This Bible reading plan takes you through most of the Holy Scriptures each weekday of the year. Each day has three Bible readings:
You're welcome to read one, two, or all three of the readings every weekday. And if you fall behind, don't worry! You can either use the weekends to catch up or you can simply dive in to the reading for that day, even if you've missed a few days, weeks, or even months!
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14:1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
6 Now, brothers,1 if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider2 say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign3 not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
36 Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.
[1] 14:6
[2] 14:16
[3] 14:22
(ESV)
The definition of the word "paradox" from dictionary.com: "A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth." I often define the word "paradox" as simply, "A pair of opposites that fit together in some profound way."
This morning in our reading from 1 Corinthians 14, we see Paul making a paradoxical statement of sorts: "Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached" (verse 36)? Now, at first glance, it seems that the paradox in this statement is between the words "originate" and "reach." After all, these two words are indeed opposites. The verb "originate" means that the Corinthians were claiming to be the ones who actively conceived, inspired, and crafted the Scriptures while the word "reach" denotes the exact opposite - that the Corinthians were not claiming to actively conceive, inspire, and craft the Scriptures; rather, they were mere passive agents of Scriptures that "reached" them. This is what the paradox of this passage would appear to be.
Yet, I would argue that the paradox of this passage is not between the words "originate" and "reach," but between the words "originate" and "only." Because these are the two words that, according to my definition of "paradox," "fit together in some profound way." How? To believe that you are the originator of Holy Scripture is clearly the height of arrogance. It is God's book, not yours. That is why I know of no Christian who would be so brass and bold and brazen as to say, "I am the author and originator of the Bible." Such a claim would be met by mocking and ridicule from others because of its sheer audacity and lunacy. However, at the same time I know of no Christian who would claim personal authorship to Scripture, I know of many Christians who live as if Scripture has reached them "only." They never talk about Scripture. They never share Scripture. They never encourage, challenge, or convict with Scripture. Indeed, they hardly ever read Scripture. And what little Scripture they do read remains tightly locked away in their hearts. And this too is the height of arrogance. After all, this kind of profound privatization when it comes to reading Scripture treats Scripture as if it's for you and you alone, not to be shared with others who might need to hear it. And sadly, this is how the paradox of "originate" and "only" fits together. It fits together via arrogance. One word is arrogant because of its audacious claim. The other word is arrogant because of what it refuses to do - it refuses to share God's Word with those who need to hear it.
I'm going to assume that the readers of this blog are not going to be so egotistical as to claim that they are the originators of God's Holy Book. However, I'm also going to assume that many of my readers, the author of this post included, often treat God's Holy Book as if it's theirs and theirs alone. So, today's challenge is, as you read 1 Corinthians 14, do not just let it reach you only. No, talk about it with others. Share it with others. Because the Word of God is meant for everyone.
18 Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;1
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For a burning place2 has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
(ESV)
Once again the prophet Isaiah shifts from the Law to the Gospel. Our hearts are weak and we can only endure so much Law before God must speak a word of grace and hope, or we would be utterly crushed and destroyed. So the Gospel promise of verse 18 is especially sweet after the Law that preceded it. "Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you." God longed for His people to cry to Him for help, so that He could show them mercy and be gracious to them. Bread and water were the provisions of prisoners, and although Israel experienced the bread of adversity and the water of affliction as a result of their stubborn rebellion, God promised that they would be prisoners no more, but rather they would cast down and even defile the idols that held them captive in sin and shame. The picture of unearthly bounty, beauty and brightness is an obvious glimpse of heavenly glory. Then, once again Isaiah returns to the present situation and shares God's promise to destroy the enemy of His people, His wrath being described as a consuming fire and a raging torrent. God promises that His people will sing and rejoice when the LORD reveals His mighty arm against Assyria. God's voice will shatter them and His rod will fight against them. God's people will rejoice with lyres and tambourines at the defeat of Assyria. This would be accomplished in 701 BC when the angel of the LORD struck down 185,000 Assyrians in a single night. "That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!" (2 Kings 19-35) Isaiah says that the fires of Topheth, a place in the Valley of Hinnom where children were burned in sacrifice to the pagan idol Molech, would burn deep and wide to consume the Assyrian dead. God triumphs over every false idol!
33:1 Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
(ESV)