TRAC Bible Matters ¢ Ps Joey Chen has been the Assistant Pastor at Methodist Church of the Incarnation since entering Trinity Annual Conference as a Member-on-Trial in 2018. She enjoys good movies, good coffee and good books.
Singing in the spirit Does the practice of “singing in the Spirit” in charismatic worship services contravene the Bible’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 14:13—20?1 Several years ago, I visited a charismatic church. Halfway through the contemporary worship set, the congregation was invited to sing in tongues. Everyone broke out in glossalalic singing for a minute or so. That was my first experience of what is commonly known as “singing in the Spirit”. I had just that afternoon received the gift of angelic tongues (not at the charismatic church but at my own church), and coming from a church that did not permit speaking in tongues without interpretation during services (and rightly so), I found the experience refreshing. But how does the practice of singing in the Spirit square with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 14:13—20? Before diving into this passage, it is important to get one thing straight—Paul recognised both human tongues (i.e. a foreign language) and angelic tongues. In 1 Corinthians 13:1, Paul referred to “speaking in tongues of men or of angels”. In case you think Paul might have been granting them a point and not actually affirming angelic tongues, he went on to say in 1 Corinthians 14:2 that “anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.” Too often, sincere Christians have dismissed the biblicity of angelic tongues by referring to the episode of speaking in human tongues at Pentecost in Acts 2. Paul also expressly said, “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” (1 Cor 14:39), so he was definitely not against the practice. When it comes to human tongues and angelic tongues, it is not either or—it is both/and. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was a corrective to a church that had not fully learnt how to follow Christ: amongst its problems were the overemphasis on personal rights and ecstatic experiences. The Corinthians lived in an era where it was universally accepted that spiritual gifts accompanied those who were “specially in touch with the divine…Their ‘enthusiasm’4 was the mark of the presence of the divine spirit within them”. The Corinthian Christians eagerly sought spiritual gifts as evidence of their spiritual maturity, and were practising their Christian faith in an emotional and enthusiastic manner, engaging the spirit but bypassing the mind. Some spiritual gifts (such as speaking in tongues) were elevated over others. Those who had the “better” spiritual gifts were lording it over others, creating division in the church (cf. 1 Cor 12). They were more concerned about the power of the Spirit
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that they exercised, than the community of the Spirit. Such actions were symptomatic of a bigger problem: their lack of love for each other was what made them act in selfish ways that were not conducive to building community (cf. 1 Cor 13). Paul needed to recentre the Corinthian church on what mattered in God’s eyes: building a loving community. So in 1 Corinthians 14, after establishing the centrality of love, Paul described what that love looked like when practised in community. He established the importance of love in pursuing and practising spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:1– 12). He instituted rules for worshipping in community (1 Cor 14:24–40). Worship was to be (i) accessible to everyone and no one would feel excluded, and (ii) useful for building up all believers. How does Paul’s words for the Corinthian Christians apply to our Christian context today? Let’s start by noting a major difference between worship in the Corinthian church and worship in the church today. Historical descriptions of secular gatherings show a pattern of eating together, and then guests taking turns to lead in song.6 It is likely that the worship of the early Christians followed this format, sans bawdy jokes and free flow of wine. These Christians would have written or rehearsed spiritual songs (“spiritual because they are inspired by the Spirit and manifest the life of the Spirit”7) and sung them to one another for the purposes of edification.8 This is different from most modern day worship (both traditional and contemporary) where a select group of people lead in the worship service. Paul’s concern with not speaking in tongues during worship—in a context where worship can be “led” by anyone in attendance—is ensuring that worship is always orderly and accessible. In other words, if we go by the spirit (as opposed to the letter) of what Paul said, it is not that singing in tongues is verboten, but how it is done that is key. For Paul, the principles of worship that cannot be compromised are: (i) worship must never be self-indulgent because it is for the edification of one another (1 Cor 14:1–5, 12, 17); (ii) worship must never be individualistic—we worship as a united body (1 Cor 14:6–11); (iii) we must be sensitive to those amongst us (pre-believers or those who do not speak in tongues) who may be stumbled by strange practices or feel awkward because they are excluded (1 Cor 14:16); (iv) worship must engage spirit and mind so that it is fruitful for the believer (1 Cor 14:13–15); and (v) worship must be orderly (1 Cor 14:40).
