Bugles & Barbarians

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #124f Written 21APR08 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

Chapter 14: Part Six—Bugles & Barbarians

by dave c

First Corinthians 14:7 Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp, in producing a sound [Greek: (#5456) phone; voice/sound], if they do not produce a distinction in the tones [(#5353) phthoggos; musical note], how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? 8 For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound [(#5456) phone; voice/sound], who will prepare himself for battle? 9 So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech [(#1100) glossa; inspired, unknown language] that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages [(#5456) phone; voice/sound] in the world, and no kind is without meaning. 11 If then I do not know the meaning of the language [(#1411) dunamis; miraculous power + (#5456) phone; voice/sound = “miraculous power of the sound”], I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me (NASV).

If we take a more literal reading of verses 10 and 11 above, as parenthetically indicated, the result would be: “10 There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of sounds in the world, and no kind is without meaning [lit.; mute/voiceless]. 11 If then I do not understand the miraculous power of the sound, I will be to the one speaking a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.” “If then I do not know the meaning of the language” [NASV] is worlds apart from “If then I do not understand the miraculous power of the sound”. While the first translation is colored to reflect the unintelligibility of an unknown language, the more literal translation points to the hearer’s inability to understand the miraculous power of the inspired sounds being uttered. “Meaning” is the object of the first sentence—“miraculous power” is the object of the second.

Please consider the implications here involved. As commonly interpreted into contemporary English, our more recent Bible translators are emphasizing the importance, if not the essential nature, of understanding rationally all that is being uttered—and, by extension, they are stressing the importance of rationally understanding everything that takes place within the Body of Christ. This is a far cry from what is suggested in the ancient Greek wording as the miraculous power demonstrated by the sounds of one who is speaking in tongues—and, by extension, any and all miraculous events that are to be following Believers in the teaching of Jesus Christ (Mk 16:15-18). Unawares, we are being steered toward human rationalism, and away from demonstrations of miraculous works by the Holy Spirit that are outside our ability to understand. Through a subtle shift of linguistic emphasis, there is an overt elevation of human rationalism that results in a simultaneous declension of the spiritual. In Part Seven of this series we’ll see a similar process taking place in most teachings that involve verses 14:14-17.

First Corinthians 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him (NIV). Understand me. I am not preaching a gospel of ignorance or intellectual naivety—far from it. I am, however, propagating a Gospel that negates the intellectual arrogance upon which our culture is currently choking. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God (1Co 8:1-3; NIV). With 45,000,000 babies slaughtered in the name of sexual promiscuity, our ‘enlightened’ society has nothing about which to brag.

While First Corinthians 14:7-13 are most often used to demonstrate that in our public speech we must make an attempt to be understood by those who are listening (as a bugle that calls troops to battle, for instance), surprisingly, some time back, I heard a radio preacher who isn’t typically charismatic friendly present a different take on these verses. This popular pastor pointed out that trumpets aren’t always used to communicate military orders—sometimes they’re played for the sheer joy of playing. He said that, in the same way, people can use their voices to praise God as an instrument producing non-articulate, improvisational sounds. While not quite a hardy endorsement of “speaking in tongues”, his comments demonstrate a good measure of grace within the scope of Christian orthodoxy.

Finally, in verse 14:11 some Bible versions use the word “foreigner” to translate the Greek word barbaros (#915), but “barbarian” is the better term. According to the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1Corinthians [Revised Edition; Leon Morris, General Editor; Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England/William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI; 1993; p. 189]: “The Word is onomatopoeic; it means someone whose language sounds like ‘bar bar’, i.e. whose language makes no sense. The word is often used in a derogatory fashion, of those beyond the pale of civilization (just as in the case of the English equivalent). It is this that foreigner misses. Paul’s primary thought is that the person’s speech is unintelligible, but the derogatory associations of ’barbarian’ are in mind also.”