Follow after Charity and Prophesy 1 Corinthians 14:1

As Paul the apostle continued to share with the church members in Corinth about “love” he declared, “now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity”, and in chapter fourteen and verse one of First Corinthians, Paul exhorts the Corinthian church members to, “follow after charity” and “prophesy”, where we read:

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

The verse begins, “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts,”. Paul began with the words, “follow” which means “run swiftly in order to catch, pursue, press into, seek after eagerly and earnestly endeavor to acquire” “ after charity” which is the Greek word “agapē” and means “affection, good will, love, benevolence and unconditional brotherly love ”, “and desire” which means “burn with zeal for, earnestly pursue and strive after” “spiritual gifts” or “spirituals” which are “those gifts which belong to the Divine Spirit of God”. Paul encouraged the church members to “long for and pursue” not only “charity” or the “God kind of love”, but also “spiritual gifts” which are used in the church.

The verse goes on to say, “but rather that you may prophesy.” Paul continued with the word, “but” which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be written takes precedence over what was just stated “rather” or “more, to a greater degree, by far and more willingly, readily and sooner” “that you” which refers to “that the church members” “may prophesy” or “to speak forth by divine inspirations with the idea of foretelling future events pertaining especially to the kingdom of God, utter forth and declare a thing which can only be known by divine revelation or break forth under sudden impulse in lofty discourse or praise of the divine counsels”. Though Paul desired for the church members to “pursue spiritual gifts”, his preference was for them to “prophesy”.

When we meditate upon these words from Paul, we notice at least three things he is attempting to convey. First, the church members were to “long for and pursue” the God kind of “charity” or “love” about which he just wrote. Second, they were to “long for and pursue” “spiritual gifts” which we learned were distributed by the Holy Spirit. Finally, Paul desired for the church members to “long for and pursue” the “gift of prophesy” whereby the church members themselves would be blessed. Jesus Christ desires for His church to be “built up” or “edified” with the “spiritual gifts” and “love”, and as we consider these instructions from Paul, let us also align with what the Lord has in mind for His church.

Next time Paul tells the church members, “he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God”, 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.