1 Corinthians: Not in VainSample

Have you ever thought about what makes a good church service or meeting? Maybe the right blend of music, a friendly atmosphere or an engaging sermon? But what about us – what role do we have to play in a church service being effective and fruitful? 

In this passage the apostle Paul moves from making his specific contrast between tongues and prophecy (14:1–25) to a more general point about love being our driving motivation as we approach a church meeting. 

First off, we see that Paul expects everyone (‘each of you’, v. 26) to be seeking opportunities not just to receive or consume, but to contribute and serve. Here the goal is not about self-fulfilment, as if the church were some sort of community talent show, but rather it’s about being willing to use our gifts to build others up and strengthen the church. 

Secondly, love will mean we care about our church meetings being appropriately ordered. This might be surprising! We don’t instinctively associate love with good order! But God cares about order because the opposite of order is chaos. Just as God forms and fills an otherwise chaotic creation in Genesis 1 (and brings about peace), so a church meeting in his name should also be ordered, reflecting the God of peace. The various commands in this passage may seem quite precise, but essentially they’re out-workings of this general principle; ‘everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way’ (v. 40), which in turn is an outworking of love. 

We need to at least briefly touch on verses 33b–35, which inevitably stands out to our twenty-first century ears. Given that Paul has already approved of women praying and prophesying in a church meeting (11:5), our understanding is that he cannot be encouraging women never to speak. The immediate context is the weighing of prophesy (vv. 29–33a), inevitably an act of authority. For a woman to weigh a man’s prophesy seems to be out of keeping with how Paul understood the complementarity of the genders. Though he refers to ‘the law’ (v. 34), he doesn’t cite anything here. This probably means he’s picking up on his previous argument in 11:2–16, which alluded to Genesis 2 and the God-given difference between male and female.

Reflection

What might it look like for you to be willing to preserve good order within your church for the sake of everyone present? At times it may mean contributing, whether formally or informally, but at other times it may mean a willingness to keep quiet. 

Pray for the consideration and self-awareness that is inevitably needed.