Episode 211 - "Pursue love" 1 Corinthians 14:1-5

1Cor. 14:1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

In the four years I’ve been doing this blog/podcast, I don’t know if there was a chapter of Scripture I would like to skip more than this one. Why? Quite frankly, it’s difficult, and the bottom line is that I fear that I might possibly misrepresent the true meaning. In the complexity that I perceive, I want to dig in deeper and try to work through some of the issues, but I am short on time and energy to give it the attention I feel it deserves.

For example, one question is, “Is Paul saying that the gift of tongues is simply for a believer’s personal worship and edification, or is it for the greater body of Christ?” I think the answer is “yes.” (It’s for both.) I’ll explain that shortly. Let’s see if I can bring the focus to what is clear in Paul’s thought, and perhaps that will help us respect the tension in the details.

The focus and priority, I believe, are expressed in the first eight words, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.” (14:1a) In these opening words, we realize he’s not changing the subject or saying anything new. Love is the most important thing in the life of the believer. Both verbs translated as “pursue” and “desire” respectively are imperatives. They are commands. The most important thing in our life as a follower of Jesus is to demonstrate love toward others. Nothing that follows this command matters if we don’t “pursue love.”

With love toward others as our priority, Christians are to “earnestly desire” the spiritual gifts God wants to give to us and use in our lives and ministry to others. Paul now highlights one of the spiritual gifts. He instructs the Corinthians to especially desire to prophesy. After making the argument that one gift or one member of the body is not greater or lesser than another member of the body earlier in the letter, he is now going to suggest that prophesying is better. He’s already stated that the Spirit distributes the gifts as he wills. But now he’s telling the believers to desire the gifts and especially to prophesy. Why this apparent shift? The answer, I believe, lies in the context of his explanation which follows.

He starts to explain the difference in function between tongues and prophesying. He explains that the gift of tongues is for speaking to God. Paul appears to be describing a Holy Spirit-enabled act of worship that edifies the believer exercising that gift. On the other hand, “the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” (v 3b)

Ah! It seems that Paul’s point is that the God-designed nature of the gift of prophesying is to exercise love by spiritually building up and encouraging others in the faith by speaking God’s truth to them in their own language. Paul is prioritizing this gift because it is a more evident way to demonstrate the love that is so important for living out God’s mission for us.

It’s not until verse 5 that Paul gives us a caveat to this prioritization of prophesying over the gift of tongues. Paul explains that if someone is present who can interpret what is being said by the one speaking in tongues so that other believers present can understand what God is revealing through that person, then the same objective that the whole body of Christ benefits is met.

So, what is the big idea of this section? I would argue that the most important thing for each believer to understand is to seek how the gifts God gives them can be used to edify and encourage as many other believers around them as possible. Our priority is not to seek some ecstatic spiritual experience to excite ourselves or make us feel more important. Our priority is to love and bless others with what God does in our lives.