1 Cor 14 · Ezek 42

Devotion 1 of 2: 1 Cor 14

1) According to v.23, when the Corinthian Church came together, they all spoke in tongues with each other! That’s why when outsiders or unbelievers attended, they thought the Corinthians were crazy! So Paul corrected that problem by telling them he would rather speak 5 words with his mind in the church service than 10,000 words in tongues (19). He also said if someone did speak in tongues in the service, it should be limited to 2 or 3 people (not everybody speaking to each other!), and the tongues should be interpreted (v.27)! At SI, we don’t speak in tongues to each other, but we believe that speaking in tongues to God in our prayer or worship times is allowable.
2) The problem of women speaking in church happened because men and women sat in different sections. When a woman didn’t understand Paul’s preaching, she would shout to her husband asking what Paul meant. This disrupted the meeting, so Paul told women to ask their husbands at home (v.35). So we should understand that what Paul wrote (“women should keep silent in the churches,” “they are not permitted to speak,” and “it is shameful for a woman to speak in church”) should be applied to that particular situation in the Corinthian Church and not to all women in all churches.

デボーション1/2：1 コリ14章

1) 23節によると、コリント教会が集まったとき、彼らは皆、互いに異言を話していました！そのため、部外者や未信者が参加すると、コリントの人たちは気違いと思われたそうです！そこでパウロは、礼拝で異言で1万語話すよりも、知性で5語話す方がましだと言って、その問題を修正しました（19）。また、もし誰かが礼拝の中で異言を話したとしても、それは2、3人に限られ（全員がお互いに話すのではありません！）、そしてその異言は解き明かされるべきだと言いました（27節）！SIでは、お互いに異言を話すことはしませんが、祈りや賛美の時間に神様に向かって異言を話すことは許されています。

2) 教会で女性が話すという問題は、男性と女性が別の席に座っていたために起こったのです。女性はパウロの説教が理解できないと、夫に「パウロは何を言っているのか」と声を上げて聞きました。そのため、パウロは女性に「家で夫に聞くように」と指示したのです（35節）。ですから、パウロが書いたこと（「女性は教会で黙っているべきだ」「話すことは許されない」「女性が教会で話すのは恥ずかしいことだ」）は、コリント教会のその特定の状況に適用されるべきで、すべての教会のすべての女性に適用されるものではないと理解すべきなのです。

Devotion 2 of 2: Ezek 42

The focus of this chapter is on the chambers for the priests. The chambers were needed for the priests to eat the most holy offerings (v.13), to put or store the grain, sin and guilt offerings (v.13), and to change into their priestly garments in which they ministered (v.14). I think we can apply these chambers to our prayer room or our devotion time. Jesus instructed us in Matt 6:6, “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” In our devotion prayer room, we eat the Word, store it in our hearts and put on our priestly garments by praying to God!