It sure would have solved a lot of problems if one of the New Testament books, preferably straight from Jesus, would have just laid out exactly what should happen when we gather together as a church. Of course, many of the hot, controversial books out there today would be moot, but then perhaps we could all just get along when it comes to this issue. Alas, there is little to nothing on exactly what the early church’s services looked like, so we end up squeezing the life out of the few places that do.
One of the most over squeezed ones is 1 Corinthians 14:26-33. When I first taught this book, I realized the significance of this passage in giving us a rare window to the early church. However, if I read one more book or blog basing a major teaching on this passage, I might actually explode (literally). Due to all the hub bub, I feel I must add my own lame attempt to interpret and apply this passage to the church today. I would rather just skip straight to showing how teaching (and preaching) must be present in the church. Some point to this passage to show how off we are today in having our services revolve around the sermon or teaching, so we must see what we can actually know for sure from this passage.
First of all, the context of the passage is that the Corinthian church has some serious issues in their church services. In chapter 12, Paul begins to correct how they are misusing and misunderstanding the spiritual gifts, specifically speaking in tongues. It would appear that when their worship service started, everyone would all start speaking in tongues with no interpretation and chaos ensued therein. The Corinthians saw gifts as a way to show everyone how spiritual they were, and missed the point of building up others in a church service, as summed up in 12:7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” and 14:12,”So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”
As Paul concludes his thoughts on tongues and prophecy, he wants to give the church an idea of what an orderly service looks like. “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” He clarifies that speaking in tongues should be done in turn, only 2 or 3 at most, and only if there is an interpretation so that everyone in the church can be built up. The point Paul really is hammering home is not so much WHAT they do, but HOW and WHY they do it as also in 14:33, “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” The real question is whether Paul (and therefore God inspiring him) intended this passage to be used as THE example of what a church service HAS to look like.
Those that believe this say that we are then seriously off today. What Paul describes to them is a leaderless, spontaneous, open, participatory, sermon less meeting that looks nothing like most church services do today. If the Corinthian church’s problem is that it is out of control, then I think it isn’t a stretch to think that Paul is saying that a church service needs some guidance and order. Church leaders would be expected to talk with members who kept speaking in tongues without interpretation. Paul also never says that you can’t have a plan for your worship service. You don’t have to be spontaneous and leaderless in order to be participatory. Different people can lead a song, share a revelation, or teach, while still actually planning ahead. Sure, sometimes the Spirit speaks, and there needs to be sensitivity to being able to flow with the Spirit, but you can’t always plan that!
I will admit that our worship services have overall become more focused on the “professionals” doing all the singing, sharing, and teaching. Church members often go with no expectation of involvement beyond singing along or saying an occasional amen. Can a pastor ask questions of church members during the sermon? an interactive teaching? are we too afraid to have times in worship with an “open microphone” so people could share a revelation? (some do this and have them run it by an elder before they share) Are we so stuck on having the “best sounding” worship we can have, that we don’t allow members an opportunity to be involved in leading worship? Does the pastor have to be the one who teaches every week?
What we have to remember though is that sound Biblical doctrine comes from multiple clear passages, not from difficult passages or only one passage that is not comprehensive. That is our problem with this passage, in that Paul never meant to write a comprehensive teaching on the church worship service here, and there are no other clear passages like this. We also have to interpret this passage in light of the rest of the Bible. As we will explore in the next post, the New Testament has A LOT to say about teaching/preaching in the church. There is simply no way that we can take this passage in Corinthians and say that it shows that the sermon or teaching was never supposed to be part of a service!
What I walk away from Paul’s teaching with is that our church service isn’t about us, it is about building up and serving others. It should allow for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but they need to be used with order and for the good of others. Church members should be allowed and encouraged to participate, but leaders are expected to address people who are out of control or sharing something against sound doctrine. Often our debates are over form, the style of music, type of building, or use of technology. I think just trying to apply the few things I listed above would keep me busy enough to not worry about “to hymnal or not to hymnal”.
The Bible Nerd 