14:1
Having emphasised the governing principle, namely love, Paul now moves on to details of proper worship at Corinth. Love and the gifts are not antithetical to each other, rather love is to guide and direct the use of the gifts. Indeed, they are to eagerly desire the gifts, especially prophecy.
14:2
Paul now goes into some detail about why prophecy is to be particularly sought after. The fundamental reason is love, i.e. seeking to help others. So any wrong emphasis on tongues is not walking in the way of love. For when someone speaks in a tongue, a gift which seems to have held a particular fascination for the Corinthians, one is speaking to God. No one else has a clue what the person is saying. The outbreak at Pentecost seems to be rather unique, in that the disciples were speaking in tongues that they did not know, but there were people at the gathering who did know the language. That can still happen on occasion, but is not the norm.
No comments:
Post a Comment