Speaking with Tongues in Corporate Worship (1 Corinthians 14:1–9)

The subject of speaking in tongues is often a contentious and confusing one. It need not be. There is enough clarity in Scripture for the Christian to appreciate that this spiritual gift was used by God in the church for a particular purpose, which came to pass in the first century. It has since “ceased” (13:8). Of course, the debates have not.

Many books have been written defending both sides of the debate. Conferences have been held, and there has even been a feature-length documentary arguing against continuationism and promoting cessationism. Much of the debate has been Spirit-filled and hence irenic. Some of it, not so much. As we embark on our study of 1 Corinthians 14, I aim to be biblical, which means I am to be clear and compelling and gracious as I seek to prove the theses that the church should not be speaking in tongues but rather should be speaking with tongues (there is a difference!) about the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel as we regularly gather in corporate worship.

Let me state the positive message of these forty verses. Every gift the Spirit empowers in a church member is for the common good of the church to the glory of God and for the display of the gospel. As Rosner and Ciampa put this, “Paul’s message in this chapter is that the public worship of God is at its heart a communal experience in which one honours God by keeping a clear focus on him and on others with whom one is engaged in worship.”

We will study these nineteen verses under three broad headings:

1. Corporate Worship is Imperative (v. 1)
2. Corporate Worship is Intentional (vv. 2–5)
3. Corporate Worship is Intelligible (vv. 6–19)

Paul commands, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (v. 1).

From (at least) chapter 10, Paul has been concerned about the condition of the corporate worship in the church at Corinth. He had on his mind the church gathered. Rather than focusing on what the individual should and could get out of the gathering, they were to be concerned about what their fellow church members should and can get out of their gathering together. Rather than approaching church life with the attitude of “Jesus and me,” each member was to approach church life with the mindset and heartset of “Jesus and thee.”

A major matter related to this was their apparent obsession with speaking in tongues, a legitimate gift from the Spirit, but one that was being unhelpfully pursued and perhaps, as I suspect, counterfeited. That is, because this gift was so unusual, it perhaps became a badge of spirituality and therefore church members were feigning its practice. This, of course, was marring their corporate worship and so Paul writes to provide inspired correction for their reformation. He begins this long chapter with three imperatives, with several more to follow.

It is imperative that Christians realise that corporate worship is imperative and that it is regulated with imperatives! Corporate worship is not a free-for-all but rather is to be regulated by God’s word. We need to take seriously God’s imperatives. But before delving into this we must pay heed to the three imperatives with which Paul opens this chapter: “pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts [pneumatikos, literally, ‘spirituals’ or ‘spirituality’], especially that you may prophesy.” These three imperatives reveal what is expected when the local church gathers for corporate worship.

First, it is imperative that corporate worship be conducted in an atmosphere of love—the kind of love revealed in chapter 13. Some say that here Paul returns to the subject of spiritual gifts, but I don’t think he ever left it. He will not divorce the gifts of God from the grace of God and the greatest grace of God is love (13:8–13).

When we gather, though we will be reminded God’s wrath against sin, the gospel will remind us of God’s love displayed in how he propitiated his wrath from sinners like you and me. When we gather, we should expect to experience fresh revelations of God’s love (Ephesians 1:14ff; 3:14ff) as we worship and fellowship. And it is imperative that each of us obeys the imperative to press forward, seeking to know and to show this love of God.

Second, it is imperative that corporate worship be spiritual. That is, each church member must serve the body by the enablement and empowerment of God’s Spirit. The only spectators are those who, because they are not Christians, cannot serve by the Spirit. Otherwise, each member is to be zealous to serve the Saviour by serving his body with whatever gift and opportunity the Spirit provides.

Third, it is imperative that corporate worship be clearly word-driven. That is, the clear, understandable proclamation of God’s truth is imperative. This is why prophecy was to be prioritised. The tongues of church members are essential for biblical corporate worship.

Biblical corporate worship requires the clear communication of biblical truth. In this sense, we are to be helpfully speaking with tongues when we meet. And, of course, this was the rub with the church at Corinth.

In summary, if we pay heed to these three imperatives—love, serving, and constructive proclamation—we are on a good wicket for corporate worship.

Corporate Worship Must Be Informed

As I have said, Paul is instructing the local church in Corinth about corporate worship. The church required apostolic instruction. It required apostolic and hence inspired information.

When it comes to corporate worship, it is not every congregation for itself any more than it is every member for him- or herself. Rather, God has revealed a standard that applies to every local church and to every member of that church, regardless of where that congregation is or when it is in space time history (“as in all the churches” [v. 33]).

God expects his people to worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Does that mean in the Holy Spirit or does it mean enthusiastically with the human spirit? There are good arguments for both. Regardless, such worship is to be characterised by God’s standard of being done “decently and in order” (v. 40). This was clearly not the case in Corinth and hence Paul writes to inform them with apostolic instruction. This apostolic information and instruction remains relevant for Brackenhurst Baptist Church. We are accountable to conform to it.

Theologians often speak of what is called the regulative principle of corporate worship. Derek Thomas helpfully explains,

John Calvin more succinctly writes, “God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by his word.”

From the get-go, God has been specific in his instructions concerning acceptable worship. I have recently been reading through the book of Exodus, which can be a somewhat tedious read from chapter 25 onward. But what has struck me was how specific and how particular and how detailed God was with his instructions regarding the construction of the tabernacle, the garments of the high priests, and the specifications for each element with reference to worship. You don’t too far into Israel’s history, though, until you see two priests ignoring God’s instructions by bringing a fire offering not prescribed by God. God killed them for it (Leviticus 10:1ff). The fire was unauthorised by God (some translations call it “strange fire”) and hence illegitimate and rejected.

A few centuries later, the people of God borrowed a bright idea from the world concerning how to transport the ark of God—contrary to God’s instructions—and the result was the death of Uzzah, who touched what God had instructed must not be touched (2 Samuel 6). A couple of centuries later, King Uzziah entered the temple—unauthorised—to offer incense—again, unauthorised—and God struck him with leprosy. In all of these examples, God’s people sought to worship God after the imagination of their own hearts, and God was not pleased to accept it.

The point is that God has not changed. He still regulates worship by what he has revealed in his word and we must conform. We must comply. Clearly, the Corinthians were not, and the result was that, despite their giftedness, they were, as a church, far from healthy.

Let us be sure our worship is informed by Scripture. Let us pay attention to God’s instructions and corporately worship him only in the way which he has prescribed. To do otherwise is neither decent nor in order.

There is a sameness in churches that order worship in accordance with God’s word, even when there are big differences within the membership. There is a security in churches that order worship in accordance with God’s word. There is a saneness in churches that order worship in accordance with God’s word.  There is a substance in church that order worship in accordance with God’s word. (They tend to last—and so do their pastors.) The Corinthians quite literally needed to stop speaking and start listening so that, when they did speak in corporate worship, it would prove beneficial to all, to the glory of God. I suspect the same applies to us. Let us listen carefully to God’s word and reform our worship accordingly.

Paul continues,

This statement can have almost endless implications and applications but, with reference to our passage, we must in corporate worship intentionally seek to bless others in our interactions, including with the use of our gifts. This was apparently not happening in Corinth and so Paul writes to bring about repentance and reformation in this area.

Be Lovingly Intentional

Paul is not done with the theme of love. The theme of love, which he addressed in chapter 13, was not a sentimental whim but was rather intimately connected to the whole matter of spiritual gifts. After all, it is the Spirit of God who equips and empowers the gifts and, since God is love, his gifts are motivated by love. This is what Paul is saying in vv. 2–3: “For 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. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” He is instructing the Corinthians that, because of love, they are to be eager about the gifts of the Spirit, including being eager to use them in a way that builds one another up.

Paul contrasts two of the speaking gifts (there are others, including teaching, utterances of knowledge, and wisdom): namely speaking in tongues and prophecy. Both of these gifts involved receiving revelation—previously unrevealed truth—and communicating that revelation to others. These were super- and supranatural abilities. But from what Paul says here, and throughout the chapter, one had more potential for the good of the corporate church than the other. Prophecy, he says, was more important for the building up of the church than tongues. Both were legitimate gifts but love would prioritise the former over the latter because love was concerned about the greater corporate good.

Prophecy is not simply preaching. Rather, it was a divine enablement to receive truth directly from God and then to proclaim it. Sometimes, it foretold something (e.g. Agabus in Acts 11:27–28; 21:10–11). At other times, it functioned as forthtelling, as in, “This is the word of the Lord.” Those exercising this gift revealed God’s truth to his people. It was inspired and inerrant revelation because it came from God.

Without being sidetracked by polemics, it must be said the so-called prophecy in our day is usually portrayed as predictive and is both irresponsible and dangerous. In other words, it is not an exercise of love. Too often, prophetic “predictions” are manipulative, play on people’s sensitive consciences, and are deceptive and distracting.

It must also be noted that many who rightly dismiss this gift as still continuing are in error when they claim that this gift remains but in a subdued way. That is, they repackage the gift as being what we know as preaching. I used to hold this view, but no longer. We should not try to redefine the gift. Since the New Testament is complete, the gift of prophecy is no more. It has passed away. Therefore, it is neither coming back nor does it continue in a “ghostlike” way as preaching.

There are other words in the New Testament that speak of preaching (kerusso, euangelio), and the word for teaching (didasko) can often be used interchangeably. If the guts are gone, we should also discard the skin. To do otherwise is to open the door for confusion.

We also need to clearly understand that to “speak in a tongue” was to speak in a foreign language, which the speaker did not otherwise know. It was a supernatural act of God and, as we will see in our next study, was primarily for the purpose of evangelising (and condemning) Christ-rejecting and hence unbelieving Jews. It was not a gift of hearing but clearly a gift of speaking.

It must also be pointed out that speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians was the same as speaking in tongues in the three places where it is mentioned in the book of Acts (chapters 2, 10, 19). I will unpack this over the next couple of studies, but it is helpful to understand that, once we accurately define tongues as a foreign language, probably 99.9% of claims of tongue-speaking become redundant. To quote Paul, such claims rightly pass away.

When Paul says that a tongues speaker “speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit,” he is simply saying that someone who speaks in a foreign language that no one else understands may very well be saying marvellous things, but only he and God knows what he is saying.

I recall sitting in a church service in a country in East Asia, where the pastor preached in the local dialect, without a translator. The congregation spoke and understood the language; I did not. I’m sure the sermon was wonderful and helpful, but I was clueless and therefore unedified. This is precisely Paul’s point.

If we love our brothers and sisters, we will seek their edification or, as Paul puts it, “their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”

The word “upbuilding” and its cognates occurs numerous times in this chapter (vv. 4, ,5, 12, 17; see “benefit” [v. 6]). It refers to an architectural structure, which is built up. Paul is concerned about the building up of the church and is indicating that speaking words that are clearly understood and explained (“prophesying”) will do more than a bunch of speech, which is not understood (speaking in tongues). Love seeks to be understood in order to serve and to assist. As Thiselton comments, “‘Build’ here is used ironically to denote a self-indulgent religiosity that brings individual satisfaction but helps no one else.”

The words “encouragement” and “consolation” are related and mean what they appear to mean. BDAG observes that “encouragement” has to do with “the act of emboldening another in belief or course of action” while “comfort” has to do with “that which serves as encouragement to one who is depressed or in grief.” Though nonverbal communication can, to some degree, fulfil these functions, there is no replacement for clear communication of God-packed, biblical truth. This is what the gift of prophecy did. And it is what clear proclamation of that revealed truth does in our day.

The clearly-revealed truth of God brings strength and comfort to the church, which should be our goal as we gather. If I can expand on this, each of us should consider how our words and our speech can build up and strengthen and provide real because godly comfort when we gather. And not only our words, but every gift we exercise should be done with love for the church and hence with the earnest desire to strengthen our corporate worship.

Be Selflessly Intentional

We should be both lovingly and selflessly intentional. Paul writes, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up” (vv. 4–5.)

This thought is, of course, closely related to what has just preceded it. Since speaking in tongues without an interpreter only benefits the speaker, Paul is making the point, “Why would you seek a gift that only serves yourself? Doesn’t love mean that your passion will be to build up others rather than yourself?” Let me apply this.

Many desire to be in vocational pastoral ministry for less than godly motivations. The allure of having time for quiet study, reflection, and personal growth can eclipse the nature of the biblical calling, which is to care for the flock of God. In other words, sometimes people want to enter vocational or fulltime gospel ministry as a means to build themselves up rather than building up the church of God. Beware. The words of Tom Schreiner are helpful as a summary of what Paul is saying: “The purpose of speaking is to instruct others, not to display one’s spiritual gift…. The church will flourish and prosper when gifts are sought for the sake of others.”

As we leave this section, let it be embossed on our hearts that corporate worship is not about us as individuals but rather about loving the body enough to seek its welfare.

Finally, we see that corporate worship is intelligible:

In this section Paul develops what he hinted at above: Intentional corporate worship requires intelligible corporate worship. That is, corporate worship is a matter of the head as well as of the heart. In fact, without the head, the heart is pretty much irrelevant. Consider Schreiner’s words: “Edification comes with instruction and via the mind. When the church is gathered, then, attention must be given not just to form, but especially to content…. Thus the church must strive to hear the truth when assembled.”

Intelligible Communication

The key word is “intelligible” (v. 9), which means “well-marked, clear and definite, distinct.” It indicates something that is easy to be understood. This is important for corporate worship, as it is in many other spheres, such as instruments in a symphony (v. 7), trumpets in an army (v. 8), and discourse in the community (vv. 9–11).

If the wrong note is struck, then the musical piece is disrupted and can be a mere cacophony of noise. Likewise, if the ancient call to arms via the bugle is not accurate and clear, the army may hear “retreat” rather than “charge” and everybody will suffer. So in corporate worship and an indiscriminate speaking in tongues (v. 9). If there is no standard language by which meaningful communication can occur, then confusion, and even a sense of alienation—the sense of being a “barbarian” and hence unwelcomed—will result (vv. 10–11). Therefore, since the church is eager for the fullness of Spirit-driven corporate worship, each should seek to use their tongues to speak truth clearly, thus building up—edifying—the church.

The purpose of an orchestra is not merely to make noise or to showcase the individual skills of its members. The purpose of an army is not for each soldier to showcase his own military prowess but rather for the regiment to work together for a common victory. Therefore, clear communication is required. The purpose of a community is to live together with understanding for the common good and therefore intelligibility of what is being communication is essential. So it is with the church.

The message when we gather must be easy to understand. It must, as Paul says, be intelligible and clear. And when the church is all abuzz with speaking in tongues, the word “intelligible” would not be an accurate description.

When we gather we should expect that what we do will be clear, simple, uncomplicated, and properly and easily understood. And as we gather we should strive for this—in our songs, in our prayers, in our preaching. If the church wants to experience the presence and communion of the Holy Spirit, it must communicate clearly in the corporate quest of building up the local church.

Fruitful Communication

If Paul’s concern in vv. 6–12 was clarity in the communication of truth, in vv. 13–19 he builds on that expressing his concern that, in corporate worship, there be constructive communication.

The benefit to others is the Spirit’s goal for the use of his gifts. It is not merely about the individual but rather it is about the welfare of the whole. Helping others, including “outsiders” (v. 16), will drive us to clearly and to constructively speak with our tongues in in corporate worship.

“If you are so keen to speak in a tongue,” Paul seems to say, “then be as keen to interpret what you are saying to those listening. Think of others.” It is possible that Paul is combating a counterfeit speaking in “a tongue,” like we see today. On the other hand, the word “unfruitful” may indicate that, though the individual is aware of what they are publicly praying, if they do not exegete or expound this to others there is no fruit that benefits another, especially an outsider, who is not a church member and yet is enquiring and interested in the gospel.

Paul’s concern is that the church be built up (v. 17). But unless the tongue is used to instruct others from what God has revealed, the only one edified (potentially) is the speaker.

Paul illustrates the priority of prophetic instruction over individual experience when he says that, though he speaks in tongues, he would rather with a ratio of 2,000:1, clearly (and less spectacularly) instruct than to speak with countless words in a tongue. The point is simply that the whole trumps the individual.

Let this passage be a warning: It is a testimony to our sinful depravity (the root is poisoned) that we can distort God’s gifts from their purpose of glorifying him through the building up of the church into making them all about ourselves. Beware of individualism. Beware of lovelessly gathering. Beware of attempting to rob God of his glory.

Let this passage be an encouragement: You and I can meaningfully build up the body with our tongues. We can do so through singing, through praying, through teaching, through godly conversations, through something as mundane as lovingly greeting one another, encouraging one another. The tongue has great power for destruction, but also great power for construction (James 3).

Let this passage point you to Jesus Christ: It is sad that often discussions concerning tongues, prophecy, and other gifts of the Spirit that Jesus Christ is often displaced.

The word “church” or “churches” occurs nine times in this chapter. Jesus Christ is at the centre of the church for he is the head of the church. The church exists because of Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ. The church proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ so that Christians will grow in faith, hope, and love. The church proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ so that outsiders will be born again and become insiders. Therefore, whatever our gift from the Spirit, remember that he wants us to use our tongues to speak of Jesus Christ who died for sinners, who rose from the dead, who intercedes at the right hand of the Father, and who will one day return in glory glorifying each one who trusts him alone for forgiveness of sin and who alone reconciles us to God. This is what we should be speaking with our tongues in corporate worship. And when we do, the church will be built up.

AMEN