Let us read on: “Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies” (v. 4a). Myths refers to the traditional things in Judaism. In the Jewish religion, besides the Old Testament Scriptures, there were many stories and beliefs handed down from the past, and people liked to listen to such things. Even today in the Catholic Church there are many such things, many legends. Unending genealogies refers to the genealogies in the Old Testament history diligently studied by the Jews. These seemingly were religious matters, and some of them were based on the holy Scriptures, but Paul said that these were different doctrines that produced questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith. In the universe God has an economy, an arrangement, which is to be understood by faith. Hence, it is an economy, an arrangement, in faith. In other words, the message, the truth, which the apostle preached was God’s economy throughout the ages. This economy of God is for Christ to be our Savior and our life that we may become His members coordinated to form a Body for the expression of God Himself. This is God’s economy in our faith. In the early churches, however, some people other than the apostles were teaching the traditional things of Judaism and the genealogies of the Old Testament. However, these things only led to questionings; they did not reveal the mystery of God’s economy. Therefore, Paul asked Timothy to charge those people not to teach those things anymore.

Allow me to say this: Based on this principle, sometimes we have to stop the speaking of some brothers in the church meetings, because their speaking will produce questionings in the church, which will not edify, establish, or supply the brothers and sisters and therefore will not be helpful to the economy of God. According to this principle, there is a basis for stopping people from carelessly speaking in the church. In other words, it is not that any brother can simply speak in the church whatever messages he chooses. Not to mention if he taught idolatry; even if he were to teach other things which are apparently taken from the Scriptures, his speaking still must be stopped. The speaking must unveil the mystery of the economy of God instead of stirring up problems among the brothers and sisters.

In the United States a brother once came to us and demanded, based on 1 Corinthians 14, that in the meetings if anyone has an inspiration, he must be allowed to speak, and that if we disallow him to speak, we are not keeping the teaching of 1 Corinthians 14. Initially, this argument seems to be reasonable. Then after referring him to 1 Timothy 1:3, I asked him, “When Paul charged certain ones not to speak, was he charging them not to speak in their homes?” Of course, the answer is no; it is obvious that Paul meant that those people were not to speak in the meetings. It is true that all Scriptures were written under the inspiration of God, but we must know that the New Testament revelations are not the same as the Old Testament revelations. Whereas the Old Testament revelations are purely divine revelations without involving human experiences, the New Testament revelations are based upon human experiences. Therefore, when Paul wrote the Epistles, he had had certain experiences, and his writings were based on his experiences. First Corinthians was written in the early stage of his ministry when he felt that in the meetings the brothers and sisters all can speak. Gradually, after a few decades when he wrote 1 Timothy in his old age, his speaking changed.

Let me give another example. In 1 Corinthians 7 Paul said that he wished that all the believers would remain unmarried even as he did, but when he wrote 1 Timothy 5, he said that he wished that the believers would be married. His speaking changed. In his early years of service he had the feeling that it was best for the believers not to marry but to be wholly for the Lord. After several decades, however, he observed that it was easy for the believers to get into trouble due to the weakness of the flesh, so he wrote another Epistle saying that it was proper for them to marry. Today we are not in the early stage or in the middle part of Paul’s ministry. Rather, we are in a time which is many years after the completion of Paul’s ministry. Therefore, we must not give undue emphasis to following the teaching in his early ministry. Instead, we should stress more his teaching in his final stage, because the teaching in the final stage was a mature teaching. This may be compared to a fruit. In 1 Corinthians the fruit was not quite ripe, but in 2 Timothy it had completely ripened. This does not mean that what he wrote in 1 Corinthians is not the word of God, just as we cannot say that because an apple has not ripened, it is not an apple.

In the same way, we are not saying that 1 Corinthians 14 should be put aside. Rather, we are saying that we should read it in conjunction with 1 Timothy 1:3. If the speakings of the brothers unveil the mystery of God, then praise and thank the Lord; of course, they all may speak. However, if someone stands up and speaks all kinds of irrelevant things, then we must advise him to stop. Today we have this situation among us. In the fellowship meetings, the brothers and sisters who have learned more spiritual lessons tend to give more consideration before they speak; they fear the Lord, and they carefully try to sense if it is of the Lord that they speak. While they hesitate, however, some of those who are very bold will take the opportunity to stand up and give a long talk. If you give such a one five minutes, he will speak ten minutes, and after that, he will still want to speak. What then should you do? This is a practical situation. Therefore, after having experiences in the churches over a few decades, Paul finally said that if some were to speak improperly in the church, they would have to be stopped.
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