Another commentator writes:
1 Corinthians 14:2
A few more commentaries on 1 Cor 14:2...
B. Ward Powers - First Corinthians: An Exegetical and Explanatory Commentary (2009)
14:2-4...The account of Pentecost in Acts clearly describes what the apostles spoke, Paul here presupposes that everyone knows what he is talking about, therefore the description in Acts should govern the exegesis of 1 Corinthians, and the latter should not alter the former. ...
The present verse is a reason for the preceding verse. The Corinthians are commanded to prefer prophecy to languages because the latter are of little or no use in the church. Such had not always been the case. At Pentecost, the Apostles spoke in foreign tongues and the crowds understood. However, in Corinth, everybody spoke Greek and Mesopotamia. Thus, in Corinth, the languages were intelligible only to God, and no one in the congregation heard, in other words, understood.
Gordon H. Clark - First Corinthians (1975)
2 "For he who speaks a language does not talk to men, but to God, and no one hears, but he speaks secrets by the Spirit."
It is perhaps appropriate here to refer back to 12:10, 29-31, and 13:1, where tongues were mentioned. These tongues were not described in the earlier chapter. The commentary on the latter verse showed that the tongues were actual human languages like Latin, Aramaic, or Persian. The text identified them as the languages of men. The word glossa can mean a tongue of land or a leathern thong, or the organ in one's mouth; but it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find an instance in Greek where it means gibberish. It often refers to talkativeness and useless garrulity; but even so the words are those of natural languages. The account of Pentecost in Acts clearly describes what the apostles spoke; Paul here presupposes that everyone knows what he is talking about; therefore the description in Acts should govern the exegesis of I Corinthians, and the latter should not alter the former. ...
The present verse is a reason for the preceding verse. The Corinthians are commanded to prefer prophecy to languages because the latter are of little or no use in the church. Such had not always been the case. At Pentecost, the Apostles spoke in foreign tongues and the crowds understood. However, in Corinth, everybody spoke Greek and no one understood the languages of the Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia. Thus, in Corinth, the languages were intelligible only to God, and no one in the congregation heard, in other words, understood. Why the Spirit continued to give the gift of tongues when the situation at Pentecost no longer obtained can hardly be answered. Paul, himself, seems puzzled, and, while admitting the fact, uses the chapter to warn against excesses.
David Lowery - Bible Knowledge Commentary: 1 Corinthians (1983)
14:2. What Paul meant by speaking in a tongue is a matter of considerable debate. One common view is to see Paul’s use of the word “tongue” (glossa) against the background of first-century pagan religions and thus define it as ecstatic speech similar to that expressed by the sibylla, or female prophetesses. The Cumaen sibyl (cf. Virgil Aeneid 6. 77-102) was the most famous of the 10 female prophetesses claimed by various regions. Others see the tongues-speaking in 1 Corinthians as ecstatic speech similar to that of Pythia, the female oracle at Delphi (Plutarch Moralia 5. 409e) or similar to the maenads of Dionysus in their ecstatic frenzy (Ovid Metamorphoses 3. 534, 710-30; cf. Euripides Bacchae). That the Corinthians may have thought of this gift as analogous to the pagan ecstatics is certainly possible, but to suggest that Paul used the term with reference to this pagan background is hardly enlightened scholarship. In fact the seedbed for most of Paul’s theological concepts and the usual source of his terms was the Old Testament. This is evident by Paul’s use of glossa outside of these three Corinthian chapters. He used the word 21 times in 1 Corinthians 12-14 but only 3 other times in his other letters. Each of Paul’s other uses was either in a quotation from the Old Testament (Ps. 5:9 in Rom. 3:13; Isa. 45:23 in Rom. 14:11) or in an allusion to it (Isa. 45:23 in Phil. 2:11). In all three instances he used the word “tongue” as a figure of speech for the statement or confession made. Whether good (Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:11) or bad (Rom. 3:13) the statement was clearly intelligible.
The same may be said of the meaning of the word glossa elsewhere in the New Testament. Whether it was used literally of the physical organ (e.g., Mark 7:33; James 3:5; Rev. 16:10) or figuratively of human languages (e.g., Acts 2:11; Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15), it nowhere referred to ecstatic speech. If it is reasonable to interpret the unknown with the help of the known, the obscure by the clear, then the burden of proof rests with those who find in this term a meaning other than human language.
The context of this verse is the assembled congregation in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:2-14:40, esp. 14:4-5) in which utterance in a tongue was given without the benefit of interpretation (cf. vv. 13, 19). Apparently no native speaker of the tongue was present in the assembly (cf. vv. 10-11), and no one was given supernatural enablement to interpret it. The utterances therefore were mysteries, truths requiring a supernatural disclosure which God had not provided the Corinthians in this particular instance. As a result, the expression of tongues became an exercise in futility for the assembly as a whole, with only the speaker deriving some benefit (v. 4) in his spirit (cf. v. 14), the sentient aspect of his being (pneuma; cf. Matt. 5:3; Acts 17:16; 2 Cor. 2:13).
Paul T Butler - First Corinthians (1985)
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 Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 9:ll; 1O:ll; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 16:16; 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, I Cor. 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 else-not 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 speaker-and 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.
Don Fanning - Spiritual Gifts
These verses are used to imply that tongues speakers had a special intimate communication with God. It is essential, as always, to understand a verse in the light of its context and not independent of its context.
1. In 14:1-3 Paul is exhorting the Corinthian church to prefer prophecy over tongues in order to speak to men, instead of tongues, which could only be spoken to God, since neither the speaker, nor the hearer could understand. For this reason it is useless as a gift for edification. In the assembly, speaking to the congregation is preferable to speaking to God. The prayers and praise to God are important in the church, but only when they are understood (1 Cor 14:15-16; Eph. 6:18; Phil 4:4-6; Col 4:2; 1 Thes 5:17; 1 Tim 2:1, 8).
a) The introductory "for" in 14:2, indicates a reason for the exhortation in v. 1: to make sure that "love" motive is supreme (where others are benefited) and the priority is given to prophecy or the revelation of the Word of God. However you interpret v.2 it must be in the light of v.1. The reason the gift of tongues (without interpretation) is of little value is because it doesn't speak to men, since no one can understand unless he knows the language. This is the same idea as to "speak in the air" (v.9). The meaning is that God is the only one that could possibly understand him... if it were a real language, or really saying something.
b) The phrase "but to God" (v.2) is not an absolute statement, in the sense that it describes how to speak to God or how the gift should function. The following phrase is linked by the same introductory word, gar, or "for", "Indeed no one understands him." Paul is saying that the only one who could possibly understand a foreign tongue unknown to anyone present would be God. This is not a reference to a special prayer at all or an unintelligible tongue. If someone could understand the tongue speaker, then he would be speaking to men and not to God. When the tongue was used as in the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:6-8) those present understood what was spoken, thus the speakers spoke both to man and God, since both understood. Tongues are for a sign to men (1 Cor 14:22), thus the purpose of the sign is to be understood. Since genuine tongues (real languages) are to be understood by men, 14:2 is not an absolute, that is, it is not the absolute purpose of the gift of tongues.
c) Paul was not exalting tongues as a medium of communication with God, rather was demonstrating its limitations, especially in comparison with the gift of prophecy. Paul was not saying that tongues are for prayer and praise, but that prophecy is preferred because it is easily understood in one's own language. Tongues could be beneficial only if used correctly, that is someone understood what was spoken (either miraculously through the gift of interpretation or a foreigner understood in his language as at Pentecost). Paul sought to limit the use of tongues in the congregation. It seems apparent that the idea of speaking "only to God" was a negative concept, according to Paul. In fact, Paul made it clear that if an interpreter was not present then tongues should not even be spoken (14:28).
H A Ironside - Addresses on the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Paul went on to contrast the gift of prophecy with one of the “show gifts,” the gift of tongues. Suppose that I as a native of an English-speaking land had the ability to learn and speak one of the many dialects of the Chinese language; and suppose that, endeavoring to exercise the wonderful gift the Spirit of God had given me, I poured out my heart in public in Chinese. At once my English-speaking congregation would say, “We cannot understand a word that he is saying.” I might be quite happy and perfectly self-satisfied to think that I was able to use such a remarkable gift, but others would not understand me unless they were Chinese. So you see the gift of speaking in tongues is not for one’s home assembly of Christians; it is for the mission field. Let the gift of speaking Chinese, for example, be exercised where that tongue is spoken. Do not get up in a church service and take the time of God’s people by speaking in a language that they cannot understand.
Matthew Henry - Commentary on the Whole Bible
In this chapter the apostle directs them about the use of their spiritual gifts, preferring those that are best and fitted to do the greatest good. I. He begins with advising them of all spiritual gifts to prefer prophesying, and shows that this is much better than speaking with tongues (v. 1-5). II. He goes on to show them how unprofitable the speaking of foreign languages is, and useless to the church; it is like piping in one tone, like sounding a trumpet without any certain note, like talking gibberish; whereas gifts should be used for the good of the church (v. 6-14).
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It seems, this was the gift on which the Corinthians principally valued themselves. This was more ostentatious than the plain interpretation of scripture, more fit to gratify pride, but less fit to pursue the purposes of Christian charity; it would not equally edify nor do good to the souls of men. For, 1. He that spoke with tongues must wholly speak between God and himself; for, whatever mysteries might be communicated in his language, none of his own countrymen could understand them, because they did not understand the language, v. 2. Note, What cannot be understood can never edify. No advantage can be reaped from the most excellent discourses, if delivered in unintelligible language, such as the audience can neither speak nor understand: but he that prophesies speaks to the advantage of his hearers; they may profit by his gift.
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This is the great rule he gives, which, 2. He applies to the matter in hand, that, if they did speak a foreign language, they should beg of God the gift of interpreting it,v. 13. That these were different gifts, see ch. 12:10 . Those might speak and understand a foreign language who could not readily translate it into their own: and yet was this necessary to the church’s edification; for the church must understand, that it might be edified, which yet it could not do till the foreign language was translated into its own.
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Note, It should be the concern of such as pray in public to pray intelligibly, not in a foreign language, nor in a language that, if it be not foreign, is above the level of his audience. Language that is most obvious and easy to be understood is the most proper for public devotion and other religious exercises.
McGarvey & Pendleton - Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians and Romans (1916)
The apostle here lays the groundwork of his argument. Prophecy is superior to the gift of tongues, because more profitable. The speaker with tongues, exercising his spiritual gift (Rev. i: 10), might indeed speak the divine truths or mysteries of God ; but, speaking them in a foreign language, he would be understood only by God and himself, and so would only edify, etc., himself. On the other hand, the prophet, declaring the same or kindred mysteries in the vernacular, would be understood by all present, and thus he would transform the mysteries into revelations, which would benefit the church, either edifying it, so as to enlighten its ignorance ; or rousing its latent energies, so as to dispel its sluggishness ; or comforting it, so as to remove its sorrows. In' short, tongues might excite wonder (Acts 2: 12), but preaching brought forth fruit (Acts 2: 36-42) and the Corinthian church had need to be more fruitful, since it was not eminent for its holiness or its works. Paul does not mean to say that no man living could understand the tongues, or that they were mere jargon. He means that no man present in the usual Corinthian assemblies understood them. Had speaking with tongues been mere hysterical "orgiastic" jargon, it certainly would not have bodied forth the mysteries of God, nor would it have edified the one speaking, nor could it have been interpreted by him or by others as Paul directs. Those who belittle the gift by construing it as a mere jargon approach dangerously near making Paul (and themselves likewise) criticize the Holy Spirit for giving such a senseless, abnormal gift. But those who read Paul correctly find that he is only censuring the abuse of the gift and not the nature of it. It was useful to the church while engaged in missionary work in foreign fields. But it became a source of vanity and vainglorious display when used by a church sitting idly at home. To the missionary it was a splendid addition to the gift of prophecy; but to the Corinthian preachers exhorting in their home church, it was a sad subtraction from that gift. The fruits of the Spirit in the Christian life are far enough from being "orgiastic" —Gal. 5: 22.]
J. Vernon McGee - First Corinthians (1996)
Tongues are not a rapturous, ecstatic, mysterious language. They are not a mixed-up medley of rhapsody. Tongues were foreign languages. On the Day of Pentecost the apostles spoke in foreign languages so that every man there heard the gospel in his own language. Now notice that chapter 14 is an extension of the love chapter. It begins: "Follow after charity [love], and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." 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 [1Cor. 14:2].
Note that the word unknown is in italics in your Bible, and that means it is not in the original Greek. Nowhere in the Bible does it speak of unknown tongues. It should read: "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." Because nobody will understand him, he is not to speak in a language that is unknown to the group -- unless somebody there can interpret.