Quote:
Originally Posted by micah6v8
1 Cor 14 v 29 And as to prophets, two or three should speak, and the others discern.
Reading this verse, one can tell that Paul is not talking about a three-people church here.
There are at least four people in this verse:-
(1) Two speakers. (Room is given for a third speaker) (Paul does not give room for a fourth or fifth speaker).
(2) The others who are discerning:- The word is "others" so this means at least two people are discerning, possibly more.
It's hard to see how one can reach the conclusion that all should speak in a meeting.
|
Good points here.
The subsequent instruction to this verse is
14.31, "
For you can all prophesy one by one." This refers to all the prophets, who are instructed to take turns speaking, yet limit themselves to two or three, obviously per meeting, and giving time to discernment
14.29, and for that matter time to those with a revelation, with a psalm, with a teaching, and a tongue (with interpretation
14.27, of course), as Paul instructs in
14.26.
LSMers love this verse
14.31, but take it out of context. Here Paul is not speaking to every church member, but to all the prophets. This is proven by
12.29, "
Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers ..." The obvious answer to Paul's rhetorical is "no."
For LSM LCs to be faithful to Paul's word here, as they boast that they alone are, they would not encourage every member to prophesy, rather they would provide time for the discernment of the prophecies, they would encourage tongues with interpretations, and they would encourage local brothers to bring revelations and teachings to the meetings, something they strongly prohibit.