Introduction:
Twenty years after the events at Pentecost, the church had grown well beyond its nascent borders. Just as Jesus had prophesied, spirit-empowered witnesses had spread the gospel (Acts 1:8). Sustaining this growth would have been difficult if not impossible without the manifestations of the Holy Spirit meant to edify the ever-growing body. These manifestations were experiences apart from the initial Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was and continues to be a deeply personal experience. It is an experience meant to edify (i.e. build up) and empower the individual to both keep and spread the faith (i.e. witness). The manifestations of the Holy Spirit as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, however, are corporate experiences meant to edify and empower the church body as a whole. This distinction was apparently lost to the Corinthian church and thus called for its clarification by the Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the church.
Specifically the Corinthian error lay in their manifestation of experiences meant for personal edification and evangelistic empowerment in a body of people that had already been won to the Lord but who were in dire need of corporate edification. This view is validated by Paul's expressions: "he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself" and later "tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers" (1 Corinthians 14:4a, 22a). His point was that if the person was going to seek and manifest spiritual gifts, they should be gifts that edify the body of believers; hence his emphasis on prophecy and interpretation (vv 14:5-6, 13, 26). In other words, Paul was telling them to leave their prayer language (tongues of angels) in the prayer closet and their street talk (tongues of men) on the street where they belonged. To use a manifestation meant for personal edification and witnessing in a body of fellow believers was out of place and, more importantly, not a manifestation of God's love (1 Corinthians 13).
The Corinthians' folly is certainly the present-day church's gain. In his comments culminating to his exhortation, Paul explains how the Holy Spirit empowers individuals "for the common good" and appoints individuals "in the church" (1 Corinthians 12:7-11; 28-31; see also Romans 12:6-8 and Ephesians 4:11-13). Taken together these manifestations (phanerosis) and appointment gifts (diakoniai) characterize Spiritual gifts (pneumatika), given as grace gifts (charismata) for the building and empowering of the body. Not even the gates of hell could withstand a church that worked together as a team, with a corporate language, vision and mission, comprised of Spirit-empowered individual members.
Handout: (1) Questions to Think About (2) Living with Power Articles
Questions to Think About
1. What are the main purposes for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? For possible insight, look at Acts 1:8, Romans 8:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 14:2,4.
2. In a private setting, such as a person's prayer closet, do tongues have to be interpreted? For possible insight, look again at Romans 8:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 14:2,4.
3. Is it ever in order for God to disrupt a service? For possible insight, look at Acts 10:44, Luke 1:8-11; Exodus 40:34-35; 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.
4. When is it proper for a church leader to quiet a person who prophesies or speaks in a tongue in a public church setting (1 Corinthians 14:28, 30-33, 39-40)?
5. How does the gift of speaking in different kinds of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10c, 28c) differ from the enabling to speak in an unknown tongue as a visible witness of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4, 8:17-18, 10:46, 19:6)? Does the gift of interpretation go with one and not the other?
6. Can the church body be edified by a message in tongues? Can a prophecy come through a message in tongues (look closely at 1 Corinthians 14:6 and 14:26)?
7. What do you think the Apostle Paul would say to those who neither spoke in tongues nor prophesied? For possible insight, look at 1 Corinthians 14:5a. NOTE: This is a purely rhetorical question meant to underscore the Apostle Paul's sentiments.
8. What is the central theme of 1 Corinthians 13? Does it have more to do with Christian life and ministry or tongues and prophecies?
9. Did the Apostle Paul pray in the Spirit in tongues unknown to him, without interpretation (look at 1 Corinthians 14, Romans 8:23-27)?
10. In 1 Corinthians 13, what does the phrase "but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears" mean? Does this perfection relate to the themes in Hebrews 5:8-9, Hebrews 7:11-28, 1 John 4:7-21, and Revelation 22:3-7? Does it have anything to with the perfection of Scripture?
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