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HOUSMAIL HM029 21
June 1999 THE "MAD" CHURCH AT CORINTH THE
PROBLEM CHURCH Amongst
Charismatic Churches, the Corinthian Church is often held up as a role model,
especially with regard to "manifesting" gifts of the spirit. Alas
.....NOTHING could be further from the truth! A
careful study of Paul's two epistles to this Church, will discover a long
catalogue of MORAL and DOCTRINAL problems which needed to be corrected, in
order for the Church to function as it should. These epistles were written
because the Church was ANYTHING BUT a "role
model"! A
DIFFERENT SPIRIT Not
the least of their problems was the presence of false apostles, a false
gospel, and a "different
spirit". (2 Corinthians 11:3-5, & 2 Corinthians 11:13-15) And from From
verse 2 we learn that some members of the Church were former IDOLATERS, who
in the practice of their heathen religion, had been engaged in
"spiritual practices" of another kind. And from verses 2-3, it
becomes clear that some of these converts had imported their heathen
"spiritual gifts" to the Corinthian Church! Indeed, there were
people, who under the influence of something other than the Spirit of God,
were actually cursing Jesus! Paul had no difficulty in identifying THAT as FALSE! However,
there were other problems far more subtle than that. One of these which
attracted particular attention from Paul, was the need to deal with a
counterfeit "gift of tongues" which was causing confusion in their
meetings. The "spirit" causing this confusion, Paul says, COULD NOT
POSSIBLY BE FROM GOD, (v 3) any more than that other "spirit" which
was cursing Jesus. DO
ALL SPEAK IN TONGUES? Reading
carefully between the lines, it seems that there must have been some who were
insisting that "the gift of tongues" was of primary importance, and
that everyone should have "it". Paul puts THAT FALSE DOCTRINE to rest in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30, when he asks the
rhetoric question, "Do all speak in tongues?". The expected answer
is clearly "NO"! AN
ALIEN TONGUE There
is another often missed element from the Old Testament, which Paul uses in
his attempt to eliminate FALSE spiritual experience from Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 14:21-22,
Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:11-12: "Nay, but by men of strange lips and with an alien tongue
the LORD will speak to this people, to whom he has said, "This is rest;
give rest to the weary; and this is repose"; yet they would not
hear." In
Isaiah, the context is clearly a prophecy of God's coming JUDGEMENT AGAINST A
SINFUL NATION! They
had refused to listen to God's precepts "line upon line, here little,
there a little", so now he was about to speak to them in judgement,
through an invading army, who would come speaking a foreign language which
they could not understand. THAT foreign language spoken to the captives,
would be God expressing his displeasure to UNBELIEVERS! Paul's
conclusion from that is in 1 Corinthians 14:22: "Thus, tongues are a sign not for
believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for
believers." Tongues
of the "Corinthian kind" are NOT the same as those which were heard
on the day of Pentecost! The languages spoken on that occasion in Jerusalem
were UNDERSTOOD without interpretation, by men who became believers! But
whatever it was at Corinth, it could NOT be understood by the hearers.
That is the point of Paul's quotation from Isaiah. What was happening at
Corinth was the same thing that Isaiah had prophesied would happen when God
was displeased with people who REFUSED to hear and believe. And therefore, it
was NOT God speaking to a believing Church! No one can become a believer, and
no believer can be "edified", unless they understand what is said.
That is why, if God wants to speak to BELIEVERS, he does so through prophecy, spoken in a language easily
understood without interpretation! "Prophecy is for believers!" AN
INVADING ARMY The
confusion of the Corinthian tongues was NOT a sign of God's blessing,
but of impending judgement! God abandons wilfully disobedient and unbelieving
people to an "invading army"! If
we read 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 carefully, the plain inference is that the "invasion"
had already occurred in the Corinthian Church! They were being taken over by
demonic forces, and counterfeit "gifts", imported into the Church
by former IDOL WORSHIPPERS! And
no wonder! ..... When we read Paul's "catalogue" of the problems in
the Corinthian Church, we marvel that God had been so patient with them. Paul's
bottom line is in 1 Corinthians 14:20, 23 "Brethren,
DO NOT BE CHILDREN IN YOUR THINKING..... if, therefore, the whole church assembles and all speak in
tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are MAD?" It
seems that, in our time, we have quite a few of these "MAD CHURCHES",
who are exposed to the CORINTHIAN DELUSION, because they have refused to believe the truth, "precept
upon precept, line upon line"! (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) Allon |