1st Cor. Chapter 13 is about the overzealousness for the gifts of the Holy Spirit compared to the eternal, foundational love of God. To start the 8th verse it says "love never fails"and that is the context, context is everything. Paul is comparing the temporal nature of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to that of the love of God that never fails, that lasts for eternity in heaven. Paul is saying Love is with us now and will be in eternity but that the gifts are temporary and will no longer operate or be apparent when we are in heaven, perfect in the perfect wholeness of the Holy Spirit and all things. Verse 8 is not about the gifts ending in 98 A.D., completion of the written word or any other date this side of perfection in heaven. In fact to extrapolate that out of this reminds me of the way some cults twist scriptures to get them to mean what they want to believe. It is not there. The chapter is simple. Paul wants us to remember the more excellent way of God's love and understand and be careful of overemphasizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and remind us of that which is greater and lasts for eternity. That is the context. Love that never fails. Love was with them then and would be with them in eternity. The gifts of the Spirit are with them then but will not be with them in eternity. The context is clear. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are here to help all christians as long as they have to deal with a fallen world, or that is as long as they need help before all things are perfected. Do you really think God would pull out the help of the Helper while we are in a world like we have today. There are christians living in conditions now that would rival the dangerous conditions of the disciples day and need every bit of power and help from the Holy Spirit that they needed and I cannot say some today may need more when you consider some of the conditions going on around the world. We here in America are generally very protected indeed, with our freedom of speech and religion we are not pressured and threatened with persecution and death like some others around the world are exposed to. We are not so dependent on needing serious help from God, (we do, of course, but conditions of life here cast an illusion we don't), which allows erroneous trust in the flesh and things around us to keep us from the very deepest walk with God that we should have and it allows us to forget the necessity of the help of the Holy Spirit, and it is not an excuse, but we must rememeber those in missions, in China, in Islamic countries whose lives are on the line daily for Christ that are living like the disciples did. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are offered in full operation because God knows many of His people need help like never before.
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On the Prayer Language
In Chapter 14: verse 13 Paul begins to talk of a prayer language. He is saying it is better to interpret your own personal tongues so that your understanding is fruitful. The general gift of tongues spoken in the church is interpreted by another but here Paul is talking about your own prayer language. There is a distinction here as in 12: 10 saying " to another the interpretation of tongues" tells us another interprets, not the speaker of tongues but in 14: 13 Paul is telling us to interpret the tongues of the prayer language ourselves. Verse 16 emphasizes that you should interpret your own personal prayer language when you bless or pray over others so that they will be blessed by the understanding of it. Now, in verse 17 Paul says "indeed you give thanks well". Paul is not being sarcastic here he literally means it is good to pray in the spirit but you should interpret it so others may benefit from understanding it's meaning. I will admit that until Ch. 14: 13 I do not see the evidence of a personal prayer language but here it is clear, it exists. I have not personally experienced it in a convincing way myself but I have seen many pray with it and pray over others with it. I definitely have seen the evidence of it and see it here in verses 13 through 17. The truth is what is important here and although I have not fully experienced them, the standard is more important than whether we have achieved or yet live up to it. And again for tongues in general see the end of Chapter 14 in the culmination of Paul talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit he says " that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord'. Two verses down in the next to last verse of 14 Paul says "do not forbid to speak in tongues". This is a commandment of the Lord to remember that, although much has been said about tongues being the lesser gift, we still must not forbid it. A commandment of the Lord to believers in this context is not going to cease in only 98A.D.
1 comment :
This was really helpful to me. I'm going to be praying fervently about all of this. It's been on my mind and heart a lot lately. Thanks for your insight.
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