Yet In the Church
1 Corinthians 14:13-19 NKJV
13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is full of correction. They evidently were a pretty unruly bunch. Paul had to correct their penchant toward identifying too much with preachers, allowing some intense immorality and just plain fleshly behavior that manifested in strife and division.
In this fourteenth chapter, Paul is still correcting. This chapter deals primarily with the subject of tongues. When tongues were appropriate and when they were inappropriate. The issue was never if tongues were okay. Paul said that he spoke with tongues more than all of them. So he was not debating the validity of tongues, just when tongues were to be used in the church.
Evidently, there were times when people would come in, and everyone was speaking in tongues, and no one was interpreting. In verses sixteen and seventeen, Paul mentions someone blessing the food with the spirit, or in other tongues. What was wrong about that was that someone who did not know about tongues was not helped or edified. Paul said if you bless with the spirit, you give thanks well; you are doing a good job, but the person who does not understand gets nothing from your blessing.
Paul makes it clear that there is a time to pray in the spirit with other tongues, and there is a time to pray with understanding. He even mentions singing with the spirit and singing with the understanding. Again, both are appropriate at the right time. When Paul says that in the church he would rather speak five words with his understanding than ten thousand words in a tongue, again, the context has to be taken into account. Paul did not say he would rather speak five words with understanding than ten thousand words in a tongue. He said, “yet in the church,” indicating the place he was speaking. And that speaking five words with the understanding was preferable “that I may teach others also.” Paul was reminding the Corinthians that they always had to keep other people in mind whatever they were doing.
Application
My mother was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues back in the early 70’s. She was part of the charismatic movement that swept the nation during the 70’s and 80’s. She made the mistake of sharing this with the junior high girls in the Sunday school class she taught. The denomination we were a part of took a dim view of praying in the spirit, and we were politely asked to leave. So I have been around this topic for over 50 years. I have seen tongues used appropriately and have seen some abuses. I can say it has added tremendously to my private prayer life. Yet in the church, I am very aware of so many who are uninformed. So we make an effort to reach as many as we can in ways they can understand.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for being able to pray with the spirit and with the understanding. I don’t simply want to be blessed; please make me a blessing to others.