On the Gift of Tongues, Pt. 2: Proper use & comparison with the gift of prophesying

An exposition of 1 Corinthians 14

If you have not yet read Part 1 of my series On the Gift of Tongues, please read it first as each part of the series goes together and builds on one another. You can find Part 1 here.

Paul has made his appeal as to why love is of paramount importance in the Christian life, an even more excellent pursuit than spiritual gifts. With this priority still in mind, he proceeds in his exhortation on the gifts. In light of sacrificial love, and to that end, YES!—earnestly desire the gifts of the Spirit. Let’s break it down verse by verse.

“Especially that you may prophesy”

1 Corinthians 14 focuses mainly on the two mysterious gifts of prophecy and tongues, so why does Paul place emphasis on prophecy being especially desirable?

Well, let’s remind ourselves of the purpose of spiritual gifts: for the common good of the church, sanctification of the body, and to practice loving one another.

In defense of his emphasis on prophesying, Paul points out that the gift of tongues alone (without an interpretation) is of benefit to no one. Because no one understands what is being said. No common good, sanctification, or sacrificial love is demonstrated through a foreign language spoken with no interpretation, not even for the speaker himself. The only one who understands him is God.

Paul is not saying that the person speaking in a tongue IS TO speak to God, as if that were the purpose of the gift, but that God is the only one who knows what he is saying. This is also what is meant by “he utters mysteries in the Spirit.” A mystery with no revelation is of no spiritual benefit to anyone involved. The Spirit is working, but the meaning remains concealed.

Mysteries in the spirit

Another excellent example of this mystery/revelation dynamic was the concealment and revelation of Christ in the Old and New Testaments. The Spirit was working in the Old Testament, but the meaning remained concealed. The Old Testament was a “mystery in the Spirit”—the mystery of Christ—until the interpretation of it was given to the church by the apostles in the New Testament epistles. It was then that Israel/the church gained understanding and, therefore, the benefit of sanctification by the Holy Spirit, which the saints of the Old Covenant did not have. You can see exactly how this relates to the gift of tongues when reading what Paul wrote in Ephesians about the revelation of the mystery:

“For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” - Ephesians 3:1-6

In the same way that the mystery of Christ concealed did not make sense in the Old Testament, a tongue with a concealed meaning does not aid in one’s sanctification. Not until the revelation of what is being said is given.

By comparison, Paul points out that while a tongue with no interpretation does not benefit anyone, prophesying DOES. It stands alone in its ability to build up the church! No secondary gift is needed in order to make it beneficial as the gift of interpretation is needed with a tongue. Prophesying is beneficial because it is something that the general church body can understand.

Build the church

Again, tongues as a private prayer language or as a means of edifying oneself is a wrong interpretation of what Paul is saying here. Rather, he is saying that prophesying is to be especially desired because it builds up the church on its own. Whereas speaking in tongues, though also a desirable gift, is LESS desirable because it requires an interpretation to be of benefit to the church, which is THE point of the gifts of the Spirit.

Paul is saying “the one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up” is a negative observation. To build oneself up is never the point, though feeling personally encouraged is often a side effect of the Spirit working through a person. Just as teaching can help the teacher learn, giving can make the giver feel blessed, etc.—speaking in a tongue for the evangelizing or edification of another can be an encouragement to the speaker. But it’s not done for the speaker.

Paul has already implied the desirability of prophesying above speaking in tongues, but here he says it plainly.

“The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues.” Unless there is an interpreter. This is when tongues become beneficial to the church body and, therefore, fulfill the purpose of the gifts.

Proclaiming the works of God

Remember the purpose of all the gifts is to love one another and spread the gospel. Why are these two gifts, prophecy and tongues, given special attention as though they fulfill this purpose more than the other gifts?

Because they are gifts where a person is speaking the works of God. Think of all the passages through scripture that call us to proclaim the works of God and praise him for them. And what are the works of God?—Christ and his gospel.

You have heard that flawed statement: “Preach the gospel and, if necessary, use words.” On the contrary, our words are vital. Hearing God’s Word is the means of our salvation and sanctification. And the gifts of prophecy and tongues are two gifts that hinge on the proclamation of the Word.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”
- Romans 10:14-15

The one who prophesies proclaims the Word and works of God. The one who speaks in a tongue proclaims the Word and works of God in the language of a foreigner. Both are fundamental to the spread of the gospel. (We will touch more on this in part 3.)

The point continues to be reiterated. If Paul comes speaking in a foreign language, how will it benefit anyone? Some sort of revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching of Christ is needed along with the tongue in order to build up the church. (Literally BUILD IT—add numbers to the church! Not just strengthen what already exists, though that is also necessary. Adding numbers to the church isn’t something you can do if this gift is turned inward or remains indiscernible.)

“And they sang a new song”

A tongue with no interpretation is like a note separated from its symphony. Nobody can hear the song of the gospel (echos of Revelation 14:3…) in a sound which holds no meaning to the hearer, in a sound where there is no revelation of Christ.

You can imagine people standing around giving the slow clap for a person who spouts off in a language that nobody present can speak or interpret. Only God knows what the person is saying! No one recognizes the melody or joins in to praise the Lord; no one is inspired to arm themselves for battle against the flesh. It’s like the person who tells a joke nobody finds funny.

Paul says a similar thing here as he did earlier in the chapter when he said, “he speaks not to men, but to God.”— “You will be speaking into the air.” Same sentiment.

This drives home the point that “tongues” are known and spoken languages. Not gibberish or “ecstatic speech” (commonly seen in pagan religion) as is prolifically seen in the modern charismatic movement.

In verse 11, Paul continues to illustrate the lack of benefit of a tongue if no one present understands. With no interpreter, the person listening doesn’t know the meaning of the language, making the speaker as foreign to the listener as if he actually was a foreigner. This would be like a Japanese person showing up to the church meeting where everybody speaks Greek and getting on a soap box!

Pray that you may interpret

All that being said, rather than strive specifically for the gift of tongues, which is only a means to an end, strive for the accomplishment of the end, using whatever talents God has given you: build the church.

But what if you do have the gift of tongues? How does one strive to build the church if one has been gifted the ability to speak in a foreign tongue? It seems like Paul has really discouraged the tongue-speaker so far…

PRAY that you may also be granted the gift of interpreting the tongue you are able to speak! So that your gift may be equally as beneficial as the gift of prophesying!

In spirit and truth

But what is the meaning of verse 14? This is another portion of this chapter that some will use to justify the gift of tongues being used for self-edification or as a private prayer language—to say that a person is meant to pray in the spirit with no benefit to the mind; that there is somehow a special benefit to this. However, the point Paul is making is exactly the opposite.

What is the proper mode of operation then? It isn’t to pray with the result being unfruitful. (An active spirit with an unfruitful mind is central to practices in eastern mysticism— “empty your mind.”)

Instead, Paul says you are to pray with your spirit but also with your mind. Sing to the Lord with your spirit and your mind.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:23-24

In other words, worship with your spirit and your mind. Though God works in the Spirit, understanding and truth are recognized in the mind.

You may truly be giving thanks with your spirit, but no truth is understood—the hearer is not being built up. See how Paul reiterates the building up of the church over and over again.

Foreign tongues for the purpose of missionary work

Apparently, Paul himself has the gift of tongues. And he is thankful for it! But we can assume, based on everything he has just taught, that he is able to give an interpretation when he speaks in a tongue to the body. And it would make sense that he has this gift and is able to make use of it more than anyone else. He was THE apostle to the gentiles, after all, and the ability to speak other languages would be of enormous benefit as he traveled around preaching the gospel to foreigners.

And even having this gift, he prefers the gift of prophesying or teaching in the commonly understood language for one sentence so that others may benefit rather than to go on for hours in a tongue that no one understands.

At the time of writing scripture, there were no quick means of translating languages like we have today. It would have been very labor-intensive to learn a new language and take the gospel to foreign people. This truly explains the reason speaking in tongues was a gift of the Spirit at the birth of the New Testament church in the first place. Today, we really have no need of this with the exception of remote missionary work.

If you are planning on going into foreign missions, you would probably be wise to pray for God to grant you the ability to speak proficiently in your target language—as well as the ability to interpret it so that you can understand the foreigners you are evangelizing.

However, if everyone around you speaks your same language, the gift of speaking in a foreign language would likely not benefit anyone else; it would just become that “self-edifying” practice that 1 Corinthians 12-14 actually discourages.

“An ‘amen’ to your thanksgiving”

So what do we do with this information? Believe it or not, there’s still more to be said! We haven’t yet exhausted this topic. But with what we do know, so far, we know these things:

We should be walking with one another in love—no matter how we are gifted!

We should earnestly desire that the Spirit would work in us so that we may grow in our proclamation of the works of God through our words and through our actions— “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16); whether that is in our native language or another.

We should build the church.

What would you have done had I written this entire post in a language you can’t read or translate? Would it have edified you? Would you have seen Christ revealed in the scriptures?

Would you have been able to give an amen to my thanksgiving?