Mutuality in Speaking for the Church Meetings
One-minute Bible study
Please pray over these verses.

1 Corinthians 14:3, 26, 31
3 But he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men.
26 What then, brothers? Whenever you come together,
each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
31 For
you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

Chapter 14 reveals that to meet in mutuality, speaking one to another is the basic principle and primary characteristic of a proper Christian meeting ordained by God. To prophesy is to speak for the Lord and speak forth the Lord, ministering God Himself into all the hearers. Paul encouraged the believers to seek after this unique, superior, and most profitable gift for the building up of the church.
A few more minutes
Please prayerfully read through the following portions of ministry related to this crucial point.

A proper church meeting, therefore, must be unique in two things—in mutuality and in speaking, a speaking that is genuine, positive, nourishing, and edifying. This means that whenever we come together, we should have speaking in mutuality, not the speaking of only one or two. Every saint should have the equal right and opportunity to speak concerning Christ, to speak for Christ, and to speak forth Christ. Relying on others to speak, to pray, and to call hymns is a tradition that kills the church life, for it annuls the function of the members of the Body of Christ. Instead of following the traditional practice, we should function in the church meetings in the way of mutuality. This will edify, improve, and develop the functioning ability of all the attendants of the church meetings. (The Conclusion of the New Testament (Msgs. 205-220), msg. 206, section 2)
 
The stress and emphasis of 1 Corinthians 14 is not simply on meeting but on prophesying, on every member of the Body of Christ speaking for the Lord…In this chapter to prophesy does not denote to foretell, or to predict, but to carry out the divine oracle, that is, to speak for the Lord and speak forth the Lord into others' spirits. This is to dispense the Triune God in Christ, His embodiment, into the needy ones. This is the top definition of prophesying. (The Present Advance of the Lord's Recovery, ch. 6, section 2)
 
This indicates that when we come to the church meeting, we should have something of the Lord to share with others, whether a psalm to praise the Lord, a teaching (of the teacher) to minister the riches of Christ to edify and nourish others, a revelation (of the prophet, v. 30) to give visions of God’s eternal purpose concerning Christ as God’s mystery and the church as Christ’s mystery, a tongue as a sign to the unbelievers (v. 22) that they may know and accept Christ, or an interpretation to make a tongue concerning Christ and His Body understandable. (Life-Study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 63, section 1)

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Going deeper
Please read or listen to these materials for an in-depth study of this crucial point. 


Further reading:
Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 61, sections 2-3
Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msg. 63, section 1
The Proper Way for Believers to Meet and to Serve, ch. 6, section 1
Elders’ Training, Book 05: Fellowship concerning the Lord’s Up-to-date Move, ch. 5, sections 1-2


Radio broadcast links:
Broadcast 51, Dealing with the Gifts (7)
Broadcast 49, Dealing with the Gifts (5) (Listen from the 10:48-minute mark until the end of the programme)


Footnotes from Recovery Version of the New Testament:
1 Corinthians 14:1, footnotes 1-3

1 Corinthians 14:13, footnote 3

1 Corinthians 14:24, footnote 1 
1 Corinthians 14:26, footnotes 1-2
Colossians 3:16, footnote 1


Study questions:
  • Read The Proper Way for Believers to Meet and to Serve, chapter 6, section 1. Review the three portions in the New Testament that highlight the basic principle for the meetings of the church and contrast to the type of meeting related to the ministry.
  • What is the full meaning prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14?
  • Read 1 Corinthians 14:26, footnote 1, and discuss the application of the type of the Feast of the Tabernacles to the reality found in the New Testament meetings.
Works Cited
 
Lee, Witness. The Conclusion of the New Testament. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 2006. www.ministrybooks.org

---. Life-study of 1 Corinthians. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1990. www.ministrybooks.org

---.The Present Advance of the Lord's Recovery. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1989. www.ministrybooks.org
All verses and excerpts © 2019 Living Stream Ministry.
Used by permission. Reproduction is prohibited. 

Copyright © 2019 Amana Trust