Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 14:39

"Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues." — 1 Corinthians 14:39 (ASV)

These closing verses revert to prophecy and tongues. Paul urges the Corinthians to keep on desiring to prophesy and not to prohibit people from speaking in tongues. But Christian worship must be marked by good order.

At this point a summary of the place of speaking in tongues in the apostolic community of the first century A. D. and also a discussion of tongues in the postapostolic period and the relevance of tongues in the twentieth-century church are in order.

(1) In Paul’s discussion of this and other gifts in chs. 12–14, he emphasizes priority of love over tongues and other gifts (ch. 13).

(2) In the list of offices (those of apostles, prophets and teachers) and gifts for the church (12:27–31a), the office-gifts are listed first, with other gifts following, the last being “tongues.” This implies that Paul gives priority to office-gifts over the others. Furthermore, among the office-gifts, that of apostles, who were unique in having seen the Lord, ceased to exist in the first century A. D.

(3) In his treatment of tongues and prophecy in ch. 14, Paul again shows his preference for prophecy over tongues, since the former was the gift that brought edification to the church (vv.1–5). He minimizes the importance of the gift of tongues (v.19).

(4) In his discussion in ch. 12 regarding the diversity of gifts and their functions in the church, the body of Christ, Paul uses the analogy of the human body with its various parts functioning in unique and distinct ways without each one trying to usurp the function of another part. So he shows that the gifts, including tongues, were not to be sought for the sake of the gifts, nor was everyone to seek to have the same gift, such as tongues.

(5) God does not have to work by miraculous means in order to accomplish his purposes; he usually uses ordinary natural means—e.g., in the production of crops, he uses the sun, the rain, and the nutrients of the ground, as well as the hard work of people in farming the land. In connection with “spiritual gifts,” it is significant that in 12:5–11 not all of the gifts mentioned are miraculous; in fact, gifts of wisdom and knowledge (v.8) are mentioned before the miraculous ones, including tongues. It is not essential that everyone have a miraculous gift .

(6) On the basis of the phenomenon of foreign languages spoken of in Ac 2:5–12, we have argued that the tongues referred to in 14:13–15, 20–25 were also foreign-language tongues—not ecstatic utterances, gibberish, or nonunderstandable erratic variations of consonants and vowels with indiscriminate modulation of pitch, speed, and volume.

(7) The essential offices for building up the body of Christ, the church, are, according to Paul (Ephesians 4:11–16), those of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors-teachers. He says nothing there about the necessity of miraculous gifts either in evangelism (Ephesians 4:11) or in the teaching-edifying ministry of the church (vv.12–16).

(8) The other NT passages in which Christian worship patterns are set forth do not include miraculous gifts and functions. This is true not only for worship in the developing church under Paul’s ministry as portrayed in the last half of Acts and in the letters, but also in the worship of the OT and early NT periods involving predominantly Jewish Christians. These important elements of worship were: the reading of Scripture and expounding it with understanding (Nehemiah 8:1–8; Acts 2:17–36); prayer (1 Kings 8:10–61; Acts 14:23; Acts 16:25); singing (1 Chronicles 25; Acts 16:25; Ephesians 5:19); Christian fellowship (2 Kings 23:1–3; Acts 2:42); and Christian ceremonies or sacraments (as the Passover in Ex 12 and the Lord’s Supper in Ac 2:42; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:17–32). Miraculous gifts, including tongues, are absent from these contexts, the conclusion being that they were not to be a necessary part of the general worship patterns of the church.

(9) Miraculous activity, including speaking in a tongue, did come in biblical times from other sources than the Lord. Witness such activity induced by evil spirits and satanic forces—the Gerasene demon-possessed man and the spirit-possessed girl (Acts 16:16–18). Psychological factors were involved in the superhuman strength and tongue-speaking activity of the Gerasene demonpossessed man, for upon his deliverance from the demons, he was found to be in his “right mind” . Therefore caution and balance are needed in relation to such miraculous activities as speaking in tongues. We must also recognize that other gifts were similarly perverted by Satan. The OT speaks more than once of false prophets, as does the NT. The Bible speaks of false pastors (e.g., Zechariah 11:17) and frequently warns against false teachers. Yet no one would insist that either prophecy in its valid sense of speaking out for God to the people or the pastoral-teaching ministry is no longer valid. Misuse of a gift does not invalidate the gift itself. However, because of their intimate psychological nature, “tongues” must be viewed with special caution and not be overstressed.

(10) Directly after the first-century apostolic period, legitimate miraculous gifts, such as tongues, practically ceased. There is little evidence for miracleworking in the postapostolic church; not until the fourth century did claims to miracles become abundant. Furthermore, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers contain no clear and certain allusions to miracle-working or any other supernatural gifts. Why was there a preponderance of miraculous gifts, including tongues, at the time of the ministries of Jesus Christ and his apostles? After all, miraculous gifts do not appear as a part of God’s working among the believers in many parts of the biblical record. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs did not possess or use miraculous gifts, nor did David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. However, when certain prophets of God needed particular support and verification, then God performed great miracles through them, as with Moses and Joshua (Exodus 12–40; Joshua 1-7) and Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17–2 Kings 13).

Likewise, during Jesus’ ministry and that of his apostles, God verified their message and work by performing mighty miracles through them, including the speaking in tongues on Pentecost. Then miracles ceased when the need for the particular witness ended and the writing of the Scriptures was complete. As to the relevance of tongues-speaking in the church today, we may observe, in addition to the foregoing discussion, that the requirements Paul gives for the important offices of elder and deacon (1 Timothy 3:1–13; Titus 1:5–9) say nothing about the necessity that the bearers of these offices have such gifts (cf. also Eph 4:11-13). Also, the instructions given Christians as to how they are to live together in the various units of society (Ephesians 5:6–21:9; Colossians 3:4–18:1; 1 Peter 2:13– 3:7; 5:1–7, et al.) say nothing about the exercise of these kinds of gifts.

In conclusion, this writer believes that the best answer to the question of the relevance of the gift of tongues today is found in the principle that God used this and other miraculous gifts in OT and apostolic times to authenticate the messengers of his word, and that the present-day Christian should not seek such gifts. This is not to say that the churches collectively and individually should not pray that if it is God’s will, the sick may be healed by his power, or that the church should not pray for deeper illumination in understanding God’s inerrant written Word. Having said this, this writer realizes that many Christians of orthodox and evangelical commitment hold that the gift of tongues as set forth in Acts and 1Colossians 12–14 is relevant today. Some of them no doubt recognize that speaking in tongues is the least of the gifts, as suggested in 12:28–30 (where Paul placed it last in the list) or in 14:5, 18–20, 22–24 (where he subordinates it to prophecy). But they would insist that the gift is not completely ruled out for this modern era, since Paul declares, “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” (14:39).

Moreover, some Christians who accept the present validity of tongues maintain that contemporary conditions point to the end times and are the reason for a resurgence of tongues. Also, they emphasize that any practice of tonguesspeaking today must be done in accordance with the guidelines of 14:26–40. Perhaps most would say that tongues-speaking may best be practiced in private (especially when there is no interpreter), where one can speak in a tongue to God alone (14:2, 8). These present-day advocates of tongues would undoubtedly agree that this gift, as well as any of the other gifts, should not be considered an end in itself but must be exercised in love (13:1–3)—not as a spiritual ornament to be seen or as a test of spiritual attainment. Rather, they would say, it must be used as an instrument for the service and glorification of God.