Intelligibility in Worship
14 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue[Or in another language; also in verses 4, 13, 14, 19, 26 and 27 ] does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,[Or in other languages; also in verses 6, 18, 22, 23 and 39] but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues,[Or in other languages; also in verses 6, 18, 22, 23 and 39] unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
6 Now, brothers and sisters, 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 pipe 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. 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 the speaker is a foreigner to me. 12 So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.
13 For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. 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 understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16 Otherwise, when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer,[The Greek word for inquirer is a technical term for someone not fully initiated into a religion; also in verses 23 and 24.] say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is 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.
20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21 In the Law it is written:
“With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”[ Isaiah 28:11,12]
22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”
Good Order in Worship
26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
34 Women [Or peace. As in all the congregations of the Lord’s people, 34 women ] should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. [In a few manuscripts these verses come after verse 40.]
36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.[Some manuscripts But anyone who is ignorant of this will be ignorant]
39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
14:1–5 1 Cor 14:1b returns to the thought of 1 Cor 12:31a
and reveals Paul’s primary concern. The series of contrasts in 1 Cor 14:2–5
discloses the problem at Corinth: a disproportionate interest in tongues, with
a corresponding failure to appreciate the worth of prophecy. Paul attempts to
clarify the relative values of those gifts by indicating the kind of
communication achieved in each and the kind of effect each produces.
14:2–3a They involve two kinds of communication: tongues,
private speech toward God in inarticulate terms that need interpretation to be
intelligible to others (see 1 Cor 14:27–28); prophecy, communication with
others in the community.
14:3b–5 They produce two kinds of effect. One who speaks in
tongues builds himself up; it is a matter of individual experience and personal
perfection, which inevitably recalls Paul’s previous remarks about being
inflated, seeking one’s own good, pleasing oneself. But a prophet builds up the
church: the theme of “building up” or “edifying” others, the main theme of the
letter, comes to clearest expression in this chapter (1 Cor 14:3, 4, 5, 12,
17). It has been anticipated at 1 Cor 8:1 and 1 Cor 10:23, and by the related
concept of “the beneficial” in 1 Cor 6:12; 10:23; 12:7; etc.
14:6–12 Sound, in order to be useful, must be intelligible.
This principle is illustrated by a series of analogies from music (1 Cor
14:7–8) and from ordinary human speech (1 Cor 14:10–11); it is applied to the
case at hand in 1 Cor 14:9, 12.
14:13–19 The charism of interpretation lifts tongues to the
level of intelligibility, enabling them to produce the same effect as prophecy
(cf. 1 Cor 14:5, 26–28).
14:14–15 My spirit: Paul emphasizes the exclusively
ecstatic, nonrational quality of tongues. The tongues at Pentecost are also
described as an ecstatic experience (Acts 2:4, 12–13), though Luke superimposes
further interpretations of his own. My mind: the ecstatic element, dominant in
earliest Old Testament prophecy as depicted in 1 Sm 10:5–13; 19:20–24, seems
entirely absent from Paul’s notion of prophecy and completely relegated to
tongues. He emphasizes the role of reason when he specifies instruction as a
function of prophecy (1 Cor 14:6, 19, 31). But he does not exclude intuition
and emotion; cf. references to encouragement and consolation (1 Cor 14:3, 31)
and the scene describing the ideal exercise of prophecy (1 Cor 14:24–25).
14:20–22 The Corinthians pride themselves on tongues as a
sign of God’s favor, a means of direct communication with him (2:28). To
challenge them to a more mature appraisal, Paul draws from scripture a less
flattering explanation of what speaking in tongues may signify. Isaiah
threatened the people that if they failed to listen to their prophets, the Lord
would speak to them (in punishment) through the lips of Assyrian conquerors (Is
28:11–12). Paul compresses Isaiah’s text and makes God address his people
directly. Equating tongues with foreign languages (cf. 1 Cor 14:10–11), Paul
concludes from Isaiah that tongues are a sign not for those who believe, i.e.,
not a mark of God’s pleasure for those who listen to him but a mark of his displeasure
with those in the community who are faithless, who have not heeded the message
that he has sent through the prophets.
14:23–25 Paul projects the possible missionary effect of two
hypothetical liturgical experiences, one consisting wholly of tongues, the
other entirely of prophecy. Uninstructed (idiōtai): the term may simply mean
people who do not speak or understand tongues, as in 1 Cor 14:16, where it
seems to designate Christians. But coupled with the term “unbelievers” it may
be another way of designating those who have not been initiated into the
community of faith; some believe it denotes a special class of non-Christians
who are close to the community, such as catechumens. Unbelievers (apistoi): he
has shifted from the inner-community perspective of 1 Cor 14:22; the term here
designates non-Christians (cf. 1 Cor 6:6; 7:15; 10:27).
14:26–33a Paul concludes with specific directives regarding
exercise of the gifts in their assemblies. Verse 26 enunciates the basic
criterion in the use of any gift: it must contribute to “building up.”
14:33b–36 Verse 33b may belong with what precedes, so that
the new paragraph would begin only with 1 Cor 14:34. 1 Cor 14:34–35 change the
subject. These two verses have the theme of submission in common with 1 Cor
14:11 despite differences in vocabulary, and a concern with what is or is not
becoming, but it is difficult to harmonize the injunction to silence here with
1 Cor 11 which appears to take it for granted that women do pray and prophesy
aloud in the assembly (cf. 1 Cor 11:5, 13). Hence the verses are often
considered an interpolation, reflecting the discipline of later churches; such
an interpolation would have to have antedated our manuscripts, all of which
contain them, though some transpose them to the very end of the chapter.
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