The main point: Love compels us to use the gifts we have been given to build up the Body of Christ and to declare the gospel to unbelievers in ways that they can understand and receive. The mis-use of the gift of tongues was an issue in the Corinthian Church, and Paul explains that while the gift is from God and is good, it is still better to prophesy in the Church gatherings, as prophecy is intelligible and therefore of greater benefit to the Body than tongues (without interpretation) which cannot be understood.
In this chapter Paul carries on his argument from chapter 12. Remember that Paul had been talking about the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, specifically how the Church should be understood as one body with many parts, each of those parts being valuable and essential, and all being united by the sharing of the Holy Spirit. In the middle of this argument, Paul stops to deliver his beautiful chapter on love (1 Corinthians 13), the way in which all Christians are to live and use their gifts for one another. With this in mind, Paul returns to his theme of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14, this time focusing on two specific gifts: tongues and prophecy.
Once again we must be reminded that the gifts were given to be used in the context of Christian worship and gathering. They are designed, according to Paul, to build one another up, not for personal glory or prestige. It seems there was a problem with the use of tongues in the Corinthian Church. Some at least of the Corinthian believers apparently thought that speaking in tongues showed that they had achieved the loftiest possible spiritual status. And so, it seems, many were speaking and praying publicly in tongues during their gatherings for worship and instruction, without any interpretation. Paul’s teaching on tongues and prophecy is directed into this situation.
But we should maybe first deal with this question: what is the gift of tongues? We first read of the apostles speaking in strange tongues at Pentecost when, after receiving the Holy Spirit, the apostles begin speaking the various languages of the people who were gathered in the streets below, languages which the apostles did not previously know how to speak. This is a case of actual human languages being spoken. Is that what was going on in Corinth? Possibly. In chapter 13 Paul talks about speaking in the “tongues of men.” But he also talks about speaking in the “tongues of angels”, and it seems probable that it was more of a supernatural, inspired, non-human utterance that was happening in Corinth. It certainly seems that most people who pray or speak in tongues today are not speaking any known or possible human language, (though there are some reports of that happening.)
At any rate, the tongues that were being spoken, whether human or angelic, were, according to Christensen, “a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit, whereby a believer speaks forth in a language he has never learned, and which he does not understand.” Were they wrong to do this? If tongues were, and are, a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit, then they certainly are not, in and of themselves, wrong. They are a gift from God. They are not gibberish or nonsense, as Paul affirms that it is possible for them to be interpreted. Paul also said that he spoke in tongues more than any of them, and would be happy for them all to speak in tongues. But this does not mean that all Christians have to speak in tongues to be obedient to Scripture. After all, in talking about the diversity of the gifts in chapter 12, Paul asks: “Do all speak with tongues?” The clear implication is, “No, all do not speak with tongues.” So speaking in tongues is good, but not all have to do it, and there are some restrictions on the use of this gift in the context of Christian worship.
The benefits of praying (or singing) in tongues are well-attested. Tongues are given as a private prayer language, the gift of praying or singing with your spirit directly to God, bypassing your intellect, using the words God gives you to communicate with him in deep intimacy. Many people have spoken of the spiritual breakthrough that this produces in personal devotion, when words have run dry but the prayer continues from the heart. This prayer language is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but is not ecstatic, and can be controlled and utilized by the person praying. It is the Holy Spirit of God praying with the spirit of the believer, and it is incredibly encouraging to the believer. In a public setting, spoken or sung tongues that are interpreted through the power of the Holy Spirit, either by the person speaking or by someone else in the congregation, essentially take the form of revelations from God, similar to messages of knowledge or prophecy. In that case, tongues would edify the rest of the Body as well.
Paul compares and contrasts the gift of tongues to the gift of prophecy. Prophecy, like tongues, is an inspired utterance from the Holy Spirit. But unlike tongues, prophecy is intelligible to the speaker and to others. Prophecy is not just telling the future. It is hearing and speaking out a direct revelation from God into the world around you. It is not the same thing as preaching, though preachers may be speaking prophecy, either being immediately inspired with words from the Lord while they are speaking to the congregation, or being directly inspired as they prepare sermons beforehand. And not just preachers will prophesy. Acts 2:17-18 (quoting a prophecy from Joel), says that when the Holy Spirit is poured out, sons and daughters, young and old, even servants will prophesy. (We will look at some of the restrictions on prophecy next week.)
The main point Paul makes about the difference between tongues and prophecy is the fact that prophecy can be understood by all. For that reason, Paul prefers that the believers in Corinth would prophesy, rather than speak in tongues, when they gather together. Prophecy encourages, strengthens, and comforts the congregation (other gifts can do this as well) because it is intelligible, whereas tongues are not. Others cannot even say “Amen” when someone else is praying in tongues, because they don’t know what they are agreeing to. Tongues build up the person speaking; prophecy builds up the whole Church. Paul would rather say five words with his mind at a gathering of the Church than ten thousand in a tongue. So the Corinthians should desire gifts that strengthen the whole Body, rather than ones that primarily benefit themselves.
So what about speaking or singing in tongues in a public gathering? That has certainly become the norm in various Church gatherings, especially in the last 100 years, as it seemingly was the norm in the Church at Corinth. The key seems to be interpretation. Whatever happens in Christian worship should be at least intelligible. This would include a lot of the things we do today in our gatherings that might seem like madness to outsiders. If that is what the Holy Spirit is doing amongst us, then we must obey. But we should also take care to ensure that things are properly interpreted to everyone there. We will see next week the advice given to Corinth about how to proceed with orderly worship that includes tongues and prophecy. Paul clearly does not think tongues are bad, and assumes that they will be part of Church life. But, for the sake of love of one another, and for the sake of unbelievers who would think Christians were out of their mind if they were all speaking languages that no one understood, Paul restricts their unfettered use in public gatherings. If intelligible prophecy is spoken out in public gatherings, unbelievers who come in may understand it, be convicted, and be saved.
*A quick note on verses 20-22, which cause much confusion. The Corinthians thought they were mature because of their gift of tongues. Paul calls them children, because they wanted to use their spiritual freedom without showing loving concern to the rest of the Body. Some suggest though that Paul is talking about using tongues as an evangelistic tool here, saying that tongues are a “sign for unbelievers.” This is clearly in direct contradiction to the verses that come right afterword, saying that tongues will make unbelievers think Christians are crazy. In these verses Paul is actually referring to Isa 28, in which the tongues of foreigners (Assyrian troops) were used by God to speak a word of judgment to “unbelievers”. The unbelievers in this case were Israel, who hadn’t listened or repented to God. So tongues were a negative sign to these unbelievers, a sign given in a language they could not understand. If anything, Christian tongues speaking could be a sign to unbelievers that they did not have the Holy Spirit, but it would not be a sign that they understood, so it would not have evangelistic value on its own.
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