1 Corinthians 14:2-3

“For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 3. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, exhortation, and comfort.”

Paul here describes the mode in which the two gifts act. The glossolalete addresses God, and that in a language which no man understands, so that what he says remains a mystery to all who hear him; speaking in a tongue is a sort of spiritual soliloquy. It is impossible here to apply the meaning given by Meyer, Holsten, etc., to the word tongue, which according to them denotes the material organ of speech. What could the apostle mean by saying that he who speaks by moving the tongue speaks to God? The word denotes the ecstatic language which flourished at Corinth. The singular applies to each particular case; the plural (γλώσσαις λαλεῖν) to the gift in general. When a man speaks in ordinary language, his thought is addressed to those around him; but when he speaks in this particular tongue, his thought is turned to God only. And the proof is, that nobody understands this kind of manifestation. Wieseler has taken the word ἀκούειν, hear, in the physical sense, and concluded from the term that the glossolaletes spoke only in a low voice. But, 1 Corinthians 13:1, Paul compares them to sounding brass and the clanging cymbal, and in 1 Corinthians 14:8 to the startling sound of the trumpet giving the signal for battle. ᾿Ακούειν, hear, has therefore in this place, as so frequently, the meaning of understand; comp. Genesis 11:7 (LXX.): “That they should not hear each the voice of his neighbour” (Matthew 13:13, etc.).

This passage is equally incompatible with the idea of really existing foreign tongues; for there might easily have been found at Corinth some one who understood the foreign tongue used by a glossolalete.

The δέ, at the end of 1 Corinthians 14:2, is adversative: “ But, far from being understood, he speaks mysteries.” The term mystery is here used in a derivative sense. It usually denotes the Divine plans which remain a secret to men, so long as God does not reveal them; it refers to the secrets of a man in relation to other men. What the speaker in a tongue says remains between God and him, and is a mystery to the hearers.

It is possible to explain the dative πνεύματι in the sense by the spirit, which would then be the Divine Spirit as guiding the man's spirit, or it may be translated: in spirit; then it is the spirit of the glossolalete himself, who is carried away in an ecstasy, and in a manner raised for the time above the exercise of the understanding; comp. Revelation 1:1. This second meaning is the more natural, seeing there is no article nor preposition before the substantive. It is evident that the state of the glossolalete was that of an ineffable conversation with God. Our passage has been justly compared with Romans 8:26-27, where the apostle speaks of the unutterable groanings whereby the Holy Spirit intercedes in the believer's heart; only we may not conclude from this comparison, with Holsten, that glossolalia consisted only of confused groanings. Our whole chapter shows that there was language properly so called.

Vv. 3. It is otherwise with the man who prophesies; he addresses men to communicate to them from God some new grace, light, force. There is not only in him an involuntary expression of a personal state of mind, there is conscious will to act on the hearers by the communication of an immediately revealed Divine thought (1 Corinthians 14:30).

The apostle says, not: the prophet, but: “he that prophesieth,” because he conceives him in full activity in the midst of the assembly. In indicating the contents of his speaking: edification, exhortation, comfort, the apostle identifies the declaration itself with its effect.

There is no reason for subordinating the two last terms, as Meyer does, to the first, or to make the first, as de Wette does, the effect of the two following. They are all three co-ordinate. Edification denotes a new development and a confirmation of faith, by some new view fitted to strengthen the soul. The second term denotes an encouragement addressed to the will, an energetic impulse capable of effecting an awakening or advancement in Christian fidelity. If the first term relates mainly to faith, the second refers rather to love. The third, comfort, points rather to hope; παραμυθεῖν, to soothe the ear with a sweet myth, putting pain to sleep or reviving hope.

In our times the conclusion has often been drawn from this verse, that since to prophesy is to edify, exhort, comfort, whoever edifies, exhorts, comforts, merits, according to Paul, the title prophet. This reasoning is as just as it would be to say: He who runs, moves his legs; therefore whoever moves his legs, runs; or, to take a more nearly related example: He who speaks in a tongue, speaks to God; therefore whoever speaks to God, is a glossolalete. No, certainly; one may edify, comfort, encourage, without deserving the title of prophet or prophetess. The absurd reasoning which I have pointed out has been dictated by the desire of being able to proclaim certain women prophetesses who think themselves called to speak in public, in order to give them the benefit of the implicit authorization contained in 1 Corinthians 11:5. From this contrast in the intrinsic nature of the two gifts, the apostle passes to the difference of results obtained by them.