1 Corinthians 14 - Should Speaking in Tongues Be Allowed in Church?

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Intelligibility in Worship

14 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

Paul distinguishes between two of the extraordinary gifts, speaking in tongues and prophesy. Out of the two, Paul exhorts them to eagerly desire the gift of prophesy. Why? Because prophecy builds up everybody who listens, whereas speaking in tongues only builds up the person speaking in tongues. The only way someone speaking in tongues could edify (or build up) the church is if someone interprets the tongue. 

As you look at the context of Paul's teaching about prophecy, you can see it is different than the Old Testament prophet, who was specifically called to comfort, rebuke and challenge the Israelites in good times and bad. The prophets also predicted the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah), the end of the world (Daniel), and the coming of the Holy Spirit on all people. (Joel) But you can see this is a gift that is given to many people as seems to be the case when he entreats them all to desire this gift. 

6 Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? 7 Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me. 12 So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.

We know Paul had the gift of tongues from chapter 12, but he sees it is useless unless he brings a revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching. These are four different types of spiritual gifts. 

Revelation -  Paul may speak of his own awareness of unique inspiration as an apostle. There may have been times when Paul knew with apostolic authority His words were directly and infallibly from God. 

Knowledge - Paul may speak of his own knowledge, or by supernatural knowledge given by the Holy Spirit. Whichever, the knowledge was communicated in the language common to all, so all could profit.

This could also refer to a "word of knowledge" given to someone for someone else in prayer or some other setting. 

Prophesying - The simplest definition of prophecy is speaking a Word from God under the power of the Holy Spirit which has a specific application for the body of Christ. 

Teaching - As you know most of the New Testament letters were written by Paul. Most all of them were teaching the church how to apply God's Word and doctrine to the issues they were facing in their individual churches. Teaching also had a heavy emphasis on what it meant to be a disciple of Christ and how this is lived out in our daily lives. 

Once again Paul urges them to "excel" in those that build up the church. 

13 For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. 16 Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? 17 You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21 In the Law it is written: “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”

You will hear people talk about someone having a "prayer language", which this passage could be talking about. Paul says, "If I pray in a tongue". Since he has been talking about "tongues" all along you would have to assume he is talking about praying in tongues though some conservative interpretets don't want to concede this. 

Then is says to "pray with my understanding" which you would assume means speaking in English how we normally would pray. Paul uses the same language with singing and praising. Then Paul makes it even more clear that he is talking about praying or seeking in tongues when he uses the same language as he did with speaking in tongues. 

In both cases he acknowledges speaking, singing, and praying in tongues, but that it is not very useful in building up the church because no one can understand what they are "saying", "praying", or "singing". I have heard or seen all three uses, so my personal experience backs up this interpretation. 

This is a very helpful commentary summarizing how the gift of tongues works. 

Actually, the language of tongues works much like languages we understand. A word or a sound occurs to our mind, and we vocalize that word or sound. In the gift of tongues, one simply continues to speak the words and sounds coming into their mind, trusting God is prompting them, and He understands what they say, and that in the Spirit what we say is perfectly appropriate for the moment. - Guzik

Paul then acknowledges that he speaks in tongues more than any of them. Not sure how he quantified this, most likely he was being sarcastic. He then concludes by saying he would rather speak 5 intelligable words than ten thousands words in a tongue. So you can see Paul seems to go back and forth on this subject. Remember speaking in tongues became an issue in the Corinthian church because they made tongues a more special gift than others. Apparently some in the church exhibited pride in their use and promotion of this gift. Those who didn't speak in tongues might have felt like "second class citizens", or not as "filled with the Holy Spirit". 

Indeed there have been some churches in our history who posited that if one didn't speak in tongues they didn't have the gift or "baptism of the Holy Spirit". You can see why this is not only biblically inaccurate but also how damaging and divisive it could be in the church. 

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

Paul then takes the point of view of an outsider coming into the church when people are speaking in tongues. They will think everyone is out of their minds. This is the evangelical side of Paul always thinkimg about how we do effective evangelism to bring unbelievers to Christ. I think Paul is "spot on" here. On the contrary, when people are prophesying (in our case in English), unbelievers can be convicted of their sin by the same Holy Spirit and realize that God is truly present. 

You might remember a time in the church when the preacher was giving a sermon and you felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Though the preacher was speaking in English, you felt the presence of God calling out to you. 

Good Order in Worship

26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

Paul then gives practical instruction on how these gifts can be used in the worship service. Ironically he does include the speaking of tongues, but only if there is a intepreter. This would lead us to believe that this gift could very much be used in worship services. I have seen this in some conferences on the Holy Spirit but never really in a church setting, or at least the churches I have pastored. 

In the same way 2 or 3 prophets could speak a word of instruction or revelation and others should listen and weigh carefully what is being said. You can see this is not the traditonal model we have grown accustomed to where the pastor preaches a sermon, which could be considered the main prophecy given in a service. 

Then it seems to be even more than 2 to 3 people as he says, "For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged." It almost seems like he is encouraging most of the church to prophesy which is very different than we see today. 

Some commentators say that this type of practice would work really well in small house churches, which have a different environment than many of our churches today. 

We can easily picture how this dynamic would work among the Corinthian Christians. They would, out of necessity, meet in small groups in different homes. There would be many “house churches” scattered all over the city of Corinth. As they would meet in these small groups, there would be a freedom and a responsibility to not only receive but to give. So, one might give by reading or singing a psalm. Another might offer a word of teaching. Someone might pray in a tongue, along with an interpretation. Still someone else might have a revelation, a word from God’s heart and mind to the gathered church. In a small, home-fellowship type setting, this is how the church should work together. - Guzik

When more people are gathered together, this “everybody shares something with everyone else” becomes more difficult. Among ten people, ten can share something with all the other ten. But among thirty, or sixty, or a hundred people, there isn’t time to allow everyone to share something with everyone else. Plus, in a larger group, the “I want to feel important by talking to everybody” dynamic is much more present. It can be there among ten people, but how much more among a hundred people! This is why so many are blessed and find great spiritual growth through a home group, because it provides a perfect context for the “everyone shares something with everyone else” idea. The hunger for this has also led to the great growth of the home church or house church movement in our generation. - Guzik

At the same time, there are potential pitfalls in this approach. It is easy for people of poor doctrine or weak character to dominate the group. It is easy for the group to focus not on the truth of the word, but on how one “feels” about the word. Spurgeon once described a man coming from such a gathering, and meeting a friend. “How was the meeting?” the one asked. The other answered, “Oh, it was wonderful. No one knew anything and we all taught each other!” Guzik

34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. 36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. 39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

If Paul didn't give us enough theologically challenging teaching on prophesy and speaking in tongues, he then says, "Women should remain silent in churches". Paul then says if a woman wants to understand something they should ask their husbands at home. Then he goes as far as to say, "It is disgraceful for a women to speak in church." 

Obviously this opens up a "can of worms" and has caused much division in the church over the years. Even in my own Lutheran tradition, the two biggest denominations within Lutheranism have very different interpretations of this passage. For instance, in one denomination there can be women pastors and the other one not. 

There is not enough time or room to go into other biblical passages and other interpretation over many years in the past 2,000 years. I think this is an issue Christians need to respect each other and not judge another's interpretation of these scriptures. So we need to tread lightly here, because there are many other passages relating to the role of the women in the New Testament church. 

So here are some other passages where we see women playing roles which suggest Paul's teaching is specifically for Corinthian church than for all churches of all time. 

1. In Acts there are women who played leadership roles. Lydia started a house church in Philippi. Priscilla and Aquilla were a husband and wife missionary partnership. Anna was a prophetess. A prophet speaks God's Word, so who did she speak it to, just women. 

2. The first preachers were actually women. The women were the first people to bring the Good News to the apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead just like he had said he would. 

3. Paul says in Galatians 3:28, "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male or female but all are one in Christ Jesus."

Here is just one article after a quick search on the internet arguing for the case of women being pastors.  Also know that Pastor Rick Warren Senior Pastor of the largest megachurch Saddleback Church, was advocating for women to be accepted in leadership roles and at the Southern Baptist Convention they voted to remove Saddleback from the denomination. 

Should Women Be Pastors

In conclusion I support women in ministry to teach, preach, heal, prophesy etc.. I think there is more evidence in scripture than the two passages where Paul teaches a woman should not teach in church. These two passagees appear to be more driven by the context of the church he was writing to. 

But this is one of those issues I have to confess I could be wrong. The main thing is we should not divide over this issue. We need to respect each other and realize people with equal love Christ and His mission to the world disagree on this issue. 

One day in heaven we will find out who is right but it is not a salvation issue thankfully.