For God is not the God of dissension, but of peace: as also I teach in all the churches of the saints.
ου γαρ εστιν ακαταστασιας ο θεος αλλα ειρηνης ως εν πασαις ταις εκκλησιαις των αγιων
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
He shows that it is also pleasing to God that the first should be silent. For God is not a God of disorder and confusion. Yet there will be disorder if no one keeps silence and all prophesy. Rather, He is a God of peace. This peace is preserved in all the churches among the saints, that is, among the faithful. For there are also churches of the Greeks and the Hellenes. You also should be ashamed to conduct yourselves differently from all the churches.
For God is not a God of strife, but of peace. That is, He is not a God of confusion and disorder, but of good arrangement and order.
For God Himself is the source of peace, as the Savior says: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). Let no one say what ought not to be said, for the desire to contradict must be denied, lest disagreements arise in the body. Those who have been called in peace must learn patience, so that they do not transgress the laws of peace.
We are not establishing something new, but teaching you the laws of the churches which the Preserver of peace Himself established. Since not only men but also women were filled with spiritual grace, for God foretold this by the mouth of the prophet Joel, “And I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28), the Apostle necessarily laid down a rule for women also.
“As in all the churches of the saints”: as such order has place in all the holy churches, so let it be among you also.
Here the order is depicted which was fitting in apostolic times, but not in our own.
The Church then abounded in miraculous gifts, but the number of believers was still not great. Liturgical hymns and prayers were only just being composed, and the order of worship had not yet become definite.
Therefore an individual believer, sensing within himself the presence of the Spirit of God, was allowed to come forward with his own song or psalm, with his own revelation or instruction.
But what would happen in church in our time, if, amid the immense multitude of believers, each were allowed to sing his own song and deliver his own instruction?
Even the Apostle Paul already had to limit the number of those wishing to speak in the church assembly. He writes: "Let two speak, or at most three, and each in turn" (v. 27), and, "Let two or three prophets speak" (v. 29).
In our time, speaking in church is entrusted only to people whose right-mindedness is beyond all doubt. They must also have permission for this from a representative of the Church, a bishop or priest.
Such an order is wholly fitting. It preserves from the disorder against which the Apostle warned the Corinthians (v. 33), and it contributes to the edification of the church assembly (v. 5).
But the Shtundists desire an order in which anyone could appear as the performer of divine service. This order is disorder.
The rule for prophets is that only a few should instruct, two or three in turn. Yet one must immediately cease speaking if others receive a revelation, for “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” This is not as it happens among frenzied soothsayers in temples. “God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.”
Having shown the impropriety of disorder in church assemblies, the Apostle Paul gives rules for the use in church of the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy.
As a general foundation for those who possess either gift, he sets forth the good goal of edifying one's neighbors. Apart from this, nothing should have a place in the Church.
In particular, he counsels those who possess the gift of tongues to use their gift in turn. They should do this only when it is possible to explain what is uttered in a foreign language.
Otherwise, one must only lift up to the Lord in one's mind what has been given by Him, as a gift for the prayer of mind and heart.
The prophets also are advised to keep order. Only two or three may speak, one after another, while the others must attend to their words and partly consider whether they are from God (2 Cor 11:13).
When an extraordinary revelation is given to someone, he may speak. Then he must again yield the word to the one who was interrupted.
Thus, with the passage of time, all who have received the gift of inspired teaching may speak. Yet they may do so only in order.
Without observing order, concord, peace, and quiet are impossible. These are so necessary during prayer to the God of peace and love.
Thus the Apostle taught the Corinthians to pray. Thus also he taught others, in all the churches.
Presenting all the great wealth of the spiritual gifts mentioned here by the holy Apostle Paul, John Chrysostom says: "The Church then was heaven. The Spirit ordered everything among the people, guiding and inspiring each of those who presided. But now it is not so. I say this with regard not to gifts, but to life and virtue."
If Saint John Chrysostom spoke in this way, should we, the unworthy, be surprised that extraordinary gifts are not seen among us?
He proves that this is also pleasing to God. Do you see by how many arguments he moves them to silence and consoles the one who yields to another?
First, by saying that in this case he too is not excluded: "For you can all prophesy one by one."
Second, by saying that this is proper to the Spirit, for "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets."
Then, by saying that this accords with God's will: "For God is not the God of disorder, but of peace."
Third, by saying that this rule extends over the whole world, and that he commands nothing new: "as in all the churches of the saints," he says, I command.
Can anything be more astonishing than this? The Church then was heaven. The Spirit ordered everything among the people, guiding and inspiring each of those who presided.
But now we have only the signs of those gifts. Even now we speak, but all these are only signs and memorials of what once was.
In ancient times they spoke not by their own wisdom, but by the inspiration of the Spirit. But now it is not so. I speak what is my own.
Now the Church is like a woman deprived of her former wealth. In many places she preserves only the signs of her first prosperity.
She shows the vessels and storehouses of golden treasures, but she does not possess the wealth itself. Such a woman the Church has now become.
I say this with regard not to gifts. It would not be too grievous if it were only this, but also to life and virtue" (Saint Chrysostom).
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 15 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS