CHAPTER TWO
FOLLOW THE SPIRITUALITY THAT BUILDS (14:1-6)
Verses 1‑6: 1.) Follow after charity, and desire spiritual [gifts], but rather that ye may prophesy. 2.) For he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth [him]; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 3.) But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 4.) He that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. 5.) I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. 6.) Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying or by doctrine?
Paul had addressed the problems that had to do with divisions in the church, which had been caused by their moral degeneracy. In addition to their allowance of immorality within the church, lawsuits among themselves, divorce, food sacrificed to idols, lack of respectability in worship and the Lord's supper, Paul had one last problem to pinpoint, the problem that was causing the most distraction to the Corinthians. This problem was the fact that in their state of carnality, they had gotten to the point were they did not properly understand and improperly used the gift of tongues. The Apostle had begun to build his case in chapter 12 and 13, but in this chapter he addresses the main and foremost problem without reservations. The Corinthians had so abused this gift that Paul devoted this whole chapter to this particular problem. Let us now examine the chapter that addresses the misunderstanding and confusion that not only to the Corinthian believers of Paul's day had, but also to so many believers of the time that we now live in.
Verse One
Paul begins the first verse with the word “Follow.” There are two Greek words for “follow.” The first is [mimetes] meaning “to mimic, to imitate,” as used in verse one of chapter 11, and the second word is the verb [diokete] meaning “to follow zealously, chase after with intensity,” which is the Greek verb that "follow" is translated from. [Diokete] is in the imperative mood, present tense, active voice and second person plural. The imperative mood is use when giving a command. This command is most forceful when it is used in the second person plural. The present tense declares an ongoing continuous action. The active voice is expressing that the subject is performing the action; in this case it would be the Corinthians that Paul is addressing as the subject or, as indicated by the plural form, the subjects. The Apostle is strongly commanding that the Corinthians continually and actively be intensely desirous of something. The root word for [diokete] is [dioko]. The root word [dioko] is translated “persecute” in 2 Corinthians 4:9 meaning “hounded, chased, hunted, unrelentingly hounded,” which would qualify the same type of persecution of which the apostle is now writing about. This verb connotes a state of "unrelentingly hounding" something. In Philippians 3:12, Paul again uses [dioko] for the words “follow after” to relate the Christian life to a race and how he presses on or quickens his step towards the goal (1 Co. 9:24-27). Paul is telling the Corinthians to quicken their pace, speed up, follow after, chase, march, and pursue with all zeal, vigor and abandonment. He is saying to intensely pursue something that he spent all of chapter 13 writing on. Their pursuit should be toward the way of love.
The word “charity (love)” is
translated from the Greek noun [agapen],
which is speaking of “divine love” which always has God as its
primary object. [Agapen] is in the
accusative case, which is the case that shows the direct object of the verb.
The continual intense desire that Paul has just commanded the Corinthians to
have is to be directed towards love as its target. The Christian love that is
being spoken of in this verse is not an impulse from the feelings (emotions) or
a personal love that is directed to only a few individuals such as mother,
father or spouse, for even unbelievers can accomplish this type of love (Matt.
5:47-48). The unconditional divine love that is spoken of here is
only accomplished by loving God first. If you are going to show God that you
love Him, you are going to learn how to obey Him more perfectly (Jn. 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 1 Jn.
2:5; 5:3; 2 Jn. 6). If you
are going to chase after His love more and more, you are going to learn to obey
Him more and more. The more you learn to obey Him, the more you will learn to
love Him. The more you learn to love God, the more you will manifest the
virtues of His love in your Christian life toward all mankind. The
characteristics of God’s love that are mentioned in chapter 13 slowly
manifest themselves as one accurately and consistently learns, understand and
applies God's Word in their life by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2). This unconditional, impersonal divine love is not easy to
obtain since it requires the same type of consistency, dicipline and dedication
of an athlete competing in the games (1Cor.
9:25). For even the Humanity of our Lord had to learn and grow in the
wisdom of God’s Word (Luke 2:52), which
is love (1 Jn. 4:8).
When we allow the Lord to be the source that fulfills our love, we don't have to depend on people for our happiness. People are limited and imperfect and will not be able to sustain the strength in our love. The Lord is the only One that is perfect enough to perpetually feed our desire to be loved. With the Lord as the source of their love, a husband and a wife can enjoy each other without having to depend if one or the other is doing or not doing something to make each other happy. There will not be any conditions to their love for one another. A person does not have time to complain about what they are not getting when they themselves are to busy giving.
Unconditional love is a tremendous problem solver when both spouses are giving totally of themselves without expecting anything in return.
After telling the Corinthians what to
follow, Paul now tells them to “desire.”
This verb is the English word that is translated from the Greek verb [zeloute], from the root word [zeloo], meaning “to have a zeal
for, to be zealous towards.” The mood for [zeloute]
is the imperative mood, which expresses a command and the present tense speaks
of a continuous action. The active voice indicates the subject (the
Corinthians) performs the action.
Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to “desire,” not spiritual gifts as translated in today's Bible, but simply “spiritual.” The word “gifts” is not part of the original Greek text, but was added on by the translators of the Bible.
The Greek word for “spiritual” is translated from the adjective [pneumatika], from the root word [pneumatikos], meaning "spiritual,
pertaining to the spirit." Again, the accusative case is seen in this
adjective indicating the direct object of the verb [zeloute] "desire." The desire that Paul has just
exhorted the Corinthians to have is to be directly centered on the "spiritual" or the things "pertaining to the spirit."
That which is spiritual would be the maturing act or that which love matures. As previously discussed, we receive a spiritual gift at birth (see Intro. P.3). This gift is of no value to us as children, mainly because we have no idea what it is. We must mature into the use of that which is spiritual. Love is what brings about that which is spiritual in our life through a process of growth that allows us to know our spiritual gift within the body of Christ. [Pneumatikos] is also used in Colossians 1:9 were it states to “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”
We then can say that in 1 Co. 14:1, Paul is actually saying, “As you follow love, follow after that which is spiritual, but within you, so that you might know what your gift is and be able to exercise within it.” The grammar here leads a person to many conclusions as to what Paul is saying. He wouldn't tell these same people who were already fighting over what were the best gifts and had been jealously coveting the best gifts, to now covet spiritual gifts. By saying, “follow after love and desire that which is spiritual” Paul is identifying that which is already yours (gifts), but must develop by maturing in that which is spiritual.
Spirituality for the believer is dependent on us being under the filling of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is an absolute in that we are either under the control of the Holy Spirit or we are not. When we are not under the control of the Holy Spirit, we are under the control of our sin nature. We have to remember that God is perfect and the plan that He has designed is also perfect. Since we are imperfect sinners, He had to provide certain provisions to aid us imperfect sinners in executing this so perfect plan. The first provision is the filling of the Holy Spirit, which is dependent on us using the confession procedure through 1 John 1:9 when there is known sin in our lifes. Any sin in our lifes, whether known or unknown, takes us out of fellowship with God and under the control of our sin nature. The bible distinguishes the filling of the Spirit as walking in the light, were as being in carnality, because of sin, is referred to as walking in darkness (1Jn 1:6-7). Being a believer does not mean that we will never sin again. 1 John 3:4 speaks, not of a completed termination of sin, since we still possess our sin nature, but of a life that is not typified by a blatant continued practice of sin. Through the filling of the Spirit, we have the ability to be in a sinless state. Unfortunately, the moment we use our freewill to sin, whether knowingly or unknowingly, we get out of the control of the Spirit and under the control of our sin nature and it is in this state that we do sin. God provided confession as a means of reversing this problem.
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul tells us to "be fill with the Spirit." The Greek verb in this verse is in the imperative mood and present tense. The imperative mood is one of command and the present tense declares that the command is to be continually done. Paul is commanding us to continually be under the filling of the Spirit. This lets us know that the filling of the Spirit is not a one-time occurrence that happened at salvation, if it were, there would be no need to continue to be filled with the Spirit as Paul commands. We have to distinguish the difference between the filling and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Unlike the filling of God the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit is related to God the Holy Spirit permanently residing within the temple or body of the born-again believer (1Cor 3:16; 6:19-20). The filling of the Spirit, on the other hand, is related on the Holy Spirit controlling our soul and influencing our daily decisions. When we are under the power of our sin nature, the Holy Spirit still lives within our body, but He has no control over our decisions. Anything done under the power of the sinful nature, no matter how good and noble it might seem is consider evil since it's source was not from God.
The second provision that is available to us is having the resources to learn the mystery doctrine of the Church Age that we are now living in (Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:4-6; Col. 1:26-27). It is this through this knowledge and application that we gain the strength and wisdom to reside more under the filling of the Spirit than under the control of our sin nature. As food is fuel for our bodies, the doctrines of our faith are fuel for our soul. The more we learn, understand and apply, the more strength and momentum we build in our spiritual growth. This is the spirituality that Paul is commanding us to have our sights on. The Apostle is commanding us to reach the state of spiritual maturity that will allow us to recognize the gift that we received at salvation and develop that gift. Paul wants us to mature to the point that one day we may also proclaim that we have run a good race, we have fought a good fight and we look forward for our rewards in heaven (2Tim 4:6-8).
The second part of this verse now reads, “but rather that ye may prophesy.” The word “rather” is [mallon] in Greek and is the comparative degree of [mala] meaning “very, very much, (adverbially) more (in a greater degree).” The Lord uses [mallon] in Matthew 10:28 when He says, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather (very much more) fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Now we come to the word “that,” which is [hina] in the Greek and means, “in order that.” Paul uses [hina] in 1Cor. 2:12 when he writes, “Now [we] have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that (in order that) we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
So far, Paul has said to follow after love and desire the spiritual, and he says to do this more correctly in order that you might “prophesy.” The word “prophesy” is from the Greek verb [propheteuo] meaning, “to proclaim, publicly expound or explain, telling forth the Divine counsels.” This word has never initially meant one who predicts as much as it meant one who proclaims. Prophecy was one of the gifts of the Spirit, and its chief design was to comfort, exhort (Acts 15:32) and testify from the Scriptures for the teaching of believers. In the masculine form it's meaning is “to be a proclaimer” and in the feminine it is [propheteia] and denotes “the ability of proclaiming.” So if I wanted to say that you had the “ability to proclaim,” I would use the feminine and if I wanted to say that you are a “proclaimer” I would use the masculine.
In Matthew 7:22 [propheteuo] is use by many who tell the Lord, “…have we not prophesied in Thy name?” This word could be translated "proclaimed" or "acted as spokesmen." In Matthew 11:13 we see the same word used, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” This word does not mean foretold, because the law was not prophetic, it foretold by its proclamation. An example of this prophecy can be found in the Levitical offerings. When the Israelites followed the instructions of the Lord to slaughter, skin and cut their burnt offering etc. (Lev. 1:1‑17), they were publicly proclaiming God's instructions (God's Word). We can then see that when you are publicly proclaiming God's Word, you are prophesying. This word does not mean to have a vision or dream as many claim today (Jer. 23:25‑26, Jude 8, Deut. 13:1‑ 3). God has given us all that He wants us to know in the completed Bible and nothing further is to be added (Rev. 22:18‑19). Therefore, prophecy today would refer to publicly proclaiming God's Word.
*Corrective Translation*
Verse 1 Follow zealously after
divine love. Furthermore, earnestly
desire to mature into the use of that which is spiritual, and do this in order
that you might accurately clarify to others God's Word.
Verse two
In this verse we begin with the words “For he that speaketh in an [unknown]
tongue.” The first word in this
verse is "For" and is a translation for the superordinating
conjunction [gar] and could be translated "for" or "since." Paul uses this explanatory conjunction to
connect verse one with verse two with emphasis on want he has just told us in
verse one. The Apostle is, once again, about to introduce more of the sarcasm
he has displayed in previous sections of this epistle. He stressed in verse one
that he wanted the Corinthians to follow after love and grow spiritually so
they would be able to speak forth God's Word clearly. The conjunction [gar]
now introduces the Apostle's sarcasm, which begins by him stating that, "For
he that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto
God."
The word “speaketh” is translated from the Greek participle [lalon], derived from [laleo],
meaning “to talk, speak, also to prattle
or utter or make meaningless sounds suggestive of the chatter of children, to
babble.” In regards to speaking,
the word denotes sound rather than meaning, but it also has a reference of
being able to speak. A participle has characteristics of both a verb and
adjective and usually has an "ing" ending. As to its verbal aspects [lalon] is
in the present tense (continual action) and active voice (subject performs
action). The adjectival nature of [lalon] would include it being in the
nominative case (subject), masculine and singular in number. The subject
(nominative case) here is the person who continually (present tense) and
actively (active voice) is speaking or babbling and this babbling is in a "tongue." In 1
Corinthians 13:11 Paul uses [laleo] in the same sense as here when
he writes “When I was a child, I spake
(babbled) as a child.”
Now we see that this babbling is in a “tongue” which is translated from the Greek noun [glosse] meaning "tongue, language, utterance." [Glosse] is in the dative case, which is expressing the object (tongue) for which something (speaking) is done. The babbling in reference is for the purpose of being expressed in a "tongue." [Glosse] has a threefold meaning, the first meaning being that of the physical “tongue” as it was used in Luke 16:24 or Mark 7:33. Intelligent meaningful “language” is the meaning in Acts 2:11. “An expression which is strange or obscure and needs explanation” is a third sense, in other words, an unknown language. The third sense of this word can be seen when the drunken religious Jewish leaders (Isa.28: 1,3,7-8) were mocking Isaiah's teaching (Isa.28: 9) and in their drunken state started mimicking the prophet's words in a slurred speech that resembled the babbling of a child, “Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule, a little here, a little there” (Isa.28: 10).
We can see that what Paul is saying is, “For he that babbles meaningless sounds in
an unknown language doesn't babble to men, but unto God.” The type of meaningless babble that the
Corinthian believers were involved in doing had no edifying value at all. This was, of course, because it could not be
understood by anyone; this so-called tongue speaking did not give them any kind
of instruction or even direction. We
read then that it could only speak “unto
God.”
The Greek noun
for “God” is [theo], from [theos], meaning "God, god,
goddess." In the polytheism
(believe in or worship of more than one god) of the ancient Greeks, [theos]
denoted a god or deity (Acts 14:11;
19:26; 28:6; 1 Cor. 8:5; Gal. 4:8).
As a result, this word was seized by Jews and retained by Christians to
denote our one and true God. When [theos] is use to imply the one true
God, it will be used with the definite article, which is sometimes, but not
always translated “the” in the
English. This example can be seen in Acts 7:2 in which we see the definite
article translated in the English, “The
God of glory.” Yet, five verses
later in Acts 7:6 we see that the
article does not need to be translated “the”
in the English because we know from verse
2 that it is still talking about the one true “God.” In
Acts 7:6 the article is also not
translated in the English for a smoother reading, it reads smoother as "God spoke" instead of "the God spoke."
[Theos] will not always require the definite article for it to be
a reference to the one true God. For
example, John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God." The first word
translated "God" has the definite article [ton]
included with it [ton Theon]. However, the second word that is
translated "God" does not have a definite article but is
simply [Theos] because it is still referring back to the first "God"
since it is it's antecedent (the noun it refers back to). The
Jehovah's Witnesses' bible has erroneously translated the second
"God" of this verse as "a god" because of the
absence of the article totally ignoring the antecedent rule. This was to
discredit the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ since they do not believe in the
Trinity. Yet, in verse 12 of the same chapter of John they correctly
translated, even though it does not have an article, [Theou] as "God"
instead of "a god" ignoring their own rule of translating it "a
god" when there is no article. The [Theou] of verse 12
is still a reference to the same [ton Theon] of verse 1 because of
the antecedent and context of the rest of the verses it follows. Therefore, in 1Crointhians
14:2 since there is not an article or antecedent the reference is to "a
god" and not "the God."
The translation here of “a god” is also supported by the fact that nowhere in scripture are we commanded, "to pray by babbling meaningless sounds in an unknown language that even we don't understand." The example of the wonderful prayer that the Lord Himself prayed in John 17:1-26 let's us know that prayer should be done in normal and intelligent speech. The prayer that is commonly called the Lord's Prayer is certainly another great example of simple and clear speech. The Lord in fact warned against using “meaningless repetition (babbling), as the pagans do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matt. 6:7). His reference included the repetitious and unintelligible gibberish of pagan tongues‑speaking, in which certain meaningless sounds were repeated over and over again, in much the same way as Buddhism of today.
So far, the sarcasm of Paul that has been evident throughout this epistle is once again in view in this verse. The apostle continues in his sarcasm as he writes, “for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” The words “no man” is used for the Greek word [oudeis] meaning “not even one” or “no one” as use by our Lord when He said, “no man comes to the Father except through Me.”
Now, we come to the word “understandeth” which is from the Greek word [akouo] meaning “to hear, listen.” The apostle's reference is that “no one,” even though they may hear, understands the meaningless sounds that are being babbled. The negative use of [akouo] in this verse is certainly a contrast to the positive use of the same word by our Lord in Matthew 13:23, in which it is translated “heareth.” The positive use of [akouo] is related to hearing and understanding (Eph. 1:13; 2 Tim. 1:13; Acts 2:6; 4:4).
In continuing with our verse, we now see the word “spirit” which is [pneumati] in the Greek and primarily denotes “a current of air (Jn.3:8), i.e. breath (2Thess. 2:8) (blast) or breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul (Acts 7:59; 1Cor. 5:5), (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc. or (superhuman) an angel (Heb. 1:14; Acts 12:15), demons (Matt. 8:16), the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 2:11; Matt. 28:19).” The noun [pneumatic] is in the dative case (indirect object/instrumental), neuter in gender and singular in number. The dative indicates the indirect receiver of the action of the verb. In this verse the "spirit" is the indirect recipient of the action of "speaking," since that is were the action of "speaking" is taking place. Since [pneumatic] is in the neuter gender the reference is to the human "spirit" and not to God the Holy Spirit. The human spirit is also in view in verses 14‑16. The fact that the spirit that is spoken of here is the human spirit and not the Holy Spirit, let's us know that the “mysteries” that are spoken of in this verse have a humanistic origin and thus, would be considered pagan.
The apostle concludes his sarcasm in this verse with the word “mysteries.” This word is translated from the Greek noun [musteria], which is from a derivative of [muo], “to shut the mouth,” “a secret” or “mystery” (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites).” This word should further verify that “a false god” is the reference in this verse, because it would be senseless to assume that one can speak “a secret” to the God who knows all things (Ps. 139:1‑6; 147:4; Matt. 10:29‑30; Heb. 4:13).
We must remember that God does not need man to speak “mysteries” back to Him. The Holy Spirit reveals divine truth, not hides it (Eph. 6:19). Furthermore, in the Church assembly, the Spirit of God speaks so we may know the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). In addition, the Spirit of God “groans” in the act of unheard intercession, not “tongues” (Rom. 8:26). In Romans 8:26 the Greek word for “groanings” is [stenagmos] meaning, “sigh” or “sighing” and the word uttered is [alaletos] meaning “unspeakable” or “unutterable.” Some today, may distort what Paul write in Ephesians 6:19 as asking to pray in tongues, “that utterance may be given unto me.” The Greek word for “utterance” is [lagos] meaning “a word, speech, matter, reason.” Paul's reference is to God's Word. The word [lagos] is use for Bible doctrine by our Lord several times (Matt. 13:20‑23; 24:35; Jn. 5:24; 17:14).
We can conclude then that praying in the power of the Holy Spirit means praying in fellowship and always with knowledge of God’s Word. He who prays in the power of the Holy Spirit prays with knowledge of the perfect will of God.
The mysteries Paul has in mind here are of the type associated with the pagan mystery religions (Especially important in Greece were the Eleusinian and Orphic Mysteries), out of which many of the Corinthian Christians had come from (see Intro. pages 1‑2). As we have already seen, there was certainly an abundant amount of pagan worship to false gods at the time. This practice was so prevalent that Paul makes a reference to it in chapter 8 and again in 10:19-22. He even let's us know that these same Corinthians had been involved in these pagan worships before they were saved (12:2). Unlike the mysteries of the gospel, which are revelations of things previously hidden (Rom. 16:25‑26; Eph. 1:9; 3:3‑4,9: 6:19), the practices in these pagan worships was to babble so-called mysteries to their particular god to show their initiated elite status. These mysteries intentionally remained unknown truths.
Evidently, in their lust for the legitimate gift of tongues, they had gotten involved with the pseudo tongue speaking practice of the pagan religions. He is sarcastically trying to redirect them back on the right track of their spiritual walk, which they had replaced with this pagan mystery tongue speaking. The practice they were involved in had nothing to do with their spiritual growth, but simply "edified" the self-righteous pride of their soul (v.4).
Many today, have totally ignored the sarcasm of Paul and have distorted this verse to be a positive. The apostle's satirical statements were designed to give pain to the Corinthian's pride so that they might see the error of their foolishness. He by no means had intended to shame them but to warn them of the deception that they had gotten involved in. The apostle did this from his love and concern as a father watching out for his dear children (4:14).
*Corrective and Expanded Translation*
Verse 2 For he that speaks gibberish in an unknown
language, doesn't babble to men, but to an unknown god! Indeed, no on hears him
so as to understand what he is saying; for from his human spirit he utters
mysteries that are not explained!
TO BE CONTINUED