The Bible is great, profound, mysterious, spiritual, and divine. After I was saved, I began to love the Bible and to study it. The more I studied it, the more I realized that the Bible is exceedingly profound and that no one can fully understand it.
At the end of the first century, after the departure of the apostles who wrote the New Testament, the second generation of Christians began to study the New Testament. This was the beginning of the history of the study of the New Testament. From that time through all the centuries, the study of the New Testament has never ceased. Out of this study many spiritual writings have been produced. Among mankind, no other school of thought has produced as many writings as Christianity. Christian writings may be grouped into four main categories: the Bible, expositions of the Bible (which also portray the history of the study of the Bible), church history, and biographies and autobiographies of the saints.
Much has been written on certain portions of the Word, such as Romans chapters three through six, and Galatians, but before the Brethren were raised up over one hundred fifty years ago, very few expositions were written on 1 Corinthians. The Brethren touched 1 Corinthians very much. They especially touched chapters twelve through fourteen, which constitute a section on the spiritual gifts. Chapter twelve concerns the gifts in a general way, while chapter fourteen concerns the gifts in a particular way, comparing prophesying with speaking in tongues. In chapter fourteen Paul indicated that prophesying is the excelling gift, the "head" of the gifts, whereas speaking in tongues is the "tail" of the spiritual gifts.
After the Brethren, the Pentecostal movement was raised up. The Pentecostal movement began in the middle of the previous century in England and moved first to Massachusetts at the beginning of this century and then, later, to Azusa Street in Los Angeles. On Azusa Street the Pentecostal movement "burned" like a wildfire, and many of the spiritual, seeking Christians throughout the country were attracted to it, including A.B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian Missionary Alliance. The Pentecostals developed further the understanding of 1 Corinthians 12—14. However, they made a number of mistakes in their interpretation of these chapters. They interpreted prophesying in chapter fourteen as foretelling, and they practiced this kind of prophesying in their meetings. Usually their prophecies began in a similar way and ended with, "Thus saith the Lord," in the style of the Old Testament prophets. While I was in China, I heard this kind of prophesying, and after I came to the United States, I visited various Pentecostal groups and heard the members prophesying in the same tone and style as I had heard in China. In the 1960s, several prophecies were given predicting that a great earthquake would take place in Los Angeles at a certain time; however, these prophecies were never fulfilled.
Beginning with Brother Nee sixty years ago, we have come to the clear understanding that prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14 does not denote foretelling or predicting. To prophesy in the sense of 1 Corinthians 14 denotes to speak for God and Christ and to speak forth God and Christ. To speak forth God and Christ is to minister and dispense God and Christ to people. We minister God and Christ to people in the same way that a waiter ministers food. To dispense God and Christ into people may be somewhat different from ministering to them. It is possible for a waiter to offend people in such a way that they will not eat the food that he ministers to them. Such a waiter ministers food but does not dispense it into people. Likewise, a minister of the Word may minister Christ to people but not dispense Christ into them. A nursing mother, on the other hand, not only ministers food to her babies but dispenses it into them. Babies sometimes do not want to eat the food given to them, but mothers have a way to compel them to eat. We must learn not only to speak God and Christ, but also to speak forth God and Christ. Moreover, in speaking forth God and Christ, we should not only minister God and Christ to people, but also dispense into them what we are speaking forth.
Experienced doctors are skilled at dispensing medicine into their patients. Often, by the mercy of the Lord, I have the assurance that when people listen to my messages, they receive a dispensing. Even if they go away opposing, criticizing, and rejecting, they have received an "injection." I have the assurance that I will eventually see the result of such a dispensing.
To speak forth implies to dispense. Paul was the top dispenser. He knew that while he was speaking to people, he was dispensing something into them. In Ephesians 3:2 he said that "the stewardship of the grace of God" was given to him. In Greek, the word for "stewardship" in Ephesians 3:2 is the same as that for "dispensation" in 3:9. The Greek word here, oikonomia, denotes an arrangement for dispensing. The word "dispensation" refers to this arrangement, whereas the word "stewardship" refers to the service of God's dispensing. When we read any portion of Paul's writings, something is dispensed into us. He had a particular skill in dispensing by speaking forth Christ. While he was speaking forth Christ, he was dispensing Christ to people. The Lord's ministry today also is a dispensing ministry. When we read a page of the ministry, we cannot avoid receiving an "injection" of Christ.