1 Corinthians 14. We'll return perhaps, Lord willing, for the last time in this study anyway. 1 Corinthians 14, having studied the primary purpose of spiritual gifts, is building up of the Church. The edification uses a real fancy term that's here in the text, of course. Edify means to build up, and so we want to build up one another in the Most Holy Faith using our spiritual gifts, whatever they might be, as we've looked in the last couple chapters, various lists and so forth. But we find that Paul is wrapping up this whole argument of orderliness, a sense of purpose and decorum even in the church meetings, and not an individualized worship where we have certain people over here doing their thing, and certain people over here doing their thing, and other people doing their thing, and some people are just sitting in the back saying, you know, old grumpy puss or whatever out in the back seat just looking disgustingly upon people. We don't want that to happen in these assemblies. That's what was happening in the Corinthian church back 2,000 years ago, and it was a problem. There was the particular problem, as Paul is addressed to here, of speaking in tongues, which he says, that's great. I speak in tongues more than everybody, but In the assembly, in the church meeting, it needs to be translated. It needs to have a proper intelligibility or understandingness for other people to be benefited by. It's not enough for you just to speak in tongues yourself, but to have that as a blessing, as a benefit to others. A very close corollary to that is the use of prophecy in that New Testament time period. In which case, Paul says, yes, we want that prophecy. That is what is particularly useful for building up the communication of truth in intelligible speech, words that we can understand. And so he wraps up with some comments here at the end of chapter 14. with specific instruction regarding the use of tongues, regarding prophecy. Now, I mentioned as a parenthesis, I understand tongues and prophecy having been particular gifts in the life of the Church in that first century time period, in which we shouldn't expect those gifts to be active now. I've developed that idea before. I think those gifts will be active again in the future, at least prophecy will be again. We read, as we have before, Joel 2, which was also used in Acts 2, Peter explaining what was going on at the Pentecost time period. Young men and young women even will prophesy. Peter says this is a taste of that, there's more of that coming in the future, and so we look forward to that time in the future. But right now there is a sufficient revelation that we have, the scriptures that we regard as God's Word, as recorded to us through Old Testament prophets, through New Testament prophets, through the Apostles, and that is our 2 Peter 1 says, our more sure word, that we do well to pay attention to. And so we want to do that. Even we have the experience in our assembly of reading various scripture readings, scripture passages from the Old Testament, from the New Testament, and another opening scripture reading, and even a closing benediction. Why? Because we want to have a full presentation of God's word from a sampling from Old Testament, New Testament, and other parts as well, to hear God's word on a variety of matters. Well, in this text, we begin at verse 26, and I'm just going to give you an overview of what we'll look at, and then we'll look at it here carefully, is that we have a beginning and opening exhortation. that Paul gives to the church and just telling him, hey, this is the big idea and what we're about. And then he gives some specific instructions regarding tongues. Tongues in the assembly, in the use of the church meeting, must be translated. And he gives some conditions and some other provisions for that if it can't be translated for any reason. He gives instructions regarding prophecy. Prophecy must be judged. or evaluated, or examined. Don't just receive from other people. It needs to be examined, and we'll look at what that might mean. He has this wonderful saying, and I say wonderful because you're going to say, what in the world is he saying this about? Women must keep silent. Okay, verses 34 and 35, we'll look at that, and what does he mean by that, and how do they do that, and so forth. Then there's an apostolic correction, because again, the conflict between the Corinthian church and Paul, as the founding apostle for that church, there had been a growing rift between not on Paul's part by any means, but by some in the Corinthian church that said, no, Paul's not really a true apostle. He's not really a spiritual person. He's not really somebody that we should pay attention to anymore. I mean, he did fine for what he did for getting us started, but we have become more mature than Paul. And so Paul says, oh, really? Let me just evaluate that a little bit. Then he has a conclusion here at the end of verse 39 and 40. I'm not going to read the whole passage at the start. We'll just look at it as we go along, and we'll see how he develops his argument, really concludes his argument. He says what? What's the outcome? What is the result of all this conversation he's had about spiritual gifts, and the proper use of it, and the use of tongues, and the necessity of maturity in your thinking? He says, what is the outcome? How does the rubber meet the road, as it were? And so he says, when you assemble, or whenever you assemble, here in verse 26, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has a translation. Now, he is not giving, I don't believe, an order of the assembly, that you start with a psalm, then you have a teaching, then a revelation, then a tongue. So I don't think he's giving an order, he's just saying, these are some of the examples, this is some of the activity that is done in the life of the church, and that's fine insofar as it goes, but when you have each one doing it, each one who comes... Now think of it this way, though. We don't come to the church meeting for certain, you know, two or three or four or five people to do all the work, and you just come and we're our observers in this. No, that's not what he's... that's not any... we shouldn't think of that. We shouldn't think, that it's just a few that do the work of the ministry, and therefore I can relax. But he's saying when we come with our different giftedness, when we gather together as a church, and we have a burden to share, to serve, to do whatever it might be, it needs to be done, as he says here, for edification, for the building up of each other, not the building up yourself, not for patting yourself on the back saying, I'm really a fine fellow or lady or young person. I am here to serve. I'm here to think, how can I meet the needs of others? How can I discern the needs of others? Because everybody has needs. It's not like we are common, we're all self-sufficient, and we've got it all together and everything. We have needs just kind of sometimes oozing out of our being and are so obvious. And other times we keep the cards close to our vest and we kind of hide between them because we don't want to become or present ourselves as vulnerable or needy or anything. But we are. We are just need. But we can supply, we can be God's provision for that. So we want to use our giftedness for edification, not for self-edification. He mentioned that at the beginning of the chapter, using tongues between you and God. You can edify yourself in that way, but that's not the purpose. When we gather together, it's for the other person. It's for each other. So this exhortation is opening here. Whenever you do assemble, it's great. If you have a psalm, and that can be the idea of reading a psalm or singing even. This word psalm, it's actually the Greek word for song, but even the act of singing it is useful here. So that's why we give attention to singing. We give attention to teaching. We give attention to Revelation now, in that first century time period, Revelation was revealing something new by the Holy Spirit, something that was additional to our scripture text that would be revealed or unveiled, not a mystery any longer, it's revealed to us now. And then, of course, the tongue, speaking in a language, and then the translation or the interpretation of that tongue. He says those two need to go together. You don't just have a tongue and not having a translation. It has to be translated. So now he gives, in verse 27, these instructions regarding tongues. Tongues, again, must be translated. And he says, if anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must translate. So notice he gives three conditions here. If anyone is speaking in a tongue and expects it to happen in that first century time period. And again, remember, the teaching regarding speaking in tongues, we see the activity of it in Acts chapter 2 and several different times throughout Acts as the gospel is going forward into the next expansion as the gospel is going forward according to Acts 1.8. But the teaching regarding tongues is really only here in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. And so we don't see it afterwards in the you know, taught about in the scripture, or even acted about in the scripture record. But in that first century time period, if anyone's speaking in tongue, two or at most three. We don't need a whole lot of this, because why, tongues can edify, but prophecy edifies so much more. And he'll get to that here in just a moment. But two, or maybe at most three, and each in turn. In other words, not talking over each other. Not talking at the same time. And you look at some experiences, maybe in some modern churches that practice speaking in tongues, And even these first two criteria or restrictions or regulations regarding the use of tongues, they don't follow that at all. Everybody's speaking at the same time. And who's translating? There's not a translation, typically. There's not an interpretation of what's going on. So two or at most three, each in turn, in other words, one at a time kind of thing, and there has to be a translation. And the question may come, how does one translate? How do you know when somebody's gonna be speaking in Mandarin or Tagalog or some language that you don't even know? Well, if God provides that language production, he can also provide the interpretation of it. It's not like he's limited. God is not limited in that. The Holy Spirit can do whatever. It's not like, oh, we don't have any Tagalog speakers here, so can you just hold? No, if God wants that message to be communicated, he's gonna provide a translator. Because do all speak in tongues? No. Do all translate? No, but some do. And that was what God had provided for that church in that time. And so he gives these instructions that, again, tongues must be translated, a few will speak, and it must be followed by an interpreter or translator. But, in verse 28, if you don't have a translator, an interpreter, he must keep silent in the church, let him speak to himself and to God. But wait a minute, I have this burning in my soul, I've got to get this message out. Hey, if there's not somebody to translate, sit down. Keep that, you pray to the Lord, you speak to yourself and to God. You think, well, is that even permissible? Yeah, that's what he said earlier in chapter 14. Verse two, for one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands if there's not a translator. In his spirit, he speaks mysteries. And so, yeah, you can have that practice, but if there's not somebody to translate, then you keep silent. This word, keep silent, is used at least three times in this text, the last of which has a relation to women, keeping silent. And it's not something that is, you just don't talk at all, it is almost like You were about to speak, but then you remembered, wait a minute, there's no translator, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm going to stop talking and allow somebody else to work or serve in that way. Again, we're talking about in the assembly, in the church meeting, because it's so important to have, again, that goal of edification. My message, my ministry, my service, my countenance even has to be or must be purposed to be a blessing to others. The way that we interact, the way that we conduct ourselves, the kind of questions we ask, the kind of answers we provide are intended to edify, to build up one another in the most holy faith. If there's not a translator, Paul says, just keep it to yourself and God, speak to God. And even the thing is, I don't know what I'm saying. Remember he said, I can pray with my spirit, but my mind is unfruitful in that regard. But there is that fellowship that they can enjoy, the tongues speaker that they enjoyed at that time. He transitions to instructions regarding prophets. Let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. Again, that encouragement about the appropriateness of it, speaking, prophets speaking and providing that word from the Lord that he is so interested in giving revelation, giving instruction, new instruction for the benefit of the church. And sometimes it has to do with future events. Think of Agabus who proclaimed a famine that came upon the in Judea, in Acts 11, and other prophets that would speak, you know, this is gonna happen again, or just thus says the Lord kind of thing. This is what the Lord says, repent and be saved, and that kind of thing. So let two or three prophets speak, and then let the others pass judgment. What's interesting about that other phrase, well, the phrase the others is, okay, we're talking about the other prophets. Is it just the prophets need to evaluate each other? This passing judgment is evaluating or examining the speech. If Paul meant to say the other prophets, he would have made that language just a little bit different. This is talking about other people, not so much in the same category, and I don't want to belabor this point, but just to show you, hey, God uses very specific language in the text. When Paul uses a similar phrase talking about the other apostles, there in chapter 9 and verse 5, he says, You know, I have that right too, don't I, to take along a wife just as the rest of the apostles? Here it seems it's not the rest of the prophets, it's the other people in the congregation. In other words, each one has the responsibility for discernment, for not questioning and critiquing and passing judgment about the manner in which the prophets spoke or the word order, but evaluating the doctrine that is being spoken against the scripture. Remember the Thessalonians that Paul, or Luke I guess, records the fact that they heard, they listened to what Paul was teaching, but they examined the scriptures daily. to see if these things were so. They measured very carefully whether even what Paul was preaching as an apostle. They said, well, OK, thank you, Brother Paul. And they went to the scriptures. They didn't turn to Acts and Luke and Romans and 1st and 2nd Peter, because they weren't written yet. They turned to the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament. examined is this is it what he preaches that consistent with what Isaiah taught or Moses taught or David taught is it consistent that work in that regard is it something that we can receive then as the Lord's message or is it something that we need to leave out of our congregation life and even to expose that, to confront it or refute that, that's false doctrine, that's not right. That's not consistent with the teaching of scripture, that's not consistent with the teaching of our Lord Jesus as he ministered God's word. It's not consistent even with the interpretation that Christ offered for some of the Old Testament, again, our Old Testament passages. Paul, what you're saying doesn't line up with what Peter said or John, we've heard these different people. And so evaluating that message, the implication or the result of that teaching ought to lead to love, not just knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And so does that message that the prophets speak, does it lead to love? Does it lead to us serving one another? Does it place an obstacle in front of other people? You just said that, but that means you've just made a stumbling block in the sight of other people. And so we can evaluate a lot of different regards. He says, let the others pass judgment. Again, not in a critical spirit, but definitely in an examining spirit. So much of our present-day church, whether in America or around the world, lacks this part where, not a prophet so much, but somebody who's taking the mantle of a prophet and reading from the scripture, or maybe loosely reading, alluding to some portions of what the Bible says, but they don't really quote the scripture, and the people just eat that up. It's like 2 Timothy chapter four. People love teachers who will tickle their ears and lead them into new and exciting truths. Wait a minute. Is that truth consistent with the revealed Word of God? Is that something that measures up to the Scripture? Or is it something that leads us astray, leads us just kind of in a parallel path? But a parallel path from the Scripture is not. If it's not Scripture itself, it's not a parallel path. It may start that way, but it veers quite readily into error and deception and heresy. And so please be careful. Discernment is what Paul is calling us to practice here with whatever is being taught. Christian radio, if people listen to Christian radio, podcasts, Conference speaking, measure it according to what the scripture says. Let the others discern, evaluate this whole teaching because it's the teaching that influences our behavior, right? Teaching leads to right behavior, and wrong teaching leads to wrong behavior, and we want to be as much pleasing to the Lord as possible. Well, he says, a further requirement for, if a revelation is made to another who's seated, the first must keep silent, verse 30. And so you think, well, that's kind of odd, isn't it? If a revelation is made to another who is seated, so it kind of assumes that whoever's speaking, the prophet who's speaking, is standing up, whether behind a desk like this, pulpit or whatever, is standing up and addressing the people, which is interesting because you remember like in Matthew chapter five, when Jesus sat down, this is a sermon on the mount, when he sat down to teach, and his disciples came around and began to preach the Sermon on the Mount. But here, it seems like they are standing. And either way you want to do it, it's fine. You're communicating God's Word, hopefully. That's what the prophets are doing. But this is interesting, that if a revelation is made to somebody else while the first one is already speaking, then that first one needs to sit down. Why would that be? don't know God said it and so let's just do it but it seems like that there is a certain maybe freshness is the word that needs to be used in this regard for the prophets that there is there is a who's in charge here so Holy Spirit who's in charge and if the Holy Spirit has given a new word right a revelation is made to somebody else who's not speaking right now then the Holy Spirit wants that that person to bring that message forward. And so the first must keep silent. Wait a minute, this prophet's right in the middle of a great thing and you've got another message? Well, let me finish. No, you get down and you sit down. It's interesting because he's gonna say here in just a moment that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. In other words, this isn't just off-the-cuff or emotional or ecstatic thing that you don't have any control over yourself. No, there's so much control over yourself. There needs to be. Even with tongues, you can't just speak in tongues and start spouting gibberish. There must be a translator. if prophecy is going on and somebody else has a message to share, then I can sit down and I can give place to this other person. Why? Because I'm not in charge here. The Holy Spirit is in charge and He is the one directing all these different things. We want to give proper honor. Again, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives the gifts and even the Lord. First Corinthians 12 verse 3, the Varieties of gifts are from the same spirit. The variety of ministries are from the same Lord. And the varieties of effects or outcomes or results of ministry is from the same God. And so we want to recognize God is in charge here. And so we'll honor his orderliness and direction in the life of the church. He says in verse 31, you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all may be exhorted. This is, again, the self-control that people have and the intentionality. It's not just for myself so that I can become the greatest prophet that ever lived. Now, I am just a mouthpiece of God's message and I want to give it so that all may learn and all may be exhorted. That's the goal. That's the instruction that we offer. And so we want people to learn. We want people to understand better. of the Lord and His Word. We want each one to have that assurance that what they do understand is right, it is appropriate to Scripture, it is consistent with Genesis through, as we have it, Revelation. And so we want them to grow in their understanding. We want, as Peter says, 2 Peter 3.18, to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want that for each one. to learn, to be exhorted, which means there's both a comforting aspect to this word, encouraging aspect, but there's also maybe a little more forceful, getting in your face in a kind and sweet way, but encouraging, exhorting one another, provoking one another on, as Hebrews 10 says, provoking one another on toward love and good deeds, which we do in the assembly. spur one another on in that regard. So our goal again in our speaking and use of our gifts is for learning, growing, maturing, and exhortation. We have truth that is life-changing. It is powerful. And we don't want to hide it. We don't want to apologize for it and say, well, God really didn't know what he was saying, or Paul certainly didn't know. Give the guy a little break, because he has a lot of pressure and stress. He's got all the care of these. And he just flew off the handle. No, if it's in the scriptures, we can take it to the bank, the eternal bank, that is, and trust it entirely. And so we do want to be bold. in proclaiming, maintaining, offering, presenting, teaching the scripture in the church, in the home, in the streets, in the stores, in the whatever situations we are. We want people to know God's Word and to grow thereby. He says here in verse 32 and 33 that the, as I mentioned, the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. There's control, there's self-control. Yes, the spirit is active, but we can, not in a quenching way, not in a, you know, putting a stop on the spirit, but we have self-control that we can speak or not speak, we can have discernment, we can know what is appropriate, and we can act appropriately in that regard. The spirits of prophets. and this is not the capital S Holy Spirit, this is the spirit, the inward, inner man of a prophet. is subject to the prophet. In other words, I don't have a reason to say, well, the spirit made me do it or whatever made me do it. No, you have a responsibility here. You have a control over your own self. You can't just say, well, I said that, but I didn't really mean it. Well, where'd it come from then? Jesus said, whatever comes out of our mouth, it comes from our hearts. Well, that's kind of a harsh, harsh saying, Jesus. How dare you say that? I didn't mean to say it. Well, again, The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. Those who speak in any regard are speaking what is deeper than just the superficial. I lost my temper there for a second. Where'd that come from? And so we want to probe a little bit deeper. We want to recognize that all words belong to God. He is the one who designed language. He's a God of confusion in this sense. It says God is not a God of confusion, but in the sense of He brings confusion to the people. Genesis 11, He confused the languages. Why? Because the people were not acting submissively, humbly before the Lord. They directly disobeyed His command. But He wants us to act in a way that is not confusing, not confounding to people, not just overwhelming all this noise, all this activity. God is not a God of confusion. He is a God of peace. The confusion here is like that Tower of Babel when so many people went in different directions because they couldn't understand one another. Everybody was talking in a language and each one regarded as gibberish and just weird stuff. Even in the first century time period, the practice in these pagan temples was confusion. It was a madhouse in many regards, and you had all these things going on in various places, and people are not under control. There's just wild, wild things going on. And God says, no, that's not what I'm about. I'm not a God of confusion, but of peace. You think about what is appropriate as you come before the Lord and recognize He is He's not a god of confusion. In the last verse here, all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. Verse 40, you think God does like order. God does like a certain idea of expectability or predictability, that this is what he's about. He has a proper design and a purpose for each each element of his creation, and so we can rest in that knowledge. You think, in contrast, those who would go before a king or some leader who is not at all orderly, not at all given to peace, not at all given to righteousness or holiness, and I don't know where your mind went, but my mind went, and I can confess it, you can forgive me, Jobba the Hutt right Return of the Jedi and his menagerie of just wicked people in the corner doing all manner of nasty things because that was consistent with who Jobba is he's just a scoundrel rascal and you'd expect people to worship in that regard, the horrible, horrible situation. God is not like that. Oh, how different. And we have some pictures of it. We've seen it in Daniel, we've seen it in Isaiah, we've seen it in Revelation, beautiful. The orderliness, the glory, the beauty, the holiness before a holy God, that should characterize our assemblies, not the haphazard, wild, ecstatic experiences like in the pagan temples, but what is right and good. God is a God of peace. And he says it this way, as in all the churches of the saints. Now, it's interesting how this last phrase, the next couple of verses are, there are a variety of, well, even translations, punctuation anyway, and understandings. What does Paul mean by this? Because this is the part where he says women must keep silent in the churches. Okay, what's this about? Is it in all the churches of the saints? Because again, the Corinthians were acting like they had a corner on the truth. They were a little bit better than the church in Jerusalem, or Antioch, or Lystra, or certainly in Derby. The Corinthian church, I mean, we are the Corinthian church. And so they were really, and Paul says, no, you aren't anything special, as in all the churches. This is how God expects his assemblies to be like. This is how he expects his people to act. You're not special just because you're the Corinthians, and we're the rich people, and the connected people. No, in all the churches of the saints, this is how God expects his church to be. Now, it's interesting, too, how this word church is used even here in chapter 14. Sometimes we understand it, well, in this regard, we would understand as individual congregations in terms of people, the number of people gathered together under the same roof or under the same leadership, you know, pastors, elders, overseers, or it can refer to the meeting of the church. So we are the church in church, as you can understand it that way, we're in church, we're in the church meeting. And so here, he seems to have the idea of the congregations of the saints, even not just in Corinth or not in the Greek world, but even in the, Jerusalem, a predominantly Jewish situation, or in Caesarea on the sea, where Peter preached to Cornelius, and there was a church planted there, evidently, and other places where this is just because God is the same wherever we happen to be, this is how he expects his people to act. Now the translation issue, or the punctuation issue, is Is there, and I don't want to get too technical here, but is there a period right after peace, and then does, as in all, does that start a new sentence? For example, in English Standard Version LSB, actually the Legacy Standard Bible has a marginal note that says there could be a period here, and then as in all the churches starts a new sentence. It's interesting the New American Standard had a period, and then the the 1995 edition put a comma here. Why does that matter? Because does this phrase have to do with verse 33 or does it introduce what he teaches here in verse 34? And what is he teaching here in verse 34 and 35? And some people would even say, even though the textual evidence really is scant, it's not that powerful to consider it, that these verses, verses 34 and 35, really should not appear. This isn't original to Paul. And there's some textual issues, and even some just the way that this argument is run. They say, well, that doesn't sound like Paul. Certainly somebody added this. Well, It's kind of like if I were to subtly, by night, come into all your houses and write these verses, the verses 34 and 35, in your Bibles, and then you come to church the next day and say, wow, I didn't realize that was there. I mean, that's impossible. I couldn't come to all y'all's church. I'm not a Santa Claus, right? He couldn't do it either. But these verses appear in the very earliest manuscripts, so it's not something that we should question. if it's whether it was in the original text. Some have it, again, at the end of verse 40, after verse 40. Some people say the argument flows better if you leave it out. I'm going to acknowledge this is what Paul has written, and we can understand it in a specific way. The women in church are to keep silent in the churches. which is to say in the congregations, yes, but also in the church meetings, for they're not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves just as the law also says. So this verse talks about women specifically. Why women specifically? Well, you remember we studied back in chapter 11, how there is a difference between men and women, and the way that we dress even ought to give testimony to that. It ought to give the proper honor to the distinction between what is male and what is female, even in terms of head coverings and other garments, that there is a difference. And make sure that you demonstrate that difference, not in a lewd or exposed kind of way, but in a way that honors God's wonderful creation, honoring the head of woman is the man, the head of man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God, and so we recognize that order. This does not indicate or suggest in any way that somehow there is an inferiority, that somehow the men are better than the women in terms of value or Identity even? No, we're made in the image of God, right? Are we not? And so we saw that back in chapter 11 too. We're made in the image of God, both male and female. But there is a distinction in role and in function in the life of the family and the life of the church as well. And so to recognize that, Paul teaches that women are to keep silent in the churches. And again, I mentioned that this phrase or this verb, keep silent, is mentioned a few other times about the tongues speaking If there's not a translator, keep silent. Or if somebody else has a prophecy and you're speaking, you keep silent. So it's like the idea that you stop talking and you listen to what other people are saying. We see this similar instruction in 1 Timothy chapter 2, where he tells us that women are not to teach or exercise authority over men, but to remain in silence. That's a different word there that has more This word here in 1st Corinthians 14 verse 34, and other verses there, has more of, you were talking, now just close your mouth and listen. Whereas in 1st Timothy chapter 2, and other places where that word is used, it has this idea, like in 1st Peter 3, a gentle and quiet spirit, the quietness aspect, the peaceful, restful, It's more than just keeping silent, stopping speaking. It is something that is an inner thing that exudes the quietness, the being willing to receive instruction. And he says, they're not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the law also says. And the question that so many people ask is, okay, what law is he... Where in scripture does it say that women are to keep silent? In the churches, especially when you consider You know, 1st Corinthians was written about 52 or so, AD 52, and not a lot of scripture had been written by that time. So when he says, this is what the law says, we've got to look to the Old Testament, our Old Testament, to see where is he talking about. Some people would go to Genesis chapter 3 and the the consequences of the curse that God pronounced upon the woman, particularly that your desire will be for your husband and he shall rule over you. Could be that. It could be, when you remember when Miriam challenged Moses, who is the prophet here, and Miriam was stricken with leprosy and all kinds of things and then eventually restored. And other examples, perhaps, of women particularly, the subjection, the quietness, the not speaking aspect of it, just as the law also says. When you look at 1 Timothy chapter 2, as Paul is speaking up of that restriction or that commandment there, He bases his argument in both Genesis 1 and 2, and in Genesis 3. In other words, God made them male and female, wonderful, equal before God, fully identifying with God, but Adam was made first. He makes that point, Paul does, in 1 Timothy 2. Adam was made first, and then Eve, and then he makes the point from Genesis 3, the man was not deceived, but the woman was. But that means, it's not a, not a pass for the man, the man disobeyed outright. The woman, she was deceived by the serpent and by her own heart that led her astray, but the woman, the man, excuse me, full well knew exactly what God said to do and he just disobeyed outright, you know, high-handed sin, Psalm 19. 12, is it, where he says, keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me. This presumptuous, high-handed sin, that's what Adam did. So it's not like he gets a pass. No, but there is an order of male and female, and there is that experience in human history of the woman being deceived and the man disobeying. So it could be that he's referring to here. He doesn't tell us. Some people say the law is not the law of Moses. It's maybe a Roman law. Well, Paul doesn't really do that. He doesn't really refer to a Roman law in this way. when he says, just as the law also says, he uses that phrase, just as the law says in a couple other places as well, and it has to do with, like in Romans 3, in verse 19, quoting from the Psalms in Isaiah, that every tongue is evil, and everybody's evil, and everybody has a problem, or Romans 7, 7, quoting the 10th commandment, you shall not covet, and other places where he has a specific scripture in mind. Here he just says, the law says it, and we should understand what he's talking about. The problem is, we're 2,000 years later. Which part of the law are you talking about, Paul, again? We don't know. But he's saying there's this issue, and they are to keep silent, and the churches are not permitted to speak. And you think, well, wait a minute. You just said, even in chapter 11, when a woman prophesies, she's supposed to cover her head. Well, when is she supposed to prophesy if she's not able to speak? Let me cut to the chase for sake of time and for argument's sake, and you can ask me questions later if you want. I think, and others would understand this way as well, this restriction on women speaking in the church is in relation to what he said in verse 29, there it is. Let two or three prophets speak and let the others pass judgment. It's that practice of passing judgment, I think, that he is restricting. Women are not to participate in that passing or evaluation of the truth that is speaking. It's not to say they aren't qualified or shouldn't or don't have the mental capacity to do it. He's just saying it's not proper. It is not at all appropriate. And part of the reason is, there are many reasons perhaps you can consider, but if the women rise up to lead, especially in the evaluation of truth, what are the men going to do? Do what men typically do, that is to become passive, even like Adam did in Genesis 3. They're going to let the women take the ascendancy. And they're going to, even as somebody made the point in a church that had Oh, I forget the numbers, for sake of argument. Four of their six elders in the church were women. And the guy that was saying this said, expected, yeah, within a year or two, the other two are gonna be women also. Why? Because the men want to defer to the women. They don't wanna be accused of being male chauvinist, or anything, so we're gonna give place. God says that's not appropriate. Men, you are to lead. You are to lead in discernment. You are to lead in teaching. You are to lead in the authoritative presentation of God's word. If you want to learn, and he doesn't say it in a negative derogatory way, he says if you want to learn, put the onus back on your husband. Go and if you want to learn, you ask your husband at home. That's the proper way for you to question. One of the other dynamics here is suppose a husband and wife are in the church and one has the spirit of prophecy and is prophesying, but the woman says, oh, that's not right. and she challenges him, that just upsets the, and it's not a defensive thing, it's God's design, it's not like we need to find fault with it, but it upsets the proper order, the proper roles that each man and woman, husband and wife, have in that family, and then have in the church. Whatever we do, we do it for edifying, we build up the other person. If there's truth to be challenged, A woman is challenging truth, you talk about that at home. And if your husband agrees with you, and if you have that confirmation in that regard, you bring it to the church, and you tell, and you challenge that. But there is a proper, I mean, even as he says at the end of verse 35, it is disgraceful. for a woman to speak in church in that way of passing judgment, of examining prophecy. Again, not that they can't do it, not that they don't have the mental capacity or anything. Women need to discern just as well because everybody can be deceived and be led into falsity and falsehood. We don't want to do that. If they desire to learn, and hopefully we all do, hopefully we all want to grow. And so he says, here's a proper means for this to happen. And interestingly enough, most of the churches met in homes. So wait a minute, how do I do that? We're in a home, but in your own home, when you go home with your husband and you can have that conversation there. Well, just to briefly wrap up this section, Paul comes right to it and says, you guys, you're just so full of yourselves. And he asked two questions, which essentially would start with, from you, and even you only? Well, you first. Is the Word of God from you first, and is it to you only? So he asks both ways. Is it all about you? Somehow you have the corner on the truth. Somehow you are the one who has a better understanding, a better application. You are the mature, you are the spiritual people. And he says no. Actually, chronologically, no, the Word of God did not come to you first. You're kind of Johnny-come-lately, as it might be, because the scriptures have been taught in Jerusalem for decades prior to the advancement of the gospel in Corinth, so it wasn't them first. And to speak about the Word of God, it is everything that God has revealed, everything that's spoken, but specifically the gospel. how we have that entrustment, that deposit given to us, that we have this reception of God's Word for each one of us. He says we, the Corinthians rather, should not regard themselves as, you know, we're the first ones to receive this Word, we're special in God's eyes, we've got a better, you know, we're more mature than the Antioch Church. No, actually the Antioch Church has got things in order better than you do, but Corinthians need to be humbled just a little bit. And he says, oh, has the scripture arrived to you only? Has it come to you and you have the sacred deposit and you kind of give little pieces out to other people as they may or may not come? That's not at anywhere close to the reality and So Paul challenges it. He says, look, is this so? Do you really think this about yourselves? Here's what. If anyone thinks himself, and he's used this phrase many other times in this letter for Squintians and other places, where if you've got this idea in your head, how did you come to have this thought? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, notice he focuses on the prophet aspect, because the prophet is the one who is the most equipped in his mindset, other than apostles, prophets, teachers, 1st, 2nd, 3rd orders, as he's mentioned in chapter 12. If you're a prophet, then you should resonate, you should agree with what I'm speaking, because I'm speaking the Lord's commandment. I'm writing, he says, I'm writing the Lord's commandment. So if you are a prophet, the Spirit recognizes the Spirit. If I have the Spirit speaking the Lord's commandment, you ought to, as a prophet, recognize that. And he says, if anybody thinks he's spiritual, which is another way of saying Spirit-gifted, mature, having arrived, having all the full fruits of the Spirit, Okay, if you think you're that way, then you should recognize that what I'm writing to you is in fact the Lord's commandment. It's not a suggestion. It's not my own ideas. I didn't come up with it while I was, you know, riding a horse between this and that new thing or, you know, in the ship or someplace. This is the Lord's commandment. I received it from the Lord himself. And so I'm not just making this up. I'm not making life difficult for you. This is God's design for you. And he says here in verse 38, if anyone remains ignorant, and it's not, a passive, they just didn't know, it is a willing, active, Paul, you're full of hot air, you don't know what you're talking about. If anyone remains willfully ignorant about this, about the things he's been speaking, he's ignored. By God, I didn't italicize that phrase, but by God is understood. In other words, you have this idea, as the people that come before the Lord in that day, Matthew 7, many will say to me in that day, the Lord, Lord, we did all this stuff, and He answers, I never knew you. I don't know you. If you don't recognize God's instruction, you don't obey God's instruction, He does not recognize you. You ignore Him, He's going to ignore you. And you think, well, that's not fair. No, it is just. we're talking about God. We're not just talking about somebody. This is God's own word as ministered through the Apostle Paul. And so don't become ignorant. Don't think, well, no, we're doing fine, and Paul, you've got it all wrong. No, it's you who sit under judgment, not Paul, not his words. And therefore, he says, verse 39, the conclusion, therefore, my brothers, again, the appeal, he's not trying to separate the apostle over those nasty, crazy Corinthian scoundrels. You're my brothers. You're my brothers in Christ. Come on. You guys are reasonable people. Listen to what I'm telling you. Earnestly desire to prophesy. Yes, that's what we want in that church. We want God's Word to be spoken. And do not forbid, do not stop, do not stand in the way of speaking in tongues as long as they are translated and other regulated by his instruction here. So don't, don't, you know, throw out the baby with the bathwater. Oh, so we're not to do any of these gifts. I don't know, Paul, we're just going to have a boring meeting or whatever. No, he says don't, no, earnestly desire to prophesy and don't stand in the way of those who speak in tongues, but all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. Properly is this kind of the contrast of what is shameful or disgusting or just things that are wild. He says, no, all things must be done properly in a godly, useful, pleasing to God kind of manner and in a proper order, which is not the disorderly, not everybody speaking at the same time, not everybody speaking their own thing and not having the goal to edify the other person. Always think about how can I minister to serve other people? So he ends this wonderful, instruction regarding the assembly. What does the church do when it assembles? You build up one another. You act in love. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. What can you do to serve other people? What can you do to honor the Lord in His Word? Because the Word of God is what changes our hearts. It is what brings that conviction, that contrition, that desire to grow and please Him even more in our lives. Minister the Word of God to one another. Our Father in heaven, we're so grateful for your truth and we pray that we would be your people with a desire to edify, to build up the church with the gifts that you've entrusted to us and even the resources that you've entrusted to us and the time that you've given to us. Please help us to be selfless, sacrificial servants of one another. Please help us to not be full of ourselves or full of our own agenda, but full of your agenda, and that is to build up edify one another. Please, by your grace, may that be true of this congregation. Please help us be so animated by your spirit that we would selflessly, even sacrificially, serve one another in love. Please help us, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.