Bible Synapse
Did Paul encourage speaking in tongues, or discourage it?
Hard question · Acts and the letters · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
One who speaks in a tongue speaks to God and builds himself up; Paul: “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied”.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
As an uncertain trumpet call is useless, so “except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken?”
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
Paul speaks with tongues more than them all, yet in church he would rather speak five words with understanding “than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue”.
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
In church two or three at most, one at a time, with an interpreter; if there is none, the speaker keeps silent and speaks to himself and to God.
If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
“Covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.”
Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
The objection
Paul says that he wishes all the Corinthians spoke in tongues, and tells them not to forbid it. Yet in the same chapter he says that speech that cannot be understood is like an uncertain trumpet call, mere speaking into the air. Did he want them to speak in tongues or not?
The answer
Paul is neither for nor against tongues as such. He is teaching where and how the gift should be used, and the whole of 1 Corinthians 14 turns on one test: does it build up the church (14:3–5, 12, 26)? Speaking in a tongue does the speaker good, for he speaks to God (14:2, 4), and Paul thanks God that he does so more than any of them (14:18). But in the gathered church a tongue that no one understands helps no one else. That is the point of the trumpet in verses 8–9: a call to battle helps only if it is a clear signal, and a word spoken in church helps only if the hearers can understand it. So Paul adds “except he interpret” (14:5), and tells the speaker to pray that he may interpret (14:13).
His rules follow from this. In church no more than two or three may speak in tongues, each in turn, and there must be an interpreter; without one, the speaker is to keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God (14:27–28). Then Paul sums up: “covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues” (14:39), and “Let all things be done decently and in order” (14:40). He ranks prophecy higher in church because everyone can understand it, but he does not want tongues forbidden. Verses 8–9 and verse 39 are two halves of one piece of teaching: use the gift, but in a way that serves others.
Still open
Christians differ over whether the gift of tongues continues today, and over whether the tongues at Corinth were human languages, as at Pentecost (Acts 2:4–11), or speech not known on earth (compare “the tongues of men and of angels”, 1 Corinthians 13:1). Those debates do not touch the point here: Paul valued the gift and regulated its use.
From the classic commentators
forbid not to speak with tongues; such as have that gift, and are desirous of exercising it, provided they observe the rules prescribed, and have an interpreter; this he adds to promote love, and prevent dissension and discord.John Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on 1 Corinthians 14:39 (1746–1763)
Sources
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Corinthians 14 (1837), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 1 Corinthians 14 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub