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Old 01-07-2011, 12:10 PM
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jmspiers jmspiers is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: South Carolina
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Re: Have we confused tongues/int. with prophecy?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DAII View Post
3. Paul speaks that the function of prophesying is to edify the church, exhort and comfort ... a more direct speaking from God towards man ... specifically BELIEVERS or the corporate Body... yet in the OP and Pentecostal paradigm this seems to be the function of tongues and interpretation.

??????
I think a lot of people misunderstand what prophecy in the New Testament is (not saying you do, just speaking generally). The Greek word propheteuo has the "the primary meaning of telling forth the divine counsels" (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 2:492-493.) The secondary, less frequent usage is "foretelling the future."

There is no doubt that foretelling the future happened in the New Testament church (see Acts 19:10-14 for just one of many examples), but the meaning in 1 Cor. 14 is speaking words of edification, exhortation, and consolation (1 Cor. 14:3) as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

That's why I think Paul could say that prophecy is to be desired over tongues, because prophecy exhorts the entire church. Tongues, on the other hand, does not edify the church unless there is an interpreter present.

There's definitely a confusion on the roles of prophecy / tongues / interpretation. I think part of the reason is because Western society has become so individualized that we place an inordinate amount of focus on the individual experience, whereas New Testament Christianity was more focused on the edification of the body of believers. I think that very few Western Christians in any denomination walk into church thinking, "How can I use my gifts to edify the body of Christ today?" I know that some do--especially teachers and obviously preachers. But for the most part Christians show up to be edified, not to edify.
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