, for feeding, for building up the spirits of the saints who are gathered together in worship to God in church on the Lord's day.
So one who is speaking must not speak over another, they take their turns. That all may be exhorted. If you got people speaking over the top of one another, you can't understand what they're saying. It's like watching those cable news shows where they've got like six pundits on the air and they're all talking over each other and you can't even understand what's going on.
That should not be happening in church. One speaks, the others listen. When it's another's turn to speak, everybody's quiet and they listen. Verse 32, the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. That goes back to that two or three prophets checking one another and verifying that this word is truly one that has come from God.
Verse 33, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. Now that closing phrase there, in some translations, you have that closing phrase going with verse 34, as though the sentence concludes with, God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, period.
And then a new sentence starts, as in all the churches of the saints, comma, and then verse 34 goes with the previous verse. But I believe that the legacy standard translators got this right. I'm gonna talk about that tomorrow, though, when we pick up in verse 34 and we will finish out the rest of our text, closing out this chapter, our study in 1 Corinthians 14.
In the meantime, we understand that it is by the word of God that we should prophesy. Our modern prophecy is when somebody speaks what is written in the Bible, not adding to it, not taking away from it.
Nobody's getting new revelation. The full revelation of God is given to us in these 66 books that we have from Genesis to Revelation, sufficient for our every need, that we may grow all the more in Christ, amen.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and may it be preached and proclaimed in our churches. We hear regularly of the gospel of Christ who died for us, who rose again, by his blood we've been ransomed, rescued from our sin, clothed in his righteousness, that we may live upright and godly lives in the present day.
And may these things, according to your word, be proclaimed in your churches so that your saints may be fully equipped, men and women of God, in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation, among whom we shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.
Grow this word in our hearts today, we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.
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Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.