1 Corinthians 14:26-40

Orderly Worship
26What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

36Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.

39Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.



Dig Deeper
When I was about twelve years old, I happened upon 1 Corinthians 14:34 quite by accident. I attended a private Christian school and had become bored during a chapel service, so I began paging through the Bible for something to do. Once I discovered this verse it quickly became my favorite in the whole Bible. I certainly quoted to every girl I saw, and since we attended school in a church building, I often pointed out the fact that I believed girls should not talk in our school so as not to violate this verse. Is this what Paul intended, though, in his discussion on order in the worship service? Did Paul wish to give the directive that women should not speak in church or was I taking this verse out of context?

We must remember that the issue being dealt with here is proper order in worship. Paul wants the Corinthians to apply genuine love to the occasion of their corporate worship so that everyone who attends can be built up and edified. The Corinthian worship service had spiraled into chaotic displays of self-aggrandizement. What Paul addresses, then, must be understood as him dealing with specific issues to the Corinthians. This means two things for us. First, we must work hard to pull out the universal principles of what Paul is saying, without holding woodenly to instructions that were meant to deal with specific situations and were not meant for us. Second, we do not know the entire situation that led to Paul’s words. This means that at times we are left to speculate and recreate the best we can (for other examples, see 1 Cor. 5:1-5, 9-11; 15:29; 2 Cor. 2:5-11; 11:12-15; 12:7-8; Gal. 5:11-12; Phil. 3:2; Phlm. 18), but we have to admit that, at times, we simply do not know the exact situation which makes certain interpretations difficult, if not unlikely.

Paul’s instructions concerning the number and nature of those who speak in tongues is quite clear and should have brought a great deal of order and sanity to that topic. He also wanted to limit the number of speakers that gave prophecies. Once they had given their prophecy, others are told to carefully weigh what they have said. This might be the same thing as the gift of discernment (12:10) which indicates that there was no guarantee that those who had the gift of prophecy also had the gift of discernment. This makes it seem likely that the prophets were not the best persons to evaluate the messages of one another (this can still be true today where often the average church member is better able to determine how well the speaker has communicated his message rather than other preachers who can get absorbed with technique or the finer points of theology). Verse 30 seems to indicate that some prophecy is to be recognized as more urgent and given preference to other, more prepared prophecy. Through it all, order should reign and the prophets need to remember that they are, ultimately, in control of their own spirit of prophecy. Order is important because God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

We can certainly take to heart the principles of order in worship in passages like this, but we should be careful to not insist that we somehow restore church worship services back to this exact model. This passage is not intended to serve as a blueprint or model for Christian worship not can it function in that way. It was written to deal with specific issues in the Corinthian church during a unique time in the church’s history. Trying to duplicate the order of worship and utilize the specific gifts like prophecy that they had during this unique time, would be a mistake and would be to take this passage outside the realm of its intention and its purpose for us which is to guide us towards the principle of orderly worship that puts the interests of the body ahead of our own individual interests.

This leads us into verses 34-35. There are numerous proposed understandings of these verses. Is this a universal command to be followed literally in all churches? That seems impossible, because it would clearly contradict the right for women to speak in the important roles of public prayer and prophecy in 11:5. [Also, J.M. Bassler, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, asks some pointed questions, “How can women like Euodia and Syntache (Phil. 4:2-3), Prisca (Rom. 16:3; 1 Cor. 16:19), Mary (Rom. 16:6), Junia (Rom. 16:7), and Tryphaena and Tryphosa (Rom. 16:12) function as co-workers in the churches if they cannot speak in those churches? How can Phoebe fulfill the role of deacon (Rom. 16:1-2) if she cannot speak out in the assembly? (note that most translations change the word describing Phoebe to “servant” but it is the same word that is usually translated “deacon” in this context)”] There are, as stated, many possible ways to interpret these verses and nearly each commentator has their own particular spin on it.

There are two, however, that seem the most likely and the most in line with both the cultural situation at the time in Corinth as well as Paul’s line of reasoning. The first has to do with the seating arrangement of men and women in this culture. Men and women would have likely been seated separately, including husbands and wives. To add to this situation in Corinth, most of the women were under-educated and would have spoken local dialects rather than the formal Greek that was most likely used during worship. In the atmosphere of chaos and noise, it is possible that the women were starting to call across the aisle to their husbands to ask questions. This may also have been encouraged by the practice of prophesying at the oracle at Delphi nearby, where prophecies were given in response to questions, including questions about purely personal matters. Thus, the women are told to keep silent in this situation and ask questions of their husbands when they get home. The second possibility is that Paul is continuing the instructions on carefully weighing the interpretation of prophecy. In this important and authoritative matter, the women should follow the law of the created order and submit, waiting quietly. If they had questions about the discernment process, they could respectfully ask their husbands when they got home. In my estimation, the former explanation seems more likely than the latter. In any case, Paul goes on to remind them that they are part of a large body of Christ and shouldn’t be doing things that lead to disorder, especially when it doesn’t match up with what the other churches all practice. The body of Christ should seek, whenever possible, to unify not only within the local congregation but also with other congregations of believers.

Paul brings this argument to a close and is careful to warn them not to forbid speaking in tongues, something that might have been tempting after reading this passage. Paul’s intention was not to squash any spiritual gifts, only to organize the worship service and ensure that gifts were being used in an appropriate manner.


Devotional Thought
Paul obviously saw order and planning in worship as extremely important (although, certainly one can go too far in that direction). When you play a role in the corporate worship do you do it haphazardly or do you put careful, thought, effort, and planning into your part? What doe sit say about your esteem for God or for fellow believers if you are asked to lead some aspect of the worship service and you don’t prayerfully prepare and take seriously the task you have been given?