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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Is speaking in tongues ok in church, eve | 1 Corinthians | Searcher56 | 159875 | ||
1 Cor 12:29 first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of 1 Cor 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts ... okay Tim you know the Greek, we have first, second, then, then ... greater. Does the Greek inidicate ordinal (order)? |
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2 | Is speaking in tongues ok in church, eve | 1 Corinthians | Morant61 | 159944 | ||
Greetings Searcher! Good questions my friend! As I understand it, 1 Cor. 12:29 could be understood in several ways. First, it could be understood chronologically, that Paul is listing the gifts in their order of appearence. However, this would not make sense in that we know that prophets preceded apostles. :-) Second, it could be understood as a listing of order of importance. However, this approach would have several difficulties. a) This would seem to contradict the whole point of 1 Cor. 12:12-26 where Paul argues that all parts are necessary and deserving of equal concern. It would seem very odd if Paul would then turn immediately around and rank the gifts in terms of importance. :-) b) The second problem is that Paul does not continue to enumerate after 'thirdly'. He drops the numbering scheme completely and simply uses the term 'thereafter'. Third, Paul could be using the numbers in the same sense that I have been using 'first', 'second', and 'third' in my presentation above. He could simply be logically laying out his points. This would seem to me to make the most sense of the context. However, how does this relate to your question concerning 1 Cor. 12:31? Paul does not argue for any of the sign gifts in chapter 13 as the 'greatest'. Rather, he lifts up faith, hope, and primarily love. I believe this what is speaking of in v. 31 when he commands them to desire the 'great gifts'. So, I do not see Paul as listing gifts in order of importance. It is clear that some gifts were more desired by those in Corinth. It seems that they were making judgements about what was 'important' and what wasn't. Paul seems to be arguing that they are all necessary, and that they are all important in their proper place. Here is what Craig Blomberg says about this issue in his NIV Application Commentary on 1 Corinthians: ************************************* "To take 'first', 'second,' and 'third' in verse 28 as a ranking in significance would clearly violate the whole point of Paul's dicussion thus far. So it is best to see in this enumberation a chronological priority (cf. Eph. 2:20). To establish a condgregation requires a church-planter. Then the regular proclamation of God's Word must ensue. Next teachers must supplement evangelism with discipleship and the passing on of the cardinal truths of the faith. Only at this point does a viable Christian fellowship exist to enable all the other gifts to come into play. Tongues may be last on the list because the Corinthians were overestimating their value, but it cannot be demonstrated that Paul assigned them any inherent inferiority." (p. 247) ********************************* Of course, his last point addresses the specific question that I was attempting to answer. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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