NOTES for Co1 14:1-12

Returning to the theme of spiritual gifts, Paul gives special attention to prophetic ministry, especially against the background of the practice of glossolalia, or "speaking in tongues," which was widespread in the Corinthian church and perhaps not only there (vv. 1-3). As we can see, the apostle does not regard glossolalia as prophecy in itself, above all because prophecy in its traditional sense, whether in ancient times or in the gospel era, presupposed that prophetic preaching would be intelligible to those around it, while glossolalia, requiring interpretation, lacked that quality (vv. 4-5). And the point is probably not only that glossolalia by itself gave nothing to the Church (vv. 5-12), but also that this kind of "prophecy in and for itself" spiritually isolated a person.

Indeed, genuine prophecy was always a revelation to the community through the mediation of one person, and that one person, even after receiving a special revelation from God, still did not remain alone but remained part of the community to which he belonged. His connection with his community was expressed precisely in the fact of bearing witness to what had been revealed to him by God. Such a connection was especially important for full church life: the Church is the community of those living in the Kingdom, and therefore each of its members cannot exist in isolation from all the others, and all the more cannot receive any gifts from God, so to speak, for personal use, apart from the Church and apart from the significance that his gift has for the Church. In a certain sense one could say that, for Paul, the relation of a particular spiritual gift and a particular ministry to the needs and life of the Church is the criterion of the authenticity of that gift or ministry.