Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

When this verse was first brought to my attention, I was going through some strife. It wasn't a life changing disaster though- and my interpretation of the verse was along the lines that no matter what happens in your life, it has good as its ultimate purpose.

Recently, I've revised my thinking. Now, I'd say the verse means that no matter what happens in your life, good can come from it. That might not seem too different, but really its a fundamental shift- where before I'd say bad things are really good things that seem bad at the time, now I'd say that bad things just happen, and they're exactly that- bad; perhaps catastrophic in some cases. The message I'd take from the verse is that no matter how bad your circumstances, you can find some good in it somewhere- so take heart, and look for the good.

1 Corinthians 14:22-25

Reading 1 Corinthians a while back, I noticed what seemed to be a direct contradiction within successive verses.

1 Corinthians 14:22

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

1 Corinthians 14:23-25

So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

Basically, the first one appears to be saying that tongues are for unbelievers- ie that openly 'speaking in tongues' is a good way to encourage people to become christians. The second passage, by contrast, clearly spells out that if those unfamiliar with the practice hear you speaking in tongues, they're likely to think you're nuts.

This perplexed me for a while, not least because I couldn't seem to find anyone else who'd noticed the same paradox. The only websites I could find that touched it were of the how-dare-you-insinuate-that-the-bible-contains-errors variety, and had laughable explanations- like that Paul was referring to two different types of tongues and prophecy (in the context of one paragraph, without differentiating the two)

Happily, there's a quite reasonable explanation- you just have to read the preceding verses!

Here it is again, in context:

1 Corinthians 14:20-25

20Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21In the Law it is written:

"Through men of strange tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.

22Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

In verse 22, Paul is suggesting that the quoted passage (from Isaiah) could be interpreted as meaning that the 'speaking of tongues' should be used as an evangelistic tool- however, he goes on to debunk this (obviously false) assertion in verses 23-25.

Interestingly, the Greek word translated as 'tongues' in the passage from Isaiah is heteroglossos (Strong's G2084)- which literally means someone who speaks a foreign language; whereas the word translated as 'tongues' elsewhere is glossa (Strong's G1100), which means an unnaturally acquired language. So verse 21 would perhaps be more accurately translated as:

In the Law it is written: "Through men who speak foreign languages and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, listen to me," says the Lord.

Which makes it fairly obvious as to why the interpretation given in verse 22 is incorrect.

The first part of the passage states

"Brothers, stop thinking like children... in your thinking be adults."

I believe Paul's purpose in writing this passage was to encourage the Corinthian believers to exercise their brains when interpreting scripture- not to take one verse out of context and use it to justify a particular action, but to attempt to gain a holistic understanding of what message the writer was trying to convey, and how it applied to their situation.

I love this passage, partly because I think the point is a crucial one, but also because the very lesson Paul was attempting to teach the Corinthians 2 millenia ago, using the ancient writings of the time, has been taught to me through Paul's own writings. There's a nice symmetry to it...