Putting the Gift of Tongues in Its Place
This is the third part of a series on speaking in tongues. To get a better context of this article, we recommend reading the previous parts, Part 1: “Speaking in Tongues is Not Magic”, and Part 2: “Tongues: An Ancient Problem”.
Five words or ten thousand?
If you really stop and think about 1 Corinthians 14:19, you start to get to the heart of Paul’s grid for understanding the purpose of the Spirit’s gifts in the gathered community of Christ. “In church,” he states, “I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” Do you know how long it would take to say ten thousand words? Do you have any idea how many ‘mysteries’ a person could be articulating, or how much ‘thanks’ a person could be giving to God through ten thousand words in tongues? Wouldn’t God be super-pleased with us if we could just pray to Him or praise Him for hours in church using these tongues, which are certainly understandable to Him, even if not to others? Maybe this was what the Corinthians themselves were thinking…that is, right up until they read 1 Corinthians!
On the other hand, five words…really? I mean, that’s hardly saying anything at all, isn’t it? This is striking to me – that Paul would rather say almost nothing at all in church to instruct others than he would speak, pray or sing for hours in tongues. Why?
Corporate gatherings of the church are other-centered
One of the things you can’t miss when you look carefully at 1 Corinthians 14 is that Paul judges tongues and prophecy on the basis of how well, or how much, they “edify the church” (14:3, 4, 5, 12, 17, 26). His thinking is that the church assembles so that its members can contribute to the health of the entire congregation by offering their gifts for the instruction, healing, encouragement, comfort, inspiration and general spiritual growth of others.
You see, Paul would not recognize a version of ‘church’ where people attend meetings solely in order to ‘get fed,’ to ‘be blessed,’ or to pursue a private experience with God that is not shared with the people around them. Being in church means being focused first on the Lord, and then on building up others – because that’s precisely what the Lord is seeking to do when the church gathers. Starting with this mindset brings a lot of clarity to Paul’s comments about tongues, and explains the way he describes his preference for prophecy.
It also explains the reason chapter 13 is sandwiched in between two chapters dealing so clearly with the manifestations and gifts of the Spirit. Growing up, it seemed obvious that Paul had written 1 Corinthians 13 for a wedding…at least, that’s where I always heard it being read! Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this ode to love was actually constructed in order to teach the Corinthians about how to use their Spiritual gifts! Yes, Paul’s great anthem of love serves as the foundation for his practical instructions about tongues and prophecy. Love, Paul says, demands that we seek what is best for others precisely in the way we manifest the Spirit when we gather (1 Cor 14:1).
Oral communication in church must be understandable to others
As I mentioned in a previous post, Paul never claims the Corinthians weren’t speaking in the Spirit. He never accuses them of being demonically inspired, or manifesting a counterfeit gift of tongues that was fleshly or humanly-generated. To the contrary – throughout the passage he assumes their speech is of the Spirit and that its content actually glorifies God one way or another. But, even though he believes they are manifesting the Spirit, Paul is also convinced that they are doing so in a fundamentally unloving way – because, in the end, their speaking in tongues does not help their Spiritual siblings in Christ. To do this, it would have to be intelligible (14:9). That is, folks need to be able to understand it!
It seems likely that the Corinthians had a habit of gathering and then collectively or sequentially speaking in tongues for others to hear (see 14:23), and assuming that this was a mark of their Spiritual quality and power. Maybe they thought that they were speaking like angels (13:1), and that this reflected their advanced Spiritual status. Maybe this was even a reason that some even denied the importance of the resurrection from the dead (15:12)! Paul does not agree. In fact, he thinks their mindset about this is immature and childish (13:11; 14:20). Maturity means loving others. And, loving others means speaking in ways that they can understand, so that they can be built up and provide an “amen” to the message that is delivered to God’s congregation (14:16).
So, Paul is not upset about speaking in tongues, per se. He is upset about the Corinthians manner of speaking in tongues, which brings no value to others and misunderstands the nature and purpose of both the gift, and the corporate assembly of believers. This is why he moves prophecy to the forefront: because it is speech that people are expected to understand, and as such, to benefit from. That’s why the one who prophesies is “greater” because s/he is in a position to build others (14:5), whereas the speaker in tongues can only build her/himself – effectively undermining the very purpose that the church gathers in community!
So, should people not speak in tongues in church?
Well, that’s not exactly what Paul says. Stay tuned for the next post, where we examine Paul’s practical instruction to the Corinthian community!
Five words or ten thousand?
If you really stop and think about 1 Corinthians 14:19, you start to get to the heart of Paul’s grid for understanding the purpose of the Spirit’s gifts in the gathered community of Christ. “In church,” he states, “I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” Do you know how long it would take to say ten thousand words? Do you have any idea how many ‘mysteries’ a person could be articulating, or how much ‘thanks’ a person could be giving to God through ten thousand words in tongues? Wouldn’t God be super-pleased with us if we could just pray to Him or praise Him for hours in church using these tongues, which are certainly understandable to Him, even if not to others? Maybe this was what the Corinthians themselves were thinking…that is, right up until they read 1 Corinthians!
On the other hand, five words…really? I mean, that’s hardly saying anything at all, isn’t it? This is striking to me – that Paul would rather say almost nothing at all in church to instruct others than he would speak, pray or sing for hours in tongues. Why?
Corporate gatherings of the church are other-centered
One of the things you can’t miss when you look carefully at 1 Corinthians 14 is that Paul judges tongues and prophecy on the basis of how well, or how much, they “edify the church” (14:3, 4, 5, 12, 17, 26). His thinking is that the church assembles so that its members can contribute to the health of the entire congregation by offering their gifts for the instruction, healing, encouragement, comfort, inspiration and general spiritual growth of others.
You see, Paul would not recognize a version of ‘church’ where people attend meetings solely in order to ‘get fed,’ to ‘be blessed,’ or to pursue a private experience with God that is not shared with the people around them. Being in church means being focused first on the Lord, and then on building up others – because that’s precisely what the Lord is seeking to do when the church gathers. Starting with this mindset brings a lot of clarity to Paul’s comments about tongues, and explains the way he describes his preference for prophecy.
It also explains the reason chapter 13 is sandwiched in between two chapters dealing so clearly with the manifestations and gifts of the Spirit. Growing up, it seemed obvious that Paul had written 1 Corinthians 13 for a wedding…at least, that’s where I always heard it being read! Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this ode to love was actually constructed in order to teach the Corinthians about how to use their Spiritual gifts! Yes, Paul’s great anthem of love serves as the foundation for his practical instructions about tongues and prophecy. Love, Paul says, demands that we seek what is best for others precisely in the way we manifest the Spirit when we gather (1 Cor 14:1).
Oral communication in church must be understandable to others
As I mentioned in a previous post, Paul never claims the Corinthians weren’t speaking in the Spirit. He never accuses them of being demonically inspired, or manifesting a counterfeit gift of tongues that was fleshly or humanly-generated. To the contrary – throughout the passage he assumes their speech is of the Spirit and that its content actually glorifies God one way or another. But, even though he believes they are manifesting the Spirit, Paul is also convinced that they are doing so in a fundamentally unloving way – because, in the end, their speaking in tongues does not help their Spiritual siblings in Christ. To do this, it would have to be intelligible (14:9). That is, folks need to be able to understand it!
It seems likely that the Corinthians had a habit of gathering and then collectively or sequentially speaking in tongues for others to hear (see 14:23), and assuming that this was a mark of their Spiritual quality and power. Maybe they thought that they were speaking like angels (13:1), and that this reflected their advanced Spiritual status. Maybe this was even a reason that some even denied the importance of the resurrection from the dead (15:12)! Paul does not agree. In fact, he thinks their mindset about this is immature and childish (13:11; 14:20). Maturity means loving others. And, loving others means speaking in ways that they can understand, so that they can be built up and provide an “amen” to the message that is delivered to God’s congregation (14:16).
So, Paul is not upset about speaking in tongues, per se. He is upset about the Corinthians manner of speaking in tongues, which brings no value to others and misunderstands the nature and purpose of both the gift, and the corporate assembly of believers. This is why he moves prophecy to the forefront: because it is speech that people are expected to understand, and as such, to benefit from. That’s why the one who prophesies is “greater” because s/he is in a position to build others (14:5), whereas the speaker in tongues can only build her/himself – effectively undermining the very purpose that the church gathers in community!
So, should people not speak in tongues in church?
Well, that’s not exactly what Paul says. Stay tuned for the next post, where we examine Paul’s practical instruction to the Corinthian community!
Posted in Tongues