The length today is a little long since we are still getting grounded in Job, and because 1 Corinthians 14 is a little complex. When you're finished with the notes on 1 Cor. 14, you might need a friend to give you the Heimlich maneuver. Tomorrow will be lighter.
Job 4-7
Up until now it looks like Job has passed this terrible test and it's over. Not so. Although Satan is not mentioned again in the book, his influence against Job continues in the form of his friends misrepresenting God. Many things Job's friends say are good, but in terms of really understanding God or understanding Job's situation, they are completely off base. Because of their misapplication of the truth, God will tell them that they were wrong and that Job was right. They all get an education into the depth of God's wisdom. And we are led to understand that what is going on in reality is larger than just us and our peril here on this planet. The answer in all of this is to have absolute and fearless trust in God. He Himself has to be enough.
Job 4
V. 4 We'll see this over and over. Job was known for his ability to help and to strengthen. His friends, though acknowledging this, do the opposite in their dealing with Job. Do you notice the subtle rebukes in Eliphaz's words to Job? Would you dare do this to someone who had suffered such losses?
Vs. 12-21 This is the "truth" that Satan shared with Eliphaz that now drives the thinking of Job's friends. What's sobering is that these friends received "spiritual" information that is empowering, driving them to ruin their friend. This doesn't happen in the church, does it? 2 Timothy 2:24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, forbearing, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, 26 and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. Paul wrote this to Timothy in dealing with people in the church in Ephesus.
V. 17 In my mind this is the key to understanding the attack on Job and the lie that Satan gave Job's friends. The answer is assumed to be "no." But that's not true, is it? Since the fall in the garden, God has known, but kept secret the way the answer would be "yes," in Christ. Even in the OT, those who drew near to God in faith, sensed and understood in the very character of God that this was possible. This didn't come through religion or just through the Scripture, but being close to God, they knew it in faith. It's like, you don't know how He will do it, but you know Him and that He will and can do it. When it all works out, knowing God has to be enough.
As disciples saved by grace, our following is not because of what we expect God to give us on this earth or any other ideas of justice or fairness. All that is gone. We live in the eternal God, for our Father, serving His Son, following His Spirit, who indwells us. Regardless of what happens in life, knowing God in Christ is enough.
Job 5
Notice that all of what Eliphaz says is right and good, but it is terribly misapplied to Job. Much of what he says is consistent with God's words elsewhere. Tomorrow we'll read Psalm 38 and this sounds just like that psalm.
V. 13 It blows my mind that Paul quotes the first part of this verse in 1 Cor. 3, showing Paul's breadth of knowledge in the OT and the fact that these guys were saying good stuff and eternal truth. This is like singing a happy song at an execution. It can be a great song, but it doesn't fit the situation.
Vs. 17-18 These verses sound like something out of Hebrews. This is good stuff. But you see here the subtle charge they are making against Job. They are saying Job's troubles are God's reproof because of sin. This isn't something Christians do to each other, is it? What if it is simply God's will to allow something to happen for His greater purpose in reality and for some fine tuning in our lives? Pruning, as in John 15, doesn't mean reproof because of sin.
Job 6
Vs. 1-7 This is the bitter weight of his emotional and physical anguish.
Vs. 8-13 This is a good question. Of course we see what is happening behind the scenes spiritually and we know the end of the book. We could yell to Job, "Don't wish for death, it will all get better," but from Job's perspective there is this thing that has come upon him that has shaken some of his understanding of God.
Vs. 14-21 This seems like a warning to his friends that they will get in trouble for approaching Job like this. Job was right.
V. 29 It looks like Job is appealing to them to stop before they are guilty of injustice.
Job 7
Vs. 14-15 It seems like the effect of hearing of Eliphaz's vision, was that it made Job's desire to die even more intense. Job had great temptation bearing on him to take his own life and not wait for God's vindication. Satan's work.
Vs. 17-21 This looks like Job is addressing God. Job's understanding of God was that if we sin, He forgives. Of course Job was one of a kind and close to God. He understood God's grace and mercy. So then, this is strange to him that God would so demolish him and not forgive him. But Job knows he hasn't sinned.
It is interesting that Job wasn't allowed to die and that the impulse to desire death came through Satan. Our own troubles, the plight of the dying, the lives of the retarded fulfill God's purposes. We are not God. He can end things whenever He desires. Often He is working through these things to accomplish purposes on so many levels, in so many lives, that we cannot comprehend it. We are not God. The impulse to end these things is not from God, since God is the one who gives and takes away. We know His wisdom, His goodness, His love, His character. That is enough. Our trust in waiting and living needs to be totally in God. He needs to be enough.
1 Corinthians 14:18-40
In showing the abuse of the gift of tongues in Corinth, Paul has also been pointing to the purpose of their gatherings, to edify, strengthen and encourage one another. Paul has shown that tongues is impractical in terms of edification. Now he'll show that tongues had/has a very narrow purpose.
Vs. 18-19 These verses really conclude what Paul was saying yesterday. Notice the exaggeration in what he says. There is a hint of rebuke in these words. The Corinthians should have been more focused on building up others instead of showing their stuff. They were acting like they were lost on earth.
Vs. 20-21 Paul is quoting Isaiah 28:11-12, "11 For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, 12 to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear."
The people in view are Jews. Tongues was a sign to them that God was taking His offer of "rest" and redemption to others. They would know this because a foreign people would be declaring the praise of God to them, the Jews, the people of God. My opinion is that this was and is the only purpose of the gift of tongues. It was a sign to the Jews. This is how it was used in Acts and I think the reason it was so prevalent (and misused) in Corinth is that the church was next to the synagogue and the church was very, very Jewish in membership. Think this through. In which other churches / letters do you find any teaching about tongues?
V. 22 This is Paul's conclusion and you have to follow his reasoning closely. Notice that Paul says "sign," not "gift."
"Not a sign for believers" seems to mean that unbelievers are shown something by this sign. Believers do not have anything revealed to them, so it is not "for" them. In Acts, this "unbelief" took the form of not believing that the gospel was going beyond the Jews. In Acts 10-11, that "unbelief" was demonstrated by Jewish believers of the circumcision party who took Peter to task for visiting a Gentile. The gift of tongues was a sign to them and their unbelief. It showed them something. You notice that the gift had a very specialized purpose, because even in talking about "unbelievers," it meant a very specific group of unbelievers and a specific kind of unbelief. The message of redemption was given, for a time, to the Gentiles.
So then, what does it mean that prophesy is "for" believers, showing or revealing something to them?
Vs. 23-25 Hang on to your hats. This will be funny.
V. 23 I thought tongues was suppose to speak to unbelievers. But tongues only speaks to a particular kind of unbelief. Here, the unbelievers say the Christians are mad. But the point here is what it reveals or shows to the Christians. Here, it shows the believers nothing. Tongues is not a sign "for" believers.
V. 25 Here, an unbeliever falls on the ground, worshipping God (apparently coming to faith in Christ) and this shows or reveals to the church and Christians, that God is really among them. The effect of prophesy in the church is that it leads the church to bear fruit and that is the sign that Christ is among them. Notice the effects of this prophesy on the unbeliever: conviction, called to account, heart disclosed, falls on face (repentance), worships God. All of that can happen through "prophetic" preaching.
Notice the word "really." Can it be that we think we have God among us because of the emotion of worship music and because we hold a service, but that He's really not there? How do you understand what Paul is saying here? The effect of "prophesy" is changed lives and fruit in the harvest. This seems to be how you really know God is among you.
I know this is radical and, admittedly, it is my take on things. Notice that the only place worship is mentioned in this service is in an unbeliever coming to faith in Christ in the service. If you follow the definition of prophesy that Paul is using, it is one part revelation and 3 parts teaching and instruction and encouragement. I think the last three parts are still a part of a particular kind of teaching and preaching that the church still needs.
Vs. 26-33 Notice that there is a slight change here. Up until now, Paul has been teaching. Now, Paul is directing, giving commands. These letters were written first to elders, and then to the congregation. In a case like this where Paul is giving orders, we are now reading the part for elders who serve and direct the church.
V. 26 Notice the parts and notice the purpose, edification.
V. 31 This is a way to understand the purpose of prophesy and edification, "That all may learn and all may be encouraged."
V. 32 Following the Spirit is no excuse for disorder. I love this, "The spirit of prophets is subject to prophets."
Vs. 34-36 Earlier Paul said women could pray or prophesy publicly, if they wore a head covering. So, what is this? Often, people who are ardent for women's rights either disregard these verses or claim Paul is quoting someone in the church. You've read enough of 1 Cor. to know that when Paul quotes an opponent, it is very clear what he is quoting, and he gives a good, clear answer. As we've seen in chapter 11, the newfound freedom of the Jewish women was, in some cases, taken too far. In chapter 11 it was expressed in not showing submission to their husbands publicly, and here, I think, it is in publicly arguing with and not submitting to the elders of the church.
I believe the difference here is in verse 26. Paul is now speaking to the elders, giving them orders, and talking about leading the church as only the elders are to lead the church. In meetings where elder level decisions are being made and expressed, women were apparently arguing. Paul says they are to be silent and subordinate at this level of leadership, if they are allowed to attend these meetings.
I try to be as broad as I can be without violating what God says, but the last church meeting I was in showed the truth and wisdom behind what Paul is saying here as two vocal women made quite a show. One was a woman who wasn't a member and whose spiritual maturity was very questionable. The other was an elder's wife who chided her husband (who was leading the meeting) in front of the group. This was the "cherry on the top" to an already tragic meeting.
I think both here and in 1 Timothy 2, the silence and submission of women is seen in the context of church leadership, specifically, leading the church as elders lead the church. Note that in 1 Tim. 2 after Paul talks about a woman's silence, he immediately talks about elder leadership. The context is leadership in the church.
Vs. 37-38 Talk about Paul declaring his spiritual authority. This is a command of the Lord. That means it is binding on us too. And if they didn't agree with Paul and can't recognize the Lord in what he was saying, Paul says they are not recognized as leaders and spiritual people. And of course, it isn't Paul, it's the Spirit who is speaking. O Weh!
Vs. 39-40 Paul says not to forbid speaking in tongues, I think, because the gift still did have some validity in their situation next to the synagogue.
Sorry for the teaching here. You don't have to agree with me. If you are feeling choked by all of this, have someone stand behind you, with their arms around you and put their hands together into a big fist just below your sternum. Now have them hug you tight, jump up and pull the fist into your diaphragm when they hit the ground. Better?
Psalm 37:30-40
V. 34 The first part of this verse is what I want to be content to do, without needing to see the second or third part of this verse in my lifetime.
Reading Job and reading this psalm is interesting. I want to say I know all of this is true, but really I need to trust the Lord, not my expectation of what this justice will look like or when it will come. God and who He is has to be enough.
And since the Lord keeps saying to me that He Himself needs to be enough, how about a song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW-toYBiF8o&feature=related
Proverbs 21:27
Amen.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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