LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 453

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10.

7

CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT AND LUTHERAN THEOLOGY

experience was their feeling of being carned away by spintual
forces. But then they were led 2way to dumb idols. Now the
Corinthians are being led by the Spint They can reconize this
from the fact that they are able to call Jesus their Lord This
confession of Christ 1s the characteristic mark of those possessed
by the Spirit of God. says Paul

But it the central work of the Spirit is leading men to honor
Christ by confessing faith in Him as Lord. the Holy Spirit also
manifests Himself through a variety of gifts and services with
which He endows the Christian church In | Cor 12 8-10, 38-40,
the apostle provides lists of the spiritual gifts he had in mind
They include the utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowl
edge, faith, healing, muracles, prophecy. the ability to discern
spirits, various kinds of tongues. and the interpretation of
tongues. Prominent at the head of the lists are gifts of intelligent
and thoughtful utterance. Prominent at the end are gifts of
tongues and their interpretation

Among the spiritual gifts referred co in 1 Corinthians 12 are
a number of terms that require some explanation. In verse &
the utterance of wisdom” and ‘the utrerance of knowledge
may refer to an exceptionally thorough knowledge of che great
truths of divine revelation, particularly the mysteries of the
Gospel, and the abihty to expound them in a clear and con-
vincing manner as well as co apply them co individual cases in hfe
Faith.” in this context, can hardly refer to saving or justifying
faith but must point to a heroic, unwavering trust and conndence
in the power of God to reveal Himself in extraordinary deeds
that may seem impossible to men. The expression “gifts of
healing’ no doubt refers to those remarkable deeds pertormed
in the early Christian church by certain believers who were
enabled by the power of God to heal the sick without medica-
uon, cast out unclean spirits, cure the lame, and even on oc-
casions raise the dead. “The working of miracles” 1s a broader
term including the man wondrous deeds performed by the
early Christians through the almighty power of Christ

“Prophecy” 1s a rather dithcult term to understand, since it 1s
used in various ways in Scripture, It does noc refer primarily
to the gift of declaring coming events in advance, although this
did occur in the apostolic church ‘Acts 11:27) Agabus: Ie
includes also the God-given ability to interpret Scripture cor-
rectly and to apply its message of Law and Gospel to the needs of
men. It is the gift of expressing what the will of God was in
a given situation. The ability to “distinguish beeween spirits
refers to a God-given power by which certain individuals in the
early church were able to cest the prophets to derermine whether
they were false or true and to judge whether a doctrine was of
God or not

ly

tends to tame those emouons that are so apt ro lead to the abuse
of spiritual atts, Love is panent. lony-sufferiny, and kind More
specincally, itis not yealous of boastful, arrogant or rude, irritable
of resenttul. It does noc insist on having its own way Lt does nor
rejoice 19 wrongdoing but rejoices in what 15 right

Christian love also has the remarkable characteristie thac it will
conunue on into the unending future, always relevant Orher
gifts of the Spirit such as prophecies, tongues, and knowledge
are imperfect and incomplete in this lite and shall therefore
Pass away when they have served their purpose. bue Christian
love will remain intact even in che state of perfection 139.138

In the context of this magnineant discussion of Chrisnan love,
the apostle then exhorts the Cormthian congregation “Make
love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. especially
that you may prophesy’ ila tl Immediately thereatter, he
addresses himself to certain problems that had arisen in Corinth
with regard to speaking in tongues

St Paul. who himself possessed the wutt of tongues tL Cor la 18),
believed that it could be an authenue watt of the Spirit He did
not forbid its use for self-edincation or, when interpreted, tor
the edifcanon of others (ef Cor. la $8, 39) However, tt should
be carefully noted that the apostle in 1 Corinthians $2 to La is
not discussing the vite of tongues tor the purpose of encourainy
or assisaing the Corinthians in acquiring this gift His purpose is
rather to point out dangers and abuses that have resulted from
us misuse and to encourage the use of other spiritual qutts
especuilly prophecy

St Paul preters prophecy to rongue-speaking for a number of
reasons. One who speaks in tongues speaks nor to men but to
God. for no one understands him, and the result ts that he edittes
only himself (14-2) On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks
to men tor their upbuilding, encouragement, and consolanon
Such a person edifies the church Edifcation now becomes the
theme of this chapter ivy. 3.4. 5. 12. 17) 261) According to
St. Paul's manner of thinking. the ultimate criterion fora spiritual
gittas this “Does it build the church’

Tongue-speaking can be useful in the church only if it as supple:
mented with the gitt of interpreration vw 5). for only chen will
itedify the church. Without interpretation no one will know what
is being said. and at will be as if one speaks into the air iy 9:
Therefore he sho speaks in a tongue should pray for the power
to interpret in order to edify (v 13), Paul thanks God that he
has spoken in tongues more chan all of them iv. 18), neverthe-
less, he concludes “I would rather speak nve words with my

,
al

Various kinds of tongues. in che case of the Corinthians, appar-
endy had reterence to a “language.” unintelligible to others
as well as to the speaker, by which a Christan praised God
+ Paul discusses this gift at great length in 1 Corinthians 14.) “The
interpretauon of tongues” evidently was the ability co cransmuit
the content and message of such ‘language’ for che benefit and
edincanon of the speaker and other members of the body of
Christ

These spiritual gifts are nor reserved for the select few in the
church, who are consequently in a privileged class above the rest,
instead, Paul states chat all Christians have been endowed by
the Spirit with witts of one Kind of another. Vi 7)

All Christians have been bapuzed into the body of Christ, and
all are made to drink of the one Spirit «v. 13). Therefore che
spiritual gitts that each possesses are for the benefit of the entire
church, they are given “for the common good” iv. 7). The Chris-
tian 15 to use his gifts in che service of Christ's body, the church,
and not merely to serve himself Any use of the Spiric’s gifts
that does nor edity the church 1s contrary to the Spirit's intention

in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul discusses the basic atticude with which
the Christian 1s to use the spiritual gifts God has given him. In
the previous chapter he has indicated thac they are vhurtsmuts
gitts of grace. Now the apostle admonishes the Corinthians to
employ them ina spirit of love

Ie appears that in the congregation at Corinth the possession of
certain spiritual gitts had led co senseless pride and chaotic
contusion. Paul, cherefore, admonished them in a most forceful
manner that love must permeate and motivate their use of spiri-
tual gitts or they become meaningless and useless. Even though
a person may possess the very lofuese kind of tongues-speaking
and though he may be able co speak nor only in an unknown
human language but with the tongues of angels, unless this gift
is exercised in a spirit of love, 1c becomes nothing more than an
unincellgible, meaningless set of sounds. Neither speaking in
tongues nor prophetic insights nor heroic faith that can move
Mountains nor superhuman sacrifice can be useful and meaningful
unless they are exercised in a spirit of Christian love. Thus it ts
noc the miraculous nature of a gift nor the spectacular character
of one’s willingness to sacrifice that makes spiritual gifts unam-
biguous marks of the Spirit's presence and power, it is only the
spirit of Christian love in which the gifts are exercised

Sc Paul then proceeds to describe very carefully the nature of
this love about which ,he 1s speaking. It is not primarily some-
thing emouonal of ecstatic, passionate or fiery, instead. it

20

mind. in order to instruct others. than ten thousand words in
acongue ov 19) In tull accord with this expressed principle.
we have no record of Paul ever speaking to his churches excepe
in understandable languave

Accenting the gift of tongues our of proporuon to other gifts 1s
a sign of immaturity. In 1 Cor 14 20-25 che apostle therefore
challenges the Corinthians to (row up’ in their thinking. They
should consider the effect that speaking in tongues might have
on the churchs program of evangelism. At an assembly of the
church the effect of speaking in tongues on ‘outsiders’ and
unbehevers may be adverse. for it may lead them to chink
Christians are mad iv 231. In verse 21 the apostle inserts an Old
Testament quotanon ‘Is. 28 11-12) into the discussion, empha:
sizing that the effect of tongues on an unbeliever will be co
harden rather than soften bis heare!? Thus the use of strange
tongues in the Cormthian congregation might not serve to con-
vert the sinner bur instead could cause him to blaspheme

On the other hand, when members of the Corinthian congrega-
ton prophesy, which involves a testamony of their faith, and an
outsider is present. there is che possibility that the unbehever
will be made conscious of his sin and unbehef The secret sins
of his heart may be revealed, and the result might well be that
such a one repents and worships God, openly recognizing God s
Presence in the congregation Using the gift of prophecy in that
way may result in winning people tor Christ

Each behever 1s to consider himself a vital and responsible
Parnicipant in the bite of the congregation. In a church service
everything should be done in an orderly fashion. Although Paul
does noc torbid speaking in tongues in their worship services
cv 39: he makes three important stipulations (a) not more than
three should speak in tongues in any one service. 1b) these three
should take turns and not speak all ac once. 1c: there should
always be an interpreter present Without an interprecer ‘let
each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to
God .Vy 27-28:

The same rules of good order apply to those who prophesy. They
should prophesy in turn while the rest exercise judgment on what
is said. This sentence indicates that the assembly's right to
criticize should not be suspended no matter what gift might be
exercised. Since God 1s a God not of confusion but of peace, all
gitts. even prophecy. should be used in an orderly fashion

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