41 Why Some Gifts are Greater (1 Corinthians 14:1-25)

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for joining me today for the Wednesday in the Word Podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is the podcast where we explain not only what scripture means but how we figure it out. Today we're studying 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 1 through 25. This is the 41st talk in our series on 1 Corinthians. You don't have to take notes, you'll find lecture notes for today's talk on the link below the podcast. And you can find them on the website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash 1 Corinthians 4 1. And while you're there, take a moment to check out the website. There's lots of Bible study materials. There's no charge, no spam, no ads, and no clickbait. I'm really glad you joined us today. We are starting chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians, and I have argued that chapters 12 through 14 are one unit of thought. As we go into chapter 14, we're picking up Paul's thought from the end of chapter 12. Chapter 13 is basically an interruption or a sub point in his argument. And with 14, one, Paul is returning to the point he made at the end of chapter 12. And what he's going to do in this chapter is contrast the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues. And in this contrast, prophecy is going to come out on top. Now there is some debate over exactly how we're to understand what Paul means by prophecy and what he means by tongues. Basically, for prophecy, are we to understand prophecy as supernatural revelation from God that predicts the future? So is this the kind of speech where a prophet says, Thus says the Lord, I have a message from God, and you have no way of knowing it unless I tell you. Or should we understand Paul to be talking about prophecy in a more general sense of explaining the existing word of God? So this would include all the other things prophets did, like encourage God's people, rebuke them, remind them what God had done for them, what God has said to be true, and so forth. This kind of knowledge doesn't have to be supernaturally revealed, and it's what we think of generally as teaching today. There's a similar debate about what Paul means by tongues. To speak in tongues is literally to speak in languages, just like we talk about our mother tongue, the word, the Greek word just means language. From the accounts in Acts, where we see people speaking in tongues, it's pretty clear that the speakers there were speaking actual known languages. The gospel was going to a new group of people, and the speakers are being inspired by the Spirit to praise God, and they're speaking in a language that is not their own, but the language is understood by the bystanders. So in 1 Corinthians 14 is Paul talking about the kind of tongues that we see in Acts, where people are speaking a natural human language that they have not been taught, but that those listening understand. So it seems in the Acts accounts that the speakers know what they're saying, it's just coming out in a different language that someone in the listening audience understands. Or is Paul talking about the kind of tongues that we mean today or that we see today, where the speaker is speaking in incoherent, ecstatic kind of babblings that no one understands, including the speaker. So it's a kind of precognitive burst of emotions and ideas that can't really be expressed in words. And that's often what we call glossolia today. So is that what Paul is talking about? Well, for the sake of this series and finishing the letter, I decided not to go into the debate over Paul's use of prophecy in tongues. I may do a later podcast on it. I haven't decided yet. It is something you can read about in many of the commentaries. So I think for now I'm just going to give you my conclusions, but you should know that this is one of those areas where reputable Bible scholars differ on exactly what Paul is talking about. And I do not claim to have the market courted on truth. These are just my conclusions. So by prophecy, I think Paul means the broader concept of explaining God's existing word that would include any kind of exhortation and encouragement and rebuke, the kind of thing that teachers do today. So I think he means that general kind of teaching and exhortation that anyone who understands Scripture can do. By tongues, I think Paul is talking about the phenomenon that we see in Acts, where the speaker is speaking a known human language that others present understand, but the speaker has not been taught. I think the Corinthians are practicing what we would call glossolia today, so the kind of ecstatic utterance or babbling that no one understands, probably including the speaker. I think that's what the Corinthians are practicing and they're calling it the axe gift. But however you land on that debate, most scholars agree on the point Paul is making here. In fact, Paul's point does not depend on how we understand prophecy or how we understand tongues. No matter which way you land on that debate, his main point is the same, and that's what I want to try to get at in this podcast. So chapter twelve ended, this is twelve thirty one, but earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way. And that excellent way was his discussion on the supremacy of love that we looked at in chapter 13. He has now finished that discussion, and he's going back to his point about earnestly desire the higher gifts. And he's going to explain what are the higher gifts and what he means by that in chapter 14. So he's picking up his thought with 14.1, he's picking up the thought that he left in 1231. So 14.1 says, Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. So he concludes his digression in chapter 13, and then he says, Pursue love, seek it, go after it. That ought to be your goal, and earnestly desire spiritual things, especially that you might prophesy. So he talked about the greater gifts at the end of chapter twelve, and now he says, Focus your zeal on prophecy, as opposed to tongues, is what he's going to go on to say. He's about to contrast tongues and prophecy, and he's going to give prophecy as an example of one of the greater gifts, while tongues is an example of a lesser gift, and he's going to explain what makes them greater or lesser. And he's saying here, be zealous for the greater ones. If you're going to be zealous and eager and all excited about something, at least be excited about the greater gifts. Now he recognizes that they are already zealous for spiritual things. In fact, in 1412, he's going to say pretty directly, you Corinthians are zealous for spiritual things. So he is not speaking here to a group of lazy, kind of lukewarm believers or people that he's trying to motivate. He's not saying, okay, you guys, you need to get more excited about this stuff, you need to get more motivated. The fact is, they're already quite excited and motivated about spiritual things, but he's trying to focus that excitement in the right direction. So I understand this verse to be more of a concession than a command. He's saying, I want you to put the emphasis where it ought to be. I want you to be zealous for the greater gifts, faith, hope, and love, but most importantly love. But if you're going to be zealous for the individual gifts of the Spirit, then at least be zealous for the greater gifts like prophecy. If we're going to grade the manifestations of the Spirit, all of which are less important than faith, hope, and love, at least desire the greater ones. And he's going to go on to explain why some of the gifts are greater. Before we look at that, is Paul implying that we can get spiritual gifts by being zealous for them? Is this fourteen one a command or an encouragement to be actively pursuing them? And I would say no. Being zealous for spiritual gifts doesn't necessarily mean that I need to be zealous that I have every gift. Rather, it could be being zealous that they're present in the community of believers. And remember, he has said that gifts are given to us to serve each other, and we should desire that the community grows and matures and is edified because that's the purpose of these gifts. Now I don't think there's anything wrong with praying that God would give me a certain gift or that he would call me to do a certain thing or use me in a certain way. Later in the section, Paul's going to encourage those who want to speak in tongues to pray that God would give them the ability to translate. That implies there's nothing inappropriate about humbly asking God to be used in a certain way, but we have to recognize, as Paul has made clear in his earlier arguments, no one has all the gifts, and no one should expect to get any particular gift that they decide they want. We saw that in chapter twelve. God gifts us differently on purpose. That was the main point of his analogy about the parts of the body. We should expect to be used differently and we should be willing to play whatever role God asks us to play. God sovereignly gives different roles and different callings and different opportunities to different people according to his will. So chapter 14 allows for the possibility that I could ask God to use me in a certain way, but Paul's assumption is God may very well answer no. Paul's going to tell them if you speak in tongues and nobody can understand what you're saying, then you ought to be quiet. That implies that there's no assurance that someone will be there to interpret. So in my zeal, I may have desired the gift of tongues, but if no one can understand what I'm saying, then the answer is no, no tongue speaking today, I need to keep quiet. Here then is our setting. Paul is speaking to a group that's already enthusiastic and excited about spiritual things. He's saying, I want you to channel that enthusiasm toward the things that are most important. He's not commanding them to go after spiritual gifts of a certain kind. He's trying to focus their zeal on the right target. He's not advising them to spend time trying to get particular gifts. He's trying to point them in the right direction. Why then are some gifts greater than others? That's what he's going to spend most of this chapter explaining, using the example that prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues. So let's look at fourteen two through five. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God, for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church. Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophecy. And greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. So Paul starts out this discussion contrasting prophecy in tongues. First let's look at what he says about tongues. In fourteen two, he says the one speaking in tongues speaks not to men, but to God. So Paul connects tongues to prayer in fourteen two when he says he's speaking to God. This is one of the few clues we have as to the content of tongues. Paul says when a person speaks in tongues, he's speaking to God, implying he's praying. Now, if we compare that to what we see in Acts 2, Acts tells us that they were speaking of the mighty deeds of God and they were exalting God. It gives us this picture that tongues has content. Someone is inspired to speak out and exalt God, to thank God and praise God for what he's done. So it seems to me to be more than an emotional outburst, it has content, and that content is focused on exalting God. Every place we see tongues talked about in the New Testament, it has the idea of some content associated with it. But Paul's point here is if there is no one to translate, then the tongue speaker is only talking to God because no one else understands what he's saying. God may be exalted, but no one else who's listening knows that that's what's happening because they don't understand what the tongue speaker is saying. As Paul said in verse two, no one understands him. He utters mysteries and in the spirit. Now it's possible that he means he's uttering words inspired by the spirit, so he's speaking in these mysteries, these things revealed by the spirit, but given the context of no one understanding him, I think that phrase is better understood in his spirit he speaks mysteries, that is, to himself, just to himself. Inside himself, he's speaking mysteries, he's speaking things that no one understands. Also down in fourteen fourteen, Paul says that when someone speaks in a tongue, his spirit prays, but his mind is unfruitful. I think he's anticipating the language he's going to use in fourteen fourteen, here in fourteen two, so in his spirit only to himself, as opposed to those gathered with him. In his spirit, something being is being spoken that is a mystery because no one else knows what he's saying, and it's a mystery because no one understands him. There is some meaning there, but the problem is no one listening knows what that meaning is. So in fourteen four, Paul says the person who speaks in tongues edifies himself. His point here I think is no one else benefits, and no one else benefits because no one else can understand what the tongue speaker is saying. How the does the tongue speaker edify himself? Well, what he's saying must have content, I think. That's another reason I think the tongues that Paul is talking about must have actual content. Because if the speaker has no idea what he's saying, how could he be edifying himself? So I think that implies that the tongue speaker has to know what he's saying and that what Paul is talking about is more like what we see in Acts, rather than the kind of emotional, ecstatic babbling that we see today where no one knows what's being said, including the speaker. Then in 145, Paul says, I wish you all spoke in tongues. I think this is another concession on his part. Speaking in tongues, like all the gifts of God, is a good gift of God. It's appropriate to wish good gifts of God on everyone. Whatever benefit there is to tongue speaking, Paul's saying, I wish you all could benefit. But we also know from what he's just said in chapter twelve that Paul has no expectation that everyone will speak in tongues. He's just made it clear that gifts don't work that way. God intends for different people to play different roles in bringing about his kingdom, that diversity is good for us and for the larger community. And he specifically says not everyone speaks in tongues. So I think here he's saying, don't misunderstand, when I say prophecy is greater, I'm not dissing tongues. There's nothing wrong with speaking in tongues. I wish you all did it. But if I was going to wish for everyone to have one gift, it would be prophecy. Now I know that's not going to happen because God created diversity among us on purpose, but if I was going to wish for one gift for everyone, it would not be tongues, it would be prophecy. Why? Well, let's look at what he says about prophecy. In 14 3, he says prophecy speaks to people for edification and encouragement and builds up the church. Now I don't think we should understand that as a definition of prophecy, such that any speech that edifies and consoles is prophecy. Rather he's saying this is the kind of effect that prophecy has. When someone prophesies this is the typical result, now other things may have that same result. But unlike tongues, prophecy is intended to be understood by other people, and it edifies others through that message. The prophet speaks out something that is true about God, and those hearing it understand it and are edified. They're encouraged and reminded what they ought to do. They're confronted by truth or they find courage in the midst of difficult circumstances and so on. That's what prophecy can do, unlike tongues. When a person is speaking in tongues, those listening have no idea what he's saying, but when a person is prophesying, those listening hear and understand and benefit from it. The content of the prophecy is understood, and that content exhorts and builds up the listeners. In 14 4, he says the prophet builds up the church. Again, by speaking and explaining truth about God, the people listening have the opportunity to take that truth to heart and to grow in their understanding and use that truth to live well. They're built up, they're strengthened in the faith. And tongues can't do that because no truth is being imparted. The exception Paul gives is that tongues can edify the speaker, which again implies to me that the speaker must know the content of what he's saying, and that tongues can edify others if there is someone there to translate and interpret the tongues. Because the interpreter can then share that content with everyone. So if there is someone there to translate, then everyone can benefit. And that's what we see on the day of Pentecost. There were people in the crowd who understood the language being spoken, so they had the opportunity to be edified by what was said and explain it to others. In 14 5, Paul concludes prophesying is greater than speaking in tongues because prophecy edifies the community while tongues edifies only the speaker. Again, if someone is there to translate, they can both have the opportunity to edify the community. Now implicit in Paul's argument is that they edify the community by imparting content or by imparting truth. The edification comes from the ideas communicated, the knowledge, the content, the truth that is communicated. So the value in prophecy is the ideas and the truth that are being imparted from one person to another, and he's going to make that point explicit in the next verses. Let's look at six through eleven. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching? Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken, for you will be speaking into the air? There are perhaps a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me. He says, If I speak to you in tongues, how does that benefit you? It can only benefit you if you understand what's being said. I have to communicate content. I have to communicate truth, revelation, knowledge to benefit you. Otherwise, my speaking in tongues has no benefit to you at all. Now remember it's helpful to keep in mind that the Corinthians are very impressed by speaking in tongues. The mere fact that someone's mouth is making these noises is significant to them. They think that the person speaking in tongues who's making these sounds no one understands has reached the heights of worship and spirituality. And Paul's saying those are just noises that have no benefit if no one can understand them. And then he uses this analogy. You don't get excited. When someone just makes noises on a flute or a harp, you don't get excited when someone bangs on a trumpet. Those are just noises. We get excited when those noises have meaning, when they play a melody, when they have a recognizable pattern. We know that musical instruments are intended to produce distinct, recognizable notes, not just noise. You can recognize a melody, it's distinguishable. You hear a collection of notes played and you say, Oh, I recognize that particular song. Say you hear your national anthem, you recognize it, and that national anthem has meaning for you. But it only has meaning for you because you hear the distinct notes and you understand it. Otherwise, it's just noise and nothing to get excited about. His analogy of the bugle is that when they went into battle, they used bugles to send signals to the troops. So bugles made a great big sound, and that sound had meaning. If you blew a certain collection of notes on the bugle, it meant charge. A different collection of notes meant fall back, watch your flank, or so forth. And the soldiers on the battlefield had to memorize what the different calls meant so that they'd know what commands the generals were giving. The generals were typically up high on a hill or someplace where they could see the whole field, and then they would give commands about what to do through these notes on the bugle. And Paul's saying if someone was just randomly making noise through the bugle, the soldiers would be confused. They wouldn't know what they were supposed to do. They'd be asking each other, what did that mean? What are we supposed to do? It's the distinct noises that have a melody or that have meaning that we get excited about. And his point is language is intended to be a means of communication. If I don't understand the language that you use, then you're a foreigner to me and I'm a foreigner to you. That's what he means by barbarian. We can't communicate. We can't share ideas, we can't pass knowledge to each other, we can't get to know each other because we are foreigners to each other. When you meet someone who speaks a language you don't understand, you don't get excited by the sounds coming out of their mouth. You get frustrated because you can't understand them. It's a barrier between you. You can't build each other up because you can't communicate with each other. You can't get to know each other or help each other because you can't share any ideas. Tongues are like a foreign language to the listeners. Unlike prophecy, tongues can't serve the purpose of edifying the larger community because no one understands them. They act more like a foreign language, like a barrier. They tend to separate us. They make us foreigners to each other because we don't know what each other are saying. Even if the tongue speaker is making sounds inspired by the Spirit of God, they can't edify anyone but the speaker because no one knows what is being said, and if the speaker doesn't know what he's saying, then they can't edify him either. Paul goes on then in twelve and thirteen. So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. He says here, okay, since you're so eager to have manifestations of the spirit, I want you to be eager to build up the church. If you've been one of the tongue speakers, start praying that you can interpret so that everyone in the congregation can be edified. Seek an abundance of things that edify the church. That's what I want you to be after. If you want to be a church that overflows with the spirit, then don't make a big deal about speaking in tongues. Don't be praying for everyone to speak in tongues because wow, that's so cool. Pray that you would be one of the translators, because if no one understands what's being said, no one is being edified. But if you can translate, then the whole church can be edified. Tongues by themselves can't edify anyone. So your passion to have spiritually inspired sounds coming out of your mouth is misplaced. Your passion ought to be to build up the church, to have words of encouragement, of knowledge, of truth, revelation, wisdom. You want those sounds coming out of your mouth. So if you want to be a tongue speaker, then you ought to want to be a translator so that you can explain what's coming out of your mouth. Now his next point is a I think is an important point, but it's a little hard to follow. This is in chapter fourteen, fourteen through nineteen. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you're saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all. However, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. Alright, what's he saying here? The mind is fruitful when I can clearly communicate an idea from it. So a fruitful mind has to do with content. When I'm speaking in tongues, I'm just praying inside myself, to in my spirit. There may be something going on inside me, but the person next to me doesn't know what I'm doing and receives no benefit from it. So my mind is being unfruitful because the content of my thoughts or whatever I'm saying in the tongues is not being communicated to anyone else in a way that can edify them. So my thoughts are bearing no fruit. No one understands them, and therefore they're not edified. The person next to me can't say, Amen. That's great, that's really true, because I have not communicated anything to them. I may be thanking God and praising God on the inside, and you may hear ecstatic sounds coming out of my mouth, but how can you know? How can you, the person sitting next to me, know anything about what I've said? How can they say amen or yes, that's true, or learn something, or be grateful to God as well? They can't because they don't know what I'm saying. How we understand verse 18, I speak in tongues more than you all, depends on your view of tongues. Paul could be saying, I know a lot more languages than you do, and it could just be natural. He's just traveled a lot, he's learned a lot, he's picked up a lot of languages. Or he could be saying, God has called me to travel far and wide and go to a lot of places where I don't know the native dialect, but when God calls me to one of those places, he inspires me to speak in their language so that they might hear and understand the gospel. That could have happened to Paul, we don't have a specific record that that's what has happened, but it does make sense given the calling that he had. You can make an argument for either of those, but whichever way you decide, his key point is I would rather speak five clear, edifying words with my mind so that I might instruct others than speak ten thousand words in a language that no one understands. I could spend my whole life speaking tongues in the church, but that wouldn't help anyone. So I would rather, I Paul, would rather have an idea like Jesus Christ is Lord, that's four words, and communicate that idea to you so that you can be instructed and encouraged. That's much more valuable than speaking in a tongue that no one understands. He goes on then, and this too is a bit hard to follow. This is chapter fourteen twenty through twenty five. Brethren, do not be children in your thinking, yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. In the law it is written, by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to me, says the Lord. So then, tongues are a sign not for those who believe, but to unbelievers, but prophecy is a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe. Therefore, if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're mad? But if all prophecy and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. So Paul says, You have been children in your thinking, you've been immature, you haven't had the right perspective on things. Now we should be naive and inexperienced when it comes to evil and wickedness. We don't want to have a deep experiential knowledge of evil because we have so much firsthand experience with it. Rather, we should be like a child who has no experience with evil and doesn't understand it. If you want to be childlike, then that's the area you want to be childlike in. But when it comes to thinking and understanding, you want to be mature. And then he quotes the Old Testament to show them a mature way of thinking about this issue. Now the interpretive problem here is that Paul says tongues are for unbelievers and prophecy is not, but the example he gives seems to contradict that. In four twenty one he quotes Isaiah twenty eight, where God says he speaks to his people through foreign tongues. So God is speaking to believers through foreign tongues. And then four twenty two, Paul says tongues are a sign for unbelievers, which seems to contradict the Isaiah quote. And some people just stop there and say, Oh, look, see, Paul was wrong a lot of the time. I don't buy that. I think Paul was brilliant, and he would notice if he was contradicting himself. And if we think there's a contradiction, then we need to go back and rethink. The key is understanding the quote from Isaiah. He's quoting Isaiah twenty eight, eleven and twelve, which says, For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue, the Lord will speak to this people, to whom he has said, This is rest, give rest to the weary, and this is repose, yet they would not hear. God had been instructing the nation of Israel through the prophets, but the people weren't listening. The prophets were clearly telling them this is who God is, here's what he's promised, here's what you're required to do to stay in the land, here's what you're doing wrong, but the people weren't listening. They did not heed what the prophets like Isaiah were telling them. So God says, I'm gonna send the Assyrians against you. God had been speaking to the people in their own language through the prophets, but they weren't listening, so he says, I will speak to this people in a foreign language. No longer will the nation of Israel hear the prophets clearly speaking in their own language, now the Israelites will hear the Assyrians speaking to them in a foreign language that they don't understand, as the Assyrians cart them off into captivity. So in that Isaiah section he's saying, You Israelites didn't listen to my prophets when I told you what was true in your own language, so now I, God, am going to speak to you in a language you don't understand, because the Assyrians are going to take you into captivity. These foreign tongues you'll be hearing are my judgment on you, they're my discipline. If you had listened to the prophets and responded with belief, I wouldn't have to raise up the Assyrians against you. So from Isaiah we get this picture When God is being gracious to his people, he speaks to them clearly in the language they understand. In other words, prophecy is for those who believe. Its purpose is to remind you what is true, to encourage you in the faith, and to build you up in wisdom. It encourages those who believe to keep on believing. But when God was provoked with his people and disciplining them, he spoke to them by people of strange tongues. He stopped speaking through the prophets, and he put them in exile in a foreign land, hearing a language that they didn't understand. So when God stopped sending his prophets and he sent the Assyrians instead, the Assyrians spoke to the people in a foreign tongue. Thus tongues are not a sign for believers, they're a sign for unbelievers, those who are being disciplined, who are rebelling against God, and God is disciplining them. The foreign language of Assyria was given to those who had rebelled and stopped listening. And Paul gives that example and compares it to what happens in the church. If someone new walks into the church and hears all these people babbling incoherently in tongues that no one understands, what kind of example is that? What can they learn from that? Paul says they're not going to learn anything. They're going to walk out of there thinking these people are drunk or they're crazy. But if that same person walks in and everyone is prophesying, that is, they're proclaiming a word of truth and wisdom that the visitor could come to believe, then you've given the visitors something they can respond to and think about. And I think this whole thing is what Paul's getting at when he says, Don't be children in your thinking. You Corinthians are impressed and awed by tongues. You're thinking, wow, this is so cool that we speak in these languages. Listen to what's coming out of my mouth. This is really a sign that God is with me and I'm one of God's people. And Paul's saying, Where is the blessing and incomprehensible noise? Look back at your fathers. Were they blessed by the Assyrians speaking to them in a foreign language? Incomprehensible noise is what God sends upon you when he's disciplining you. It's the comprehensible noise, like what the prophet spoke, that gives you a chance to repent and believe. You can be greatly blessed by comprehensible words. Now notice Paul says in 1425, the newcomer will say, God is really among you when he hears prophecy. The Corinthians are saying, You can tell God is with us by these tongues coming out of our mouth. And Paul's saying, No, you can tell God is with you by the truth and wisdom coming out of your mouths. When the content of what you're saying is inspired by God, that shows God is really among you. Now let me wrap this up. I I have two comments to make. First, however you understand tongues, Paul is saying they have no place in an assembly of Christians unless the content can be translated and understood by those present. Language creates barriers between us. Languages don't bring us together, they separate us. Tongues put newcomers in a place where they feel like they don't belong, and they may suspect everyone there as crazy. That is certainly true of tongues, but it can also be true of Christian jargon. We ought to be careful how much Christian jargon we use in our public gatherings because it can become a almost a foreign language that separates and alienates newcomers. If you're not charismatic and you've ever had the experience of going to a charismatic service where everyone else breaks out in tongues, you know what Paul's talking about. If you're the only one not speaking in tongues, it gives you this sense of being left out and pushed to the outside and feeling like a foreigner. And later in the chapter, Paul's going to explicitly say, look, if no one can translate in tongues, then don't do them in your public gatherings. Here I think he's implying it, but he's going to make it explicit later on. Second, notice how Paul is exalting the idea of propositional truth. Edification comes through content, not emotions. Let me say that again. Edification comes through content, not emotions. There's a modern notion today, at least in America, that to be good, a sermon has to move your emotions. And if the sermon doesn't move your emotions, then it's not a great sermon. And we see this emphasis on telling stories, telling jokes, jumping immediately to application, and so forth. And all of those have much more emotional impact than explaining what the text says. I think Paul would reject that emphasis on moving emotions. I think what he's saying here is when I have an idea in my mind and I communicate it clearly to you, I am building you up because now you share the idea too. It can be personal and it can be emotional, it can be thanksgiving, it can be praise, it doesn't have to be dry academics, but it has meaning, it has recognizable content and truth. We find edification by hearing the content of the gospel and scripture. We grow when we have the truths of God explained to us through our own study and the teachings of others. Likewise, when we're conversing with others, we can edify them, encourage them, help them along in this journey of faith by the content of what we say, by reminding them what's true. Now when I say content edifies, I'm not just talking about lectures and sermons. All kinds of speech in all kinds of settings can be edifying when it contains truth and content. This isn't limited to standing up front teaching or giving a sermon or a lecture. It can include those coffee conversations and chats between friends, or discussions you have over a meal. But his point is how do we edify each other? We communicate truth to each other. We communicate to each other our understanding of truth whenever and wherever that happens. We communicate ideas, truth, and content. Now your response to that truth might be emotional, and that's fine, that's okay. But I think Paul is saying the best thing we can do for each other is to communicate truth. You've been listening to Wednesday in the Word, my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. If you've been blessed by listening, please leave a positive comment wherever you listen to your podcast and tell a friend what you've learned. RCMusic is graciously provided by Reggie Cook at ArtTelMusic.org. I invite you to check out his other music there. You'll be glad that you did. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Kristen Morata, and I'll meet you here next week at Wednesday in the woods.