“²⁶What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.”

Summarizing his teaching, the apostle Paul brings it all together. Spiritual gifts are distributed with no one of them claiming dominance over the others. There is a purpose for each, and every believer is endowed by the Spirit of God. Essentially, Paul has been working out for the Corinthians the implications of what he taught in 1 Corinthians 12:4–20. While the gift of tongues has been the corrective context, one thing holds true: no matter what a person’s spiritual gift is, it should be used for edification of the whole body of believers (vs. 26, see Rom. 14:19).

Clearly the context for Paul’s instruction is when the church has gathered together (“When you assemble”). New Testament historians have varied in their understanding of what a “typical” church gathering looked like. Some feel there was simply one meeting (what we call today “service”), where many different things took place. Suffice it to say that an exact form is not mandated in Scripture. But for Corinth, Paul infers a number of things took place.

There was singing of psalms, an activity in various forms which has characterized Christian gathering through the ages. Teaching was essential for instructing people in Christian living. There would be revelations from those with the gift of prophecy—remember that the NT in its final and complete form had not yet been circulating, so God provided a direct communication link for believers until the canon was complete with all twenty-seven books of the NT.

Finally, Paul infers that tongues did have a role in the Corinthian church, albeit carefully prescribed. We saw earlier that the gift of tongues is not to be prominent or take precedence over the revelations of prophesy. It should be used sparingly and always accompanied by an interpretation.

Picture it this way: Corinthians were gathering together, communicating in their normal language. Being near a sea port, there would have been many opportunities to share their faith in the foreign languages (i.e. tongues) of passing travelers. Some of these travelers would join in the believers’ gatherings, but the language used was not their mother tongue. So God enabled some believers to begin preaching in the appropriate foreign languages. An interpreter then translated for the sake of the regular believers. In this way, all were edified, including those new believers of different languages, each Christian building up the others through the use of their spiritual gift, all of which are needed.

Lord, help me to be clear in the use of my spiritual gifting no matter what. It is not for my own self-glorification, but that others may be built up in their faith.