The Gifts Of Prophecy And Tongues
The whole of chapter 12 leads to the recommendation to “eagerly desire the greater gifts” (12:31). In chapter 13 these gifts are placed under the direction of a high, holy outflowing love. Now, with this love in mind, chapter 14 begins to give practical directions for the exercise, or operation, of these spiritual gifts. Again and again in this chapter we see how love is the guiding principle of these practical directions.
Though chapter 12 shows that all the manifestations of the Spirit are necessary and beneficial, the Corinthian believers needed special direction and guidance concerning the operation of two: tongues and prophecy. Chapter 14 gives most of its attention to them, though many of the basic principles could be applied to other gifts as well.
1. PROPHECY EDIFIES THE CHURCH 14:1–5
1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
Here Paul echoes 12:31 about spiritual gifts. All believers are to pursue the way of love, strive to act in love. But this does not mean we can then afford to despise or neglect spiritual gifts. Both love and the gifts are from the same Spirit. So all believers, not just apostles67 or leaders, must have a deep concern for the gifts (Gk., pneumatika, “spiritual things”): a zeal for them that makes us strive for them, desiring eagerly and earnestly that each member function freely in this body ministry. But it is most important to seek and strive for the gift of prophecy.68
This word of instruction was apparently much needed in Corinth. Since speaking in tongues is the initial outward evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it is easy then to respond in faith to the Spirit as He gives the gift of tongues. It also becomes easy to pray in tongues. Thus, there is the pitfall that we may give so much time to tongues that we fail to be open to the other gifts the Holy Spirit has for us.
2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. 3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.
The problem Paul needed to deal with was the overuse of tongues without interpretation. He knew that what the Spirit wants to do is use the manifestation of the gifts to build up the local assembly both spiritually and in numbers. So he contrasts uninterpreted tongues with prophecy.
When tongues are not interpreted, only God understands. In that sense, then, the tongues speaker “does not speak to men but to God.” (Consequently, no one in the congregation understands what is said or learns anything from it.) Though the human spirit is responding to God’s Spirit and the tongues speaker is edified, all that is said remains as “mysteries” (secret truths, truths of the gospel; cf. 2:7–10; Rom. 16:25).
On the other hand, prophecy is in the language the people understand and brings a spontaneous, Spirit-given message that strengthens them (builds them up spiritually, develops and confirms their faith), encourages them (awakening them and helping them to move forward in faithfulness and love),69 and comforts them (cheers, revives, and stirs hope and expectation).70
Paul doesn’t say that tongues are less supernatural than prophecy or inferior to prophecy. But on the principle of love, prophecy is to be preferred because it edifies the local assembly, while tongues edify only the individual. Now, it is not wrong for the individual to be edified. We all need that. Paul still wants all believers to keep on speaking in tongues (which, as has been noted, the Gk. tense indicates). However, they do not need to take up the time of the rest of the assembly while they are edifying themselves. This clearly indicates that tongues are important in our individual worship and prayer. Many charismatics today refer to tongues as a “prayer language.”
As we have seen in chapter 12, the Holy Spirit’s concern is to use the individual to bless and build the whole body. It is His purpose that everyone shall “in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by [the spiritual activity of] every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:15–16). Love will lead us therefore to strive for prophecy above other spiritual gifts because it does more to build up the assembly both spiritually and numerically. In this way the person who prophesies is “greater than the one who speaks in tongues.”
However, tongues with interpretation will also edify the assembly. It is uninterpreted, tongues that do not “speak to men” (v. 2). But when interpreted, the one who speaks in tongues is doing something just as praiseworthy as the one who prophesies. This may well mean that tongues with interpretation can fulfill the same function as prophecy.71 At least, tongues with interpretation benefits the congregation as much as prophecy does.
2. TONGUES NEED INTERPRETATION 14:6–19
6 Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? 7 Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.
Verse 6 gives a strong argument for the need of interpretation. If we come speaking in tongues without interpretation, we do not do any good for the local assembly. But tongues when interpreted may bring insight into spiritual truths (a “revelation”); “knowledge,” including spiritual understanding; a message to strengthen, encourage, and comfort (“prophecy”); or a “word of instruction” (not in the sense of establishing new doctrine but clarifying spiritual truth and helping the hearers to apply it).
On the other hand, tongues without interpretation may be compared to a flute or a harp played without clear notes or a definite melody, and therefore no communication of anything to the listener. Similarly, a trumpet communicates no message to the army if its notes are indistinct and its call unrecognizable. How then can the assembly be satisfied with tongues that are not interpreted! The assembly and the one speaking in tongues would miss the message the Spirit wants to communicate. Just as a trumpet giving a “clear call” communicates to the soldier, so tongues when interpreted can communicate with the congregation.
10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. 12 So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church. 13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.
As a further argument for the need for interpretation Paul points out that the Holy Spirit has many languages to draw from when He gives a person the gift of tongues, and those languages all convey meaning. But if the language is foreign to the hearer, he does not understand the meaning. Thus, a person who speaks in tongues without interpretation treats the hearer as a foreigner, and the speaker might as well be a foreigner as far as any benefit the hearer derives.
Having said this, Paul again commends the Corinthian believers for their zeal and desire for spiritual gifts. His teaching was in no sense a rebuke. They were right in responding to the Spirit. Love, however, would encourage them to accept his teaching and to direct their seeking toward those gifts which do the most to build up the assembly.
Again, the idea is not to neglect any spiritual gift, but to seek to excel, abound, and overflow for the local assembly. This is why Paul urged that the person who speaks in tongues should pray for the interpretation. This takes a step of faith and obedience. But the Lord will not disappoint the person who takes courage and responds to the Holy Spirit in this way. The Spirit wants to give the needed interpretation.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. 16 If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
Tongues need interpretation. Even when Paul prays in tongues, his spirit joining with the Holy Spirit and going out to God, his mind, or understanding, cannot enter in and remains “unfruitful,” unproductive. So Paul asks himself what to do. He will continue the practice of praying with his spirit, using the supernatural, spiritual gift of speaking in tongues (cf. Jude 20). This is “a most effective way of praying and an effective means of avoiding the tendency for prayer to deteriorate into mere ritual.”74 He will also pray with his mind and understanding, still spontaneously moved by the Spirit.
When musical instruments are playing he will break out spontaneously singing in tongues. (The Gk. word means to sing with musical accompaniment.) He will also sing with his mind, his understanding, also anointed by the Spirit.
His speaking in tongues is in this case praise, “giving thanks” (or worship). But if it is not interpreted, the one who does not understand it cannot join in, cannot put an “amen” (Heb. for “surely”) to it. Saying “amen” accepts something as being true and valid. “Some observers of the Early Church in worship compared the loud chorus of ‘amens’ to the echo of distant thunder. The concurring ‘amen’ of the congregation was regarded as no less important than the prayer itself. (See Rev. 5:13–14; 22:2).”
Verse 16, in fact, can mean that the one who in public worships in tongues by himself or herself puts the rest of the assembly in the place of those who are “without understanding” (NCV): unlearned, untrained, inexperienced. This implies that worship in the local assembly should be in one accord, with everyone joining in, with everyone united in heart, mind, and soul. But this does not imply that worship in tongues even without interpretation has no value. The person who does so worships, or gives thanks, “well” (rightly, commendably); nevertheless, love would want others edified.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
The manifestation of spiritual gifts is such a spontaneous thing that taking time for teaching sometimes seems to “quench the Spirit.” It may have seemed to the Corinthian believers also that such teaching might discourage speaking in tongues and perhaps cause the gift to be suppressed. (It was actually a growing worldliness, not Biblical teaching, that caused the gift to die out over the next several centuries.)
At every point, Paul stops to make it clear that what he is teaching is not meant in any way to hinder or stop the exercise of any spiritual gift. The Holy Spirit had already given Paul this teaching, but it did not stop him from speaking in tongues. In fact, he thanks God that he spoke in tongues more than any of them (implying he spoke in tongues now more than ever before; also implying that he spoke in tongues when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit).
However, when he was with others in the assembly he would rather speak five words that could be understood and give teaching “than ten thousand words in a tongue.” He came with the heart of a shepherd, wanting to feed the flock (the Heb. word for shepherd, ro’eh, literally means “feeder”). Teaching takes divine truth from God’s Word (1 Pet. 2:2) and puts it in a form which may be received and assimilated with profit and blessing. For Paul to take up all the time of the assembly with a gift which brought edification primarily to himself would hardly show a shepherd’s heart, nor would it show the love that chapter 13 describes.
Paul must have exercised the gift of tongues when he was alone in his private devotions. There he could open his heart toward God and let the Spirit-given words roll out in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. In some inner room, some secret place, he could give free course to the operation of this gift and let it bless and strengthen him. It may be that the Corinthian believers were missing a great blessing by failing to exercise the gift of tongues in their personal prayer life.
Horton, S. M. (1999). I & II Corinthians: A Logion Press Commentary (pp. 130–137). Springfield, MO: Logion Press.
