1 Cor. 14:22-24 Question

[JSynon]

Greetings!

1 Corinthians 14:22-24 seems a bit backward to me. "Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all." First Paul says that tongues are for a sign to unbelievers. Then he says that tongues will turn away unbelievers. He goes on to say that prophecy is for those who believe, but he gives an example of an unbeliever benefitting from it. Am I just interpreting this wrong or what?

 

[ahab]

Hi JSynon,

I think you make the point clearly that it isn't straightforward and does seem somewhat a contradiction. I think there will be different interpretations and revelations from this as we see reflected in our different churches.
My take on this is that tongues, as Paul says, is a spiritual language to God and not men, so not even other believers will necessarily understand, hence the gift of interpreting tongues. But IMO Paul is mixing the use of tongues for believers and the use of tongues as a sign for unbelievers, based on some recognition of order in church. Unbelievers may only recognise tongues as a sign when interpreted so churches should be careful. If Paul writes so much about tongues and then concludes dont forbid it, it suggests to me that the Corinthian church were doing so much disorderly use tongues for their own spirtiual benefit at the expense of it as a sign for unbelievers.

 

[Iosias]

Greetings!

1 Corinthians 14:22-24 seems a bit backward to me. "Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all." First Paul says that tongues are for a sign to unbelievers. Then he says that tongues will turn away unbelievers. He goes on to say that prophecy is for those who believe, but he gives an example of an unbeliever benefitting from it. Am I just interpreting this wrong or what?

This shews that TONGUES are for UNBELIEVERS whilst PROPHESY is for BOTH.

 

[By Grace]

I've always been confused by this passage, too. Maybe one day my eyes will be opened!

 

[Gold Dragon]

Let's look at the context of this passage.

Starting in Chapter 11 and 12, Paul begins a section about keeping Christian order in the church, specifically WRT male/female authority, the Lord's Supper and Spiritual gifts. He then elaborates on the importance of love in the use of Spiritual gifts in the famous love chapter 13. And in chapter 14, he talks about the proper use of the gifts of tongues and prophecy.

NASB: 1 Cor 14:1-4
Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.

Paul seems to feel that prophecy is more profitable than tongues because he feels it lifts up the whole church instead of an individual. He does not discourage the gift of tongues, but encourages a cautious use of the gift, which he goes into detail about in verses 6-19.

NASB: 1 Cor 14:20-25

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

In the Law it is written, "BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME," says the Lord.

22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.

23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

Verse 22 seems to suggest, as AV1611 suggested, that Paul feels that tongues are a sign for unbelievers while prophesy is a sign for believers.

Verse 23 and 24 says that if a whole church speaks in tongues, Paul feels that outsiders would consider them mad. But if a whole church prophesizes, Paul feels that ousiders would be convicted, revealed to the truth and turned to the worship of God.

This is all part of Paul's opinion that the gift of prophecy is preferred over the gift of tongues.

He closes off the chapter and this section of the letter with this verse:

1 Cor 14:39-40

Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.

 

[JSynon]

Thanks for the responses, it makes a bit more sense now. My understanding is that tongues are a sign to unbelievers, but they generally do not heed that sign.

This shews that TONGUES are for UNBELIEVERS whilst PROPHESY is for BOTH.

Are not tongues used in charismatic churches today for revelation to believers?

 

[RVincent]

A part of the great commission is to go to other nations. Many of these other nations speak different languages, which is all that "tongues" here means.

In 1 Cor. 14:1-20, Paul is simply saying that if you go to people that speak a different language, you should either speak in their "tongue", take an interpreter with you, or they won't know when to say "Amen, brother" (v. 16). To people who don't speak your language, you would sound like an instrument out of harmony (vv. 7-9).

Simply stated, "learn the language".

But in verses 21-25, he gives a Divine prediction, and starts by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

(Isa 28:11-12) For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. {12} To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.​

In this prophecy, God is warning His people concerning the Assyrian, a type for the antichrist (Isa. 8 and 14).

This makes the passage prophetic, and Paul is now speaking of the time when the locust army will appear on earth (Joel 1 and 2. Rev. 9.). An example of what God would do (Joel 2:28) was given on Pentecost, in which each person heard "them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."(Acts 2:11) There were no interpreters, because none were needed. Everybody understood it.

When the elect are delivered up to the antichrist, the language spoken will be such "which all our adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." (Luke 21:15), i.e., the unbelievers.

At that time, we won't need to "learn the language".

 

[Terral]

Hi JSynon and All:

JSynon >> 1 Corinthians 14:22-24 seems a bit backward to me.

“So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy {is for a sign,} not to unbelievers but to those who believe. Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.” 1Cor. 14:22-25.

JSynon>> First Paul says that tongues are for a sign to unbelievers. Then he says that tongues will turn away unbelievers. He goes on to say that prophecy is for those who believe, but he gives an example of an unbeliever benefiting from it. Am I just interpreting this wrong or what?

Yes, JSynon, you are interpreting it incorrectly. Please allow me to interpret this for you. The Apostle Paul is making a case for these fleshy Corinthians (1Cor. 3:1-3) to stop the idle chatter, and get down to the business of doing God’s work in the Church. Part of the reason this passage is making little since is because of your preconceived notions about Biblical tongues. It is not about vain babbling, as Pentecostal churches practice it today. Please go back to the very beginning at Pentecost and read about how true Biblical tongues really works.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and was bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear in our own language to which we were born?” Acts 2:4-8

The gift of tongues is more about a gift of ‘hearing’ than a gift of speaking. The Spirit of God is the One giving them utterance. If true Biblical tongues is being spoken in your church, then everyone hears it in their own language. So German people hear German, and Spanish folks hear Spanish, at the very same time. Peter is talking in tongues throughout his Acts 2 dissertation. All of these men from ‘every nation under heaven’ were hearing Peter’s words in their native tongues.

Typically, everyone coming to Jerusalem for the feasts spoke a form of Syrian Aramaic. Since their captivity in 6 and 8 B.C., there were even two sets of copies of the Scriptures in Synagogues; one in Hebrew, and the worn out set was Aramaic. The language of commerce in that day was Greek, so many foreigners would use that as the common language of trade; much like English is used today. The amazing thing to all of these people hearing Peter speak was not ‘what’ he was saying, but among themselves they all heard in their native tongues.

Taking this truth back to Paul’s passage above: These fleshy Corinthians were sitting in their churches rattling off about everything under the sun. The Spirit of God was allowing everyone to hear their gossip in their own native languages. But, who was edified by that? Thus, Paul says,

“For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.” 1Cor. 14:17-19.

It is important to realize that Paul is writing this letter to the Corinthians in about 57 Ad, or about the time of Acts 18 or 19. Therefore, they had no Ephesians, Colossians or Philippians. There were no 1Timothy or 2Timothy Epistles for them to go by; no finished Scriptures. The gift of tongues allowed everyone to communicate with one another. The gift of prophecy filled the gap, until the completion of the ‘perfect’ (1Cor. 13:10) completed Scriptures. The gift of ‘knowledge’ enabled the interpreter to apply those prophetic words to the situation of the hearers. All of those sign gifts would cease (1Cor. 10:8), when the Perfect came. Paul writes,

“What is {the outcome} then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, {it should be} by two or at the most three, and {each} in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.” 1Cor. 14:26-28.

Again, Paul is telling these fleshy childlike Corinthian babes in Christ to cut out the chatter in Church. The Spirit of God was working with the members, and some had psalms, or a teaching, or some had a revelation about something that was beneficial to the church. Nobody was to speak, unless an interpreter was present. In other words, do not speak about common gossip or idle chatter that requires no person of ‘knowledge’ to interpret.

The interpreter did not translate any foreign babbling into the language of the hearer. That person always heard the message in their own language. That concept is most important for you to understand. The interpreter did the same thing for the hearers of the tongue that I am doing for you right now; interpreting the words of Paul from the perspective of ‘knowledge.’ You are reading Paul’s words in common English, right? But, you asked this question because you require an ‘interpreter.’ Again, that was the person with the ‘gift of knowledge.’ I hope this helps,

In Christ,

Terral

 

[ahab]

Hi All,

There is a current thread about this which considers more scripture about tongues and a fuller debate http://www.christianforums.com/t802766

There is a difference of opinion over this topic among Christians from those who say its vain babbling to those who testify they have recieved the gift of uttering mysteries by the Holy Spirit as Paul descibes.

 

[Iosias]

Are not tongues used in charismatic churches today for revelation to believers?

The 'tongues' found in modern Charismatic churches today have no foundation in God. (FYI: I am a cessationist )

 

[ahab]

Hi AV1611,

In your opinion that is. We are however divided here on the interpretation of scriptures concerning this, and also in our testimonies.

 

[StevenL]

My "tongues" have a foundation in the letters of Luke, Mark and Paul ( where I found out about them ) and in the Holy Spirit who gave them to me. A great blessing. I just smile at those who tell me that they "know" that God didn't give them to me. It's really rather amusing.

 

[quadding]

if an unbeliever comes into the church and all, even that person speaks the same language and this person sees and hears peolpe speak in a language that no one can understand that person will think the church is nuts, but if that person speaks another language and someone speaks to that person in his language , and tells him something that is true like prophesy and especially when that person finds out that no one can speak his language then will that person not say God is with the church. tongues is mainly for speaking to others in their language like on pentecost day, yes God does use tongues for a sign but do not look to tongues for evidence of having God's Spirit in ur heart if u do satan will use it to decieve u if he can, the bible says we will be known by our fruits, what r fruits, they r ( what do u say, how do u act, what do u do, how do u conduct business etc.) the bible says that God looks at the heart to see why we say what we say, do what we do, and think what we think, do u say and do and think because of lust, greed, envy, jealousy etc., or do u say and do and think because of love, long suffering, compassion etc. what is in ur heart, if God's Spirit is in ur heart emotions like greed, envy etc. r not there but if the inborn nature is in ur heart such emotions will be there.

 

[visionary]

Heard a story once where this person who knew another language was in a church when the preacher started to speak in tongues, no one in the church understood except for the visitor, for it was in his native tongue. It was the foulest, vile, rantings against our savior he had ever heard.

I think the moral of the story should be, that an interpreter who understands the language spoken should be available to translate for the edification of the congregation.