The Strand Study Bible

Written From Ephesus During Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

I CORINTHIANS 14:6 - 22

1903

6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with 1 tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by proph- esying, or by 2 doctrine? 7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? 8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. 11 Therefore if I know not the 3 mean- ing of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. 12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zeal- ous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 13 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an 1 unknown tongue pray 4 that he may interpret.

14 For if I pray in an 1 unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but 5 my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understand- ing also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? 17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. 18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: 19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an 1 unknown tongue. 20 Brethren, 6 be not children in under- standing: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 21 In the law it is written, 7 With men of 1 other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

1. or, “foreign languages” 2. I Tim 4:13 3. or, “the meaning of the foreign language” 4. or, “that he may get someone to interpret” 5. that is, “my understanding of what I am saying is unfruitful to those who cannot understand my foreign language” 6. that is, “be not immature when it comes to spiritual matters (under- standing)” - Rom 16:19 7. Quoted from the OT - Isa 28:11-12

22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that be- 14:6 What good ( except I shall speak ) is teaching revelation, knowledge, preaching, or doctrine in a foreign language if the hearers cannot “understand” what is being taught? This is why interpreters were required at church meetings. 14:10 Paul here is speaking of “foreign languages” ( voices of the world ). 14:15 No Christian should pray or sing in a foreign language “without an interpreter” ( with the understanding also ). 14:16 It is utter folly to speak in any language that people “cannot understand” ( understandeth not ). 14:18 Paul was a missionary. He had to be able to speak many different “foreign languages” ( tongues ). 14:19 According to Paul, preaching to people in their own language using five words (Ye must be born again) is 2,000 times greater than speaking 10,000 words in a language ( unknown tongue ) no one can understand. 14:21 a Paul here quotes the only reference concerning tongues in the entire Old Testament ( in the law it is written ). According to Isaiah 28:11-12, the “ other tongues and other lips ” spoken of by Isaiah was in reference to an Assyrian invasion of Israel. Which means: When God’s people in Israel heard the Assyrian language spoken in their streets, it was a sign that judgment (with outsiders now on the inside of their country) had come upon them. Therefore, the sign gift “tongues” was used by God to warn unbelieving Jews of a coming judgment (vs 22). That judgment, of course, came when Rome destroyed Jerusalem thirteen years later in AD 70. According to verse 22, the sign gift “tongues” had nothing to do with believers. 14:21 b This word ( other tongues ) is the combination of two Greek words: HτHUο ( etero - other) and JOZσσοL9 ( glossois - language). We get our English word “glossary” from glossois . During the days of the King James translators (1611) the word “ tongue ” was synonymous with “ language ,” thus the translators simply translated the word JOZσσοL9 ( glossois ) into “ tongue .” The “ tongues ” that were spoken on the day of Pentecost were not unintelligible. The disciples (in fulfillment of Mark 16:15-20) were given the ability to speak in the native languages of the unsaved Jews that were assembled in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in order to reach them with the Gospel ( Acts 2:4,6,7,8 ). NOTE - Paul here instructs the Corinthian believers that “ tongues ” were not to be exercised in church meetings. “ Tongues ” was a method for evangelizing lost Jews (Mk 16:15-20), not a means for feeling “spiritual” or “superior” to other believers. 14:22 In the same manner that God used the foreign Assyrian invaders (as a sign ) to judge His people back in Isaiah’s day for rejecting His Word, so God would use the Romans to judge His people in the near future for rejecting Christ (the Word – Jn 1:1,14 and Lk 19:41-44 & 21:5-6). The sign gift “tongues” had a two-fold use on the day of Pentecost: 1. Tongues was used by God to gain the attention of unbelieving Jews in order to witness to them (Mk 16:15-20 and Acts 2:1-6). 2. Tongues was used by God to warn the nation of Israel that future judgment was coming (Isa 28:11-12) True to prediction, eighteen years later (in AD 70) the Jews in Jerusalem heard the foreign language of Roman soldiers in their streets. The Romans then slaughtered over one million Jews throughout Judea and dispersed the nation of Israel throughout the world for the next 2,000 years (from AD 70-1948). As predicted, judgment had come.