The Gifts of the Holy Spirit- 3
Pastor Marty Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 9:27PM 1 Corinthians 14:1-19. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, June 14, 2026.
Having explained in chapter thirteen the importance of love as a permanent foundation to everything that we do as followers of Jesus, Paul now turns back to the issue of spiritual gifts and the abuses happening within the Christian gatherings in Corinth.
Chapter twelve introduced Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts in general. He ended that chapter with the instruction to zealously desire the greater gifts. This statement in and of itself is not problematic to the Corinthians. They would believe that they were seeking “the greater gifts.” However, Paul is setting up why their fascination with speaking in tongues is a misunderstanding of what actually makes a spiritual gift greater than another.
This is why chapter thirteen may feel like it is disjointed. Paul lays the groundwork of why love for God and others must direct our choices in the area of spiritual gifts before he comes back to spiritual gifts in chapter fourteen, where he explains why tongues is not the greater gift compared to prophecy.
Let’s look at our passage.
The need for intelligibility in the assembly of believers (v. 1-5)
Chapter fourteen narrows its focus to the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesying because this is where the trouble was occurring in the Corinthian church.
His main concern is that speaking gifts that are exercised within the assembly of believers (i.e., during a church service) should be intelligible, understandable, to those gathered so that they can be spiritually edified.
We should not let our modern concept of church gatherings cloud our understanding of this. A Christian gathering is not about the building. It can be in a home, in a cave, or out in the jungle. Regardless, when believers are gathered to worship God and encourage one another in the faith, the emphasis must be on the ability of people to understand the language of what is being said.
We should also note that Paul does not argue that the Corinthian believers do not have the Holy Spirit or that the gifts they are exercising are not legitimate. Rather, his argument is that they are abusing them or using them in a way that is grievous to the Holy Spirit who is enabling them in their lives.
Paul opens up with tying chapter twelve and thirteen together with twin imperatives. They are to pursue love while also zealously desiring spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy (rather than speak in tongues).
Please note that he uses the same verb, zealously desire, for spiritual gifts in chapter twelve and fourteen. However, he chooses a different verb for love; pursue love. This can be pictured as always chasing after something that is illusively out of grasp, but the better picture is that of a pathway or, even better, the person of Jesus Christ himself. The love of Christ is always before us as an example and guide. We must make that our aim and pursuit while exercising (or desiring) spiritual gifts.
Verse 1 also answers the question that Paul has set up at the end of chapter twelve. What is the greater spiritual gift? Prophecy is the greater gift within the assembly of believers. You could also add any other word of wisdom, knowledge, etc. that is given in a language that the people understand.
In verse two Paul begins to describe some differences between speaking in tongues and prophesying. A person who speaks in tongues speaks to God not man (v. 2). No one understands him, and he speaks mysteries (i.e., no one understands what he is saying). A person who speaks in tongues also edifies themselves (v. 4). All of this can be changed if the message in tongues is interpreted for the people in attendance. The interpretation would then be addressing the people (not God), and it would be understandable to them. The message in tongues that is interpreted will also be able to edify the whole church. At that point, speaking in tongues with interpretation would be functionally equivalent to prophecy.
Comparatively, a person who prophesies speaks to the people and they can understand them. The prophecy is given to edify the whole body and not just the speaker. Paul gives three examples of the way that prophecy can help the church: edification (build them up to be like Jesus), exhortation (whether commands or encouragements), and lastly consolation. Paul sees these three aspects in the purpose of prophecy.
Analogies that argue for intelligibility (v. 6-12)
Verse six restates the problem in a personal way. Paul again resorts to putting himself in the position that the Corinthian mindset would encourage. “If I come to you speaking in tongues,” this implies if he only did this, like the Corinthians liked to do. Paul asks how this would be able to benefit them. It would only be profitable if he spoke a language that was intelligible, whether a revelation, knowledge, prophecy or teaching.
Thus, Paul is emphasizing that intelligibility allows for people to be built up in the faith and character of Christ. The profit here is spiritual profit.
Paul then points to areas of life where the principle of intelligibility is necessary. In verse seven, he speaks of a flute or a harp. Music requires a distinction of tones in order to produce a pleasing sound as opposed to a raucous noise.
In verse 8, he moves to a bugle. This was used in the military to quickly direct men. Particular tunes were used to get men out of bed, or to warn of attack, etc. If the bugler does not clearly blow the right notes, it would confuse the men and leave them open to danger.
In verses ten and eleven, Paul speaks of foreign languages around the world. The message encoded in each language is real but is also inaccessible to a person who does not understand it. I am a foreigner to them, and they are a foreigner to me. The term “barbarian” was a Greek term that mimicked the sounds of a foreigner “bar bar bar” and became barbaros or barbarian in English.
If you were in a group that knew you did not speak a different language, but they kept speaking it among themselves, the result is that you would feel not only left out but also pushed out. Paul makes the point that an unknown language makes you a foreigner to the speaker. We will be isolated from one another and limited in our ability to work together or help one another.
Christians are to be a new people. We don’t all necessarily have the same native language, but we speak a common language in order to accomplish the purpose of God with one another.
These examples all highlight the importance of intelligibility when it comes to the verbal spiritual gifts in church gatherings.
Paul ends this section in verse twelve by calling the Corinthians who are zealous of spiritual gifts also “to seek to abound for the edification of the church.” In other words, they should exercise them for the greater purpose of God, building up believers to be more like Jesus.
They should not be zealous for a spiritual gift as a status symbol. They should not settle for everyone edifying themselves (everyone for themselves) when they are gathered together.
The Corinthians may have imagined that everyone was being edified in the church when they were all speaking in tongues. However, Paul will now move to explain the purpose of tongues versus the purpose of prophecy.
Application to the believing community (v. 13-19)
Paul now moves to describe how tongues and prophecy should be exercised within our gatherings. The first application is that the person who speaks in tongues should pray for its interpretation. He doesn’t make clear if this is before speaking or after speaking. The main point is not to settle for continuing in tongues without interpreting the message. The onus is put upon the person who believes they have a message in tongues to give. We should leave room for churches to discover in trial and error just who in the may or may not have the spiritual gift of interpretation. Regardless, it would eventually be clear whether someone is present that is used in that way by the Spirit.
In verse fourteen, Paul describes praying in tongues, which is addressed to God, as praying with your spirit. This is placed next to the idea of praying with your mind, which is praying in a language you understand.
When you pray with your spirit, i.e., in tongues, your mind is “unfruitful” (there is no intellectual benefit) other than the knowledge that the Spirit of God is enabling your spirit to talk with God in an unknown language.
Verse 15 includes singing in this. To sing with my spirit is to sing in tongues, and to sing with my mind is to sing in a language I understand.
Praying with your mind is important, and most people can understand this. However, how does praying with your spirit build you up? It teaches you how to trust the Holy Spirit and have confidence that God knows what your spirit is saying. It gives you a comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit is helping you to pray to the Father.
Some may refuse such things, declaring that they will only be edified through their mind. This seems to be a short-sighted and selfish attitude. God knows what we need. Why would we shut off any help that He wants to provide?
In verse sixteen, Paul questions how someone can say, “Amen,” in the assembly to something that they do not understand. They are called “the uninformed” (some versions have “ungifted,” but this seems to be more of an interpretation). This could be a reference to non-believers, or it could be believers who are not taught in regard to spiritual gifts (or simply don’t have the gift of interpretation). However, it seems most likely that this is a reference to those who are uninformed in the Gospel. How will they hear the truth and believe (say amen) if it is not in a language they understand?
Paul may even be saying that you are turning your fellow Christians into those who are uninformed by the fact that they don’t know what you are saying. The point is that they are left out of any meaningful interaction with what is being done.
Of course, Paul is not putting tongues down. He says in verse eighteen that he speaks in tongues more than all of them. However, he apparently does the lion’s share of his tongue speaking when he is by himself (in personal times of prayer). Five intelligible words are worth more than 10,000 words in tongues that are unknown.
There is a modern contention among some that there should be no tongues at all in churches today. Yet, the Bible tells us to desire spiritual gifts because it is God who desires to work them through us for the good of the body of Christ. We should follow love and follow the Spirit because they are one and the same.
Second, we should not let fear cause us to shrink back from spiritual gifts. We should trust God and exercise them properly for the benefit of all who are attending, not just for ourselves.
We will stop here today and pick up later.