Matthew Henry Commentary 1 Corinthians 14:15-25

"What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else if thou bless with the spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he knoweth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all: howbeit in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brethren, be not children in mind: yet in malice be ye babes, but in mind be men. In the law it is written, By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak unto this people; and not even thus will they hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to the unbelieving: but prophesying [is for a sign], not to the unbelieving, but to them that believe. If therefore the whole church be assembled together and all speak with tongues, and there come in men unlearned or unbelieving, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed." — 1 Corinthians 14:15-25 (ASV)

There can be no agreement with prayers that are not understood. A truly Christian minister will seek much more to do spiritual good to people's souls than to get the greatest applause for himself. This is proving himself the servant of Christ. Children are prone to be struck by novelty, but do not act like them. Christians should be like children, free of guile and malice; yet they should not be unskilled in the word of righteousness, but only in the arts of mischief.

It is a proof that a people are forsaken by God when he gives them up to the rule of those who teach them to worship in another language. They can never be benefited by such teaching. Yet this is what preachers did who delivered their instructions in an unknown tongue. Would it not make Christianity ridiculous to an unbeliever to hear the ministers pray or preach in a language that neither he nor the assembly understood?

But if those who minister plainly interpret Scripture or preach the great truths and rules of the gospel, an unbeliever or unlearned person might become a convert to Christianity. His conscience might be touched, the secrets of his heart might be revealed to him, and so he might be brought to confess his guilt and to acknowledge that God was present in the assembly. Scripture truth, plainly and duly taught, has a wonderful power to awaken the conscience and touch the heart.