Tongues as a Sign; Seek to Edify the Church (1 Corinthians 14:12–25)

1 Cor. 14:12. So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in building up the Church.

“Eager for spiritual gifts”—that is, for spiritual endowments of grace. The second half of the text should be understood thus: seek such gifts as would build up the Church. You are zealous, he says, for spiritual gifts of grace? Good, be zealous; but seek those by which the Church is built up. “Do you see his constant aim, how he always and in all things has in view one thing—the need of many, the benefit of the Church, setting this as a kind of rule? And he did not say: seek so that you may receive gifts, but: that you may abound” (Holy Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 14:13. Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray for the power to interpret.

“Let him pray to interpret”—let him pray to receive the gift of interpretation of what he says in a foreign tongue. “Ask,” says the Apostle, “the one who gave you the gift of tongues to add also the gift of interpretation, so that you may be able to bring benefit to the Church” (Theodoret). “The Apostle shows that it is in their power to receive the gift: ‘let him pray’, he says, that is, let him apply what is in his power. For if you ask earnestly, you will receive. So ask to have not only the gift of tongues but also the gift of interpretation, so that you may be useful to all and not confine the gift to yourself” (Holy Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 14:14. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.

“By spirit the Apostle means the gift, and by mind he means understanding of what is said” (Theodoret). The mind bears fruit when, understanding something, it conveys it to others and thereby benefits them. This benefit is the fruit of the mind. Speaking in foreign tongues, they were presenting everything mentioned above—both revelation and knowledge and prophecy and teaching, and often also prayer. My spirit, says the Apostle—in the case of each one speaking in tongues, my spirit stirred up by God’s Spirit prays in a foreign tongue, God’s gift is in action, it does its work, but my mind remains without fruit because it does not convey to others in an understandable language what it itself receives from God’s Spirit. If I were doing this, I would benefit others, and then my mind would not be without fruit. “The fruit for the speaker is the benefit of those listening. The Apostle said this also in the epistle to the Romans: ‘I want to have some fruit among you as well, as I have among the rest of the Gentiles’ (Rom. 1:13). Therefore, speaking in another tongue and not offering the assembly an interpretation, I shall have no fruit, because they will receive no benefit” (Theodoret). Speaking of prayer in tongues, the Apostle takes only an example but means speaking in tongues generally. “If I speak in a tongue and at the same time do not interpret, then my spirit—my soul in itself—receives benefit, but my mind is without fruit because it brings no benefit to others” (Theophylact).

1 Cor. 14:15. What should I do? I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with the mind. I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will also sing praise with the mind.

“What then?” How then should I act? How should I proceed? It is necessary to do this: both pray and sing in a foreign tongue, by the movement of the Spirit, and then do the same thing also in an understandable tongue. But how can this be done? The Apostle has already indicated: either let another interpret, or ask for such a gift yourself. So blessed Theodoret: “The Apostle says that one who speaks in another tongue—whether in psalm-singing or in prayer or in teaching—ought either himself to be an interpreter for the benefit of the listeners, or to take another capable of this as a coworker in the teaching.”

1 Cor. 14:16. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can someone in the position of an outsider say Amen to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying?

“Outsider”—ιδιωτης in Greek—the Apostle calls a simple layperson. “The meaning of his words is this: if you give a blessing in a foreign language without being able to interpret it, the layperson cannot answer ‘Amen’, for not hearing (not understanding) the concluding words ‘forever and ever’, he will not say ‘Amen’” (Holy Chrysostom). This suggests that those responsible for the unreasonable use of the gift were the leaders themselves, to whom it was entrusted to build up and watch over the believers. It is also remarkable that the indication shows that even laypeople took part in the church prayer. Not all could pray, he says; but some spoke prayers because God gave them prayer, and others listened to that prayer and expressed their agreement with it in the word: Amen—let it be so—thus proving that their hearts prayed with the prayer of the leader.

1 Cor. 14:17. For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.

“In order not to appear that he is disparaging the gift of tongues itself, he says: ‘you give thanks well enough’, for you speak by the inspiration of the Spirit, but the one who understands nothing of what is said stands receiving no benefit” (Holy Chrysostom). “I know that, inspired by God’s grace, you sing praise to God, but one who does not know the language does not understand what is uttered” (Theodoret). The benefit is limited to you alone. You can receive it even by praying silently within yourself.

1 Cor. 14:18. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

“In order that you do not think he disparages them because he himself lacks this gift, he says: ‘I speak in tongues more than all of you’. Therefore do not boast as if you alone have this gift; I have it, and far more than you” (Holy Chrysostom). How the Apostle acted among the believers, they knew; but they may not have known of his gift of tongues if he did not use it unnecessarily, and the right occasion did not present itself while he was among them. Therefore mention of it was not out of place; but it should have acted with utmost persuasiveness on the Corinthians. For they could not fail to see in the Apostle an example to imitate.

1 Cor. 14:19. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

“Before you I was granted this gift, through me you also received this grace. Yet, being concerned for the benefit of many, I prefer clear teaching to unclear” (Theodoret).

“What does it mean: ‘speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others’? To speak what I understand, what I can explain to others, to speak intelligibly and teach the listeners. ‘Rather than ten thousand words in a tongue’. Why? ‘That I may instruct others’, he says. The first brings only external glory, but the latter brings great benefit. Everywhere he seeks one thing—the common benefit. Though the gift of tongues was extraordinary and the gift of prophecy was ordinary and ancient and belonged to many, whereas that had just become known for the first time, yet Paul did not consider it very desirable for himself and did not even use it—not because he did not have it, but because he sought what was more useful. He was free from all vanity and had only one aim: how to make his listeners better. Therefore he was able to see what was beneficial both for himself and for others, because he was free from vanity; but whoever has enslaved himself to this passion cannot see what is beneficial not only for others but even for himself” (Holy Chrysostom).

The Apostle has already sufficiently proved his point that the gift of tongues ought not to be used in the Church when no one understands that language; now he gathers several more considerations to turn them completely away from such action, showing how improper it is.

1 Cor. 14:20. Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be mature.

“After many explanations and proofs the Apostle rightly now employs stronger language joined with great reproach, and brings an example suited to the subject. Children are amazed and astonished at the sight of small things, but not so much at very great things. Similarly, those who had the gift of tongues, which was the least of all, thought they possessed everything; therefore he says: ‘do not be children’, that is, do not be foolish where you ought to be wise, but be like children where there is unrighteousness, where there is vanity, where there is pride. Whoever is an infant in evil ought to be wise; for wisdom joined with malice would not be wisdom, nor would simplicity joined with foolishness be simplicity; in simplicity one must avoid foolishness and in wisdom malice. As medicine that is more bitter or sweet than is proper brings no benefit, so simplicity and wisdom by themselves do not suffice. Therefore Christ, commanding that both be joined, said: ‘Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves’ (Matt. 10:16). What does it mean ‘to be an infant in evil’? Not to know what evil is at all. He wanted them to be both men and children: children toward evil and men in wisdom. And a man will be a man when he is at the same time an infant; but as long as he is not an infant toward evil, he will not be a man, because one who is evil cannot be mature but becomes foolish” (Holy Chrysostom).

Having expressed such a thought, the Apostle does not explain it nor draw any application from it to his subject. For this was evident of itself. He wanted to tell them what is often said among us: to act as you do is to behave childishly. “Do not pervert the order but emulate not the small-mindedness but the guilelessness of children; and from those mature in age borrow not guile but prudence” (Theodoret).

1 Cor. 14:21. In the law it is written, ‘By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people; and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord’.

By the law here is understood the Old Testament Scripture in general, for the words cited are taken from the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 28:11–12). God taught His people through the prophets, and while they listened, He was content with this means of instruction and correction. When they reached the point where the prophet’s word no longer acted upon them, He threatened them: will they not listen to the prophets? Then I will speak to them in another language—that is, I will send a foreign people upon them. “And even then they will not listen to me”—and they will remain stubborn nonetheless. Holy Paul takes for comparison only two features: the prophets spoke to the people while they listened to them; prophecy, therefore, is a sign that those to whom the prophetic word is addressed are obedient, faithful, believing. On the contrary, the appearance of people speaking a foreign language is a sign that those to whom they came have departed from obedience to God and are unfaithful to Him. Taking this into account, he says:

1 Cor. 14:22. Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers; while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

He speaks as if to say: what an absurdity you have produced! From the circumstance pointed out in the writings of the prophet Isaiah, it follows that when you speak in a language foreign to the assembly, this means that before you stand obstinate unbelievers who have departed from obedience to God; but in reality these are all genuinely believing, ready to listen, thirsting for edification. You ought not to speak to them in foreign languages but in the prophetic language, with which God of old spoke to His people while they were faithful to Him and listened to the prophets. You are completely perverting the order! From your manner of acting such an absurd comparison results! In our assembly there should not be a sound of a foreign language, but only the prophetic word should be heard.

1 Cor. 14:23. So if 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?

This does not follow from the previous statement but stands apart—a new, third absurdity is pointed out in the manner of action of the Corinthians. Suppose, he says, that your whole church gathers and all who have the gift of tongues begin to speak in them—one after another, or even several together at once. And this in itself is disorderly. But if there enter to you outsiders—ιδιωται—simple folk, peasants or unbelievers, what will they think, hearing one, then another, or several together? Will they not say that you are mad, out of your minds? And you will drive away from the doors of salvation those who came seeking salvation, and in such a way that you will never after draw them to listen to the truth, and not only them but also many others to whom they will tell of the disorders taking place in your assemblies.

1 Cor. 14:24–25. But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is truly among you.

Completely the opposite effect your assembly will have on the simple folk or unbeliever when, coming to you, they encounter that you one after another prophesy—that is, speak in a language understandable to all, what the Spirit of God inspires in each one, whether prophecy or knowledge or revelation or instruction or prayer. Whatever anyone speaks, the truths of Christianity are of such a kind that they can trouble the conscience, stir up the fear of God and turn any unbeliever and sinner to the good path. The one who enters will be convicted and called to account by all, not through judicial interrogations. No; each will speak not knowing what is in the soul of those who entered, but the truths themselves are of such a kind that they convict the hearer. Words breathed by God’s Spirit fall upon the conscience, and it, awakened, produces complete conviction without anyone seeing it. Yet conviction alone in itself is comfortless, and if Christian discourse produced only this one thing, little fruit would come from it. The strength lies in this: that such discourse always offers to those who are convicted also the comforting way of salvation, for the very substance of the discourses is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ—and no matter what subject begins the conversation, all will come down to the Lord, the only comfort of all the broken-hearted. Therefore the convicted one is not only convicted but receives hope of salvation and comes to a firm resolve not to delay but to set out on the way of salvation. The grace of the Spirit, overshadowing all in the assembly and penetrating the very words of those who speak, brings the work to completion. And behold, the unbeliever, changed within by the action of the prophetic word, invisibly to all, falls on his face and worships God the Christian and confesses that in the assembly of Christians, in the Church, God truly is, is present and is at work! “Do you see how the power of prophecy changed a rough man, taught him and brought him to faith” (Holy Chrysostom).