1 Corinthians 14

There should be no question for the Corinthian church as to the best way, the must excellent way of Christian living. It is the way of love, displayed so powerfully in the cross of Christ. This does not mean that the miraculous manifestations of the truth of the gospel are unimportant, and it is to these great gifts that Paul returns now, as He shows how they are to fit into the life of the church in Corinth.

Paul is far from prohibiting the exercise of miraculous gifts, but he urges upon the church an order fully informed by the love of Christ. What that means is that the goal of the use of any gift is the glory of God in the building up of the church. By upbuilding Paul is not referring to the numerical growth of the church, but to the strengthening of the body of Christ in the way of faith, hope, and love. This is why the exercise of a prophetic gift in a known language within the church is superior to the use of an unknown tongue in the absence of any gift of interpreting that tongue. With prophesy, the church can hear the truth in their minds, they can believe (faith), than can nurture the growth of godly expectations of the life to come (hope), and they can give themselves over to the well-being of others within and even beyond the body of Christ (love).

This is to be contrasted with a way of using gifts that is designed only to build up the one who possesses the gift in the esteem of the ignorant. This is not the way of the cross. It is through the renewing mind that the church hears and loves the truth, not through the hearing of an unintelligible message. In the life of spiritual warfare, it is of great importance that we hear the call to battle. In this way the mind and the spirit are engaged in both the speaker and the hearer, and the body of Christ experiences true growth. Paul’s advice is very practical and spiritual to the one who feels he has the gift of tongues and who has grown used to using that gift in worship without any interpreter: Pray for the gift of interpretation, so that you may simply speak the truth in a language known to your hearers. This may be less impressive to those who want to see marvels, but it will be better for everyone who wants to grown in grace and knowledge.

In all things in the church, whether speaking to men or singing and praying to God, we need to speak in such a way that the church and the outsider may understand and affirm the great truths of God and be built up together as the body of Christ. Paul is not prohibiting the use of tongues for this first century church, but he is discouraging unintelligible worship. The prideful display of supposed gifts is a childish thing, and the way for the church is the Christian maturity of faith, hope, and love.

There are times in the history of revelation when the Lord has spoken more to conceal than to reveal. The prophets spoke of this, and our Lord did this when He spoke in parables to crowds without explanation. This was very similar to speaking in an unknown tongue without an interpretation. Such speech has a purpose. It is judgment speech, and it came at the end of the era of the Law as a prophetic act of judgment against Israel. God had warned her very clearly through the prophets for many centuries. The Lord of the covenant came with judgment speech to many, but He explained His parables to the disciples, the Jewish seed of the New Testament church. That seed has grown all the way to Corinth, not through confusing parables and riddles, but through the clear preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

There is no doubt that great things were happening in the church at Corinth, but they needed to consider the right way to use the gifts they had been given. It would be better for the church, and for the seeker or skeptic who might be in their midst, to hear intelligible words rather than unintelligible speech. For those who are hearing this message for the first time, our prayer is not for judgment through parable-like confusion, but salvation through words that are heard in the mind and that cut to the heart. They should not be so impressed with who has an unusual gift, but with the intelligible fact that God is surely in this place.

In these instructions Paul is applying the law of love to the order of their gatherings of worship. The general rule is clear. Worship is not your stage to display how impressive you are. Worship is for the glory of God. Beyond that vertical instruction the general horizontal rule is plain: Let all things be done for building up. Therefore some limit needed to be imposed on the number of people speaking, and they should not all be speaking together. Everything should be weighed by those who are recognized as spiritual in their oversight of the worship. The goal is not confusion but clarity, not war and division but peace in Christ.

Private conversation, like that referred to here concerning questions by women about what was being taught, should be remembered and handled later at home, lest these kind of communications unnecessarily disturb the assembly. All things needed to be done decently and in order. Was this because Paul loved order above everything else? Not at all. It was because Paul loved Christ, and in the church He loved to see the dying love of Christ known and proclaimed, and He loved to see that love expressed as a way of life in and beyond the gathering of worship. He knew that there was a connection between the life of love and the understanding and believing of the truth. This required order, and not a childish desire for miraculous preeminence. This is the way of the cross, and in God’s hands, it is the pathway that we are traveling together to the resurrection.