1 Corinthians 14 explained: Speaking So Others Can Understand

Love first, then prophecy (vv. 1-5)

Following the chapter on love just before this, Paul says the gifts most worth wanting are the ones that help others. Speaking in tongues is prayer to God that hearers cannot understand, so it builds up only the speaker, while prophecy, a message from God in plain words, strengthens and comforts the whole church.

Sounds with no meaning (vv. 6-19)

Like a pipe or harp with no clear notes, or a trumpet with no clear call to battle, speech nobody understands helps no one, so Paul asks tongue speakers to pray that they can also interpret. He speaks in tongues more than any of them, he says, yet in a gathering he would rather say five words others understand, so they can add their 'Amen', meaning 'yes, agreed'.

A puzzling sign for outsiders (vv. 20-25)

Paul quotes Isaiah 28, where foreign invaders' speech was a sign that the people of Isaiah's day had refused to listen to God, and says tongues are a sign for unbelievers. Scholars debate what he means, since he then says outsiders hearing a room full of tongues will think everyone is mad, while plain prophecy can lay their hearts bare and lead them to say God is truly present.

Taking turns in worship (vv. 26-33)

Anyone may bring a song, teaching or message, but only two or three should speak in tongues, one at a time with an interpreter, and two or three prophets should speak while the rest weigh what is said. People with these gifts can control themselves and wait their turn, Paul says, because God is a God of peace, not chaos.

Women and silence (vv. 34-35)

Paul tells women to stay silent in the gatherings and ask their husbands at home, yet in chapter 11 he assumes women pray and prophesy aloud. Some Christians read this as a lasting limit on women speaking or teaching in worship, many others as a local rule about disruptive questions in that setting. Some scholars suspect a later addition because a few ancient copies place these verses after verse 40, though every known ancient copy includes them.

Paul's authority and summary (vv. 36-40)

Paul pushes back on a church acting as if God's word began with them, and says anyone truly gifted will recognize his instructions as the Lord's command. He sums up: be eager to prophesy, do not forbid tongues, and do everything in a fitting and orderly way.

Key verse: 1 Corinthians 14:26

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on what speaking in tongues was, whether real foreign languages or prayer in a language no one knows, and on whether these gifts continue today, as Pentecostal and charismatic Christians hold, or ended with the first generation of the church, as some other Protestants teach.

Something to think about

Have you ever been in a group where the insiders' words or rituals left you lost, and what would have helped you feel included?