It is readily apparent that Paul's dissertation on "tongues" in this fourteenth chapter is presented from within the context of the community of believers and of concern for the kingdom of God, as the Spirit of God is at work and manifesting itself. Ultimately, grasping this sense of community, as it is related to the Lord's Supper and the problems being addressed in Corinth, is ever so crucial to our discerning the problems in Laodicea. For that reason, we continue here in the chapter, picking up at the twenty-sixth verse, in which we read “What should you do then, brothers and sisters?” (14:26a) Paul demonstrates his concern for the practical outworking of that which he has said to this point, so that the community of believers might effectively represent their King and kingdom, letting self-sacrifice and love have its way in determining the way in which the church will interact, fellowship, and present itself as it seeks to better understand its God.
Expounding upon his own question he writes “When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation” (14:26b). The Apostle expresses his awareness that the exercise of spiritual gifts is widespread, and that it is not limited. In fact, he encourages this, as we can see. He needs to, however, reinforce a guiding ethic, so that the exercise of spiritual gifts does not devolve into a competition for honor and honored seats at the table of fellowship. The guiding ethic then, is Paul’s insistence to “Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church” (14:26c). Because Paul will go on to offer helpful guidelines for how this strengthening might take place, we should not consider the strengthening of the church in some fuzzy, mystical sense, but in the hard and concrete sense of things in which Paul has operated to this point.
The dichotomy here is between that which weakens the church and that which strengthens the church. That which would weaken the church would be that which seems to disavow the claims of Jesus and His Gospel, causing the church to fall into a general conformity with the surrounding world. This would be accomplished through the standard pursuit of honor, and would ultimately find itself being manifested at the church’s meal table. That which would strengthen the church would be that which would confirm the claims of Jesus and His Gospel, causing the church to make good on its claim to represent a new type of humanity. This new humanity, standing in radical dissimilarity from the society and the world in which it was to be found, would be the humanity that revealed its confession of Jesus as Lord through its faithful demonstration of the messianic banquet---representing the in-breaking of the kingdom of God in the midst of a world still rife with darkness, evil, pain, and suffering.
The strengthening of the church, as the community by which the world is to glimpse the kingdom of God, and as the community that is to go about the business of extending the reign of heaven into the community in which it finds itself (God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven), is that which must be under consideration in what follows. Paul writes “If someone speaks in a tongue, it should be two, or at the most three, one after the other, and someone must interpret” (14:27). Why? So that the church may be strengthened---so that the church may represent the kingdom. This is the purpose of the gathering of fellowship. The church does not gather so that individuals might be made to feel a certain way, or so that individuals in attendance might feel themselves lifted up into the heavens. No, the church gathers together so that ultimately heaven can come to earth, as His people learn how to better represent Him and to reflect His glory into His world.
The sense of community is palpable, as Paul goes on to write, “But if there is no interpreter, he should be silent in the church. Let him speak to himself and to God. Two or three prophets should speak and the others should evaluate what is said. And is someone sitting down receives a revelation, the person who is speaking should conclude” (14:28-30). The one who concludes, in deferring to another, is demonstrating preferential treatment to another brother or sister, not insisting that his or her own exercise of a spiritual gift has a greater value. The community of believers remains in sight as Paul says “For you can all prophesy one after another, so all can learn and be encouraged” (14:31). All are to be encouraged. All are to be strengthened. If Christ is going to be adequately represented by this church, then there is to be no exclusive group. Paul’s concern is for the body. He demands that this church eat and drink with “a careful regard for the body” (11:29b). If they do not, continuing instead in their discriminating, prejudiced, and hierarchical practices, they will effectively continue to cast Jesus out of their midst. This, unfortunately, does not seem to be an isolated problem.
We have been brought full circle back to the Lord’s Supper in Corinthians, which has a tremendous bearing on the goal of our project. It has become clear that what Paul means by “recognizing the body” must be interpreted by the mounting argument throughout the letter. When we hear Paul’s words against the societal background, the Jesus tradition, and the messianic banquet, Paul is stating an axiomatic truth, that all members, rich or poor, of the church are also the body of Christ, therefore they are all one and equal members. However, the Corinthians have reverted back to the popular social guidelines of their day, by which the wealthy are distinguished from the poor by way of class division at their banquets. Paul simply states that, “This is not the Lord’s Supper.” For as we have been studying, Jesus’ celebratory banquets were all inclusive, regardless of class or status. As a matter of fact, Jesus banquets reversed the entire social order altogether, turning the honorable guests into the shameful and vice-versa. So in drawing these social boundaries they have undone Jesus’ end-time banquet, and they are no longer functioning as the intended new-humanity. This, unfortunately, is not an isolated complaint.
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