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

The Prophetic Confusion at Corinth

Many people who pray in tongues have discovered the delightful expe rience of singing with the spirit-that is, in tongues. This is a wonderful adjunct to your prayer ministry. In the church service, however, when singing to bless and inform others, we should sing at appropriate times in the known language or have the song interpreted. Verse 16. If you bless in the spirit is an attempt to extend toward oth ers the inspiration of God's presence and revelation now upon you. You want to share the blessing. It is a "giving of thanks" in the sense that it expresses prayer and appreciation to God. The person so blessed wishes to draw everyone else into the wonderfulmagnetic field of the Holy Spirit's presence. This is commendable. But such an expression of prayer and appreciation to God is meaningless to those meant to receive it if they cannot understand it. Paul says, "You are giving thanks well"-that is, "You are having a great private devotion"-but the experience is inef fective for public edification. The place ofthe ungifted. Who are these "unlearned" (KJV) people who say amen to an inspired person's giving of thanks? I feel that the term must refer to believers in the church who simply "do not understand" (NIV). 29 Unbelievers are not inclined to say "Amen!" in confirmation of some verbal expression, or even know why they would. Saying amen involves a "wholehearted response to and endorsement of the words of another." 30 My experience is that nonbelievers generally sit, observe and wonder rather than participate vociferously. 31 The Greek word for ungifted is idiotes, 32 a word used five times in the New Testament. Each occurrence allows us to believe that such a person is a Christian, even if uninformed. Paul uses the word again in verses 23-24 in contrast with unbeliever, to show that both Christians and non-Chris tians need to understand what is said. The Jewish Temple leadership con sidered Peter and John idiotai-laymen, nonprofessional and uneducated. Paul uses the same word in 2 Corinthians 11:6, describing himself as "unskilled in speech." Bauer's Lexicon lists a number of contrasts drawn from ancient secular Greek illustrating that idiotes refers to a "layman in contrast to an expert or specialist of any kind"-contrasts such as sub ject and king, soldier and officer, patient and physician. 33 When Paul alludes to such a person as "occupying the place of" or "filling the place of" the idiotes, he need not be referring to an actual, lit eral location in the meeting place. He may, rather, be referring figuratively to the person's state of mind. Verses 18-19. I speak in tongues more than you all. Paul is most grate ful ("I thank God") for his devotional ability to speak in spiritual lan guage to God. And why not? He has discovered great benefit from this exercise and shares a surprising insight that would greatly benefit the 221.