The Gifts Are Meant to Strengthen and Benefit the Life of the Church

All of 1 Corinthians chapter 14 is a detailed exploration of the importance of balance among the different considerations a church must keep in mind when it is moving in the exuberance and explosive power of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We see that the exuberance we have been talking about is on display at the beginning of chapter 14, where Paul says, “Pursue love,” linking it to the preceding chapter, chapter 13, where he speaks about the preeminence of love: “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts.” There is chapter 12, isn’t there? “I do not want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.” Then Paul says, “But above all, that you may prophesy,” and that takes us directly into chapter 14.

Why does Paul say that, above all—alongside the gifts and the importance of love—if we are going to use any gift or anything available to us in the Christian life, we should rather prophesy? Here we have to understand the complexity of the concept of prophecy.

Many of us Christians have the idea that prophecy is only when someone says, “My child, thus says the Lord,” and then goes into a prediction about the future or a direction supernaturally given by God concerning something completely hidden from the human mind, and so on. And the truth is that this is one aspect of prophecy, but it is not the only one.

Prophecy has many different aspects and complexities. We see throughout Scripture that to prophesy can also mean speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, yes, but it can simply be exhorting; it can be confronting a person with something from the Word of God; it can even have overtones of proclaiming biblical teaching inspired by God at a particular moment.

Prophecy is anything that comes from the Holy Spirit at a given moment for a particular person or group, has a very specific purpose, and is evidently directed by the Holy Spirit.

So we see something here: when Paul speaks of prophecy, of our prophesying, he means a communication from God to a church, in this case, that can be understood. This differs, for example, from speaking in tongues, where someone may speak in tongues—even angelic tongues—that no one around them can understand. Everyone is then left without an understanding of what is being said, although the person speaking in tongues is being spiritually edified because, evidently, the Spirit of God is flowing through him or her.

And that is why Paul says in chapter 14: “For the one who speaks in tongues does not speak to people, but to God, for no one understands him, although by the Spirit he speaks mysteries; but the one who prophesies speaks to people for their edification, exhortation, and consolation.”

Here we see some of the reasons why prophecy is important: it serves these dimensions of the Christian life when we need encouragement, when we need to be confronted, or when we need to be encouraged to seek God’s will for our lives.

So Paul is saying that these things, which benefit the people of God and are immediately accessible because they are spoken in a language people understand, are in one sense more important than things that do not edify people, even though they express mysterious things from the Holy Spirit.

Paul asks a rhetorical question in verse 6. He says, “Now then, brothers: if I come to you speaking in tongues, what benefit will I bring you if I do not speak to you with revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching?”

What matters most to me in all this is seeing that the apostle Paul’s concern is for things that strengthen and benefit the life of the church. He is not so concerned with whether they are sensational, spectacular, obviously supernatural manifestations. Rather, his concern is deeply pastoral and practical: What benefit does that manifestation bring to the church? And that invites us to consider that, in the church, we must seek above all what produces results, what edifies the people, what advances the things of God.

Churches are often more concerned with having noisy services, supposed manifestations of the Spirit, and a great deal of activity, with many people falling to the floor. We believe that because this happened, God’s purpose for the service has been fulfilled. But the question we must ask ourselves is: What result does it produce? What benefit and what good does it ultimately bring?

Many churches are immature because they glorify the gifts so much and do not pay enough attention to spiritual growth, effective evangelism, the organization of the church, the discipling of believers, and growth in the character of Jesus Christ. These things are just as important as the supposed supernatural manifestations. That is why Paul brings this up again and again.

In the church at Corinth, for example, there were many supernatural manifestations, but there was immorality and there were disputes among believers. And Paul says, What good are these things if you are divided among yourselves and are arguing, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Apollos,” and this and that?

So again and again we see this, don’t we? In congregational life, what matters most to the Holy Spirit is: What benefit are the spiritual manifestations bringing to the Kingdom of God or to the children of God? And that must be our number one consideration in determining how we manage the movement of the gifts in our congregations. We will continue this study later. May the Lord bless you.