Thursday 05 March 2015

Psalm: Psalm 119:65-80

Background

After his mystical reflection on the power of love inchapter 13, Paul returns to his earlier argument abut spiritualgifts in this next section which begins chapter 14. He calls on hisreaders to "pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts" (v. 1),but suggests that of all the gifts, the one most to be strived foris that of prophecy.

The reasons for this are set out in these next dozen verses.Paul makes his case by contrasting the gift of prophecy with thatof speaking in tongues or ecstatic utterance. In making thisdistinction, Paul picks up again on the criterion he used earlierin chapter 12 (1 Corinthians 12:7), namely what is of most usein building up the church. Those who speak in tongues speak only toGod, for no one else understands them "since they are speakingmysteries in the Spirit" (v. 2); by contrast, those who prophesyare serving to encourage and console their fellow Christians. Theresult is that "those who speak in a tongue build up themselves,but those who prophesy build up the church" (v. 4). This is whyprophecy is the greater gift, unless there is also someone able tointerpret those speaking in tongues.

Paul continues to explore this distinction in his next section,asking what benefit it would bring if he were to come speaking intongues, without some revelation or prophecy or teaching toaccompany and interpret them? It would be like hearing instrumentsmake a noise without being able to discern either the notes ormusic being played (verses 6-7)? Similarly this is the danger thathe identifies for those speaking in tongues in Corinth; if they"utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know whatis being said?" They will simply be "speaking into the air" (v. 9).Without knowing what the sounds signify, they are useless andunintelligible to others; so if the Corinthians are eager forspiritual gifts, they should "strive to excel in them for buildingup the church" (v. 12).

The fact that Paul spends so much time in this letter talkingabout spiritual gifts, and especially about speaking in tongues,suggests that this is a real issue of tension and division for theChristian community in Corinth. From what he goes on to write next,it appears that speaking in tongues is something that Paul is ableto do in private. But what matters more is his insistence that inpublic the most important thing is to focus on those spiritualgifts which encourage others and build up the life of thechurch.

To Ponder

• Have you experienced the gift of tongues being used in the lifeand worship of the Church?

• How did it make you feel?

• Do you think that our worship is sometimes too cerebral anddoesn't allow enough space for feeling and emotion? If so, howmight the balance be readdressed?