Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

The Prophetic Confusion at Corinth

The first 25 verses of 1 Corinthians 14 discuss "the relative value and use of prophecy and speaking in tongues." 3 The great need Paul addresses here is "intelligibility" in the church services. People need to know what is being said or they will not know how to respond. The last fifteen verses discuss orderly conduct in public worship. People should behave prop erly in church! Let's look at each of these two sections in more detail.

Appropriate Use of Inspired Utterances

This first section contains four subheads, each containing valuable information to enhance our devotional lives and congregational worship through the proper use of spiritual language. The theme is captured in the word edification, used in various forms seven times.

Personal Tongues versus Public Prophecy (verses 1-5)

Verse 1. Pursue ... desire earnestly. This paragraph opens with a clear directive that we "put love first" (NEB)-that is, "follow the way of love" (NIV, Phillips) or "want love more than anything else" (JB). The Greek word diokete appears in the present imperative, implying continuous action: "Keep on pursuing love." Dynamic and challenging, the word means "to run swiftly in order to catch; to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavor to acquire." 4 With such love in our hearts, we should not have a difficult time fulfilling Paul's objective in this chapter: the edification or building up of the Church. In addition, we are to "eagerly desire spiritual gifts" (NIV). The word gifts is somewhat misleading. In 1 Corinthians 12:31 Paul wrote, "Earnestly desire the greater gifts" (charismata). But here we are told to desire ta pneumatika-better translated "the things of the Spirit" 5 or the activities of the Holy Spirit. Both exhortations-to pursue love and to seek spiritual gifts-are worded strongly, which means we dare not be casual about either one. We must chase after them both with determina tion! On the interplay between the two expressions, F. W. Grosheide observes that '"to follow after' indicates a never terminating action, while 'to desire earnestly' stresses the intensity rather than the continuity of the action. " 6 Paul desires "especially that [we] may prophesy" (verse 1). Both tongues and prophecy have individual value, and it would be wrong to minimize the importance of either or to suggest that Paul does so. He does not dis parage tongues! As we work through 1 Corinthians 14, keep in mind the 213 ■