Order in the church. 1Corinthians 14:26-40 Decent and orderly worship and testimony when God’s people come together follows a pattern that is not confusing in order to be edifying to those who are there. Two, or three at the most, are to speak through an interpreter. If there is no one to interpret, that person is to be silent. Anyone who speaks must speak one at a time.
Messages that are given are to be evaluated in the light of the scriptures of truth. There was not to be more than one speaking at a time so the hearers could understand what was being said without being distracted. A true prophet controls himself and waits for his turn to speak in order to avoid confusion. In that way, the time together in worship, learning, and testimony will be peaceful.
The public gatherings of God's people as a church at Corinth were not being carried out in a way that was edifying to the body of believers. They had to be reminded that when speaking publicly, a participant was to help the saints to mature in Christ and so they always needed to understand what was being taught. Edification was the objective. An understanding was necessary to reach that objective. To promote understanding there had to be an order in the meetings. In Corinth, the saints had no Bible, at least no New Testament. So, instructions were given by Paul as to how a meeting was to be conducted to the benefit of all. The use of gifts has never been for the purpose of pleasing ourselves or hearing ourselves speak with a sense of accomplishment and pride. Gifts and their use are to be for the benefit of others.
When one thinks his contribution to a meeting is more important than others, he becomes impatient and does not wait and listen with interest courteously until the other person finished what he has been given to say. On the other hand, if one speaking goes on and on thinking his message is of greater value than others, that too is disorderly and discourteous. One may have a scripture passage to read, another may have some exhortation to give, and still, another may have a hymn for the congregation to sing. If all of these contributions come at once and each wants what he has to give to be done first, there is disorder, disgust, and chaos. The teaching of the orderly conduct of a meeting is the same today as when Paul first gave it.
Speaking is to be done one person at a time in an orderly courteous fashion. If the one speaking is using a different language, there must be an interpreter. Three speakers at any one meeting were the limit. A message was evaluated by those who were mature and responsible to determine if it was the Word of God, not just a person's opinion. Today we have all the scriptures to test the message by. When the Holy Spirit leads there will be order and each one speaking will be considerate of others. He will control his own voice and the way he presents the truth God has given him will be appropriate.
Not only is a meeting of the assembly to be orderly and conducted courteously, but what is spoken must be scriptural. When a word from God is passed on, it must be given relevantly and, of particular concern, scripturally. The practice of comparing scripture with scripture is important when determining whether women are to speak in some meetings and not in others. There are ways for gifts to be used that are not audible or available for all. As far as the silence in teaching and preaching, instructions in 1st Timothy 2 when compared with 1st Corinthians 11 and 14, give a clear understanding of how meetings are to be conducted, who the participants are to be, and the orderly way things are to be done.
There were in Corinth, and there are in places today, those who claim to have new revelations from God that they think are as authentic as that which we have in the canon of scripture. "The commandments of God" are not to be taken lightly. What we have in the Word of God has been given by the Holy Spirit and tried and proven by the people of God since the early days of the Church age. The powers of darkness have tried, and still are trying, to introduce their demonic doctrines into local assemblies to hinder and stop the work of God. We accept apostolic authority. We accept the canon of scripture as it is because it has effectively worked in all parts of the world. We base our teaching on what has been given to us in the Bible and reject that which breaks a biblical fellowship. If some choose to ignore that which is given by authority from God at the beginning of the Church, the result will be he made the choice to be ignored by others himself.
The guidelines to follow in any gathering of the saints are the commandments of the Lord. Those who do not want to follow those orderly instructions from the word of God, do not have spiritual insight. Those who argue against the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit should be ignored.
The review Paul gives of his teaching regarding the public gatherings of the assembly in the last two verses is concise. Edify the saints in words they can understand. Maintain order in a respectful and profitable way. Silence is not evidence of disapproval but of spiritual order. We must remain committed to church life that brings glory to God, spiritual growth and maturity to the saints, and the blessing of salvation to the lost around us.
Evidence of order can be seen wherever we see signs of the hand of God. There is order in the atoms, the order in creation, and even in the stars scattered throughout the universe. It does make good sense that there is order in the church where believers meet. Otherwise, we would have to stop and repeat the early lessons we learned.
The gifts God has given are valuable to all, though each one is unique. There is no reason to feel superior or ignored when we use our gift. In a scriptural assembly, there is room to use what God Himself placed there because the Spirit of God makes each one fit with the others in an orderly fashion when we share what God gave to us. Pride quickly negates the value of a gift when used for self-exaltation. Order replaced chaos at the beginning when God made an orderly creation and that same order characterizes everything God does. A biblical church is a work of God's grace and fulfills the purpose He had when He made the choice to dwell in our midst, and His presence makes us all glad.
There is the danger when we do things our way, of creating a lot of confusion. Careless behavior controlled by human nature gives only a false illusion of what life is supposed to be in a church of God where the Spirit of God leads in an orderly way. By His gracious guidance and the spiritual gifts He supplied, He knows how to meet our needs. By maintaining order and the gifts being used to edify the Lord’s people, the assembly becomes what God intends. Understanding is given, when God sends a foreign-speaking servant, that by interpretation, even though his language is different, doing things God's way blesses all who hear. So, we yield to God's Word and truth prevails when together we draw near to Him.