“¹⁶Otherwise 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 are saying? ¹⁷For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. ¹⁸I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; ¹⁹however, 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.”

The amount of space given the spiritual gift of tongues in this chapter betrays the extent to which the Corinthians were abusing the gift. Such things being experiential lend themselves to distorted views of spirituality, which Paul felt compelled to set straight. In addressing these things, he challenges them with logic and reason; he does not appeal to experience, either his or theirs, as determinative. Emotions are not allowed either, with such ideas as, “It feels so right” or “When I speak in tongues, my spirit is released to greater worship.” Christian faith is a reasoned faith, based on propositional truths. After all, the Bible begins with God speaking creation into existence. The Word of God is what is powerful, not our personal, changing experiences.

Yes, there is a benefit in the spiritual gift of tongues when used properly, namely in speaking an otherwise foreign human language to communicate to others. That benefit is signaled when those listening who don’t know the language being used (the “ungifted”) can say, “Amen.” In other words, when tongues is interpreted so that all can understand what is said. In the church there must be clear communication that is understood by all.

Paul does say, “I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all,” and this makes sense. He was a traveling evangelist, to use our contemporary terminology, so the miraculous ability to speak in various languages was for him a tremendous aid in the rapid spread of the gospel. But in the worshiping church where evangelism is not the primary focus, Paul makes it clear tongues is not the preferred spiritual gift for ministry. What would be the point? His hyperbole speaks loudly: five intelligent words in worship vastly excel a flood of unintelligible verbiage or sounds coming out the mouth of a so-called tongues speaker—even if it were the apostle Paul himself! In other words, spiritual “experience” has no value in the congregation of God’s people without intelligible communication. Paul was all about proclaiming the truth, not existential or mystical experiences. God’s Word is powerful. Thus, prophecy, or speaking forth God’s truth, is superior in worship to speaking in a foreign language for no communicative reason at all.

Lord, help us worship You in truth with both our spirit and mind engaged.