1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 14.
The Use of Spiritual Gifts in Public Worship. 1 Cor. 14, 1-40.
Final regulations: V. 36. What? Came the Word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only? V. 37. If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. V. 38. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
V. 39. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. V. 40. Let all things be done decently and in order.
In case some of the Corinthians might now think that the apostle is exceeding his authority in giving them these regulations, he emphasizes their value, if rightly used: Or is it from you that the Word of God went out? Or did it come to you alone? The tendency among the Corinthian Christians was to be so self-complacent that they gave the impression of being the original Christians and that the wide world must learn from them.
But they must remember that they were neither the first nor the only Christian congregation; the Gospel had neither gone forth from Corinth as the source, nor had it reached them alone. It behooved them, therefore, to adjust their church order to that of the other churches, to conform to the greater experience of such as had had an opportunity to try out the rules of divine worship.
And if one of them persisted in being unruly, if he deemed himself as having' prophetical or spiritual insight into matters, he should know and, if a true prophet, will admit for a certainty that the things which the apostle writes are a commandment of the Lord. The Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ, has not only given the apostles the ability to judge all things, chap. 2, 15, but He has entrusted to them such rules as will redound to the upbuilding of the congregation.
If, however, any man persists in his ignorance, let him be ignorant. His willful ignorance causes the Lord to disown him, just as he will be disregarded, abandoned, to his own self-will by the members of the congregation.
And so the apostle, in conclusion, sums up once more: And so, my brethren, seek eagerly after the gift of prophesying, and to speak with tongues do not hinder. The latter is to be allowed in the congregation, but not encouraged like prophecy; no obstacle is to be put in its way, but the decided preference is to be given to the gift whose power to edify was so obvious.
And so far as the public services in general are concerned: Let all things be carried on with proper Christian taste and deportment and in order. Both indecorousness and tumultuousness in a Christian assembly are at variance with the will of the Lord of the Church. Rules and orders may be mechanical, but they tend to serve the preaching of the Gospel and the edifying of the congregation, and should therefore by no means be despised.