Prophets and the weighing of prophecy: 1 Corinthians 14

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (16:8), most likely in the middle 50s AD, to the church he had founded in Corinth on his second journey (Acts 18). Corinth was a Greek commercial city with many religions. He answers reports from Chloe's people (1:11) and a letter from the church (7:1). The section on spiritual gifts (chapters 12 to 14) opens with 'Now concerning spiritual gifts' (12:1) and is his reply to a problem in the gathered assembly: some members prized speaking in tongues and used it in ways that left others unbuilt. In 12:2 he reminds them that they were once led astray to idols that could not speak, and some scholars think the Corinthians' love of ecstatic speech was shaped by that background.

Chapter 12 teaches that the one Spirit gives many gifts to one body. Chapter 13 says that gifts without love are nothing. Chapter 14 then applies both to the meeting of the church. It is the longest discussion of prophecy in the New Testament, and it is written in answer to a local situation, not as a handbook of gifts.

In the Greek world 'prophet' (prophetes) meant one who speaks for a god. In Jewish usage it meant the Old Testament figure who spoke for the LORD, and by Paul's time the word also carried the expectation, from Joel 2:28-29, that the Spirit would be poured out on all God's people.

First Corinthians is a letter, and a letter answers a situation. Paul does not give a full account of prophecy here; he gives what the Corinthians needed. So the chapter says what prophecy does and how to handle it, and leaves unsaid much that a modern reader might ask (how often it came, who received it, what it was about). The best reading takes what the chapter states and does not fill in the rest from later experience or from later disputes.

The argument has a clear shape. Verses 1-25 argue that intelligible speech builds up the church more than unintelligible speech. Verses 26-40 give rules for the meeting. The recurring word is 'edify' (oikodome and its verb), which appears in verses 3, 4, 5, 12, 17, 26 and 31 in various forms. Here the test of any gift in the assembly is whether it builds up others.

Two difficulties need attention. Verses 21 and 22 appear to say that tongues are a sign for unbelievers, yet verse 23 says unbelievers who hear tongues will think the church mad. The common solution is that Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11-12, where foreign speech was a sign of judgment on a people who would not listen, so that tongues without interpretation confirm the unbeliever in unbelief, while prophecy brings conviction (verses 24-25). Verses 34 and 35, on women's silence, are discussed in the exegesis and in the later class on women and ministry.

Verses 1–5

'Pursue love' joins this chapter to chapter 13. Paul then ranks the gifts by their benefit: tongues are speech 'to God' and edify the speaker; prophecy speaks 'to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort'. The three nouns (oikodome, paraklesis, paramythia) describe the effect: building, urging forward, consoling. Nothing in the definition mentions predicting the future. Paul would like all to speak in tongues, but 'I would rather have you prophesy', unless tongues are interpreted, in which case they equal prophecy in value (verse 5).

Verses 6–12

Three illustrations make one point. A flute or harp that plays no distinct notes conveys nothing. A muffled trumpet cannot call troops to battle. A language no one in the room knows makes speaker and listener 'foreigners' (the Greek is barbaros) to each other. The conclusion is verse 12: since the Corinthians are 'eager' for spiritual things, they should aim to 'excel in gifts that build up the church'.

Verses 13–19

The tongue-speaker should pray for the power to interpret. Paul will 'pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind', and likewise sing. He speaks of an 'uninstructed' person (idiotes, an ordinary person without the inside knowledge) who cannot say 'Amen' to a thanksgiving he cannot understand. Paul claims to speak in tongues 'more than all of you' (verse 18), so the correction is not against tongues but against their use without understanding in the assembly. He would 'rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue'.

Verses 20–25

'Stop thinking like children.' The quotation in verse 21 is from Isaiah 28:11-12, introduced as 'the Law' in the wide sense of the Old Testament. In Isaiah, the strange tongue was the Assyrian language heard by an Israel that had refused plain words from the prophets. Paul applies the pattern: unexplained tongues do not turn an unbeliever, but prophecy does. If an outsider enters while all are prophesying, 'he will be convicted and called to account by all, and the secrets of his heart will be made known'. He will fall facedown and worship God, declaring that God is truly among them. The prophecy here does not need a miracle of foretelling. It is intelligible speech that exposes the heart.

Verses 26–33

This is the only picture of an early Christian meeting that gives its parts: 'a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation'. The rule is that everything is for building up. Tongue-speakers: two or three, in turn, with an interpreter, or silence. Prophets: two or three, 'and the others should weigh carefully what is said'. The Greek verb is diakrino, to distinguish or judge. If a revelation (apokalypsis) comes to someone seated, the first speaker 'should stop', so that 'you can all prophesy in turn'. Verse 32 reads: 'The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets', meaning that the prophet is not seized beyond control and can wait his turn. Verse 33 gives the reason: God is a God of peace, not of disorder (akatastasia).

Verses 34–36

These verses say women are to be silent in the churches. They sit uneasily with 11:5, where Paul assumes women pray and prophesy in the meeting. The interpretations include: a rule about disruptive questions in the weighing of prophecy; a ban of a certain kind of speech only; a quotation from Corinthian objectors which Paul answers in verse 36; and an addition by a later hand, since some early manuscripts place these verses after verse 40. Which of these is right is argued in the class on women and ministry. For this class the point is that Paul does not remove women's prophecy elsewhere in the letter.

Verses 37–40

Paul closes with authority. 'If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is the Lord's command.' A claimed prophet is subject to the apostle. Then the balance: 'be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner' (kata taxin, in order).

Prophecy is a gift of the Spirit, and Scripture shows it as a group of people and as a gift. Joel 2:28-29 foretold that the Spirit would fall on sons and daughters, old and young, and Peter says this is fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:16-18). Moses had wished that all the LORD's people were prophets (Numbers 11:29). In Acts, prophets named or acting include Agabus, who foretells a famine (Acts 11:27-30) and later binds himself with Paul's belt to warn of Paul's arrest in Jerusalem (21:10-11); the prophets and teachers at Antioch, through whom the Spirit directs the setting apart of Barnabas and Saul (13:1-3); Judas and Silas, who encourage the church (15:32); and the four unmarried daughters of Philip who prophesied (21:9). Paul lists prophecy as a gift (Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28; Ephesians 4:11) and mentions prophecies about Timothy (1 Timothy 1:18; 4:14).

The New Testament also describes prophets as part of the foundation. Ephesians 2:20 says the church is built on 'the foundation of the apostles and prophets', and 3:5 says the mystery of Christ has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. Whether these prophets are the same as the congregational prophets of 1 Corinthians 14 is debated (see below). The book of Revelation calls itself prophecy (Revelation 1:3; 22:18-19) and says 'the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy' (19:10).

Paul and the other writers say prophecy must be tested. Deuteronomy gave two tests for prophets: they must lead to the LORD alone (Deuteronomy 13:1-5), and what they foretell must come true (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). The New Testament repeats the principle: do not despise prophecies, test everything and hold fast what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22); test the spirits by the confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 4:1-3); and the confession 'Jesus is Lord' marks speech by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Paul adds that prophecy is subordinate to the apostolic word (14:37). A prophecy that contradicts the gospel is to be rejected even if given by an apostle or an angel (Galatians 1:8).

The prophets of the Old Testament testify to Christ (Acts 10:43; 1 Peter 1:10-12), and Moses promised a prophet like himself (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Peter and Stephen say this is Jesus (Acts 3:22-23; 7:37). The Gospels show Jesus recognized as a prophet by the crowds (Luke 7:16; John 6:14), and Hebrews says that, where God had spoken in many ways by the prophets, he has spoken in these last days 'by His Son' (Hebrews 1:1-2). Christ is therefore the fulfilment of prophecy, and the standard by which every later prophecy is measured. This is why Revelation 19:10 can say that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy: true prophecy points to him.

The pouring out of the Spirit on all God's people is the promise of Joel 2 and the wish of Numbers 11:29, fulfilled at Pentecost by the risen Christ, who has poured out the Spirit (Acts 2:33). Prophecy in the church is therefore a gift of the ascended Lord.

The outsider's confession in verse 25, 'God is truly among you', echoes Isaiah 45:14, where the nations say of Israel that God is with her alone, and Zechariah 8:23, where nations will say they want to go with the Jews because God is with them. The promise that the nations would acknowledge God's presence with his people is here seen in a gathering of Gentile and Jewish believers meeting in Christ's name. This is an echo, not a quotation. The same test that Paul sets in 12:3, 'Jesus is Lord', makes Christ the criterion of every voice.