Translation
for He is not the God of disorder
Go to footnote numberbut of wholeness.
Go to footnote numberAs in all the assemblies
Go to footnote numberof the saints,
Paraphrase
for our God is not a God who accepts, promotes, or causes the instability that comes from tumult, rather He is the God of healthy wholeness. As in all the churches of the ones God has purified,
Footnotes
1: "disorder"
The word used here has a root meaning of “instability.” It is a compound word made up of the words “down” and “standing,” or we would say, “to not stand,” i.e. something unstable. Such instability is the result of tumult, disorder, upheaval, revolution, war and possibly anarchy. Thus it is a very strong word. It includes the causes and the result.
2: "wholeness"
This word is usually rendered “peace.” To us the word “peace” means the absence of war and strife, but that is extremely narrow compared to the way Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek expressed it. This Greek word means “oneness, wholeness, to join, tie together into a whole”, or “when all essential parts are joined together.” The Hebrew word meant “wholeness or wellbeing” with an emphasis on health. For the Jew, it was an all-inclusive picture of mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual health. For my translation I have chosen “wholeness” because it emphasizes health through unity, tying together the Hebrew and Greek meanings and addressing the problems that were present in the church at Corinth.
3
This is the word for “assembly or church;” it comes from the words “call out,” thus the church is made up of those who are called out from the world to the assembly of God’s people.
THE CORINTHIANS WERE DISORDERLY WHICH IS CONTRARY TO GOD’S CHARACTER
Even if the Holy Spirit were inclined to take control over someone so powerfully as to negate the person’s use of free will (which He does not do), the Spirit would not create disorder, confusion, and strife because God is not the author of disorder. To do so would violate His character. We know that the situation in Corinth was way out of control, therefore Paul felt the need to remind them that our God is not the author of the kind of chaos they brought to their worship services. They claimed that what they were doing was coming from God. His answer was: “That’s impossible!”
ANOTHER SOURCE OF CHAOS
Beginning with the second half of this verse. Paul interjects comments about another source of chaos in their meetings; it has to do with women speaking out whenever they wanted to, taking control of the meeting in order to say their piece, refusing to respect the leadership of the church, ignoring the rule about orderliness in their meetings, and disregarding the rule that all things must be done to help others grow.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE ONE WHO GOT THE COUNTERFEIT STARTED WAS THE IMMORAL MAN OF I CORINTHIANS 5?
I have explored that possibility, and I now believe that it very well may have been the same person because it would explain some of the things Paul said in I Corinthians and it would cause several things to have a place where they fit nicely. However, my answer is too long to place here. Instead you can find it under Troublesome Topics/Tongues/Additional Subtopics about tongues, or you can click on this link WAS IT THE IMMORAL MAN OF I CORINTHIANS 5 WHO STARTED COUNTERFEIT TONGUES?