Introduction
Have you ever heard prophecy spoken? Have you heard a prophet speak forth a word from God intended for you? Could that happen today, here, in this church? Let’s consider what our passage has to tell us.
Text
Here is the situation. The Corinth believers love speaking in tongues. They measure their spirituality and their giftedness according to their tongue-speaking ability. Paul says, first, understand that whatever gifts you may have, they all come from the same Spirit who gives as God so desires. Everybody has their gifts and equally belong to Christ’s body. God does not measure anyone according to their gifts; rather he measures them according to how they use the gifts given to them. What really matters is bearing the spiritual fruit of love, so that one’s gifts are being used in the spirit of love. In chapter 14, Paul gets straight to the issue of tongues and puts it in its place in the church, particularly in church worship. It is in the worship service that the Corinth tongue speakers are strutting their stuff; Paul will show them, through contrasting prophesy with tongues, that the true measure of a gift in worship is its ability to edify – to build up – the church body.
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
Look with me at the three words given in verse 3. First, note “upbuilding.” This word is at the heart of the chapter, and I would be willing to say at the heart of the whole letter. Recall what is happening. Church members are suing one another. Factions are developing under the names of star church leaders. The well-to-do in society are shaming the lower cast, and so on. “Look,” Paul is saying, “you need to be in the business of building up, not tearing down the Church of Christ.
The King James Version has “edification” which captures well Paul’s intent. Webster’s dictionary defines edify as to “instruct, especially morally or spiritually; to uplift.” The word comes from the Latin word for “to build.” You get the idea. The purpose of prophesy is to build up the church body.
The next words reinforce this concept: encouragement and consolation. Prophesy is not to be used by the speaker to harm, to tear down, or to show off. The fruit of prophesy is a stronger church whose members are growing in faith. Not all prophesy will necessarily be comforting. Oftentimes the message may be to expose sin. But even then, the result is to lead the people to repentance, so that they return to fellowship with God and grow ever stronger in their faith.
Verse 4 makes Paul’s point clear as he contrasts tongues with prophesy: 4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. The word for “builds up” is the same in verse 3. I want you to note who or what prophesy builds up; it is the church. The contrast between tongues and prophecy is not merely between personal benefit and benefiting someone else; it is between personal benefit and benefiting the whole church. The context in this chapter is speaking to the whole church body that has gathered for worship. Thus the speaker of prophesy is to speak a message that is for all to hear and not just for one or two individuals.
5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up…
Again the contrast is made between speaking in tongues publicly and prophesying. Prophesy is greater than tongues because it edifies the church body. And it edifies the body because it is intelligible. Tongues only becomes as important when it can be interpreted so that the church body will be built up, i.e. edified.
Skip down to verses 24-25 which illustrate the effect of edification: But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
The outsider visits the church’s worship service. He hears the messages of the different prophesies. Perhaps one speaker gives a message about certain sins that need to be examined, which so happen to hit home with him. Perhaps another delivers a message about the judgments of God and about the grace of the gospel. Whatever the case, the Holy Spirit convicts him by what he hears (“How did they know what was in my heart?”). He worships God, whom he recognizes to be present among these people.
Interpretation
What is prophesy? Does it still exist and what is its place? What principles can we learn about the purpose of prophesy in the church and for worship?
What is prophesy? It is tougher to get at than one would suppose. Like love, the New Testament does not give a definition, just describes, as above, what it accomplishes. But the description does not match with the few references to actual prophecies in the book of Acts. Each prophesy quoted is a prediction of the future. And yet, the one other case of a description of what they accomplish follows just what Paul says in chapter 14: And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words (Acts 15:32). It is evident in the context that they were teaching the church in Antioch. So what is prophecy: is it foretelling such as Agabus foretelling the famine that was to hit Judea or as in delivering a personal message such as Ananias did for Paul or the prophets in Antioch did for Paul and Barnabbas, telling them to go on a missions trip? Or is prophecy more like teaching, perhaps applying scripture and the teachings of the apostles to a certain church situation, similar to that of preaching?
Here is another odd note about NT prophecy. By its very nature it means to speak God's word, whether that word be prediction or a teaching. It is connected with receiving revelation. John Calvin defined prophecy as "that unique and outstanding gift of revealing what is the secret will of God, so that the prophet is, so to speak, God's messenger to men." He says again, "I bracket revelation and prophesying together, and I think that prophesying is the servant of revelation…. whatever anyone has obtained by revelation he gives out in prophesying. "Charles Hodge notes: "Revelation and prophecy belong to one [mode of address]… He who received revelations was a prophet..."
Why then must the prophecy of recognized church prophets be weighed each time they speak? In the OT, prophets were to be tested to see if they were false or true prophets, but once their genuineness was proven, there is no instruction to keep checking out their messages. And here is another observation to make. Of what prophet of note do you know? There is no prophet of the NT church who corresponds to Elijah or Elisha or to Isaiah or Jeremiah. Ephesians 2:20 says that the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone." Apparently we are to understand that it means the prophets of the NT church. Later on in chapter 4, Paul lists the prophets right after the apostles in offices of the church. And yet, in reading through Acts or any of the NT letters, it is always the OT prophets that the apostles quote. Never do the apostles or NT writers refer to a statement by a NT prophet or even mention one by name. Nor following the death of the apostles do the prophets come to the fore in church leadership. The closest one can come to a significant prophet of the church would be John, who wrote Revelation. Even so, most scholars identify him with the apostle John, which leads to the point at hand.
The real successors to the OT prophets were the apostles. They were the Supreme Court of the church, and the NT prophets served under their authority. The apostle Paul could say, "If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord" (14:37). It never occurred to Paul to ask that his prophetic speaking be weighed by other prophets or anyone else in the church.
So, we have prophets who were important to the early church, though not possessing any more authority than what we today would give to a minister or elder. They received revelation, but not so clear-cut that their prophecy would be automatically accepted, and, indeed, had to be weighed. Again, their work seems very close to that of a preacher who delivers the message of God's written Word; though he proclaims the Word of God, nevertheless, the church is expected to weigh what he actually says. Finally, what they were to accomplish is exactly what a preacher is suppose to accomplish – build up the church body through edification, encouragement, and consolation.
You can see where I am going with this. The classic Reformed teaching about prophecy in the church is that the mantle of the prophet has been passed on to the preacher. We ministers are taught that we are to give a prophetic word to our congregations. That is, we are to receive the revelation of Scripture and proclaim it in such a way as to apply to our particular congregations. We are to give to them the message that God would have them hear so that they are built up in the faith.
I am sympathetic to that view. It seems logical, and I think the NT even provides a pattern to think that way. Again, it is clear that the mantle of the OT prophets passed on, not to the NT prophets, but to the apostles, even though there is not OT prophecy indicating that such an office of apostle was even forthcoming. I think in the same manner, especially as one as the benefit of looking back on to church history and seeing the office of preacher take the role that is described for the prophet.
Having said that, it seems evident in this chapter that prophecy and preaching (certainly teaching) were not synonymous. We will discuss this more in two weeks, but it is clear that the prophets in the Corinth worship service were communicating revelation that was given to them at the moment. They were not giving expository sermons from the book of Ezekiel. And even though the apostles did get the mantle of the OT prophets, nevertheless, there were NT prophets who did receive some sort of revelation. We must be careful to deny that there cannot be some form of prophesying that still goes on.
Lessons
Can there not be persons who do have the gift of passing on messages from the Lord that prove to be timely and fitting for a church? Most of us have experienced times in which someone gave a word that we needed to hear, and we were amazed at how he or she knew what was going on in our lives. The "prophet" may have addressed us directly ("the Lord wants you to know"), or indirectly, unaware that what he said specifically applied to us.
Perhaps we need to consider if there are prophets among us who, as Calvin says, are "endowed with extraordinary wisdom and aptitude for grasping what the immediate need of the Church is, and speaking the right word to meet it." Calvin thinks these are persons who are gifted in dealing with Scripture, and would apply the gift to preachers and teachers. But must such persons be ordained students of the Bible? And cannot the Spirit of God speak to the spirits of men and women, making them his messengers to deliver timely words to his people?
The fear is that such "prophets" will be given, or take upon themselves, undue authority in the church. Indeed, this has been the common case among many so-called modern prophets in the Pentecostal and modern charismatic movement. Just a few months ago, I received an email from a woman who had recently become a prophetess, informing me and other ministers in the community of a tremendous revival about to hit Gainesville, although those of us who refused to accept the prophecy would be left out of the blessing. She received a revelation, so she must be right, right? Churches have been split and people's lives ruined by men and women who claimed divine authority in the office of prophet. I know of one church torn apart after a so-called prophet told the church members to sell their cars and take out second mortgages to give to a special cause. How can one argue with a revelation?
The other fear is that to accept the idea that prophecy (the ability to receive personal revelation) leaves open the possibility of adding to the canon of Scripture. David Wilkerson wrote a book called The Vision that purports to be a record of revelation that he had received. If Wilkerson did indeed receive such revelation, what prevents adding his book to the books of the NT? And if we do take his book as revelation, why should we not yield to him the same kind authority that the apostles Paul and Peter had? Perhaps some people have. There are churches who have apostles whose words must be believed and obeyed.
But I don't won't to go further in the direction of speaking to the Pentecostal and charismatic wing of the church. Should we or should we not become charismatic is not a burning issue for our church. What prophetic word do we need to hear? Here is what I would offer from God's revelation of chapter 14.
One, when you come to worship care about the edification, the building up, of the whole church body. I know our new joint worship has been difficult for many of you. And if I am to be honest, I must commend the church as a whole for your effort to at least not be divisive. But if we are to be honest with ourselves, our negative reactions were based on what we felt we personally would lose in the worship experience. I've been told often enough that having music from the two services will not please anybody because each group wants their own music. That may be true; but such an argument makes me all the more believe that we need to be together and have both kinds of music. We need to look around, see how some in the church family are being edified by the songs we are not so edified by, and give thanks to God. We also need to think that if some brothers and sisters are being built up by some of these songs, maybe we need to take another look at them.
Two, edification, not emotional experience, is what matters in worship. We'll talk more about this next week. Music can move us, but the real question is what have we learned. Many a preacher with charisma can move a congregation, make them believe they have heard a powerful sermon, and yet not have learned a thing from God's Word.
Three, be cautious in using the phrase, "God told me." I am always surprised by the confidence in which noncharismatic Christians freely use that phrase. "God told me to… move to another town, change jobs, marry you, etc." I certainly believe God speaks to us through his Spirit. I believe he calls us to do certain things. But such a phrase should be reserved only for Scripture. I know God told me to love my neighbor, to be faithful to my wife, to tell the truth. That is revelation I can count on because it is written in holy Scripture. I can think God may be telling me to speak to a certain person or to take a trip to some place, and I will try to be attentive to him. But he has not bestowed on me or you infallibility in discerning his nonverbal communications to us. We've are still tainted too much with sin to be impartial hearers.
Finally – and I do believe this to be a prophetic word that you need to hear – listen to the prophetic word that comes through the preaching of God's written Word. Whether the preacher is me or anyone else, listen. In one sense, it does not matter if the preacher is interesting or dull. If he is preaching the Word of God, there is a prophetic word for you, if you will but hear.
Let me close with an example of one person’s account of receiving the prophetic word. “I come from a strong Christian background, but had dropped out of regular attendance for nearly twenty years for all the secular excuses. Then one Sunday I just showed up through a force that wasn’t entirely my own. The sermon was based on Isaiah 45, and the Lord spoke as if directly and only to me – ‘I am the Lord your God, and you have not acknowledged me.’ I sat in the pew in tears and experienced something akin to an aching soul released and relieved of some terrible burden.”
The Lord does still speak. What word is he speaking to you? Will you have the ears to listen? When the written Word of God is opened and proclaimed to you, will you listen for the word meant for you? Here, in these pages, is all the revelation you need; for in these pages is the bread of life.
