There are few subjects more controversial than the role of tongues and prophecy in the church today. But that is exactly the theme of 1 Corinthians 14. In this study we seek to learn the comparative value of tongues and prophecy in the public meetings of the church, and the regulations the apostle Paul placed upon the exercise of each. Listen in!
Teaching Notes:
Tongues and Prophecy
1 Corinthians 14:1-33; 37-40
Intro: In Ch.12 Paul emphasized that there is a diversity of spiritual gifts, and there is a unity of the body of Christ. In Ch.13 he showed the Pre-eminence of Love, the Properties of Love, and the Permanence of Love. Gifts exercised apart from love are of no value at all! But gifts exercised in love for the edification of others is of great value. Now, in Ch.14 Paul continues to instruct the Corinthians concerning 2 spiritual gifts in particular: Prophecy and Tongues. Because Paul wants their exercise of spiritual gifts to be unto edification, he compares Prophecy and Tongues, and the value of each within the gathered assembly.
1. The Superiority of Prophecy Over Tongues in the Assembly: 14:1-25
14:1 Love is so valuable that you must “pursue” it; chase after it. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore the gifts of the Spirit. No, “earnestly desire” them. 14:1 provides a link to 12:31, showing that now that Paul has spoken about love, he has come back to his thought in Ch.12. Ch.13 shows us the importance of exercising gifts in love. Ch.14 continues Paul’s instruction concerning spiritual gifts, focusing on prophecy and tongues. The Corinthians had an overinflated view of tongues, thinking that exercising this gift made one spiritual. It appears they were speaking in tongues without interpretation; sometimes one tongues speaker would interrupt another; sometimes they would go on and on throughout the meeting. Ch.14 is a corrective chapter showing that prophecy is more edifying when the church assembles. Especially that you may prophesy.
14:2 Here is a clue to tongues: it is speech directed to God. What do we call that? Prayer or Praise. Prayer – 14:14. Praise – 14:16. An utterance in tongue would be like one of the Psalms. Thus, the interpretation of a tongue would also be directed to God, not man. Often in charismatic circles, the interpretation of a tongue is directed to God. That is really a prophecy. We are still in need of the interpretation of the tongue.
No one understands: the tongues of 1 Corinthians are functioning differently than those in Acts. In Acts, people did understand them. In 1 Cor. no one understands them. 1 Cor. seems to be more like what we would expect to find in congregations today; Acts 2 was a specific historic/redemptive situation.
14:3 Here is the difference. Prophecy is spoken to men. It has 3 results: edification, exhortation, consolation (comfort). Prophecy is the communication of a divine revelation. It is not the communication of doctrine or theology, but of practical, relevant concerns. It is not Scripture-Level revelation, but must be judged. All God’s people, men and women may prophesy.
14:4 Another important difference: tongues edifies the speaker; prophecy edifies the church. That’s why Paul told them to especially desire prophecy.
14:5 Tongues is a valuable gift. It is not to be despised. It has the ability to edify the speaker. However, love directs us to seek to edify the church, not just ourselves. That’s why Paul wants them to have prophecy even more than tongues. But, if the tongues are interpreted, they have equal value in the church, because the church will be edified by both.
14:6 Profit carries similar meaning to “edify”. Tongues will not edify unless it brings revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching. These things are all intelligible.
14:7 Illustration from harp or flute. If every note was the same, you could never identify any tunes.
14:8 Illustration from the military bugle. If it doesn’t produce distinct (intelligible) sounds, no one can prepare himself for battle.
14:9 Likewise, tongues must be “clear”, “distinct” or “intelligible” to edify and profit the church.
14:10-11 Note the emphasis is on “knowing” the language. If we don’t understand it, it is worthless to me. Prophecy is more valuable than tongues because it is intelligible, and tongues is not.
14:12 What kinds of gifts should the Corinthians seek? The greater ones, the intelligible ones, the ones that will edify the church.
14:13 The conclusion? Tongues-speakers should pray that they would interpret.
14:14 Tongues without interpretation produce unfruitful minds; that’s why interpretation is vital in the assembly.
14:15 When you have prayed and God has given the interpretation here is the result – you will pray with the spirit and with the mind. You will sing with the spirit and with mind also. “Singing in the spirit” in this context probably does not refer to the entire church singing in tongues at one time. That would violate Paul’s regulations about “each in turn, at the most 3, and must be interpretation.” It probably refers to someone singing in tongues in front of the congregation, instead of speaking. This would be natural if the message was one of praise, or giving of thanks.
14:16 If you only pray or sing in tongues without interpretation, the rest of the church is not edified. They can’t say “Amen” because they don’t know what you have prayed or sang.
14:17 What you are doing is good – giving thanks; but you must be mindful of profiting the rest of the body.
14:18 This is an interesting insight into Paul’s spiritual life. Paul spoke in tongues a lot! That’s saying a lot, because the Corinthians were big on tongues. Tongues, then must be a great blessing to the believer!
14:19 When did Paul speak in tongues? Not in the church. In his private devotions. This verse instructs us as to the primary place for tongues – in the believer’s private devotional life where it can build him up; not in the meetings of the church.
14:20-23 A “sign” in the OT is either an indication of God’s approval and blessing upon believers; or an indication of God’s disapproval or judgment upon unbelievers. It can function in either a positive or negative way. Paul quotes Is.28:11, where the Assyrian army is going to invade Palestine speaking in unintelligible languages as a sign of God’s disapproval and judgment upon unbelieving Israel. Similarly, uninterpreted tongues are a sign for unbelievers who attend the worship service in Corinth of God’s judgment. Since there is still hope that they will repent, this “sign” of God’s judgment is entirely wrong. Further, it will just result in you driving them away because they will think you are possessed. Note: these verses are not telling us what will happen when tongues and interpretation are given in church. They are telling us what will happen if there are tongues with no interpretation in church. It seems that the Corinthians were breaking all the rules: tongues with no interpretations; multiple tongues given at the same time, and more than 3 in a meeting (14:27).
14:24-25 Prophecy, on the other hand, is a “sign” of God’s approval, blessing and presence in the congregation for believers. A result of this blessing is the conversion of sinners. How? The multiple prophecies disclose the secret sins of the unconverted man’s heart, he is convicted, and called to account. This is a supernatural display of God’s presence. The lost man realizes it, and falls on his face and worships God, declaring God is certainly among you. Evidently this scenario had actually taken place in congregations in the 1st century. Prophecy sometimes will be the declaring of secret sins in a person’s life.
Charles Spurgeon: “While preaching in the hall, on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd, and said, ‘There is a man sitting there, who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays, it was open last Sabbath morning, he took ninepence, and there was fourpence profit out of it; his soul is sold to Satan for fourpence!’ A city missionary, when going his rounds, met with this man, and seeing that he was reading one of my sermons, he asked the question, ‘Do you know Mr. Spurgeon?’ ‘Yes,’ replied the man, ‘I have every reason to know him, I have been to hear him; and, under his preaching, by God’s grace I have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Shall I tell you how it happened? I went to the Music Hall, and took my seat in the middle of the place; Mr. Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir. I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took ninepence the Sunday before, and that there was fourpence profit out of it. I did take ninepence that day, and fourpence was just the profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell. Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday. At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul.’”
Spurgeon then adds this comment: “I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description, that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, ‘Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.’ And not only so, but I have known many instances in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit. I have sometimes seen persons nudge their neighbours with their elbow, because they had got a smart hit, and they have been heard to say, when they were going out, ‘The preacher told us just what we said to one another when we went in at the door’”
2. The Regulations upon Prophecy and Tongues in the Assembly: 14:26-33; 37-40.
14:26 This verse gives us a fascinating glimpse into the meetings of the early church. Each one could contribute to the meeting in terms of their own spiritual gift. The teaching was not the only thing that took place. Paul’s regulation: all things must be done for edification. No one could say or do something in the meeting just to attract attention to themselves. As we grow as a church plant, our missional communities will become the place where these participatory gatherings can take place.
14:27-28 3 Regulations Upon Tongues: 1) 2 or 3 (so that doesn’t dominate entire meeting); 2) each one in turn (no simultaneous tongues going on); 3) must be interpretation (that is the only way it will edify)
14:29-33 Regulations Upon Prophecy: 1) 2 or 3; 2) others must judge (weigh what has been said); 3) If another has a prophecy, the first must bring his to an end so that all can participate. It doesn’t appear that a cap is put on prophecies like tongues. Notice that “all” can prophesy (Acts 2:16-17) in the NT, rather than a select few in OT.
The prophet can control himself, can stop his message when someone else has a revelation – why? Because he can subject his spirit to himself. If it were not this way, God would be a God of confusion. Rather, peace is to reign in the meetings of believers, not confusion.
14:37-38 Paul realized that some of the Corinthians, who believed they were prophets and spiritual would want to “buck” what he has said. However, Paul dogmatically affirms his apostolic authority. What he has written are Jesus’ own commandments! This must refer primarily to the regulations he has placed on Tongues, Prophecy, and Women.
14:39-40 Final Conclusion: prophecy is superior to tongues so earnestly desire it. Yet, don’t forbid to speak in tongues in the assembly, as long as there is interpretation. The concern is that whatever takes place in the meetings, it is done properly and in an orderly manner.
Application For Stone Bridge
1. We should be desiring and praying for prophecy. Start asking God to give you this gift, so that you can edify the body. I started desiring this and praying for it, and God has given me a couple of prophetic dreams in the last 4 months. This would be a great blessing to the body here.
2. Whatever gift you have, use it to abound to the edification of the church. Ask yourself, “How can I build up this church?” Be more concerned with the good of the body, rather than your own good. So many people leave a church because “they weren’t being fed.” But, were you feeding others? We have such a consumeristic view of the church. We pick a church based on our own needs and preferences. We want a church with a great worship band, great programs for our kids, practical preaching, comfortable A/C and chairs. If we find a church down the road that does all these things better, we have no problem switching churches! Rather, the Biblical view of church life, is that we commit ourselves to a body of believers, and we seek to abound unto their edification. We feed our own souls throughout the week in the Word and time spent with God, so that we have something to impart to others. We change our focus from “Me-Centered” to “Church-Centered.” We exchange our individual mentality for the Tribe Mentality.
3. We need to be ready to “judge” or “discern” any prophecies that are given. We don’t accept something just because someone says it is from the Lord. We grow and mature in the Word, so that we have a knowledge base from which to judge these words. So many gullible people accept whatever a well-known TV preacher says without judging it. There are a lot of people that believed Harold Camping’s May 21, 2011 prediction of the rapture, and now are devastated. Why? They did not have a mature grasp of the Word. They were never taught how to study the Bible, seeking the original intent of the Biblical authors.
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