Bloggin' it up with the Corinthians 14

Hey guys, let's dive right into this. In the first verse of Corinthians 14, we are told to embrace the gifts that are just waiting to be given to us by the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t limit us to the spirits that we are only comfortable with. Paul speaks to us about the use of these spirits within the church body.

Each gift of the Spirit owns a specific purpose in our lives. The gift of tongues, ( 1 Corinth. 14:2) is a form of communicating with God. When you speak in tongues alone, without any interepration, the church is left with no understanding. The 2nd verse calls this “mysteries of the Spirit”, because that is just what it is. Without a translator, it’s a secret language between God and you. Remember Acts? The disciples were speaking in tongues to God, not the crowd of people. We cannot write off speaking in tongues because we simply can’t understand it. It is not meant to be understood by everyone. When someone intereprets the language, they are interepreting a message from God, not man.

But that isn’t the stopping point. The gift of prophecy speaks to the church, comforting them with words straight from God. In the 4th verse, Paul says that anyone who prophesies, is helping to build up the church. Although we encourage everyone to embrace speaking in tongues, he really desires for the church to prophesy. Why? Because the church needs to have that understanding that we discussed earlier.

Not a good enough answer?

Paul takes on this challenge by telling us exactly why it is more necessary. He explains this with the use of instruments. If notes were not particular, but instead monotonous and not distringuished, we would not have a way of knowing what song or tune is being played. Unless your Gabe, of course! Just kidding. Paul envisions the trumpet playing to sound a clear call for battle. Can you imagine if no one could distinguish the call? We would stand there with our eyes open, but our ears muffled with only noise. We wouldn’t make a move, because we wouldn’t know that we were supposed to. This is what Paul was telling us about only speaking in tongues. This is why we mst speak to the church. This is why we must prophesy.

I really enjoyed grasping what Paul was telling us about the order of worship. What the what? There is a specific order of operation? Because God is a God of peace and not disorder or confusion, He wants us to take control of our spirits. When someone speaks in tongues, the Holy Spirit will be moving among the people, so he asks us to speak one at a time. If no one is called to interepet, then they must keep quiet and speak to himself and God. It is even instructed that we should quit speaking if another interepreter begins. This all comes hand I hand with the church having understanding. Have you ever been in Marshall’s Harless cafeteria trying to speak with a friend across the room? No. Because you knew that the millions of conversations were happening at once and there was no fat chance of you understanding them! God instructs us to not jumble everything together. It is of peace, not confusion, remember?


Paul ends this chapter with encouraging the church to be eager to prophesy and do not be afraid to speak in tongues. Embrace them. They are of God. They are real.

Embracing,
Ashley