Chapter 14

Summary of the tongues subject

1. The subject of tongues begins in Isaiah 28:11 with its prophecy.

2. The fulfillment of that prophecy is found in Acts 2:1-11.

3. Tongues was abused in the Corinthian church and therefore the discussion of 1 Corinthians 12.

4. How tongues was to operate properly, 1 Corinthians 13.

5. How tongues was to be regulated, 1 Corinthians 14.

There are nine misconceptions regarding the gift of tongues

1. Tongues is not necessary for salvation, 1 Corinthians 12:3.

2. Tongues is never a sign of spirituality, 1 Corinthians 12:11.

3. Tongues must never be confused with the baptism of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:13.

4. Tongues should not cause other believers without the gift to have an inferiority complex, 1 Corinthians 12:15.16.

5. Tongues should not cause the user to have a superiority complex, 1 Corinthians 12:21.

6. Tongues is the least of all spiritual gifts (when it was used), 1 Corinthians 12:28.

7. Tongues can only be effective when used under the filling of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 13.

8. Tongues was a temporary gift and therefore is not extant today, 1 Corinthians 13:8.

9. The abuse of tongues even in the short time when it was used meant that regulations had to be set up to handle it, 1 Corinthians 14.

Outline of chapter 14

Verses 1-25 amplifies chapter 12:28, tongues is an inferior gift. So we have the inferiority of tongues.

Verses 26-35, the regulation of tongues.

Verses 36-40, the response to doctrine. The importance of living in the Word.

Verse 1, two imperatives and a preference. “Follow after charity,” none of that phrase is correctly translated. It is literally, “Pursue the love,” present active imperative. The word “love” has a definite article in front of it and it refers back to the previous chapter, love as the filling of the Spirit. The love referred to here is that which can only be produced by the filling of the Spirit. When it says “pursue the love” it is exactly the same as the command “Walk in the Spirit” or “Be filled with the Spirit” or “Put on Christ,” “Walk in the light.” This is a reminder that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and He must control our lives. Anyone who speaks in tongues today is definitely not filled with the Spirit and is deluded.

The second imperative is addressed to the church collectively. The first imperative is second person singular, so it is addressed to individuals. Individuals are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. The second imperative in this verse is second person plural indicating that it is addressed to the entire congregation. The first one is addressed to believers wherever they happen to be, the second is to believers when they meet together, when they are assembled — literally, “keep on desiring spiritual gifts.” Every believer at the moment of salvation receives a spiritual gift, so there is no sense in desiring individually a spiritual gift for yourself because you already have one from the moment you believed. Cf. chapter 12 verse 31, “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” That was an aorist imperative but it was also second person plural, it referred to the church together, collectively in a service.

At the end of verse 1 we have a preference stated: “but rather” is an idiom which means to express a preference, to demand a preference. In this case the preference is the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues. The gift of prophecy is the second highest of all the gifts in the church. It no longer exists but it is a gift of communication, it communicates doctrine, all kinds of doctrine, not just eschatological doctrine. The gift of tongues is also a communication gift but it is the gift of communication of one type of doctrine only and that is the gospel. And it is always communicating the gospel under circumstances where the people in your own locale cannot understand it. So when the gift of tongues was used in a service it was used in a locale where the people in the church didn’t understand what was being said. Furthermore, people began to speak in tongues just any time they felt like it. One of the first things that you learn about a worship service is that you can’t have two people speaking at once. The gift of prophecy was very similar to the present gift of teaching the Word.

“but rather that” means to desire the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues; “ye may prophesy” refers to the gift which will be used in the context. The present tense of this word means that they may keep on having it. Prophesy, communication gifts, teaching doctrine, all is absolutely necessary for the life of the local church. The active voice means that the believer who possesses the gift must use the gift. e subjunctive mood indicates that the use of the gift is potential depending on two factors. The first factor: Does the person who has the gift have the knowledge of doctrine; the second factor: Does the person who has the gift walk in the Spirit? Tongues is the least of all the gifts, 1 Corinthians 12:28, and prophecy is the best gift, 1 Corinthians 14:1.

Verses 2 & 3, the principle of communication.

Verse 2, “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue.” Notice that the word “unknown” is italicised in the KJV to indicate it does not occur in the original, and there is no such thing as an unknown tongue, the Greek word for tongue always means a language.

“does not speak unto men,” the word “men” here refers to mankind. It means that mankind in general does not comprehend the message. When a person uses the gift of tongues it means that the people in his own congregation don’t have a clue as to what he is saying. Remember that tongues refers to a foreign language, Acts 2:6-12, and that this gift was only used from 32-70 AD, and it simply means to declare the gospel in a foreign language which the individual himself does not previously understand. Generally speaking the recipient of this was a Jew who was about to face the fifth cycle of discipline and since he is a Jew who understands the Word of God he is being warned that this discipline was approaching and the gospel is his only hope.

“but unto God,” this is not literally “unto God,” it is a dative case of advantage and means for the advantage of God or for the glory of God. He is not speaking to the people in his own congregation but God is still being glorified by what he is saying because this is the bona fide use of tongues. So he who speaks in a foreign language under the gift of tongues does not speak to the people in his own congregation but he is speaking for the glory of God.

The first principle that comes out of this is that the gift of tongues was never exercised for the benefit of the local congregation. It was a special evangelistic push and it was always directed toward a few people, or many people, but toward Jews evangelised in Gentile languages in fulfillment of the prophesy of tongues.

“no man understandeth him” means no one in his own congregation. The word “understand” is an interesting word in the Greek because it means no man hears him and understands. The sounds do not make sense to him, they do not make words in which he thinks.

“howbeit” is simply a conjunction; “in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries,” the word “mysteries” really clears up the whole verse because it means someone understands. The Greek word for “mystery” was a fraternity word, musthrion. Only the people in the fraternity, the initiates, understood the doctrines of the fraternity. So the word means something which is unknown to most but is known to someone. In other words, the person who stands up and speaks in tongues [foreign language] is communicating what most of the people do not understand. But there is someone who does and that is why this particular function existed. If it is proper he speaks in the Spirit, by means of the Spirit.

Verse 3, a contrast: What about prophesy? “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men.” Notice the areas of blessing that come out of this. He speaks to the congregation under three principles: edification, exhortation, and comfort. These are the three objectives in communication of the Word. Edification means that which builds up, that which causes the believer to grow. We grow physically because of food, and therefore this is spiritual food or doctrine. So edification is the delineation of doctrine, the constant pounding away of teaching doctrine. This is how the believer grows. Exhortation is where the shoe begins to pinch, it is applying that doctrine for you. It usually means rebuke. Comfort is taking the Word and using it to orient the believer to suffering situations so that he is no longer miserable or upset but instead he has great peace and happiness.

Verse 4, “He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself.” In other words, it is always stimulating or edifying to use your spiritual gift, at least this type of spiritual gift.

“but he that prophesieth edifieth the church,” so we have the subject of edification and we see that speaking in tongues is very stimulating to the one who is using the gift because it is a communication gift and to properly communicate is stimulating and rewarding. But the person who communicates doctrine through the gift of prophesy is helping the entire church, and there is a lot of difference. Here is the difference between selfishness and true production. So we have here the problem of catering to self versus helping others.

Verse 5, the preference is stated. This is the debater’s technique of assuming for the moment that only one gift existed, which would be preferable, tongues or prophecy? Paul says, “I would that ye all spake with tongues.” “I would” means to desire, but it is a desire that comes from the emotional pattern. So emotionally he says this. His desire is based on the fact that he wishes that all the Jews were saved. The gift of tongues was evangelism of the Jews before the fifth cycle of discipline occurred. The same principle is found in Romans 9:1-3; 10:1. If all of the Corinthians spoke in tongues that would mean more Jews getting the gospel before the fifth cycle of discipline.

“but rather” is again the idiom; “that ye prophesied,” this means. of course, that the gift of prophesy, the gift of communicating doctrine in the language of the people in the congregation is by far the greater and is the preference therefore. These are all present tense, setting up habitual concepts.

“for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues,” at this point the tongues crowd who had been trying to contend that that you are not really spiritual, that you are not a great person unless you had this experience, have been set down.

There is an exception where the gift of tongues can be useful, and so we have the word “except” which is not accept at all but is a third class condition, “if.”

“if he interpret, that the church may receive edifying,” so the third class condition merely indicates that the church can blessed under tongues if there is someone to interpret, third class condition, maybe there will be and maybe there will not be.

Verse 6, “Now, brethren.” This is addressed to believers.

“if I come to you speaking with tongues,” third class condition, maybe I will and maybe I won’t, “what shall I profit you except [should be “if”] I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?” There are two “ifs” here and they are both 3rd class conditions. When you have two 3rd class conditions in a sentence it sets up the alternatives which exist. What he is saying in effect is this. Under the first “if” we have the alternative, “I can come to you speaking in tongues.” The word “except” is the word “if” in the 3rd class condition and it sets up the alternative to speaking in tongues, and it gives us now the four categories that are communicated through the gift of prophesy or through teaching the Word. So we have the alternative, “I can come speaking in tongues or I can come with the gift of prophesy.” But the gift of prophesy is given under its four components, four “bys.” The gift of prophecy actually communicated under these four principles:

“revelation,” generally pertains to the person of Jesus Christ. It is technical here and it refers to that category of Bible teaching dealing with the first and second advents of Christ. Revelation, then, refers to the work of Christ on the cross and the work of the second advent, so it simply refers to operation footstool.

“knowledge” emphasises the various categories of the Word of God as far as the techniques are concerned.

“prophesying” refers to eschatology; “doctrine” refers to the mechanics of the plan of God.

So we actually have a complete description of the gift of prophecy, it doesn’t mean to simply foretell, to tell something about the future.

Verses 7-11 we have three illustrations of the limitation of tongues. Up to this point we have seen that tongues is low on the totem pole and prophecy is high on the totem pole, that tongues is to be limited and regulated, that tongues is not a sign of spirituality or a sign of anything else.

Verse 7, the first illustration is from music. “And even things without life giving sound.” A thing without life that gives sound. That can refer to any kind of a musical instrument.

“whether pipe or harp,” two categories of musical instrument: string instruments and reeds. The word “except” is another 3rd class condition, “if”, maybe they will, maybe they won’t.

“they give a distinction in sound,” this refers first of all to melody. What does a little child do on a piano when they get their little hands on it? They don’t know how to play it so they bang down on the keys and no melody or distinction of sound comes out. The gift of tongues is like a little child banging on the keyboard. Someone who sits down and knows how to play a piano is analogous to the gift of prophesy, it communicates and makes sense. So this first illustration tells us that tongues does not communicate, it does not make sense. So it is important, then, that we have those gifts which communicate in the local church and eliminate the ones that sound simply like a child banging on the keys.

Verse 8, the second illustration is from military life. “For if the trumpet,” 3rd class condition, “gives an uncertain sound.” In military life at this time the commands were not given vocally, they were given by trumpet calls. Suppose the trumpeter sounds the retreat instead of the advance, then the whole situation in battle is lot. The uncertain sound is the gift of tongues.

Verse 9, “So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood.” This means that you must communicate in a way that you can be understood.

“how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall be speaking to the air.” In other words, the gift of tongues does not communicate to the people in the congregation therefore it should be eliminated or regulated. Now, of course, eliminated.

Verse 10, a third illustration from philology. “There are, it may be,” fourth class condition, if, I wish there were but there aren’t enough. Paul is writing from the standpoint of divine institution #4 and he was writing under the Roman empire. Paul is recognising the importance of divine institution #4. The Roman empire fulfills a great purpose but at this time it was slackening on its law and order. It was therefore necessary for the assertion of a maximum number of national entities and balance of power, and during the first century no such balance of power existed at the time Paul wrote and therefore a dangerous condition to evangelism existed. Maximum evangelistic conditions in the world can only exist when nations are in balance of power and when internationalism is minimised or eliminated.

“so many kinds of voices,” the word “voice” simply means language; “and none of these languages are without signification [communication].” What he is saying in effect, then, is that one of the great divisions for national entities is a philological one, a language one.

Verse 11, in conclusion. “If I know not the meaning of a language, I shall be to him that speaks [that language] a barbarian.” The word “barbarian” means that when the Greeks heard a foreign language it sounded to them like “bar, bar, bar,” and so a barbarian was a person who spoke a language other than Greek. Eventually it means someone who doesn’t speak your language; “and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.” In other words, there is no communication. This is applied to tongues. If you speak a foreign language no matter what you say it isn’t meaningful. To communicate you have to speak the same language. The gift of tongues does not do that and therefore the gift of tongues is given last place of all spiritual gifts. Therefore the gift of tongues is not a sign of spirituality, not a sign of salvation. It is not a sign of anything except the fifth cycle of discipline to Israel.

Verse 12, “Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts.” This should be translated, “ … as long as you are enthusiastic about spiritual gifts.”

“seek that,” the word ‘seek’ is a present active imperative, it is a command; “that” introduces the purpose clause; “ye may excel,” the word ‘excel’ means to abound. The concept of abounding here means that you must use spiritual gifts which communicate doctrine in a worship service rather than spiritual gifts which have emotional connotation because all emotion is soulish, therefore misleading and misunderstood.

“to the edifying of the church,” the church is edified by the communication of doctrine, there is no edification or spiritual content to emotion. Emotion is strictly soulish, it is enjoying the things of this life. We often have emotional response but the emotional response is not spiritual in itself it is simply the soul responding to a spiritual condition which exists prior to that response. In other words, we all have emotion and we respond to things emotionally but emotion has absolutely nothing to do with the spiritual life. This was one of the big problems with tongues because tongues was a gift that had emotion in it as a response to the utilisation of it. This must be excluded from the worship service, edification is the great principle. So spiritual gifts which develop edification are to be sought and desired in the worship service and this means that the gift of prophecy which communicates doctrine, as over against the gift of tongues which merely gives kicks to the individual involved.

Verse 13, the benefit of tongues. The whole principle as far as tongues being benefit at all is in communication. Since the gift of tongues is limited to the gospel when the gift of tongues is interpreted to the congregation the only information that can be provided is, of course, the gospel. The gospel has limited edification when it comes to spiritual growth. We are saved by hearing the gospel and it has a contribution to occupation with Christ but you do not grow from the gospel. It is important that we understand the gospel but when it comes to growth we must go on to information and doctrine pertaining to the Christian way of life and the eternal future, and therefore the gift of tongues can never cause one believer to grow spiritually. You grow from many, many doctrines: the faith-rest technique, the doctrines of eternal security, etc. So the gift of tongues was a very deceptive thing as it was used and people began to think that how you feel is spirituality. Soulish reaction is not spirituality. Spirituality is characterised by an inner mental happiness that nothing can change. You don’t need to get psychologically hopped up in order to be happy. The Christian way of life is more than this superficial, hopped up, emotional activity. Because some people never get beyond that they never see what a fantastic thing they are missing. There was a benefit in tongues but the only time was when there was someone to interpret and this was another gift.

So he should “pray that he (someone) might interpret” and the word ‘interpret’ means to translate.

Principles

Apart from interpretation there is no edification. The edification principle comes from communication. You do not grow from hearing the gospel. The purpose of the gospel is to save, to cause us to rejoice in what has been provided for us, but growth depends in getting the whole realm of Christian doctrine. The gift of tongues does not communicate anything beyond salvation. With tongues there is no communication of content without the gift of interpretation.

Verse 14, the fact that Paul has mentioned prayer in verse 13 immediately causes him to use prayer as an illustration. In fact, Paul is going to use two illustrations: prayer and singing. He is going to say in effect that as far as worship is concerned and as far as the believer is concerned it isn’t how beautiful the voice is, it is the coordination of mind with what you are singing. When you are singing it is meaningless unless you understand what you are singing. Singing is only meaningful if it is coordinated with the mind. In other words, you have to have lyrics. But if what passes for music is just simply rhythm then it is emotion, it appeals to the soul. Rhythm often appeals to the emotion which is ecstatics.

Bring this over into the church. If you sing and the words are meaningless it doesn’t count for worship. If you pray and you don’t know what you have said it isn’t worship. The big point that is about to come into the picture is that you cannot worship apart from the mind and that all worship is coordinated with what you think. Worship involves perception. Worship involves singing but the singing must be coordinated with Christian doctrine. Worship involves prayer but the prayer must make sense. The whole point is that you must have coordination between the mind and what is being said. If you are praying then it must be coordinated with your mind and you must know what you are saying and others must know to pray with you. If you are singing you must know what you are singing and others must with you.

“For if I pray in an unknown tongue,” the word is unknown is not found in the Greek, it should be “For if I pray in a foreign language.” “If” is a third class condition which indicates maybe I will pray in a foreign language and maybe I won’t. It depends on whether I have the gift of tongues or not.

“my spirit prayeth,” but it is not hooked up with my mind; “my understanding is nonproductive.” In other words, this explains perfectly the gift of tongues. Words are formed in the mind and these words are not only used to express what you think but they are also used to think. The tools with which you think happen to be your vocabulary. If your vocabulary is limited you don’t do much thinking. If you can think in the English language then you can form concepts and you can express them in doctrine. But the gift of tongues is a foreign language and it is foreign to the one who speaks it. He doesn’t even know what he is saying himself. If he prays in tongues he doesn’t know what he is saying because this foreign language is running around in his head with this whole new vocabulary and he doesn’t know what the words are. This is the gift of tongues: the person himself doesn’t know what he has said or thought or prayed.

Verse 15, “I will pray with the spirit.” This is the human spirit and this is in the instrumental case; “my spirit prays.” In other words, this is a bona fide spiritual activity but the mind is nonproductive. The word ‘understanding’ is literally mind or intellect. The word ‘unfruitful’ means it derives no benefit. Mechanically then when the gift of tongues is used in prayer the human spirit actually operates in the mind but the mind does know what the words are, therefore he cannot enter into his own prayer. What would be the use of prayer in the gift of tongues? The content of the gift of tongues is the gospel and this prayer is prayer for someone, some Jew or some other person whose language is different, that they might be saved. But the actual content of the prayer is unknown. The gift of tongues apparently was always the eloquent use of the idiom of another language and in this eloquence there was such a fantastic stimulation from it that it had a soulish response. The soulish response was emotion and often ecstatics, and it was this ecstatics which confused the Corinthians because the people who had this gift were so glowing and so ecstatic that they said, “I’m spiritual.” Other people therefore wanted it too, and what they really wanted was the emotion and the ecstatics. And the whole issue is that neither emotion nor ecstatics is a spiritual thing in itself, it is strictly soulish.

“I will sing with the spirit, and I will, sing also with the understanding.” In other words, he is saying in effect that you have to have a coordination for this to be a bona fide part of worship. There must be a coordination between the mind and the phase of worship. In order to worship you have to have maximum use of your mind, either perceptively or expressively. All worship goes back to your mind.

1. Effective prayer and singing depend upon the coordination between the mind and the human spirit (not the mind and the soul).

2. Therefore the frame of reference for both prayer and singing hymns is the language in which you think. This is known as your native language.

3. If you pray or sing in an unknown foreign the coordination of mind and human spirit is destroyed. In other words, this is tongues.

4. This lack of coordination exists in the operation of the gift of tongues.

5. Therefore tongues does not edify or benefit the church and has limited benefit to the individual involved. The only thing you can do with tongues is communicate the gospel, and if they lead a soul to Christ that is beneficial to them. But even the emotion and the ecstatics is not beneficial because it is confused with spiritual phenomena. There is nothing wrong with emotion but to confuse this with being spiritual is all wrong. That is what happened to the people in Corinth.

Verse 16, “Else when the shallot bless with the spirit.” Blessing here has to be defined by its context. Blessing is communication of doctrine. Blessing with the spirit refers to prayer and singing hymns, or any phase or facet of worship. The word “bless” means to worship. This is accomplished in the realm of the human spirit which is the area of spiritual phenomena.

“how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned,” the one who speaks in tongues. In other words, in his mind this fantastic vocabulary is squirted in and he doesn’t know a thing that is going on up there!

“say Amen,” he can’t even say Amen to his own prayer. Amen means “I believe it,” and he doesn’t know whether he believes it or not because he doesn’t know what he has said. The only person who could say Amen is the unbeliever who has heard this, and the only way he could say Amen is to believe in Christ. He that occupies the room of the unlearned is the person who doesn’t know what is being said. That is the person who offers the prayer and it is the people who hear the prayer. The exception is the recipient of the message, the unbeliever whose language is being used in the gift of tongues.

The word “say” is in the future tense and this is a perfect illustration of a logical future. The future tense was used for logical progression. It is logical that if you don’t know what is being said in the prayer you can’t say Amen and have it a bona fide spiritual operation.

“at thy giving of thanks,” this is giving thanks for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“seeing he understandeth not what the sayest.” “He understandeth not” is a perfect tense and it simply means that not only does he not understand but it is with the result that he never could understand’ “the sayest” reminds us once again that worship involves two things: thinking and communication. Thinking the divine viewpoint; communication of the divine viewpoint. The most important factor in worship, then, is the mind which is the recipient of all of this information or the means of disseminating all of this information.

Verse 17, the criterion. “For the verily givest thanks well.” In other words, the person who uses the gift of tongues is speaking in a foreign language and it is done very beautifully in that foreign language because the Spirit gives the utterance. The Holy Spirit is eloquent in any language. So you give thanks well, you pray well in that language.

“but the other,” this means the other believers around; “is not edified,” because there is no communication. No communication; no edification. The purpose of worship is edification therefore there must be communication, there must be thought, and it must be in the native language.

Verse 18, at this point Paul breaks off and tells them that he has done more speaking in tongues than all of them, and he also makes it very clear that this is not the basis of his spiritual life.

“I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than all of you.” The reason he says he is thankful for it is because he has had many evangelistic opportunities in this way and because of the fact that he is desperately concerned for the salvation of Jews; and because the gift of tongues was designed to evangelise the Jews in Gentile languages as a warning of the coming of the 5th cycle of discipline. Since Paul says, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God is that Israel might be saved,” his use of the gift of tongues was the fulfillment of that prayer. He had the privilege of evangelising Israel in his day through the gift of tongues. That is why he is thankful for the use of the gift of tongues.

Verse 19, as much as Paul loves the gift of tongues because he is able to reach the Jews, his own race, and at the same time warn them of the 5th cycle of discipline in this way, he goes on to point out that this is a specialised type of gift, it is the least of all gifts, and here he points out his restraint in the use.

“Yet in the church,” he would never think of using this gift in the church; “I had rather speak” — this word ‘speak’ refers to the principle because it is in the aorist tense; “five words with my understanding.” “I had rather” means a wish or a desire, “I desire to speak,” aorist active infinitive, the infinitive expresses his purpose. This desire is strengthened into an actual purpose and the two things together actually declare his policy. So the verb to desire in the present tense plus the aorist infinitive indicates a firm policy from which there will be no deviation.

“that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in a foreign language” which do not communicate.

Paul is saying he would rather give five words from his intellect. Why? Because five words from his intellect communicates doctrine which is the primary purpose and undergirding purpose of worship. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is the doctrine of the Word of God and this doctrine must be communicated.

“that” introduces a result clause: “with the result that I might teach.” Here is the heart and centre of worship, teaching, communication. The verb here is the verb for oral teaching. Aorist tense: point of time when they are assembled. The active voice: Paul must initiate the teaching himself. The subjunctive mood indicates that whether he communicates or not is potential, depending upon many other factors.

Verse 20, the gift of tongues actually hinders spiritual growth.

“Brethren, stop becoming children,” literally. The word ‘children’ here is used for those who had the gift of tongues. They were children spiritually, they were babies. Stop being babies! You never grow spiritually as long as you centre your Christian life in emotion and ecstatics. The joy of the Lord has absolutely no emotion in it — none. Joy is simply a mental attitude produced by the Spirit. Some people will never know what spiritual happiness is for the simple reason that they are so busy being emotional and being babies. Sometimes they are just downright dumb, they just never grow up. The sad thing is that these people always sublimate with the fattest and the most subtle ego you’ve ever seen, they always think they’re spiritual.

Children

1. Children refers to those who have the gift of tongues. They regard their gift and the accompanying emotion (which is soulish, not spiritual) as spiritual.

2. Their ignorance of doctrine plus the emotional stimulation which accompanies tongues hinders their growth. They were trying to impose conditioned reflexes on everyone else and saying that this was spirituality.

3. Result: Abuses of the gift of tongues which had to be corrected.

4. Application: The problem is the association of emotion and ecstatics with spirituality so that this emotion and this ecstatics, which is soulish, is thought to be spiritual. Emotion and ecstatics can accompany a spiritual phenomena but it si never a spiritual phenomena. Any unbeliever can have a soulish, emotional reaction. As soon as the believer makes emotion his criterion he has had it.

“in understanding,” the Greek word is ‘intellect.’ What does it mean to be a child in intellect? Our intellect is the whole basis of our growth, our maturity, our worship. Vocabulary, doctrines in the mind, this is all to do with intellect. The have a child’s intellect means that emotion is in the way.

“howbeit” is a conjunction of contrast; “in malice keep on becoming children,” malice is a mental attitude sin and since he is on the intellect and since mental attitude sins are the worst he says “Be children when it comes to malice.” Children to do go in much for mental attitude sins because they do not have enough development of their mentality. A six-month-old baby is not malicious because there is nothing there to be malicious with.

“but in understanding,” knowledge of doctrine in the intellect; “keep on becoming men.” The word ‘men’ simply means mature, spiritually adults.

The true purpose of tongues is given in verses 21 & 22. We have already seen that tongues is a hindrance to spiritual growth, that tongues had very limited use, that this limited use was discontinued with the Jews going into the fifth cycle of discipline.

Verse 21, “In the law it is written,” a phrase used to document the Old Testament. The passage which will now be quoted is Isaiah 28:11-12. In Isaiah 28 we have the true purpose of tongues as a sign to the Jews prior to the fifth cycle of discipline. It was a warning that the fifth cycle of discipline was coming and as a sign it had to include a miracle. The miracle was the fact that the person who had the gift of tongues, who thought in one language, suddenly had in the frontal lobe the vocabulary of another language which he himself did not know. it was a Gentile language.

“Hear,” doesn’t mean hear at all. It is the Greek word e)isakouw. This is the verb to hear. However, this is a compound noun which has a preposition in front of it which has about eight different translations. The most common translation is “into,” and it means to “hear into” in the sense that you not only hear it but register it and you are willing to use it. Probably the best translation of this compound is one word which has come down to us today is the verb to obey. It means to listen with the intention of obeying. So the word “hear” means to listen with the purpose of responding.

Verse 22, the New Testament application. “Wherefore tongues are for a sign,” a miracle to alert the Jews, a special warning. And once the special warning is accomplished or the purpose for the warning is accomplished the sign no longer exists. All signs were for the Jews, 1 Corinthians 1:22. Signs were never for the Gentiles and signs are never for the Church, “The Jews seek a sign.”

“not to them that believe,” the gift of tongues was never directed toward the believer, ever. it was strictly evangelistic and it has no merit or direction toward the believer. (The Gospel does not cause the believer to grow. Growth comes from doctrine)

“but to them that believe not,” not correctly translated. it is literally, “but to the unbelievers.” It is a noun. The Gospel is always directed toward the unbeliever.

Verse 23, “If” [3rd class condition] introduces a hypothetical situation. In this case the hypothetical situation involves a church full of believers who are all trying to develop tongues and therefore are all jabbering.

“therefore the whole church be come together,” the assembly of the whole church; “into one place,” obviously a church service; “and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are unlearned,” the word “unlearned” is the Greek word i)diwthj, a very virtuous word to the Greeks. It was a person who minded his own business. Here it is one who is minding his own business but is seeking, “or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?” Conclusion!

Verse 24, prophecy is not telling the future, it is the declaration of doctrine.

“But if all prophecy, and there come in one that believe not, or one unlearned [I)diwrthj], “he is convinced of [by] all [that this is true by all that he hears], he is judged,” a)nakrinw, which means to judge.

The word “judge also means to discern. So he is convinced by all. He receives discernment by all that he is. In other words, he gets information in his frontal lobe that he can use. This is the impression that the gift of prophesy gives. The word a)na means “above,” so we have the concept, “to judge above.” It should be translated to “receive discernment from above,” “by all.”

Verse25, “And thus are the secrets of his frontal lobe made manifest.” This doesn’t means that the one who is preaching looks into his skull and sees what is there and condemns him. It just simply means that he is challenged in his frontal lobe.

“and so falling down he will worship,” falling down actually means that he gets himself in an attitude of worship because he is impressed by what is going on. He was impressed by this particular gift, he was not impressed by the gift of tongues or the distortion of tongues.

“and report that God is in you truly,” he will report that he is convinced. The word “of a truth” means he is convinced.

Verses 26-35, tongues has to be regulated. The principle behind regulation of tongues is that you must have order in church worship. There must be a regulation so that there is communication from those in authority to the rest of the congregation.

Verse 26, the things that are acceptable in a service, “everyone of you hath,” and now we have a series of things which were used in the early church service. First of all, “a psalm.” A psalm is doctrine with a tune. This is comparable to some of the congregational singing. Secondly, “hath a doctrine” — Bible teaching categorically presented. Next is “a tongue” because this is our subject, the use of the gift of tongues. This would be evangelistic.

“hath a revelation,” the exercise of the gift of prophecy. This orients the believer to the plan of God. And finally we have “interpretation,” and this is simply the interpretation of what was said in the gift of tongues.

Two of these things are inserted, simply because this is our subject. Three of these things are always found in a worship service: the psalm is singing doctrine; doctrine is the teaching of the Word categorically; revelation is the use of the gift of prophesy to orient to the plan of God and, in our modern set-up the actual revelation and doctrine would be synonymous, it is all handled in one way. Notice that in all of these things which are authorised for a worship service, all of them communicate. If you actually communicate anything at any time it requires brains, therefore brains in operation — thinking. Thinking is the operation of the frontal lobe.

The first one of these that was given is what we would call a congregational activity — singing hymns. A hymn (Psalm) has three ingredients: 1) It has people singing. The singing involves a tune and lyrics [content, doctrine]. 2) Musical instruments. 3) You have more than one person doing it. Therefore they are all singing the same lyrics. Unison. This is what you have involved in “a psalm.” What precedes communication? Thinking! And with what do you think? Words. You have to have vocabulary. The vocabulary are the lyrics of what you sing.

The next part is the pastoral part. The pastor’s first job is to teach doctrine. The second is “prophesy” which refers to the spiritual gift in contrast to the gift of tongues, and is merely orienting believers to the plan of God. Prophesy is merely a content part of teaching doctrine - orientation to the plan of God and to the grace of God. This must be accomplished not by the congregation but by the one who has the final authority in the congregation. (The pastor’s final authority is based upon teaching)

“Let all things be done unto edifying” .What is “edifying” ?It means to build you up, to give you growth. All things must be done to building up and only the believer can be edified. The unbeliever is evangelised; the believer is edified, or built up. So this is the building up of a believer and a believer is built up in a worship service by proper use of music (psalms) and the teaching of the Word of God. The believer is not built up any other way.

Verse 27, “If any man speak in a tongue.” Notice, the word “unknown” is italicised, it is not in the original, and there is no such thing as an unknown tongue. The word “tongue” simply means a language.

“by two, or at the most by three.” The word “by two” is the preposition kata which means that there must be a norm or a standard. The norm or the standard for the worship service is no more than three, “and that by course” is really “by rotation.” They don’t all speak at once.

“and let one interpret,” there must be an interpreter so that there is no confusion. Why? The impact of this verse says that if it doesn’t communicate it doesn’t belong in the worship service. “Let one interpret” means that there must be communication. In the whole design of the worship service there must be nothing abstruse or nebulous or esoteric.

Verse 28, “But if there be no interpreter, let him [the one who was going to speak in tongues] keep silence in the church.

“and let him speak to himself and to God,” this doesn’t mean to start mumbling, it is an idiom for thinking. Just keep thinking but don’t speak.

The point in the Corinthian church was that the ecstatics were the result of the use of tongues and not the means of producing it, that it was actually produced by volition.

Verses 29-33, the use of prophecy in a church service.

Verse 29, “Let the prophets speak,” those who ministered the word, doctrine; “two or three, and let the others discern,” literally. When it says “two or three,” the early church had not one sermon but about three. The early service apparently lasted longer but it was a slightly different type of service, due the nature of the recipients, many of whom were slaves, the places where they met were small and could only accommodate a few at a time. The church for the first three centuries met in small places, homes. Apparently what they did was rotate the congregation.

“the other” is translated in the singular but in the Greek it is in the plural. It is “others” of the same kind, therefore believers. The word “judge” means to discern, to listen with discernment.

Verse 30, the prohibition of interruption. “If something is revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first [the person who receives this revelation] keep quiet.” “Hold his peace” means to be silent. In other words, as a part of the Word of God the Bible teaches good manners!

Verse 31, the purpose of prophecy. “For ye may all prophesy one by one,” this means in rotation, “that all [in the congregation] may learn.” The first purpose of this gift is learning, and the whole principle is that you cannot live the Christian life until to learn the Christian life. You cannot do until you know. There is no place for ignorance in the Christian life. You must know what you are doing before you do it. You must know doctrine before you can produce.

“that all may learn,” a present active subjunctive. The present tense means to keep on learning, which is how you grow. Active voice: you have to do the learning, and the active voice indicates you have to listen to learn. The subjunctive mood indicates that some will learn and some will not.

“and all may be comforted,” the word “comfort” here actually means “help,” “that you may be helped,” and it means to be helped from an outside source, the Bible.

Verse 32, “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” This is the human spirit. And, by the way, the prophet should be born again — the word “spirit” is used and not “soul.” The human spirit is the recipient of communication from the Word. The soul has emotion, and emotion is an appreciator. We appreciate things in life and it is in the realm of the soul and only in the realm of the soul. There is no emotion in the human spirit. The human spirit must be the reality for doctrine and for spiritual phenomenon. Emotion comes into the picture here because we appreciate the doctrine we have absorbed, and so we do have an emotional reaction. But the emotional itself is non-spiritual, it is simply a human factor which exists in either believers or unbelievers because both have souls.

Babies cry because they do not have a vocabulary in their frontal lobe. When you start to cry you stop thinking. So the principle is, do your crying somewhere else, not in the worship service. The worship service is the place to get doctrine. The minister must have control of himself.

Verse 33, the principle of order in the church. “For God is not the author of confusion.” If the minister is out of control, if the congregation is out of control there is no communication. For communication there must be a minister communicating doctrine and a congregation listening. If he is out of control or they are talking or out of control the communication breaks down, there is no longer communication between the pastor [prophet in this case] and the congregation. The confusion is from the tongues movement in this particular case but it could be caused by other things.

“but peace,” order, whereby communication is established.

Verse 34,35, the women in the church.

Verse 34, “Let you women keep silence in the churches,” referring to Christian women assembled in the congregation of the local church. The point that is made is really very simple. The reason it says for women to keep silent is that women do not have the gift of tongues.

“but to be under obedience,” obedience simply means authority. This is quite an important factor because even in Paul’s day Timothy was stampeded by the ladies in the Ephesian church. You have to have authority for the communication of the Word.

“as also saith the law,” indicating that this has been taught before in the Word.

Verse 35, “And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for a woman to speak in church.” The word “shame” means that the female talking adds to the confusion and undermines the authority.

Verse 36-40, a general response to doctrine.

Verse 36, we must know it. “What ?came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?” The word of God here refers to Bible doctrine. “Out from you” means from the ultimate source of you. The preposition which is used here is a)po, the preposition of ultimate source. Translation should be: “What ?came the word of God from the ultimate source of you?” The answer is no, it didn’t .You have some Bible doctrine in your frontal lobe. Did you just cook it up yourself? No, you had to learn it. The whole point is, you have to learn doctrine, it just doesn’t pop into your mind. To learn it there has to be communication.

“or came it unto you [yes] only,” “only” means you must apply it. The word “came it” is katantaw. Kata is the preposition of norm or standard, and so the word “came” means here to arrive according to a norm or standard. You have arrived when you learn doctrine, and you arrive according to a fixed norm or standard. That fixed norm is, of course, the Word of God. The principle is that doctrine must arrive in your frontal lobe, it just doesn’t pop up. In other words, your mind is not the source of doctrine, the Word is the source of doctrine and there has to be some way of getting doctrine out of the page of the Bible and into your frontal lobe. It has to be communicated.

Verse 37, the importance of accepting doctrine. “If any man think himself to be a prophet,” here is someone who has the idea that he ought to be teaching; “or spiritual, let him acknowledge,” acknowledge the Word of God; “that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” In other words, no one can be spiritual, no one can be in a position of authority, without recognising the authority of the Word of God.

Verse 38, ignorance rejects the Word. There are some people who are ignorant and they are going to keep on being ignorant, and as long as they are ignorant they cannot have doctrine in their frontal lobe.

“If” introduces a first class condition recognising the fact that in Corinth there were those who were ignorant and proud of it. These were the tongues people. Ignorance of doctrine places the believer under legalism and results in rejection of Bible doctrine. As a result he continues to be ignorant, and so we have the phrase “let him be ignorant,” which should be translated: “And if any man be ignorant he continues to be ignorant.” In other words, when a person doesn’t have doctrine he doesn’t respond to doctrine.

Verse 39, “Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy,” addressed to the entire church, it is in the second person plural. In other words you desire the gifts that will edify the church, “and forbid not to speak with tongues,” i.e.. to use the gift in its proper sequence and regulation as indicated.

Verse 40, the modus operandi for the church: “Let all things be done decently,” in a becoming manner, so as not to give a false impression that everyone who is a believer is nuts or psycho or neurotic, “and in order”; the word for “order” is a military word which connotes organisation. There has to be a final authority and there has to be a recognition of authority and there must be operation under the framework of that authority for communication, for modus operandi and for production. This then indicates how the local church should operate in a general way.