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those around them. This is usually accompanied with the closing of their eyes. Christ himself lifted up his eyes to heaven at least on one occasion, thereby indicating that he was speaking to his heavenly Father and not to men (John 17:1). The stretching forth of the hands may also suggest feeling (Psalm 143:6), rather as a child holds out its arms to its parents. In any case the lifting up of ones hands should not just be done as a ritual.

How does the law apply ?

Paul points out that he is saying nothing new, but that what he says is also what the law says. It is not that we are under law (1 Corinthians 9:20), but that there is no contradiction between Paul's instructions and what the law says. We accept what Paul says because it is the Lord's commandment, not because it is in the law. This is as Paul says in the next verse of the passage just quoted: "Not as without law to God, but as legitimately subject to Christ". Because Christ is the one we accept as our Lord; the one whose yoke we are under (Matthew 11:28-30), if we recognise what Paul says as being his commandment we should follow it (1 Corinthians 14:37).

The question may be asked: "Is the law the Mosaic law or the Roman law" ? All one would say as to this is that there are two other references to the law in 1 Corinthians and they both appear to refer either to what is specifically in the Mosaic law or to what is found in the Old Testament. Thus we have in chapter 9 verses 8 and 9, a reference to a specific passage in the law of Moses. Then we have in our chapter verse 21 a reference to Isaiah 28:11-12 and this is said to be something written in the law; the law in this case not being said to be the law of Moses but just the law, for the law in its widest sense covers the whole of the Old Testament (see for instance John 10:34 where the reference is to a Psalm). The question may well be asked: "If the reference is to the law, taking it as the Old Testament, to what passage is Paul referring" ? He does not here refer to any passage, but if we turn to 1 Peter 3:1-6 we find that Peter speaks of "the holy women who have hoped in God heretofore adorned themselves, being subject to their own husbands; as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose children ye have become" (verses 5 and 6). Note that the passage in 1 Corinthians 14:34 and also the one just quoted do not connect the law with keeping silence specifically but to being in subjection. The most explicit passage regarding this is Genesis 3:16, but there is also what godly women practised as Peter says. Peter is indicating that we should follow their example, because we have become in a spiritual sense their children, as Christ, for example, said in Luke 19:9 of Zacchaeus: "He also is a son of Abraham". This was more than just generation by natural birth for Christ made little of that (see John 8:39/40). Christ also spoke of a daughter of Abraham (Luke 13:16).

Keeping the Lord's commandment

It appears that there was a lot of pride in the Corinthian assembly. One can judge this from the fact that Paul speaks of them as being puffed up in chapter 5:2. Paul in the passage we are considering in effect takes them down, what we would call, a peg or two. Paul asks the rhetorical question: "Did the word of God go out from you" ? The point is that it did not. Rather it was brought to them by Paul and Silas. They had cause to be grateful to Paul and Silas and not the other way round. Without the word having come to them in the way it did they would have still been in Judaism or Heathendom. They had nothing to boast about.

Paul then also says: "Did it (the word of God) come to you only" ? The Corinthian assembly was not special in the sense that they were the only recipients of the word of God for there were many other assemblies that had received it. This should be a word of warning to any companies of Christians that take a superior stance when comparing themselves with other Christian companies. Paul then goes on to say: "If anyone think himself to be a prophet or spiritual let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is [the] Lord's commandment". Again it would appear from what Paul says that there were those at Corinth who were taking, we may say, high ground, that is, thinking themselves prophets (persons having the mind of God) or spiritual (persons having spiritual discernment - see chapter 2:15). It was something of a challenge to the genuineness of what they thought they were to say let them recognise the things that I write to you that it is the Lord's commandment. If they were really prophets or spiritual they would have discerned that what Paul said was Christ's commandment, for Paul was Christ's

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