1Co 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
Many churches focus on the first part of this verse and forget the last part. The last line must be the guiding principle to the use of gifts of the Spirit in the church. It is to be all for the strengthening of OTHERS and not done for self-serving motives.
1Co 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints,
34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.
35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
I had to chuckle over these verses. I think Paul realizes that in general, women have trouble with their tongues and struggle with submission to authority. When a woman stands up to speak in the worship service she is exercising authority over the men in the group and Paul discourages this. What is amusing to me is that there are women who will argue with this stance on women in church. But in reality, who are they arguing with? God. It is God's Word and that is what it says. Do we dare argue with it?
1Co 14:40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
Once again we have an over-riding principle that needs to be followed in the church.
The two main points I take home from this chapter are these:
1. All things are to be done for the strengthening of other believers (the church), not from self-serving motives
2. All things are to be done decently and in order.
If we measured our actions in regards to the church with these two motives much disagreement and division could be avoided.
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