1 Corinthians 14:13-25
Intelligibility, a Means of Grace
Truth Taught- Intelligibility is a means of grace while unintelligibility is a means of judgement
The Apostle Paul continues with his emphasis that everything done within the gathered community of the Church should be for the benefit of all the people.
The verses under consideration today connect with last week’s text through verse 12…
1 Corinthians 14:12 (ESV)
12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
His point is, since they were so zealous for manifestations of the Spirit, especially in the gifts that contain speech, seek and pray for the gifts that would benefit all who are meeting in the gathered assembly. True manifestations of the Spirit during corporate worship will be seen in gifts the edify all who are present, for the common good.
So, the contrast of these speech gifts is between tongues which cannot be understood and prayer, praise, and preaching which can be understood. Paul is continuing to teach us that when the Church is gathered, intelligibility wins out.
1 Corinthians 14:13–25 (ESV)
13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
1. Preaching, Prayer and Praise Edify the Church (14:13-19)
13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 16 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
We see the first thing we are told in this section is that the Corinthians should not only pray for the gift of tongues but also pray that they may interpret as well. So, we see that what Paul is after and arguing for is intelligibility within the gathered Church. He wants everyone to be able to benefit from everything that is said. So, the interpreter makes the speaking in tongues intelligible.
So again, uninterpreted tongues has been forbidden within the gathered Church.
Paul next mentions his own experience of tongues. Here, he mentions what is a different sort of tongues that the Church has practiced. This is tongues used as a prayer language.
Glossolalia, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “ecstatic utterances,” is the uttering of unintelligible, language-like sounds while in a state of ecstasy. Glossolalia is sometimes confused with xenoglossia, which is the biblical “gift of tongues.” However, whereas glossolalia is babbling in a nonexistent language, xenoglossia is the ability to speak fluently a language the speaker has never learned.
We see that what Paul is telling everyone is that there is no benefit or purpose for this in the setting of the gathered Church.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.
Here he is talking about an ecstatic utterance, a prayer between his spirit and God. However, his mind is not really engaged. So, again to benefit the Church our minds must be engaged.
So, his point is that prayer during Church must be intelligible so that it will benefit others and others can affirm what is prayed.
The same is said when one offers praise and thanksgiving to God. When the Church is gathered, it must be understandable so it can benefit everyone.
17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
One thing that we must see to be balanced biblically is that Paul is not downgrading this gift of praying in the Spirit at all but teaching that there is a place for it and a time for it and the time and place is not the gathered Church.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Here, we may wonder who is more surprised, the ancient Corinthians or us?
This is a very important sentence for his argument. The point is, Paul also prays and praises God in an ecstatic speech. He does so more than anyone and yet he only does it in his personal worship when it’s just him and God, he never does it corporately. Nowhere in the NT do we ever see Paul speaking or praying in tongues at all,
This does not mean that every day when Paul prayed, he prayed this way. It does mean that this manifestation of the Spirit was part of his worship at home or when he was alone.
If we follow what he is telling us, he says he is thankful that he speaks in tongues even more than they do but so what? when we are gathered five words that are understandable are better than ten thousand that cannot be understood.
2. God Calls Us to Think as Mature Believers (14:20-25)
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
Verse 20 is the call for the Corinthians to redirect their thinking and opinions about tongues. Here we read the call of God for His people to think like mature believers not like infants. Here, he specifically has in mind that they desperately need to redirect their thinking to be biblical about the function and purpose of tongues.
This truth is for all of us. Especially as we apply this text, we must understand that we too must be mature in our thinking and discernment. We too must form our opinions based on Scripture. Then too, we must live in accordance with biblical truth. Our actions and life choices must be based on what the Bible teaches.
Here’s an example…most here would affirm when asked is God sovereign over all things? We would no doubt answer yes, He is. We answer the question correctly but then go out and seek to manipulate situations to suit ourselves rather than resting in God’s plan.
I see this all the time. It comes easy for fallen man to seek to arrange certain things so that they make sense to him and all the time he is fighting against what God is doing. This is not faith and not trust and not truly believing in God’s sovereignty. When we try and manipulate the situation, we become frustrated and worn out…why? Because we are not trusting God, working against God, and losing the battle rather than trusting in Him, resting in Him and enjoying the victory He has already won for us.
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking.
Children seek to always have their own way, then cry when they don’t get it. Paul tells us not to be like that but be mature in our thinking and adjust our lives according to Scripture.
Probably the place I see this the most is in regard to our children. We are okay with letting God be sovereign in most areas, perhaps but when it comes to our children well that’s one area where we want to take the reins.
I remember when we were in Bible College a lady who while her children were out playing on the swing set would stand and watch them…constantly. Not check on them but stand and watch every second they were outside. While this seems extreme, parents can do the same thing by not turning care of your children over to God. He can care for your children better and loves them more than you do. Sometimes in our attempts to protect we can get in the way of what the Good God has for them.
Check on them but don’t stand and watch 24/7.
Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Children do sin but they are not evil like adults can be. Be like infants in evil he tells us.
21 In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
Here is a quote from Isaiah 28:11-12 where Paul compares what God determined to do in judgement to speaking in tongues in the assembly of the Church.
In Isaiah as part of judgement, God would send only foreigners to His people who spoke languages they could not understand. God’s people would not repent or be edified because they could not understand the language. Speaking in tongues by foreigners did not effect belief in Israel.
Tongues was a form of judgement in Genesis 11. The people would not listen to God’s warnings so He confused their languages at the Tower of Babel.
So, speaking in tongues in the Church will not effect belief within the NT assembly. Tongues cannot lead sinners to repent and obey.
That’s why in Acts 2, we looked to last time, was that sign of interpreted tongues. In other words, it was a picture or sign that God through faith in Jesus Christ was reversing His judgement and showing foreigners grace. The Gospel is spreading to all nations. So, interpreted tongues (becoming intelligible) is a sign of God’s miraculous grace.
So, when the Corinthians did not use tongues as it was intended to be used, it reversed back to judgement like the Tower of Babel. You see, there is no grace when people cannot understand God’s Words of grace.
Here, if we continue following Paul’s point verse 22 begins to make sense.
In Isaiah, tongues of foreigners spoke unintelligibly to the Israelites and the Israelites did not repent and believe.
22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.
Here then, he explains that tongues in the gathered Church can only serve in a negative way. Tongues can only be a sign of judgement for unbelievers who may be among the Christians in the Church setting. Since they cannot understand and be drawn to Christ they serve as a means of judgement because they cannot understand.
23 If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?
If on the other hand, unbelievers join the assembly and hear biblical preaching, then there is something there in which they can believe. Preaching then, even to the unbelievers becomes a means and sign not of judgement but of grace.
24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
So, among the gathered Church, tongues is a means of judgement while preaching a means of grace. It is through preaching that God is seen as being with us. Preaching is the means by which God exalts His Son, Jesus Christ.
Preaching is words of grace focused on Christ with the call to repentance and obedience.
Here then is Paul’s bottom line. The Church cannot learn Christ correctly from unintelligible speech.
The Church gathers for the purpose of worshipping her Lord and Savior. To learn about Jesus and to see Him high and lifted up. We do that as we raise our voices in prayer, praise and preaching.
3. As the Gathered Church, We Must Pray, Praise and Preach Christ
We must pray in Christ’s name. We seek to learn His ways and then pray focused on who He is and what He has done. Our praying is the gathered Church showing that it is running parallel with Jesus’ focus. We love Him and His ways. We are praying that His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. We are praying, acknowledging His attributes and perfections. All this praying must be understandable to the entire Church.
Moses ascended Sinai again only to be told God’s name once more (Yahweh, Ex. 34:5), but now expanded with an explanation of His nature: “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘ “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ ” Grace, mercy, and holiness are attributes that God assigns to Himself—holiness being His moral perfection that responds in retribution to lawlessness and ingratitude. God-centered prayer requires a proper knowledge of God in His Trinitarian glory.
We must praise Christ. The Church gathers to sing praises to Jesus. We sing theologically right songs and hymns and spiritual songs that reflect accurately what God is doing through our Savior. God is saving a people through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Not only must our praises be understandable but they also must reflect accurately Jesus.
Psalm 147:1 (ESV)
147 Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
We must preach Christ. Here from our current text, we acknowledge that Jesus must be preached and understood accurately. He is the only Savior for mankind. All are sinners and all need Jesus to save them. We must see our sin and then turn to Christ as the only Savior.
To understand Jesus’ role as Savior, we must understand our own desperate situation. Humans have sinned against God, rebelling, and voluntarily separating themselves from the God of life (Romans 3:23; 5:12). Sin produces death, and so everything in our world is now dying (Romans 6:23; James 1:15). Because God is holy, He will punish sin, leading to eternal separation from Him (Matthew 10:28). Without Jesus, humans are helplessly enslaved by sin and cannot ever achieve holiness on their own (Romans 3:9–20). We were born on a one-way track to hell, rightly condemned for our sin (Ephesians 2:1–3).
That is where Jesus steps in. Being God, Jesus is perfect and never sinned. He lived a perfectly righteous life, and therefore did not deserve to die (2 Corinthians 5:21). However, He chose to die a horrific death on the cross for us, paying the price for our sin (Romans 6:23; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2). Then He rose again three days later, establishing His victory, and He is coming back soon to remove evil from the world completely. Because of His death and resurrection, anyone who trusts in Him can have eternal life. To the person who trusts in Him, Jesus Christ becomes the Savior.
Prayer, Praise and Preaching must be understood and accurate if God is going to use it to save His people. Tongues cannot save because it cannot be understood.
Trust Christ today and be saved…
Resources Used:
1 Corinthians by Gordon Fee
1 Corinthians by Um
1 Corinthians by Founder’s Press
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