1 Corinthians Lesson 7
First Corinthians
Lesson 7 - Chapter 13-14
By Cindy Ketron
On The Edge of Eternity
Scroll below to read the lesson on this device and Download Questions Here
OR
If you prefer to download and print the a PDF of the lesson click here
What’s love got to do with it?! Turns out, love has a whole lot to do with it! There is a great misunderstanding these days regarding what love is and what it isn’t. The world’s idea of love and God’s idea of love are 2 different things. We have to love the world to Christ in the way that He outlines for us and not in the way our culture dictates. 1 Corinthians 13 is sandwiched in between 2 other chapters on spiritual gifts, and it is the chapter in the Bible frequently referred to as the love chapter. Paul is going to tell us a lot about love, but he never gives a definition. I’m not sure that he can.
When I did a study of the Trinity a while back, one of the things that I learned was that the Trinity was difficult to explain and that it was not like anything. The moment that you say, “Well, the Trinity is like……” then you’ve already messed up. The love of God isn’t like anything in our human understanding either. The best we can do is to give a description of what it might look like when it is exhibited.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings where most or all of this chapter has been read. In fact, parts of this chapter were read at my own wedding. But 1 Cor. 13 is not about marriage. It is about the love of a sovereign God for His children and how He wants us to display the love He places within us as believers. Go ahead and read the whole chapter. In Greek, there are 3 words used in the New Testament that mean love.
Eros - erotic love, passion, lust. If we used this term today, we’d just call it sex. It is not used in the New Testament at all. It is used in the Old Testament in the book of Song of Solomon.
Phileo - affection, human love. It is the highest form of human love. Philadelphia is a play on this word and is called, The City of Brotherly Love.
Agape - the highest form of love in the Bible. It is more than the emotion of love, it is the will of love. J. Vernon McGee says that it is a love that chooses. I love this because it lets me know that God’s love for me is a divine choice that He made.
We just finished studying about how God gives all His children certain spiritual gifts in order for the Church to be built up and shine to the world around it. This week, we will look at the motive behind the gifts….LOVE.
In v. 1, what is the tongue of angels?
The Corinthian church was fascinated by the use of tongues. This is the only place in Scripture where “the tongues of angels” is used. There are those who take this verse to mean that only angels and Spirit-filled believers are able to speak in a heavenly language. Tongues of men as it is used here is a reference to Acts 2:4-12.
2. How was this spiritual gift manifested?
Because of the fascination the Corinthian church had for the gift of tongues, they misused it. Any good gift can be misused and the gift of tongues is probably the most abused spiritual gift of all. I have a sweet young friend who married a very nice guy a couple of years ago. (I have written about her in previous lessons.) She grew up in a Baptist church. Her new husband grew up in a Pentecostal church. Of course, when they got married, he wanted her and her children to go to his church with him. It was a culture shock for her and her kids. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when her little boy was walking through the house one day mumbling in an unidentified language. When she asked him what he was saying, he replied to her that he was practicing speaking in tongues. This is not uncommon in the Pentecostal circles to practice speaking in tongues. In fact, some charismatic churches have Sunday School material for their little children to teach them how to speak in tongues.
When we get into chapter 14, we’re going to dive a little deeper into the gift of tongues. There are lots of churches even in our day that seem to be enamored with speaking in tongues.
But is this what v. 1 was talking about? I don’t think so. Did Paul ever have conversations with angels? Yes he did. In Acts 27, we read about Paul being on a ship with other prisoners on the way to Rome.
3. What happened in Acts 27:18-25?
4. Did Paul understand what had been said to him by the angel?
5. What were the first words the angel said to him?
How many times in Scripture have we read these very words when people were visited by angels? Many, many times. So the question of whether or not there was some unknown angelic language spoken is likely not the case here in 1 Cor. 13:1. Have you ever said to someone, “You sing like an angel”? It is more likely that this is the meaning of v. 1 and that it means literally “If I speak as eloquently as an angel and I have not love, then I’m just making noise.”
There are those who believe that v. 1 is speaking of a private prayer language. When we get to the next chapter, we will be looking at this in greater depth and I will be speaking about it in greater depth in our live video. The bottom line here is this…if the spiritual gifts were ALL meant for the edification of the body of believers, then a “private” prayer language is only for self gratification. Yes, the practice of praying in tongues was used in the 1st century church, but not in a private way. It was used in a public way and it was interpreted to the rest of the congregation.
6. In 1 Cor. 13:2-3, what spiritual gifts are mentioned?
The Corinthian church abused the spiritual gifts that God had given to them. If you are speaking mysteries in your spirit, then only you can benefit from them. To use a spiritual gift only for yourself is the height of selfishness.
With all the artificial intelligence that the world is flooded with today, it is easy to see how these verses could be played out. A few years ago, a computer-generated preacher was preaching on screen to a congregation in Germany. Not only was the face on the screen not real, but the words spoken from this AI were not those of a human being, but of a computer that had been used to generate a particular topic. I watched the whole thing. It was frightening to say the least. Oh yes, the words were consistent with what the Bible said, but they were spoken from a non-existent entity. They meant nothing! What Paul is saying here is that you could have all the knowledge and faith in the world and if you communicate that without the love of God in your heart, then your words don’t really matter.
I see people all the time who give certain gifts/presents to others out of a sense of obligation and sometimes, those gifts are given with resentment. In fact, I have given gifts out of obligation and when I do, I can promise you that there’s no love involved in it. You know if you’ve been given something that the other person really did not find joy in giving to you. I always feel bad when I receive these kinds of gifts. Love has everything to do with it! So it doesn’t really matter what kind of spiritual gift you have. If you don’t have love when you use that gift, it does not matter.
7. In 1 Cor. 13:4-7, list all the characteristics of love that you find.
8. Why should love be suffering?
I remember when I had my first child. That day stands out as one of the most blessed moments of my entire life. But when they placed that little baby in my arms the first time, I looked at my husband and said, “Oh wow, this is scary!” He asked why, and I responded that I had never loved anything in the way that I loved that baby and that the love was so deep and powerful that I didn’t know if I could ever survive if something happened to him. Those words proved to be prophetic when Gabe was diagnosed with brain cancer and my heart broke into a million pieces. When we deeply love, we put ourselves in a position of deeply suffering when and if something happens to the object of that love.
9. Paul elaborates on the “kindness” issue in Eph. 4:32. What does he say? What do you think it means to be tenderhearted?
I know people who have tender hearts. Their hearts are so easily broken for the plight of others. And when I share any heartache with these friends, sometimes they cry because their love is so deep that they struggle emotionally when someone they love is hurt in any way. You know you’re truly loved when you have a friend like this in your life.
Envy in simple terms is wanting what someone else has. The connotation is that if you are an envious person, then you are not satisfied or content with what the Lord has given to you. Scripture has a lot to say about envy and relates it to the sin of the flesh.
10. What do the following verses have to say about envy?
Gal. 5:19-21
Romans 1:29
1 Pet. 2:1-2
Envy and jealousy are closely related, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing. 4 Envy - the feeling and reaction that you want something that does not belong to you. Jealousy - the fear of losing something or someone that we possess.
Covetousness - to have an excessive desire to have what belongs to someone else. Envy and covetousness are more closely related than they are to jealousy.
11. What happened in the very first place we see envy in the Bible? (Gen. 4:3-5)
Scripture is very clear about how envy can affect our mind, our body, and our spirit. If we allow it to grow within us, then it becomes like a little snowball rolling down a big hill. The further it rolls, the bigger it gets.
12. The results of envy can be devastating. What do you learn about these results from the following verses?
Proverbs 14:30
James 3:14-16
Principle - Love recognizes that there will be inequalities and love is content with what the Lord has given to the person possessing the love.
Let me ask you a question. Do you want to be known by your giftedness or do you want to be known for your love?
13. Read Gal. 5:22-26. How are we going to be known as being in Christ?
14. What is the very 1st thing on that list?
If we envy, that negates all the other things on that list. The Jesus who is in us can only be seen through our fruits, not through our giftedness. The fruit of the Spirit (those things that result from walking in the Spirit) are different from the gifts of the Spirit (those things that we use to build up the Church). Everything we do must be filtered through love. Love is preeminent.
15. What does John say in 1 John 3:10 about how to distinguish between a person who belongs to the devil and one who belongs to God?
Lately, I have been distressed at the hatred I see in our world. The presidential address on Mar. 4, 2025 was a clear example of the hatred that exists in our own country. That vitriol was laid open for the world to see when people refused to stand and honor the President and refused to even clap for a child who had cancer and others whose fathers had died in the line of duty. This reminds me of what Jesus warned us the world would be like in the last days in Matthew 24:12.
16. How does He express this?
Because of the increased wickedness in our world, this will happen. If that is true (and it is), then how much more we need to be loving and kind as we go throughout our day. In 1 Cor. 13:8, what is another way that you could say, “Love never fails”? Jeremiah 31:3 says this another way.
17. What does it say?
18. What does 1 Cor. 13:8 say about tongues?
The word “never” is an exclusive term just like the term “always” is an exclusive term. The English Standard Version of the Bible translates the first part of v. 8 as “Love never ends”. There is an eternal value to true love. And with the exclusivity of a never-ending love comes a love that cannot be diminished by anything. Romans 8:38-39 are verses that have given me such peace over the years.
19. What in these verses gives you peace?
The divorce rate in America is very high. For first marriages, the divorce rate is between 40-50%. Therefore, unfortunately in nearly half of all marriages, love does fail. That is a sad commentary on our culture. Love in this section of 1 Cor. 13 is contrasted with some of the spiritual gifts we’ve been looking at. Those gifts will cease one day because one day, we will be in heaven with Jesus and everything will be perfect and there will be no need to use those spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church. At that point, the Church will be completely built.
20. Read 1 Cor. 13:9-12. Will your loved ones know you in heaven? Why or why not? 6
21. The following verses are further confirmation of this. What do you learn about recognition of someone after death?
Matthew 17:1-8
Luke 16:19-31
1 Sam. 28:8-17
22. What did Paul say he did when he became a man?
I think I was born a big ole girl! But even at that, there are things I grew out of as a child each year I was growing up. Hopefully, I’ve stopped growing! Notice that Paul does not say that he grew out of things. He said that he “put away things”. There is a big difference there. Paul made an intentional choice to throw away the things that were immature….spiritually immature. Perhaps things like envy, gossip, rudeness, a controlling attitude, carrying a chip on his shoulder, etc. There’s a lot of things that we can carry as believers in Christ that cause us to appear as spiritual children rather than spiritual adults.
I have 2 precious grandbabies and one precious dog. I pretty much talk to them the same way…baby talk. If I taught this class in the same way I speak to my grandbabies and my dog, you would all think I was nuts. Friends, God is not interested in our baby talk. How do we see through a glass darkly?
In the first century, mirrors were not what they are today. The silvered mirrors we have today were not created until the 19th century. Their mirrors were often polished metals like brass that would require a lot of polishing if one were to see his/her reflection. Corinth was actually famous for their manufacturing of mirrors. But those mirrors paled in comparison to our mirrors today. To look at one’s reflection in a piece of polished brass would have been to see one’s reflection darkly. What Paul is really saying here is that our knowledge of divine things is miniscule and even warped (just like their reflection in a piece of polished brass) compared to what it will be when we see Jesus face to face.
Faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. Why do you think that is? 7 I have a few thoughts on that. When Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus:
23. Did they have faith that He would be alive? Did they have hope that He was alive? Did they come because they loved Him?
The only option of the 3 of these is that their love for Jesus was why they were drawn to His tomb. I want you to consider something else.
When we get to heaven:
Our faith will be realized.
Our hope will be fulfilled.
There will be no need for faith or hope in heaven.
But love will be eternal.
In chapter 12, we learned about the fact that God has given each believer a spiritual gift and that we should desire the most excellent gift for ourselves and my excellent gift may be different from your excellent gift. Chapter 14 is going to go deeper into some of the spiritual gifts that we read about in chapter 12.
There are questions we will need to answer as we go through chapter 14:
1. Who gives the gift?
2. Who is the receiver of the gift?
3. How is the gift demonstrated?
4. Why is the gift given?
5. Is this gift still a gift that is used today?
Go ahead and read chapter 14. As we go through these spiritual gifts, we will need to get a proper definition of each of them. Miracles were always signs that authenticated the message of Christ.
Signs ALWAYS point to something else! These miraculous signs pointed to Christ. 1 Cor. 14:22 answers the question of who the signs of tongues and prophecy are meant for.
24. Who are they for?
25. In John 3:1-2, what did Nicodemas say to Christ?
The miracles of Christ were never ends unto themselves, they were always signs that pointed to the authenticity of His claims as the Son of God.
Now that we have the completed Bible and the Church has been established, we need to ask ourselves if these gifts still have a purpose and if so is it the same purpose that we see in the 1st century. I want to say right here and now before we get into chapter 14 that I believe God can do anything He chooses to do at any time and in any way He chooses to do it. I also believe that there are miracles that occur every day, but the reason for those miracles may differ from the reason that we had miracles in the 1st century. We can answer question #1 as this is the easiest one to answer. God is the giver of all spiritual gifts.
Prophecy - the Greek word for prophecy means to speak forth or to declare the divine will of God, to interpret the purposes of God, or to make known in any way the truth of God which is designed to influence people.
Most of us assume that prophecy is foretelling the future. For the Old Testament prophets, foretelling or declaring new revelation was a part of their spiritual job. The Old Testament prophets had the ears of kings and were the mouthpiece of God to the people of God. Now that the Bible is complete, there is no longer a need for the kind of prophet that we see in the Old Testament. A person today with the spiritual gift of prophecy is someone who declares completed revelation. In fact, there are 2 warnings in Scripture about those people who might say that God has given them new revelation.
26. What do you discover about those warnings?
Deut. 4:2
Rev. 22:18-19
27. In 1 Cor. 14:3, what is the gift of prophecy to be used for?
The Jewish people looked at prophecy much differently than we do. They viewed prophecy as a pattern of something that had previously happened and will happen again.
28. In 1 Cor. 14:2-5, which gift does Paul elevate above the other, tongues or prophecy? Turn to Mark 16:17-18. Who is the audience here?
29. What signs will follow them (the 11)?
In other words, the confirmation that these 11 were sent out from Jesus would be the signs and miracles. Again in 2 Cor. 12:12, Paul reiterates this.
30. What does he say about signs and wonders and who would perform them?
The gift of tongues, interpreting tongues, and healing (which we won’t get into in this chapter) are the miraculous gifts.
Tongues - speaking in a foreign language when you haven’t previously had knowledge of that language in order that you can minister to someone who speaks that language.
Interpreting tongues - being able to interpret the language that the one speaking in tongues is saying. This person has not previously had the understanding of this language.
Glossa is the traditional historic word for language and that is the Greek word used in this chapter. We get our word “glossary” from this word. The gift was not given so that a person who could not speak a particular language could speak that language. The gift was given so that someone who had never heard the gospel news could hear it in their own language. When you walk into a charismatic church today where everyone is speaking in tongues, that is not how the Scriptural description of this gift is supposed to be utilized.
I have lots of friends and family who are members of Pentecostal churches. While I don’t agree with them on their doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I consider them to be dear brothers and sisters in Christ. The Holy Spirit is not a force, or an energy, or a power. The Holy Spirit is not a mode of the God-head. The Holy Spirit is the 3rd person of the Trinity and is distinct from the Father and the Son and is fully divine. When we make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is deposited into our bodies. From the moment of conversion and throughout eternity, the Holy Spirit will be with us (1 Cor. 12:13, Romans 8:9, Eph. 1:13-14). We do not get “more” of the Holy Spirit. We get all of Him at conversion. That is what we call the baptism of the Holy Spirit and that baptism only happens 1x. When we yield our will to His will, then we become filled with the Holy Spirit. That filling can happen multiple times during the life of a believer.
For our charismatic friends, they believe that if you speak in tongues, then you have received the Holy Spirit. This teaching is not consistent with Scripture.
The first occurrence of the gift of tongues was on the Day of Pentecost. Describe what happened from Acts 2:1-11.
31. Who was the audience (v. 5-6)?
32. Acts 2:9-11 tells us what languages were used that day. Those languages were not just mumble-jumble. They were actual languages. What were those languages?
The gift of tongues as they appeared on the Day of Pentecost allowed those who spoke different languages to hear the gospel in their own language. As a result, 3000 people got saved. The miracle of hearing someone who didn’t know their native tongue speak to them in their own tongue confirmed in the minds of the hearers that what they were hearing was from God. This is how they knew that these words were from God Himself.
In Acts 10, Peter is summoned to the home of a Roman centurion named Cornelius.
33. Read Acts 10:44-48. Who spoke in tongues in these verses?
34. Who heard the tongues in their own language?
The Jewish believers (the circumcised) who were with Peter on that day recognized this gift from what had happened on the Day of Pentecost. Peter later used this event as a means of saying that the gospel was open to the Gentile world.
35. According to Paul, in 1 Cor. 14:6, who is the beneficiary of tongues if there is nobody there to interpret it and who does not benefit from this gift?
What I see in the denominations that have multiple people speaking in tongues during every single service is a misinterpretation of Scripture. In fact, I’d say that in most of these charismatic churches, what you see is total chaos and God is not a God of chaos. And furthermore, the tongue that is spoken is not an actual language. In the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) movement of today, I actually think that what we see is a whole lot of demonic activity. There are people who are laughing hysterically and barking like dogs and wallowing around on the ground. Nowhere in the Bible is this kind of behavior associated with the true Church.
And in many tongue-speaking churches, people are told to empty their minds and just allow the Holy Spirit to bypass the brain and speak out of the mouth. Again, this is not Scriptural. We are told that the Lord knows the thoughts of man.
36. What do Romans 7:25 and Romans 8:6 say about our minds?
I will also mention here that in some of your translations, this spiritual gift is mentioned as “unknown” tongues. The word “unknown” was added after the letter was written, most likely by a scribe. This is not an accurate rendering because the languages were known languages. They were just unknown to the person who was speaking them and the one who was interpreting them.
Paul was basically saying, “If I come to you and speak in tongues, that’s not going to do you a bit of good.” Keep in mind that the building of the body brings unity and this bears a testimony to the rest of the world. In 1 Cor. 12, Eph. 4, and Rom. 12, we see a list of the permanent edifying gifts. We studied this last week in our lesson.
Because these gifts build up the believer individually, they build up the entire body of Christ.
Some of the spiritual gifts we see in Scripture were designed not so much for edifying the body of Christ, but for confirming the Word of God to unbelievers. Keep in mind that during the 1st century, the Church was being built and one of the ways to ascertain if someone was from Christ was if they could perform miracles. Healing and tongues and interpretation of tongues were miraculous gifts, not edifying gifts. These gifts were apostolic gifts as well because it was the apostles who began the Church and there had to be some way to confirm that they were actually sent from God.
If you remember a couple of lessons ago, we learned that the foundation of the Church was the apostles and the prophets and Christ was the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). In the 1st century, when there were lots of false prophets and voices out there, God confirmed His Word through the miraculous gifts given to the apostles. In 1 Cor. 14:7-8, Paul is telling them that if he speaks to them in a language they don’t know, it would be like blowing a trumpet by someone who didn’t know how to play it and didn’t know how to respond in regards to a particular trumpet sound. In the Bible, trumpets served a variety of purposes.
37. In the verses below, what were some of those purposes?
Numbers 10:1-10
In the verses above, we read that sometimes 1 trumpet would sound and sometimes 2. Depending on how they were blown, (long sound or short sound or # of times blown) the people would know exactly what to do. So if we apply this to 1 Cor. 14:7-8, what we learn is that if someone who does not know these things picks up a trumpet and just starts blowing, how would the people even know what to do? They wouldn’t. That’s the point. It would be totally confusing to them.
In 1 Cor. 14:9-12, Paul is asking them to consider 2 questions:
1. Does it edify the Church?
2. Does it build up believers?
38. Now I ask you, if you go into a church where the majority of people are speaking in tongues and you have no idea what in the world they are saying nor does anyone else, can the 2 questions above be answered affirmatively? Could a scenario like this even be an impediment to sharing the gospel and discipling believers?
37. Read 1 Cor. 14:13-19 and 27-30. What are the instructions that Paul gave for speaking in tongues?
If you go into any charismatic church today, you will see a whole bunch, perhaps even the entire church speaking in tongues and these tongues are truly unknown, even to the speaker. It might appear that these people have no control over these tongues. However, vs. 27-30 make it clear that true tongue speaking is not outside the control of the speaker. In fact, none of the gifts of the Spirit are outside the control of the believer who has the gift. And v. 14-16 answers the question of all of these people who say that they are speaking in tongues in a private prayer language. It is unfruitful and any lift in spirit is a psychological one. This also does not meet the criteria for speaking in tongues. Verse 16 makes it clear that to speak in a tongue that nobody, not even the speaker can understand is not profitable and because it is not profitable, a brother or sister in Christ cannot say “amen”.
And this brings us to another issue that is going around in a lot of charismatic churches, Protestant churches, and Catholic churches, which is a private prayer language that some churches practice. They take that 1 Cor. 13:1 and use it as a context for a private prayer language. The other verses used to affirm that a private prayer language is Scriptural are the following: (You can look these up on your own, but we will not be going through them in this study.) Rom. 8:26, 1 Cor. 14:4-7, Eph. 6:18, and Jude 20.
In 1 Cor. 14:13-17, indicates that if someone prays in a tongue, then that prayer is to also be interpreted. Therefore, if praying in tongues is a private prayer language as some would believe, then there is nothing private about having to have someone interpret that prayer for the rest of the congregation. So, what do we say to those who say that they have prayed in tongues and that they found it to be personally gratifying? Here is what I would say regarding that, never let any experience determine how we interpret Scripture. It should be the other way around, always let Scripture interpret our experiences.
38. Read 1 Cor. 14:17-19. Did Paul ever speak in tongues?
39. Where did he speak in tongues?
In all of his travels, he would have encountered lots of different people groups who all spoke in different languages and dialects. We have no idea how many languages he spoke to the people he ministered to. He didn’t understand these languages, but the people he ministered to did. These were unbelievers. The gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues was always to unbelievers and not those saved people within the church. If he was in a church where all believers spoke the same language, then why would it benefit that group of believers to hear something in a foreign language? It would not. Again, that is the point.
As we’ve said before, this Corinthian church was a hot mess! They were not unified, they had sexual immorality going on, they were taking each other to secular court, they were offending some by eating meat that was sacrificed to idols, they were abusing the Lord’s Supper, and now this….they were all messed up in the way they viewed and used the gift of tongues. There was no order in this church and Paul was trying to correct that.
There is no order in a lot of churches today that speak in tongues. In fact, I think that in some churches, this is a hoax. A friend of mine who believes in speaking in tongues asked me to watch one of her favorite pastors, a tv evangelist (one who was recently caught in infidelity) named Robert Morris. In this sermon, he was teaching people how to speak in tongues. Is there anything in this chapter that would lead you to believe that this gift is something that can be taught?
Any spiritual gift that is given to a believer is given to them by God and is supernatural. In other words, it cannot be learned and it cannot be earned.
40. Read 1 Cor. 14:20-21. What is Paul saying to them in v. 20?
It was immature for the believers in Corinth to take a spiritual gift and to overlook the purpose for which it was given and to use it for something else. This, in essence, is a perversion of the gift of tongues.
41. In v. 21, Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11. Note that the term “this people” is speaking of Israel. What does God say He is going to do in regards to “this people”?
Speaking in a tongue they could understand was a miracle. There were Jews spread out across many countries at that time and they spoke the dialect of the place they were from. God is telling them here that He is going to speak to the Jewish people with a miracle from the mouth. Remember, tongues are a sign. A sign always points to something. A sign is not for believers, but for unbelievers. Because the church at Corinth was so enamored with speaking in tongues, they had completely distorted its use. All the pagan religions around Corinth used ecstatic speech. This was something that they were accustomed to seeing and doing when they were involved in pagan worship.
42. Read 1 Cor. 14:23-25. What happens if an unbeliever steps into a church where everyone is speaking in tongues?
43. On the flip side, what happens if someone comes into a church where the people are prophesying?
Friends, the Word of God should be communicated to unbelievers in a logical and meaningful way. When I share the gospel with anyone, I am praying in my spirit that God would give me discernment as to how I should communicate this message. For some, they have grown up in church and just never came to a saving knowledge of Christ. For others, the Bible is completely foreign to them and faith is a foreign concept. You cannot use the same method in ministering the gospel to all individuals.
44.Read 1 Cor. 14:29-33. What does Paul say here about prophesying?
During that day and time, there were prophets who could foretell the future. That is not the case anymore because the canon of Scripture is closed.
45. Read Acts 21:8-14. Who was prophesying in these verses and what was being prophesied?
Read 1 Cor. 14:34-36. Keep in mind that we have only been talking about speaking in tongues and prophesying. What is he saying to women in the church at Corinth? He is speaking about them speaking in tongues. He is not saying that a woman cannot speak in church and he is not saying that a woman cannot prophecy. We just read about Philip’s daughters who prophesied. And in 1 Cor. 11:5, we studied last week that there were women in the church who were praying and prophesying.
46. Read 1 Cor. 14:37-40. What was the real test of someone who said that they have the gift of prophecy or tongues in that day and time?
Today, if we’re trying to decide who is a real believer and who is a fake, the sign is not whether they can do miracles or speak in tongues. The sign is the Word of God as the standard for everything spiritual. Paul is telling this church to make sure that their prophecies tied back into the Word of God. If not, those prophecies were not from God at all. The Word of God is the final authority for us today as well. The confirming gifts of signs and miracles and tongues are no longer needed to confirm that the Word of God is actually the Word of God because the Bible in its entirety has already been established. To say that we still need signs and miracles is to overlook and deny the finality and authority of Scripture.
That said, God could (and I’m sure still does) give some missionaries on foreign fields the supernatural ability to share the gospel in a native tongue that they do not know. I have never personally heard of anyone who had this experience, but I have no doubt that God could do it if He wanted to.
Luke 16:19-31 is the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Both men died and went to the underworld (for lack of a better term). Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom and the rich man is in hell. At that point in history, there was a great gulf separating them. The rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house to warn his 5 brothers.
47. What is the answer that Abraham gives to him in v. 31?
The point of this is that when you have the Scripture, that is all you need. If the brothers of Lazarus would not listen to the words of Moses and the prophets, then they wouldn’t listen to anyone. Those brothers had the Scripture and chose not to adhere to it. Even when Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he said that there would be evangelists and teaching shepherds, but he does not mention any of the miraculous gifts. In Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus, you will find that the instrument of their ministry is always the Word of God. Paul always encouraged them to teach sound doctrine.
In 1 Cor. 14:39-40, Paul again calls for order in this church and he does not forbid them to speak in tongues, but admonishes them to follow the order he has laid out if they do. He also asks them again to set their desires on prophecy. If you go back in this lesson to the definition of prophecy, then you can see how this is the gift to desire so that you can lead others to a saving relationship in Christ. So, why do so many churches focus on speaking in tongues and seek to have their members do this? Pastor John MacArthur gives us some reasons:
1. People don’t know what belongs in God’s plan. God operated in different times and in diverse ways. There must be systematic Bible interpretation.
2. People are starved for the miraculous because they want to grasp at anything they deem to be divine.
3. People want physical feeling. That indicates a lack of faith.
4. People want a quickerway to spirituality and speaking in tongues gives them that. Today’s charismatic movement will tell you that if you have not spoken in tongues, then you have not experienced the Holy Spirit in your life. Can you imagine being in a church and being told this and feeling as if all these other believers have something that God did not give to you? This is a massive distortion of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. If there are the haves and the have nots, then this is a destroyer of unity within the Church.
48. In 2 Peter 1:1-3, what does Paul say we have as believers?
Friends, for those of us who are in Christ, we have all of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing we need that He hasn’t already given us. The question is, “are you obediently yielding yourself to the Spirit of God within you?”.
I’m not going to lie, this week’s lesson has just about killed me. There’s a lot packed into it and none of it is easy to grasp, but oh what joy there is in learning the precepts of God and applying them to our lives.
Have a blessed week.
