Lessons #493 and 494
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Use of the mind versus tongues in worship (1 Cor 14:13-19)
13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
The message of this section of 1 Corinthians 14:13-19 that we have been considering is this: Worship activities in a local church are more beneficial if done with words the mind can grasp than in spiritual ecstasy that involves speaking in tongues. In our last study, we considered the first major reason the apostle gave for the preference of the use of mind over tongues in worship, which is that certain public worship activities are more beneficial if they involve intelligent words that certainly imply the use of the mind. We considered three assertions of the apostle in support of his first major reason. The first a is that he himself prefers praying and singing with intelligent words to using tongues in public worship. The second is that praise carried out in the spirit, implying speaking in tongues, does not allow others to participate. The third is that thanksgiving in the spirit, that is, through speaking in tongues without its interpretation does not build up others spiritually. So, we proceed to consider the second major reason the apostle gave in support of the preference of the use of the mind over tongues in public worship.
The second major reason the apostle gave for the preference of the use of mind over tongues in public worship that is not interpreted is that he prefers intelligent words to tongues in instruction in the church. This is to say that the apostle prefers instruction in the plain language that everyone in the congregation would understand than the use of tongues that no one understands.
The Holy Spirit knows us well even more so as believers. I say this because even as believers we often think as unbelievers when we are not controlled by the Holy Spirit. Thus, what we are about to state applies to believers when we are not controlled by the Holy Spirit. The assertion that warranted the statement that the Holy Spirit knows us well is that there is often the tendency to be critical on our part or to find a way to dismiss what a teacher communicates by justifying our rejection of the authority of the teacher or by finding another excuse that will enable us to reject a teaching of the word of God that we do not want to hear and apply. The apostle had been expounding that he preferred intelligent communication in public worship to speaking in tongues. Some might say that the reason the apostle taught his preference is because he does not speak in tongue, especially if they have never seen the apostle exercise such gift when he was with the Corinthians. It is probably the case that the apostle refrained from speaking in tongues while in the congregation of believers unless he was certain that the Holy Spirit would aid him to interpret what he said or that the Holy Spirit will cause a person with gift of interpretation to interpret what he utters. This being the case, some would say that the apostle taught what we have been considering because he did not exercise the gift of tongues while he was with them. To counter this, the apostle asserts that he exercises the gift more than any of the Corinthians as we read in 1 Corinthians 14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Before we even consider the sentence, we need to make a brief comment on what the sentence implies.
Apostle Paul’s declaration that is given in 1 Corinthians 14:18 could be viewed as implying that he was being arrogant and boasting before the Corinthians regarding the gift of tongues. The reason for using the word “arrogant” is because the apostle’s assertion implies that he knew how often and how widely those with the gift of tongues exercised it to be able to make such a claim. However, we should recognize that because the apostle wrote under the control of the Holy Spirit that he was guided by the One who knows how each gift is used. Therefore, when he uttered the sentence, we are about to consider, what he said must been taken as true because the Holy Spirit directed him in what he wrote. As to the other point of the implication of what the apostle wrote that we said involved boasting, we should recognize that boasting can be right or wrong depending on the object or reason for it. So, let me review briefly what we have studied in the past about this subject of boasting as it is relevant in how what Apostle Paul wrote in our passage of study may be perceived by people.
Boasting that is wrong is one that is self-centered so that God is left out or robbed of His glory and a human claims credit for what God has done. Apostle Paul mentioned this kind of wrong boasting as that which characterized his opponents who want to boast as to the number of people they get to become circumcised, as we read in Galatians 6:13:
Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.
As we indicated, when God is left out in any kind of boasting then it is wrong, as conveyed in James 4:16:
As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
In the context of James, the boasting that is evil is any kind of assertion about the future that is devoid of the recognition that God controls the future as should be indicated by prefacing such assertion by saying if God wills or permits or by the thought that a person’s plan is wholly in God’s hand or subject to His plan.
The right kind of boasting is one that is centered on God or what He did or does through others or directly. Thus, we have examples of the right kind of boasting in the Scripture. Apostle Paul indicates that his boasting is in what Christ did on the cross hence, his assertion of wanting to boast about the cross of Christ in Galatians 6:14:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
It is not only the cross of Christ that led the apostle to boast but also the impact of the cross in the spiritual lives of believers. Therefore, the apostle boasted about those who excel in their spiritual life, as he did to Titus regarding the Corinthians, according to 2 Corinthians 7:14:
I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.
He did the same thing in praising the Corinthians to the Macedonians concerning their generosity, as we read in 2 Corinthians 9:2:
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
The apostle also boasted about an aspect of the spiritual life of the Thessalonians, as we may gather from 2 Thessalonians 1:4:
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
Anyway, we should be careful about boasting that is self-centered. The apostle was careful of this that when he boasted of the revelations he had received from the Lord, he used the third person in 2 Corinthians 12:5:
I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
The “man” the apostle meant is himself. It is because he was cautious regarding boasting about self that he used the third person in his boasting of the visions he received from the Lord. A reason we should be careful not to boast about self is so that others do not overrate us, so to say, as the apostle stated in 2 Corinthians 12:6:
Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
Boasting about self or self-achievement is an indicator that one does not understand that there is nothing that the person achieved or attained were it not for the grace of God, as indicated in the penetrating questions of 1 Corinthians 4:7:
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
It is important that we be conscious that whatever we have by way of blessing is from God, as the Holy Spirit taught us through Apostle John in John 3:27:
To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.
The word “heaven” here is a reference to God. Consequently, it is important that we constantly remind ourselves that everything we receive is from God. Boasting that is correct should be related to spiritual matters. This is the implication of boasting about knowing God that the Holy Spirit spoke through Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:24:
but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
Our brief review of boasting enables us to properly evaluate the assertion of Apostle Paul when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. There is no doubt that this sentence is an implied boasting on the part of the apostle. However, the implied boasting can hardly be classified as a wrong kind of boasting. There are at least five reasons for taking this position. First, and most importantly, the apostle wrote under the control of the Holy Spirit so that whatever he said could not be false or tinted with sin. Second, it is unlikely the apostle who knew there is a limit to boasting could be involved in wrong kind of boasting. He asserted to the Corinthians that he would not boast beyond proper limits as stated in 2 Corinthians 10:13–15:
13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. 14 We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15 Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand.
Third, the apostle was aware of the preferred boasting is one that shows his weakness while highlighting God’s power and goodness as we read, for example, in 2 Corinthians 11:30:
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
The apostle highlights the kind of boasting he preferred in 2 Corinthians 12:9:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Fourth, the apostle was certain that what he wrote in the passage we are considering is true. He has elsewhere indicated that if he boasts then what he boasts about will be true as we may gather from the passage we cited previously, that is, 2 Corinthians 12:6:
Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
Fifth, the way the apostle begins 1 Corinthians 14:18 indicates that the implied boasting in the verse is correct because he acknowledged God, something that is lacking in wrong kind of boasting. The apostle began the verse with the sentence of 1 Corinthians 14:18 I thank God. By the way the Authorized Version adds the word “my” that is not in most ancient Greek manuscripts.
The word “thank” is translated from a Greek word (eucharisteō) that may mean to show that one is under obligation, that is, “to be grateful” as the word is used in Apostle’s Paul expression of his gratitude to Aquilla and Priscilla for risking their lives for him as we read in Romans 16:4:
They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
The word may mean to express appreciation for benefits or blessings hence “to give thanks, express thanks, render/return thanks” specifically to God as we read, for example, in offering thanks for food in Romans 14:6:
He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:18, it means “to thank,” that is to express gratitude or show appreciation. The Greek present tense the apostle used implies repeated action on the part of the apostle, that is, he thanked God at undefined intervals, but his thanksgiving occurs in such a way that we can say that he formed the habit of thanking God, presumably on a daily basis. The fact the apostle thanked God also implies he recognized that what he was about to say is that which is brought about by God. In effect, he recognized that the reason for his thanksgiving is God’s work. Again, as we have stated, people who boast in the wrong way do not acknowledge God. The apostle acknowledged God. Therefore, what he wrote could not be considered wrong kind of boasting. His repeated thanksgiving to God implies the apostle is quite appreciative of the spiritual gifts he received from God. He was aware his spiritual gifts are manifestations of God’s grace to him. In the same way, we should be thankful to God for His grace, recognizing that our very existence and whatever spiritual blessings we enjoy are due to His goodness to us.
Thanksgiving must have a reason for it. Thus, the apostle stated that the reason for his thanksgiving to God has to do the with his exercise of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues as he conveyed in the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:18 that I speak in tongues more than all of you. What does the apostle mean in this clause? To understand what the apostle meant to convey in this clause, we should examine two key words he used.
The word “tongues” is translated from a Greek word (glōssa) that we have considered previously but let me review briefly what we said about it. It is a word that basically means “tongue.” The “tongue” may refer literally to a body part as an organ of speech as what was loosed to enable Zechariah to speak just before the naming of his son, John the Baptist, as we read in Luke 1:64:
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God.
The word may mean “language” unique to a people as it is used by those from other nations that were present on the day of Pentecost to acknowledge hearing the disciples speak in their various languages the great things God has done when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place as we read in Acts 2:11:
(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
To remove any misunderstanding of what tongues means in this passage, some of our modern English versions rendered the phrase our own tongues as our own languages as we find, for example, in the NET, among others. It is in the sense of “language” that “tongue” is used to describe different peoples of the nations that are redeemed as we read in Revelation 5:9:
And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
The English versions that are prone to literal translation such as the Authorized Version (KJV) or the NASB translated the word “tongue” instead of “language” in this passage in Revelation. The Greek word may mean “ecstatic language,” that is, “an utterance outside the normal patterns of intelligible speech and therefore requiring special interpretation.” After considering various usages of the Greek word, we concluded that the Greek word translated “tongues” could mean either “ecstatic language,” that is, an utterance having the form of language but requiring an inspired interpreter for an understanding of the content or “foreign, unintelligible human utterances.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:18, the apostle used it as a reference to “ecstatic language” and not an ordinary human language that is foreign to others. To take the meaning of ordinary human language would imply that the apostle spoke more foreign languages than the Corinthians, something that may or may not be true. Nonetheless, the context demands we take “tongue” as that utterance given by the Holy Spirit that humans in worship situation are unable to understand without its being interpreted.
The other key word is the word “more” in the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:18 that I speak in tongues more than all of you. The word “more” is translated from a Greek adverb (mallon) that can mean “more” in the sense of being concerned with a greater or higher degree of something. Thus, Apostle Paul used it in that sense to encourage believers to live more and more a life that pleases the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4:1:
Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
This living in such a way to please the Lord involves displaying of love more and more to fellow believers, as the apostle also indicated in 1 Thessalonians 4:10:
And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
To love more and more is simply a way of stating that love should be demonstrated more and more since love is a facet of the fruit of the Spirit that cannot be improved upon. Instead, its demonstration can be shown more and more to others. Anyway, a second meaning of our Greek word is “rather” but that has two senses. A first sense could mean rather in the sense of “for a better reason” or “all the more”. It is in this sense that Apostle Paul used it to encourage slaves to render better service to their masters who are also believers as stated in 1 Timothy 6:2:
Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them. These are the things you are to teach and urge on them.
It is in the sense of “more” that could refer to emphasis “surely or certainly” that the word is used by the apostle to describe what would be applicable to those who are believers in Romans 5:17:
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
A second sense of the word “rather” is as a marker of alternative to something in the sense of “instead of something.” It is this sense the apostle used the word upon instructing Roman believers not to pass judgment on each other based on such matters as food that one eats or does not eat as stated in Romans 14:13:
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
In this passage, the alternative to passing judgment on one another is not to do anything that will cause someone else to sin by compromising the person’s own principles or by doing what the individual’s conscience tells the person is wrong. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:18, the Greek word has the sense of “more,” that is, to a greater or higher degree.
The two words we examined enable us to interpret what the apostle meant when he wrote the clause of 1 Corinthians 14:18 that I speak in tongues more than all of you. He meant that he spoke more intensely and frequently or repeatedly in ecstatic language the Holy Spirit gives than any other Corinthian. This is in part because the sentence I speak is in the present tense in the Greek implying that the apostle spoke repeatedly or at a regular interval more than any Corinthians. This speaking in tongue by the apostle must be in private prayer rather than in a local church. Our interpretation that the apostle’s use of tongues was in private prayer is supported by the beginning phrase of 1 Corinthians 14:19 But in the church.
The conjunction “but” is translated from a Greek particle (alla) that primarily is used to indicate a difference with or contrast to what precedes. In effect, it is used to express contrast between an immediate clause and the one preceding it so it may be translated “but, rather, on the contrary.” The word may mean “indeed” to indicate a contrastive emphasis between what follows and what preceded. Thus, Apostle Paul used the word when he proceeded in his communication- to the fact that the Corinthians were not ready to receive advance doctrines since the time, he taught them fundamental Christian doctrines as we read in 1 Corinthians 3:2:
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
When the word is used in connection with a command, it may mean “now, then” as the word is translated in the instruction given to believing wives regarding their husbands in Ephesians 5:24:
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Some English versions began verse 24 with the conjunction “but.” Interestingly, the translators of the ISV began with the word “indeed” which is a permissible translation of the Greek word when a contrast is to be made in an emphatic manner or a strong alternative is being suggested. This aside, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:19, the apostle used it as a marker of emphatic contrast.
It is the contrastive conjunction “but” that enables us to the recognition that the speaking in tongues the apostle was concerned about must be in his private prayer although that is not clearly stated in verse 18. Nevertheless, the phrase in the church enables us to recognize the apostle was concerned with speaking in tongues in his private prayer.
The word “church” is translated from a Greek word (ekklēsia) that we have considered in detail in a past study, but I will make few comments about the word. It is word that may refer to a group of citizens assembled for socio-political activities and so means “assembly, gathering” as in the riotous group that rose against Apostle Paul at Athens, as recorded in Acts 19:32:
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
Here the Greek word is translated “assembly.” The Greek word may be used to describe people with shared belief, hence means “community, congregation.” It is in this sense that the word is used to describe Israel in the desert in Acts 7:38:
He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
Most of our English versions used the meaning “congregation” instead of the word “assembly” to translate the Greek word in this passage of Acts although the Authorized Version used the word “church,” but the NKJV used the word “congregation.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:19, the word is used in the sense of “an orderly local congregation of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus assembled for worship.” Thus, the use of the phrase in 1 Corinthians 14:19 in the church is intended to remind us that the apostle was contrasting something that happened in private to what obtains in a local church that he visits.
In any case, the apostle states his preference when he is a local church worshipping with other believers. He preferred speaking with the mind in the church to instruct believers than speaking in tongues. Our use of the word “preference” is because of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 14:19 I would rather speak. Literally, the Greek reads I want to speak. This is because the word “would” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (thelō) that may mean “to wish to have, desire, want,” that is, to have a desire for something as Apostle Paul used it to describe what he wanted Roman believers to do about being wise regarding what is good, as stated in Romans 16:19:
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
The word may mean to have something in mind for oneself and so means “to purpose, will, wish, decide.” It is with the meaning “to decide” that the word is used in the NIV to describe Jesus’ decision to travel to Galilee in John 1:43:
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
It is with the meaning “to wish” that Apostle Paul used it in his question to the Galatians of desiring to be enslaved back to what they had been freed from in Galatians 4:9:
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
The word may mean “to choose” as Apostle Paul used it to describe those God has chosen to reveal Christ as we read in Colossians 1:27:
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The word may mean to take pleasure in something in view of its being desirable and so means “to enjoy, like, take pleasure in something” as Apostle Paul used it to describe false individuals in Colossae that took pleasure in false humility and in the worship of angels in Colossians 2:18:
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
The word may mean “to have an opinion,” “to think something to be so,” that is, “to maintain” something that is contrary to the true state of affairs as it is used to describe false teachers whose opinion is described in 2 Peter 3:5:
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
The clause they deliberately forget is literally in maintaining this it escapes them. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:19, the Greek word means “to desire.” It is because the sense of the word in our verse is that of “to desire” that we used the word “preference” in describing what the apostle states in the verse we are studying.
Apostle Paul’s preference during church worship is to use the mind to communicate to believers than to speak in tongue. It is this preference that is given in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 14:19 I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. A literal translation is I want to speak five words with my mind, so that I may instruct others also, than ten thousand words in (a) tongue.
The apostle’s concern with the use of the mind in worship service is given in the NIV in the phrase five intelligible words or literally five words with my mind. The literal translation indicates that the apostle prefers to offer a relatively small but indefinite number of words using his mind than speaking in tongues on a large scale. The idea of relatively small number of words is conveyed with the word “five.” The number “five” is a round number for a small quantity used throughout the Scripture. It was used for a sum of numerically insignificant number of people within a large population as, for example, when Abraham reduced severally the number of people that he used in his plea for the Lord not to destroy Sodom as we read in Genesis 18:23–28:
23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
It is the number “five” that is used in specifying the punishment of a person who steals another person's livestock in Exodus 22:1:
“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.
Interestingly, “five” is the number of stones David picked for his epic fight with Goliath as recorded in 1 Samuel 17:40:
Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
Five is the number used to describe the wise and foolish virgins in the parable of Ten virgins as we read in Matthew 25:2:
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
It is the number “five” that is used to describe the number of loaves of bread Jesus used in His miracle of feeding five thousand men according to Matthew 14:17:
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
Thus, the number “five” may be used to represent a small sum but insignificant number in a larger class of objects. However, when the apostle used it in 1 Corinthians 14:19, he used it to describe a few words that are definitely important. He does not mean that he would count the number of words he would use as it is to say that he would use fewer words using his mind than to speak voluminously using tongues.
Anyway, the apostle is concerned with brief communication of truth to believers using his mind than voluminous words spoken in tongues as in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 14:19 to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
The word “instruct” is translated from a Greek word (katēcheō) that may mean “to inform” as it is used by believers in the church in Jerusalem to narrate to Apostle Paul what has been said about him by the Jews that are hostile to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ as we read in Acts 21:21:
They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:19, the word has the sense of “to teach,” that is, to verbally instruct someone. Thus, the apostle preferred to teach with his mind than voluminous words spoken in tongues as reflected in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 14:19 to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
The concept of voluminous words in speaking in tongues is given in the phrase ten thousand words. The expression “ten thousand” is translated from a Greek word (myrios) that in classical Greek is used with reference to size and so means “measureless, immense, infinite,” but in the NT Greek, it is used hyperbolically for incalculably large number hence means “countless, innumerable.” The Greek word is used only by Apostle Paul twice in the NT; our present passage and in a passage where Apostle Paul used the word to indicate countless number of those he described with the phrase guardians in Christ in 1 Corinthians 4:15:
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:19 where it is associated with word, it may mean “ten thousand” but probably the apostle used it convey “countless” or “innumerable” words.
The word “words” in the phrase ten thousand words is translated from a Greek word (logos) that concerns communication of what is in a person’s mind so that it means “word.” However, it has several nuances. It may mean “message” as it is used to describe the response of those who heard the sermon Peter delivered on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:41:
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
The phrase his message is literally his word. The Greek word may mean “speech” as it is used to describe Moses by Stephen in his sermon, as recorded in Acts 7:22:
Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
The phrase powerful in speech is literally powerful in words. The Greek word may mean “statement”, as that is the sense of its usage in Luke’s record of the response of the elders of the Ephesian church to what Paul said to them in Acts 20:38:
What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
The phrase his statement is literally the word. The Greek word may mean “command” as it is used by Apostle Paul to quote from the OT Scripture about the summation of the law in Galatians 5:14:
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The phrase in a single command is literally in one word. The Greek word may mean “instruction” as it is used in what Apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians regarding his letter to them in 2 Thessalonians 3:14:
If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.
The phrase our instruction is literally our word. It may mean “preaching” when it is used with the Greek word that means “teaching”, as it is used in 1 Timothy 5:17:
The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
The clause those whose work is preaching and teaching is literally those laboring in word and teaching. The Greek word may mean “reason, ground, motive” as the word is used to encourage believers to be able to defend what they believe in 1 Peter 3:15:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
The phrase the reason for the hope is literally the word for the hope. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 14:19, the Greek word is used in the sense of “word,” that is “a unit of language that native speakers can identify.” Of course, because the word is associated with tongue the apostle implies that the language would be unknown by those who are gathered to worship. Therefore, no matter how voluminous his utterances in tongues were, they would be of no value to the audience. It is for this reason that he prefers to use fewer words that involve his mind than tongues when he teaches those assembled for worship. With this we conclude the apostle’s reasons for preferring to use the mind in worship than to speak in tongues that no one understands. We end by reminding you of the message of this section that we have expounded, which is: Worship activities in a local church are more beneficial if done with words the mind can grasp than in spiritual ecstasy that involves speaking in tongues.
02/10//23