1 Corinthians 14:1-12

Butler's Comments

SECTION 1

Preaching by Prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1-12)

14 Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophecies edifies the church. 5Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unless some one interprets, so that the church may be edified.

6 Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will any one know what is played? 8And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9So with yourselves; if you in a tongue utter speech that is not intelligible, how will any one know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning; 11but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12So with yourselves; since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 Prophecy is Understandable: It will be profitable at the start of this chapter to reiterate the fundamental principles of Biblical hermeneutics. (1) The true interpretation is what the author intended to say; (2) The Bible is written in human language. If human language is to mean anything at all it must (granting differences in structure) mean the same thing to all human beings; (3) Each passage must be understood in the light of its historical background, its grammatical structure, and parallel words or passages; (4) Each word, paragraph, chapter, is to be understood according to its context; (5) And each passage is to be interpreted in the light of the whole scheme of redemption (the entire Bible). Remember, Paul expected the Corinthians to understand him and God expects all human beings to understand the Bible alike.

The teaching of this chapter was initially given to promote unity among Christians, in the first century, in Corinth. Unity could only result when all the Christians at Corinth understood and obeyed the will of God as expressed in this teaching. Understanding and obeying the will of God revealed in the scriptures is still the only basis for Christian unity. Let us exert every mental and spiritual effort possible to understand and obey the will of God in this chapter.

Miraculous gifts served their purpose (integration of cultural differences among believers and verification of apostolic doctrine) and ceased. But that does not mean the generic principles taught in chapter fourteen (which is, all things done to edify, and done decently, in order) are irrelevant to the believers today. God's principles are always true and never change. The administration, or application, of those principles may, due to time or culture, serve their purpose and cease. This was the case with miraculous gifts. Both miraculous gifts and love come from God. Paul expected the Corinthian church to practice both in the will of God. Chapter fourteen gives some practical way that love controls the use a person makes of his gifts.

The Greek word prophetes, prophecy, is literally, forth-speaking. In this context it must mean more than just predicting the future, since all teaching in the first century church did not involve the necessity of predicting the future. The word propheteian in Romans 12:6 may not include the miraculous element at all since it is listed with the functional (Gr. praxin) gifts; it probably means simply, preaching. There was a school of the prophets in the Old Testament (also called sons of the prophets 2 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 2:5; 2 Kings 2:7; 2 Kings 2:15; 2 Kings 4:1; 2 Kings 4:38). Prophets with the miraculous power to predict, did not have to go to school to learn how to predict! Evidently the title prophet could be applied to a person learning to prophesy in the sense of preaching.

Yet, in the context of I Corinthians, chapter 12-14, prophecy is clearly to be understood as a miraculous gift. Here it is more than merely preaching or teaching by natural faculties. Whether it was teaching and preaching, or predicting, or both, it was under the inerrant direction of the Holy Spirit in order to deliver to the first century church an infallible message from God.

The Greek text of 1 Corinthians 14:1, like the Greek of 1 Corinthians 12:1, says, zeloute de ta pneumatika, mallon de hina propheteuete, literally, be zealous for the spiritual things, and rather, in order that you may prophesy. Once again, as in 1 Corinthians 12:1, the word gifts (Gr. charismata) is omitted. The most spiritual thing to want is the desire to edify othersthat is done by teaching.

The apostle warns that speaking in a tongue (Gr. glosse, language) usually resulted in utterance of a non-understandable mystery. The Greek word musterion, mystery, means, that which is unrevealed, not that which is unknowable; it would be knowable if revealed, or interpreted. The word unknown (supplied in KJV) is not in any Greek text, and should not have been supplied since it is not stated anywhere in the New Testament that first century tongues were non-human, unknowable utterances. Of course, God knows all human languages, dialects, phonics or tongues, (see Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9; Revelation 9:11; Revelation 10:11; Revelation 11:9; Revelation 13:7; Revelation 14:6; Revelation 16:16; Revelation 17:15 where tongue, glosson, is used clearly to mean, human languages). When one of the Corinthian Christians spoke with other tongues (Gr. heterais glossais, Acts 2:4; and heteroglossois, 1 Corinthians 14:21) he did not speak to his fellow Christians because he was speaking in a foreign language, but he did speak to God since God understands all languages. When a Christian in the Corinthian church spoke in a language they never learned, they did so from the supernatural gift God gave them. When there was no interpreter present, they exercised that gift only for God's benefit (since it had not been translated, it was understood by no one elsenot even the speaker). God gave the speaker words and information directly from heaven in a language the speaker had not studied or spoken natively. When there was no translator present, speaking in language foreign to the speaker resulted, for the speaker, in a purely subjective experience. Thus, the gift of tongues was experiential only for the speakerand that only in a limited sense if he does not have the gift of interpretation. Paul is pointing, in this context, to the superiority of the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues. Thus to speak only for personal experience is to abuse the gift.

Contrary to the very limited, often self-centered, profitableness of tongues, the gift of prophecy, since spoken in the vernacular of the audience, speaks to all for edification, encouragement and consolation. Prophecy did not need a translator; it could be understood by all.

Paul was willing that tongues be practiced by all the Corinthian Christians as he would qualify their use in 1 Corinthians 14:6 ff. However, the Greek word thelo (1 Corinthians 14:5) translated I would, I wish, or I want is a present active indicative verb and is better translated, I am willing. He was willing that tongues be spoken only if interpreted; but he was more (Gr. mallon, rather) willing that the gift of prophecy be exercised. The one who prophesied was greater than the one who spoke in an untranslated language, because prophecy edified everyone. If the untranslated language was translated, then the church was edified. And, we note, the words some one in the RSV are not in the Greek text. The one who speaks in the untranslated language is to interpret (Gr. ektos ei me diermaneun, except unless he interprets). The moment language was translated and understood by the whole church it became, in essence, a prophecy (a revelation, a teaching). What, then, was the need for speaking in foreign languages? As we shall see in another section, this gift was primarily and exclusively to be used as a sign for unbelievers and the spiritually immature.

1 Corinthians 14:6-12 Prophecy is Upbuilding: To read this section, one might think Paul's main subject is tonguesbut it is the superiority of prophecy. In these verses the apostle illustrates and explains further the inferiority of tongues to prophecy. Some Bible students forget the main issue here and assume the emphasis is on tongues.

Paul could have spoken to the Corinthians, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in a multitude of foreign languages (see 1 Corinthians 14:18). Evidently, he did not have the power to translate these tongues. Even though he could speak in more tongues than any of them, he would have benefited no one except himself, subjectively, and God, unless the tongues could have been translated into a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching.

Imagine a Japanese Army bugle call being blown by an American soldier at an American Army camp! The call would be an enigma (remember, Paul used this word enigma in 1 Corinthians 13:12 to characterize these miraculous gifts). Musical instruments which do not give distinct, recognizable notes (Gr. phthongois) and bugles which do not give recognizable calls (Gr. phonen, phonetics) are not only useless, they are confusing. Paul uses the Greek word diastolen, distinct, to characterize the function of musical instruments. It is the word from which we get the English word stole, and means literally, a vestment worn by someone to distinguish them from others. He uses the word adelon to characterize misuse of a bugle and the word means, Indistinct, not obvious, uncertain. Musical instruments and, especially bugles, are intended to communicate messages. If they do not they are useless and confusing.

In 1 Corinthians 14:9 the suggestion is that those with the gift of tongues not speak in the public assembly unless they may specifically speak a clear word (Gr. eusemon logon, literally, a word that well-signifies). Foreign languages without interpretation are not clear signalsthey are undistinguishable sounds.

In 1 Corinthians 14:10 Paul says there are multitudinous kinds (Gr. gene, geneses, families) of phonetics (Gr. phonon) in the world (Gr. kosmos) and not one without meaning (Gr. aphonon, literally, without its own phonetics). Yet, if one of these phonetics is sounded or spoken and not translated, and a listener does not happen to know the language being spoken miraculously, he would be a foreigner (Gr. barbaros, barbarian) and the speaker would be a foreigner (Gr. barbaros). Paul is using the term barbaros literally, and not figuratively. Those who do not understand one another's human language are foreigners to one another. It is clear that Paul is speaking of actual human languages when he says tongues and not of the modern phenomena called glossolalia (a word not found in that form in the New Testament at all). The modern, alleged, speaking in tongues has been thoroughly analyzed by linguistics and philologists and their conclusions repudiate it as being any form of language at all (see The Psychology of Speaking In Tongues, by John P. Kildahl, pub. Harper and Row, 1972). Dr. Kildahl also documents cases where actual human language, spoken in an audience where the language was not understood except by the speaker, received a so-called miraculous interpretation and it was not at all what the speaker said. Modern glossolalia is pseudo-miraculous!

Paul repeats, in 1 Corinthians 14:12, the overriding, central principle of these three Chapter s (I Corinthians 12-13-14) again. That principle is, strive to excel (Gr. perisseuete, abound, fully) in building up the church. So the teaching thus far is that teaching by revelation (prophecy) builds up the church, while miraculous speaking in foreign tongues which are not translated or interpreted does not build up the church.