Paul
the apostle told the church members in Corinth, “I
thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all:”,
and in chapter fourteen and verse nineteen
of First Corinthians, Paul declared why he, “had
rather speak five words with my understanding”
“in the church”, where
we read:
Yet in
the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
The
verse begins, “Yet
in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
...”. Paul
began with the word, “yet” or
“notwithstanding, nevertheless and rather” “in
the church”
or “within the assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a
religious meeting” “I had rather
speak”
which refers to “Paul willed, had in mind, intended, resolved,
determined and purposed” “five
words or
“five uttering by a living voice which embodies a conception or
idea” “with my understanding”
which means “containing Paul's mind comprising alike the faculties
of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging and
determining”. Paul considered “five
words”
spoken with his “understanding” to extremely valuable within the
church.
The verse goes on to
say, “... that
by my voice
I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown
tongue.” Paul
continued with the words, “that by my
voice I might teach others” which
is all the Greek word “katēcheō”
which means “so Paul could resound, fascinate, orally instruct and
inform by his voice”
“also”
or “even and indeed”, “than ten
thousand words”
or “rather than ten thousand uttering by Paul's living voice which
embodied a conception or idea” “in
an unknown tongue”
which refers to “with a language or dialect used by a particular
people distinct from that of other nations”. Paul's reason for
sharing his “words” was to instruct people within the church, and
he considered “five words” with
“understanding”
more valuable than “ten thousand”
that people could not comprehend.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we understand that although
he admitted “speaking in tongues” more than any of the
other church members, that “gift” was of no value “in
the church” without the people being able to “understand”
him. Paul desired to “teach” and “instruct” the church
members as Jesus Christ gave him charge, however, that would not be
possible if he spoke in a language they did not know. Jesus desires
for His church to be “edified”, and as we learn more of
the “vocal spiritual gifts”, let us keep in mind the
Lord's order for the use of them.
Next
time Paul tells the church members, “he
that speaks in an unknown
tongue edifies himself”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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