May 27, 2024
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 14:20-40
Within the context of a discussion of the gift of tongues, Paul instructs the Corinthians about proper decorum in worship … ending with the exhortation: "All things should be done decently and in order" (1 Cor 14:40).
The abuse of the exercise of the gift of tongues is at the center of chapters 12-14 in this letter. In this passage Paul outlines the proper exercise of this miraculous gift and the precise purpose for its use.
In a worship service, tongues were to be used sparingly … at most two or three people speaking, and only when someone with the gift of interpretation would be able to translate the declaration (1 Cor 14:27,28). The specific purpose for the exercise of tongues was that it was to be a sign to unbelievers of the truthfulness of the word of God (1 Cor 14:21,22).
The goal of a worship service … as understood by mature thinking … is that hearers (both unbelievers and believers) will respond by being convicted of personal sin, and 'falling on their face' in worshiping God.
English martyr, archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) wrote: "...Every man that cometh to the reading of this Holy Book ought to bring with him first and foremost the fear of Almighty God; and then next, a firm and stable purpose to reform his own self according thereunto, and so to continue, shewing himself to be a sober and fruitful hearer and learner."