Purpose

The purpose of this article is to focus on 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 and give some thoughts on what it means along with what it does not mean in light of modern day compromise and the true meaning of worship in the New Testament.

Introduction

The trigger to write the article was re-reading D.A. Carson's sermon on "Order and Authority" from 2008. The context was also a focus on the clarifying videos and articles by Tom Wadsworth and others on the true meaning of corporate worship in the New Testament. The larger context is the modern trend of many Christians embracing a weak liberal view of the authority of scripture. As a child, when we read the Bible at the age of 8-10, we lacked the sophisticated techniques of avoiding the clear implications of scripture. We got the message loud and clear and accepted it. Today, however, there is an endless barrage of teachers and preachers who downplay the harder texts that we have always accepted at face value. We wonder if there is any truth to their claims or if it is a fear of man. Why would someone buy into the modern egaltarian views except that there is tremendous pressure to accept the modern ideas. We learned the New Testament teachings from a KJV bible in the 1970s and it is hard to undo the "damage" that has been done. We still believe the simple clear teachings. We still accept the hard sayings. We hear what D.A. Carson is saying and we churn with discomfort at how he is able to undermine the simple clear teachings. It seems as if everyone around us has given in. Tom Wadsworth, was also a trigger for doing a study of "worship" that seems to expose a fundamental flaw in D.A. Carson's thinking. D.A. Carson is one of the best, and we love him for his careful study of God's Word. But at the same time, we are deeply saddened by his obsession with the argements and loosing sight of the way that a child might read the text. Could it be true that God has a respect for the simple plain reading of his Word? Could it be that there is something to do with the fear of man in the sophisticated arguements with one of the best minds and top leaders in scholarship? We may be wrong, but we have to speak. The authority of the apostle Paul is our highest standard. We respect the apostle Paul has he wrote most of the New Testament to a gentile audience and served God with passion and zeal.

The Main Issue

The main issue we raise in this article are the egaltarian compromise in 1 Corinthians 14 and the confusion of corporate worship in the New Testament. We will discuss these ideas with a focus on 1 Corinthians 14 and the clear implications for the gathered assembly (ekklesia). The topics of the egaltarian compromise and the confusion of corporate worship are discussed in more detailed articles so we will not focus on these topics here. The main issue is that the confusion of corporate worship seems to be so pervasive that it appears to affect the foundational thinking of even one so studied as D. A. Carson. His concluding remarks in his sermon on 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 show he his more concerned with the continuation of traditionalism over the clear message of the text. The reason seems to be an idea of corporate worship that is more tradition than real. Tom Wadsworth and others have started to expose the "worship anomaly" and perhaps that was not clear to D. A. Carson at the time of his 1 Corinthians 14 study. Or perhaps it was his personal investment in the traditional system (being a pastor himself for a while). Or perhaps he is a bit intimidated by the great force of reviewers who will be reviewing his books. We don't know. What we do know is something is fishy. There is a slant and a "painting" of the story that does not square with the simple reading of the text.

We are not saying that we think D. A. Carson is way off. We actually greatly appreciate the works of D. A. Carson and think quite highly of his scholarship. We might even say he is one of our favorite scholars who grew to have international respect by most of the evangelical church in recent years.

But no one alive today is anything like the 1st apostles who were instructed by Jesus to lay the foundation for the church. No one alive today has the authority of the 1st century apostles. They were guided by the Holy Spirit to write scripture. We need to respect and honor what they have written. Anyone who teaches and tries to interpret what they said had better be careful. We are not trying to be a teacher in this article, but rather a tester. We are only testing what the teachers are saying. We are called to test everything that is said. If we have convictions based on reading God's Word, we should evaluate what the best teachers are saying to the church.

The other thing that must be said is that there really is a need for interpreting in the modern church days we live because we are so distant from the early church days. Some things have changed. We know and realized that it is not immediately obvious how to interpret some things even in the New Testament. Understanding how the Old Testament applies to the New Testament Christian is also something that takes wisdom. We have been pondering the Bible for 50 years, so we are not quick to just into these ideas. Some professors in seminaries have gone from non Christian to teaching others in less than 10 years and they are accepted. But we believe "eldership" has to do with years "in the Lord", not just academic credentials! We are not claiming to be anything, but we have a duty in scripture to test what we hear. That is our motivation.

So in summary, we know God's Word from years of meditation, we have read some of the top scholars on an important text (1 Corinthians 14:26-40), and we have learned some interesting things about New Testament "worship" that have been hidden by our Bible translations.

This article is somewhat advanced. We don't know how to explain these ideas in simple terms at this point. We assume you must do some research if you are not already familar with the topics. This article is incomplete. We hope to work on it... But the background material is on other links or you can look into it... I am being urgently called... I must stop. I am being "so bad" by writing this... I must go.

FOOTNOTES